[music playing] My name's Tory Glossner, and I'm an executive chef.

I've always wanted to cook.

I just might not have known that's what I wanted to do.

And then I started buying cookbooks when I was really young.

I'd asked for them for Christmas.

I wanted an apron when I was like 12 or 13 with a chef hat.

So I think I've always been obsessed with food.

I've always had a pretty passionate relationship with food.

I grew up here.

I went to high school here.

Kind of was stuck between food and being a vet, and so I was going back and forth on that, but I just saw the culture in a kitchen, the camaraderie, the brotherhood that you have in a kitchen-- that really kind of caught my interest.

So I went to culinary school, and I spent four years at culinary school.

I was at Johnson & Wales up in Rhode Island, did a bachelor's program there.

And then from there, I kind of bounced around.

I was working in Jamestown when I was in school.

I spent a little time in DC.

And then eventually, ended up out in San Francisco.

I worked out there for a while, and then back in Pennsylvania.

So it's kind of bouncing all around the map, which is something that you can do in this field.

In kitchens, everyone's always hiring, always looking for work, always looking for people that have passion and skill.

So it's-- you almost get to pick and choose where you want to go.

So there's this whole debate, and there's always debate, and you'll have this probably any kitchen you walk into.

Half the staff might have went to culinary school.

The other half didn't.

I think what you put into it is what you're going to get out of it.

So if you leave high school and you're not thinking about the culinary path of going to school, maybe you don't have the money, maybe you don't want to invest the four to four years of that time.

I've met some amazing world-class chefs that could cook circles around me that never went to culinary school.

They got a job in a kitchen.

They started to learn how to peel potatoes.

They were washing dishes.

Then they're making sauces, then they're in charge of stocks, then they move to the line, and they are as good, if not better, than me.

So it's almost more how you're programmed as a person and how you like to learn, whether you're hands-on, you like to be immersed in it immediately, or if you take things slow and you want to have the time to walk through every phase of everything.

It's kind of-- what you're willing to put into it is definitely what you're going to get out of it.

When you first start out, It's a lot of hard work.

It's like this chain of command.

You respect the people that are there before you and that are in charge of you.

It's late nights sometimes, most times when you're starting out at the bottom of the barrel.

But if you're dedicated and hardworking, you a passion for it, it's not hard to work up through the ranks quickly.

I was fortunate enough with my path to move up fairly quickly for someone my age.

It used to be pretty much male dominated in the kitchen, but now where we're at, it is incredibly diverse.

So I have a Cuban sous chef who's a female in the kitchen.

I have an African-American line cook.

We've got straight people, people that identify as gay.

It is the melting pot right now.

There is a lot of potential for movement.

And if you're someone that is hard working and you're organized-- one thing I can stress over everything, being organized-- there's room for you to bump up all the time.

I grew up here, and I left, and then I came back.

So I kind of saw how it evolved from the time I left when I was 17, 18, coming back, being 23, 24.

Everything has progressed here.

There's more restaurants popping up.

There's more mom and pop places opening up, as well as chains.

So it is starting to grow, and there are more jobs in this area than there were when I left for school.

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