Sprouts Chef Training
Alex and Chef Guy, March 2026
Next door to Niku Steakhouse, sister venture, The Butcher Shop by Niku Steakhouse in San Francisco embraces Bruce Lee’s ideology: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
Practice makes perfect, and 18-year-old chef intern Alex learns this as he trains under Chef Guy Crims through Sprouts Chef Training which provides hands-on culinary training to at-risk young adults in the Bay Area. Alex is on his fourth week of butcher skills and lunch cuisine at the Butcher Shop with Chef Guy, and in such a short time span, he has learned consistency, hard work, and adjusting to stressful situations, including long lines out the door. The Butcher Shop specializes in high-quality curated meat alongside a collection of Japanese pantry items, wines and sake. The Butcher Shop also sells premium made-to-order lunch burgers.
Sprouts Chef Training, an ABZFF grantee, launched in the Bay Area in 2006 under the name “Sprouts Cooking Club” with the mission to empower youth to lead healthier lives by teaching them how to cook alongside real chefs at local restaurants. The training program takes place over the course of three months and carefully matches the youth chefs with their mentors based on skill, background, and personality. The chef interns give the chef mentors extra support in their kitchens, Sprouts has partnered with more than 30 restaurants in San Francisco alone. In 2025, Sprouts trained 76 interns with nearly 70% of them securing jobs post-graduation.
Guy Crims, known as “Guy the Butcher,” is a master butcher and managing partner at The Butcher Shop. He’s recognized for his artistry in meat cutting and sourcing high-quality, sustainable beef. During our recent visit, Chef Guy revealed that he sees a great deal of himself in Alex. Both have a “shoot for the moon” mentality, and as Alex describes, “you can be poor, but as long as you want something, you can do anything.”
Alex referred to the “crabs in a bucket” effect which describes the mindset of people who try to prevent others from gaining a favorable position, even if attaining such position would not directly impact those trying to stop them. Alex emphasized that he was the crab that climbed out, and Chef Guy concurred, noting that both he and Alex tried hard to get where they are, despite their circumstances.
Alex is a hardworking student, and learning from Chef Guy has taught him valuable knife and chef skills. In the process, mentoring youth chefs teaches Chef Guy about himself and reminds him “where he came from.” Chef Guy became fascinated with the butcher business as a teenager after reading The Jungle, Upton Sinclair’s novel depicting the American meatpacking industry in early 20th century. He has multiple copies of The Jungle on the Butcher Shop’s shelves, next to the Bruce Lee poster. When asked what he wants in a trainee, Chef Guy cites Bruce Lee and emphasized how important repetition and hard work are, not just in cooking but in life.
Chef Guy and Alex know what it takes to use experience and life lessons to their advantage to produce the best food they can. A big part of the learning method for Alex has not only been the mechanical, physical process of cooking, but the mental part of it. One of the first things he learned was mise en place, a French culinary term that means to set everything up before cooking, because “once it starts, it can get hectic.”
As Alex focuses on order modifications and customer service with lines out the door every day, he makes fewer mistakes and learns more. Chef Guy explained that the environment Alex works in welcomes small errors, knowing that Alex will learn more from experience than anything else. Both emphasized that repetition leads to mastery — and this idea can be applied to anything in life. “I’m not only trying to get on my feet,” Alex said, “I’m trying to get on my feet and keep walking.”
As Alex gains skills in the culinary world, he also gains confidence, which is important for any learner. Chef Guy praises his trainee for the heart he puts into his work, and he emphasizes that is what will make him go far. Alex explains, “I’ve never been the best at cooking, but cooking is an art. You’re creating something.” The art of repetition has earned him skills he will never forget, both in and outside the butcher shop and kitchen.
Although Chef Guy and Alex both came from very different backgrounds from where they are now, their similarities with each other have granted them a chance to learn from each other and from their work. We are thrilled to partner with Sprouts Chef Training and thank them for the opportunity to get to know Alex and Chef Guy.
— Liz and Amelia
