What It Is
Food is the most disarming thing in the world. Put people around a stove and walls come down.
The Gourmet Joe Forum Series uses food and cooking as a vehicle for the kind of honest, revealing conversation that builds real trust — the kind peer groups spend years trying to get to and teams rarely find in a conference room.
Each session is built around a theme, a dish, and a set of guided prompts. People cook together, eat together, and talk — really talk. What comes out of it tends to surprise everyone in the room.
Sessions typically run four to six hours — and everyone breaks bread together. They work for EO forums, Vistage chapters, leadership retreats, executive teams, and any group of people who are serious about going deeper with each other.
Built For
Any group ready to go past the surface.
- EO forums and peer advisory groups
- Vistage and YPO chapters
- Leadership teams at inflection points
- Executive retreats and offsites
- Founder cohorts and accelerator programs
- Any team that wants to actually know each other
What People Walk Away With
More than a meal.
- Deeper knowledge of each other's stories and values
- Honest conversations that don't happen in a boardroom
- A shared experience that anchors future discussions
- Personal reflections and closing commitments
- A reason to look forward to the next meeting
"When people cook together, their guard comes down. You learn more about someone in an hour around the stove than in ten meetings at a table."
— Dave Kustin, Gourmet Joe
Featured Sessions
A few examples of what a session looks like in practice.
Session 01 of 09
The Recipe for Resilience
Session Structure
Opening & Framing. Dave sets the theme and the tone. The group understands what tonight is about before anything else happens.
Guided Conversation — Deep Dive. Facilitated discussion that starts with introductions and builds. Questions escalate in depth: "What's the hardest thing you've had to recover from in the past five years?" and "When things go sideways — fight, fix, or freeze?" The conversation goes where it needs to go.
Cook Together. Dave leads the group through a cooking experience. What you make is shaped for the group — the skills, the rhythm, the conversation that happens while your hands are busy.
Shared Meal + Close. The group eats together and finishes the conversation from the deep dive. Closing reflection: one thing you're taking with you. Dave follows up with a personal accountability note.
Session 05 of 09
From Raw to Refined
Session Structure
Opening & Framing. Dave introduces the theme: transformation — what it looks like, what it costs, and why most people underestimate what they've already done.
Guided Conversation — Deep Dive. The conversation builds from connection to depth. "What's something in your life that's still in its raw stage?" and "What's a refined strength you're most proud of?" The group goes somewhere real.
Cook Together. Dave leads a cooking experience built around the theme of transformation. The cooking itself becomes the conversation — what changes when heat is applied, what stays the same, what gets better.
Shared Meal + Close. The group eats what they made and finishes the conversation. Closing reflection: a letter to your past self. Dave mails it back later.
The Full Series
Nine sessions. Each one built around a theme, a dish, and a real conversation.
The Recipe for Resilience
Navigating adversity. Adapting under pressure. What bouncing back actually looks like.
Savor the Moment
Shifting from constant achievement to mindful presence. Slow down and taste it.
Flavors of Our Story
Celebrating diverse experiences. The formative chapters that shaped who you are and how you lead.
Ingredients for Impact
Connecting personal values to collective potential. What could this group do together?
From Raw to Refined
Personal growth and transformation. The gap between where you were and where you are now.
The Comfort Food Effect
What safety and belonging mean inside this group. Building something worth showing up to.
Beyond the Table: Vision Feast
Aligning on individual and collective futures. Where are you going — and how does this group help you get there?
The Fire Within
Passions, motivations, and what drives you at your core. What fuels you when nothing else will.
The Leadership Banquet
Reflecting on leadership styles and blind spots. What kind of leader are you — and what do you want to become?
Every group is different. The sessions can be too.
The nine sessions above are a starting point — not a fixed menu. Each one can be adapted to fit your group's size, setting, current focus, or the specific conversations your forum or team needs to have.
- Session themes adjusted to where your group is right now
- Dish complexity scaled to your venue and setup
- Guided conversation prompts rewritten around your group's specific dynamics
- Single sessions, multi-session series, or a full annual program
- Professionally facilitated — or designed so your own facilitator can run it