Chef Alex Trim’s Culinary Journey And Digital Influence

Haute Living Naples sits down with Chef Alex Trim to discuss his love for cooking, his inspiration, and how he is trailblazing the way for chefs to influence, educate, and connect within the digital world.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chef Alex Trim

Chef Alex Trim grew up just north of London in a tiny village called Potters Bar in Hertfordshire, England. He lived next door to his grandparents for a long time, so he spent a lot of time with them. Trim’s mother is a classical French cuisine-trained chef, so food has been a part of his life since he was a young child.

“My mom cooked every night, and we were fortunate to have enjoyable family meals together,” reflected Trim. “Not everyone has that experience, so I feel grateful for those memories with my mom.”

His favorite meal his mom cooks to this day is a traditional English Sunday roast with roast beef, turkey, or chicken, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding that is great for mopping up all the gravy. His earliest food-related memories, which he cherishes to this day involved standing on the countertop with his mom and cooking alongside her when he was very young. His first memory of actual food is from his grandfather’s garden in England where he grew tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and plums.

“The fresh produce was incredible,” Trim reflects. “His greenhouse tomatoes were out of this world, and he even grew these tiny French strawberries called Fraise des bois. They were less than a centimeter in size but bursting with flavor. Cucumbers, especially, became my favorite food because of how my grandfather grew them—they were unlike anything else I’d ever tasted.”

Trim knew from a young age that being a chef was his calling. Trim’s journey in the United States began when his family moved to North Carolina when he was 14 due to wanting a change of pace.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chef Alex Trim

“It has been 18 years since we moved,” says Trim. “It was the idea of the American way of life. It was a new experience, and they wanted me to have the possibility of growing up with the opportunities that America offers.”

Trim has worked in professional kitchens for about 16-17 years. Trim reflects that the restaurant industry is tough, both for owners and chefs, due to slim margins, but that never deterred him. Now, the ambitious chef is exploring different avenues within the culinary world to see where his background can take him.

“I’ve missed countless important events because of work obligations,” comments Trim. “I’ve worked long hours in Michelin-starred restaurants, sometimes making very little money, but it’s been for the love of the craft and the learning experience. Rather than attending culinary school, I learned through hands-on experience in various restaurants.”

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chef Alex Trim

Trim worked in restaurants until 2020 and then moved into private dining, where he was the private chef for a family in Miami for about six days a week for almost two years.

How did his social media career begin and take off? During the pandemic, there was a four-month period when he lived in Chicago, and everywhere in the city shut down due to stringent COVID restrictions. Trim was at home for four months, then one morning, he woke up and decided, “You know what? Today, I’m going to make breakfast and film myself doing it, and that’s it.”

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chef Alex Trim

He made a simple breakfast, starting with a fried egg and some salsa, and just filmed it without much editing and put it up on his Instagram story, thinking, “Whatever.” Following the post, many people reached out to him and said, “This is amazing. Please keep doing this.”

During the pandemic, Trim posted cooking videos daily for four months, receiving positive feedback. After returning to work post-lockdown, he stopped posting, viewing it as just a hobby. Years later, inspired by successful social media personalities, he decided to pursue social media more seriously, aiming to differentiate himself.

“Most of the big food creators out there use gimmicks, humor, or clever editing,” comments Trim. “None of them focus on just high-quality, classic, beautiful food. I had been thinking for a long time that I wanted to do this differently.”

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chef Alex Trim

In January 2023, Trim parted ways with his private chef position and realized it was time to start doing social media full-time and put everything he had into it. Trim thought to himself, “If I am going to do something, I am going to do it as well as I physically can, and it’s going to become my obsession.”

So, in the middle of February, after planning and figuring out what he was going to do, he posted his first Reel on Instagram. His second Reel got about 2.1 million views. His first viral post was a French toast recipe. A week after Trim posted, he was on vacation in Japan, and his Instagram following just started blowing up and took off overnight. But with social media, not every video goes viral straight away.

“For example, there’s a post I put out yesterday that only had 20,000 views by the end of the day, and now, as of this morning, it’s moving and has 100,000 views on it,” Trim explains. “So not everything goes viral the first day. I’ve had posts that have been out for two weeks, and suddenly, they start going up in views. The whole thing makes no sense. Social media platforms keep the algorithm changing constantly, so no one can capitalize on it.”
Trim posts at the same time daily, noting that ‘consistency is key.’

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chef Alex Trim

“With my videos, I try to keep as many of the cooking sounds as possible along with classical relaxing music,” adds Trim. “There are Michelin-star chefs out there doing content, but they’re all in their big stainless steel, shiny monolith kitchens, and it’s very unapproachable and serious. My goal is to create content in my home kitchen where I show beautiful fine dining food, even if it’s something as simple as bread pudding or French fries. I try to make them look stunning and use fine dining techniques the whole way to teach people.”

Trim’s overall goal is to make all his videos feel approachable so his audience can make these recipes in his or her kitchen.

“One of the coolest things about being a chef social media influencer is knowing that there are people all over the world who are making my recipes and enjoying the same food that I’m making,” Trim excitedly shares.

With more than 241,000 Instagram followers, Trim usually dedicates 3-4 days per week solely to filming content, resulting in approximately 7-9 videos being posted weekly. He engages in daily video editing, attends brand meetings, manages all his content, and actively interacts and engages with his followers.

Breakfast is one of Trim’s favorite things to cook. He makes breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes three to four days a week, and then he and his family enjoy the dishes with nothing going to waste. Trim has had seven or eight of his videos hit a couple of million views, including dishes such as a lobster tail with honey garlic butter that has 3.8 million views; Duchess potatoes, which are very old- school-like piped mashed potatoes that you bake, which received 14.5 million views; and a cottage pie, which is a very traditional English dish similar to a shepherd’s pie but with beef, which received multiple million views.

“My content is based around taking classic, simple dishes and just really elevating them and making them special,” Trim exudes. “Every so often, I have fun and play around with things.”

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chef Alex Trim

Trim’s cuisine tends to be decadent, and he has a particular love for French food using butter, cream, and fat. He also loves to make Japanese and Mexican dishes. His wife and daughter were born and raised in Mexico, so he loves cooking Mexican food because he eats it all the time.

“I’ve done a lot of studying in cookbooks, and Japanese food plays into French food extremely well,” Trims discusses. “I mean, it’s obviously a completely different cuisine. Japanese lifestyle is kind of that pursuit of perfection, and French food is all about perfection and cooking, so the Japanese way of looking at things and French food really go hand in hand very well.”

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chef Alex TrimTrim is also working with brand partnerships on social media. He has just been named the official U.S. brand ambassador for Kikuichi Cutlery, the oldest knife brand in the world that dates back to 1267, when they used to make swords for the Japanese emperor. Trim also offers private dining with small tasting menus to keep himself cooking professionally in the industry. Each tasting menu can be curated to the client’s desires or selected exclusively by Chef Trim.

Follow Chef Alex Trim on @chefalextrim on Instagram and TikTok and subscribe for his updates.