KEN TELLEFSEN
HE SPENDS 250.000 a year on eating out - Meet Denmark’s best restaurant guest
PUBLISHED AUGUST 2021 ı PHOTO: BAHADIR BADI BERBER
In a world of flashy food, champagne and caviar, not all people can honestly boast a selfless character and a true heart of gold. Meet Denmark’s biggest foodie, Ken Tellefsen: He not only spends DKK 250,000 a year on culinary adventures. He forks money out of his own pocket to fund emerging, young chef talents. He does this, simply to inspire them and see them make it in the toughest of industries. His is, indeed, a culinary heart of gold.
When it comes to fine dining, all eyes are usually on the chef. Hardly ever are they on the eater. Except for a few rare exceptions. One such notable exception is Ken Tellefsen, Denmark’s biggest foodie, personal friend of many star chefs and a massive contributor to the Danish food scene. A man who has eaten out in such a big way over the past 25 years that it has even drawn him mainstream media attention.
To Ken Tellefsen, eating out has become a way of life. He enjoys cooking at home and is actually quite good at it, if he does say so himself, but it is the ritual of going to restaurants that truly brings him joy. He does so an average of twice a week - sometimes a little less, sometimes a lot more. In a way, he’s the antithesis to many modern-day Danes who generally spend surprisingly small parts of their disposable income on food and eating out. Something Ken the foodie has never understood.
“I have a good job. I make a decent living. I’ve paid my taxes on every dime. Why not spend the rest on what makes me truly happy,” he asks. And spend it he does. DKK 250.000 is his average yearly food budget, but last year, the year of his 50th birthday, he hit a whopping DKK 400.000 because, as he so charmingly and completely down to earth puts it, “that ordeal set me back a good 150.000.”
For someone who eats out as much as him and spends such a large portion of his income doing it, he seems strangely uncertain on the question as to how it all started. “I frankly don’t quite remember, I don’t think there was one defining moment,” he says very frankly. He remembers going out for dinner at age 18 and finding it a fascinating experience but not one that turned into a habit - at least not for a number of years when restaurant visits were sparse and often years between. Then suddenly, at age 25, things kicked off and for the past quarter of a century there has been no looking back for the seasoned foodie. It has been one restaurant visit after the other from Michelin-starred restaurants to burgers and gravy.
I can’t fucking stand buffets!
“I can’t fucking stand buffets,” he says, but admits that he will eat just about any other type of food, as long as it is well-prepared quality meals. In the more affordable end of the spectrum, he is a massive fan of Guldkroen and its creator Umut Sakarya and thinks very highly of Bendix Laursen’s Nordic/French fusion adventure at Restaurant Radio. His heart, however, beats truly for fine dining and Michelin-starred meals.
Treat yourself - life according to Ken Tellefsen
“There is a huge difference,” he argues, “between spending DKK 400 on a meal and spending DKK 2000 on a meal. You get so much more value at top restaurants,” says Tellefsen who, as an accountant by trade, goes as far as to define the Danish Michelin scene as affordable. “In what other artform do you get to meet the megastars for a small sum and even get to dine at their table?” - “And then there’s the food,” he continues enthusiastically, “look at Michelin-starred Kong Hans, for example, the quality of ingredients, the service and the insane amount of work that goes into everything. 2000 for all of that? To me, that’s cheap. Really.”
Whether you agree with the quality conscious foodie on his definition of cheap or not, fine dining is a habit he thinks more people should prioritize. “How about saving maybe just DKK 200 a month and then at the end of the year treat yourself to a really nice dinner. If there’s two of you, then maybe DKK 500 a month. That’s DKK 6000 by the end of the year. DKK 6000 will buy you a fantastic meal!”
What inspires a man to spend such large amounts of money on something as intangible as restaurant experiences? To Ken, it is all about spending his money wisely and doing what makes him happy. And to Ken, it’s anything but illusive. “It’s my hard-earned money and I can spend it however I want. I wouldn’t have as much joy out of a fancy car,” he says, “but eating out brings me joy and it provides me with so many great memories,” says the foodie who treasures his food memories as much as others treasure their vacation memories. “I do love to travel,” he admits “but I mainly remember the destinations based on the dining memories they provided.”
Ken Tellefsen the fine dining gentleman
It is when the conversation turns from being about Ken the foodie to his favorite chefs that a side of Ken Tellefsen that few know is revealed: The younger legends of the industry like 40-year old Wassim Halal of Frederikshøj and 29-year old Rasmus Munk of Alchemist are amongst his absolute favorites, he admits without blinking. “And then there’s this genius young boy, Mads Cortsen,” he says thoughtfully in reference to a 25-year old who has taken the Danish private dining world by storm. “and 19-year-old Magnus from Kokkeriet. So young, but so talented,” he says with a smile, admitting that his foodie heart definitely beats for the young, hopeful people of the culinary world.
So great is his love and admiration for the young talents of the industry and their high hopes, he admits, that he not only follows their careers intensely, but also regularly contributes to the well-being of those he finds talented and hopeful. Over the years, he’s provided scholarships and travel grants for young chefs, or in some cases simply taken them out to some of his favorite restaurants as a means of inspiration and a gesture of appreciation “They work so hard, they work so many hours for hardly any payback and it’s not fair,” he argues. “In their time off, they may slave to place first in a cooking contest and you win, what, a wooden spoon? I mean, come on!” - “I remember taking Rasmus Munk out to eat a couple of times when he was just starting out in the business,” he continues in a nearly tear-jerking moment, “heck, I remember he celebrated New Years with us when he was new in town and had nowhere else to go.”
It is strange today to think that the celebrated and world-famous Michelin-starred chef was once a poor, hopeful, 23-year-old who knew nobody and spent his time alone in Copenhagen. And it is heart-warming to think that quite possibly the approval, recognition and unselfish actions on behalf of Ken Tellefsen were exactly what helped catapult him from nothingness to stardom. Him and many other young chefs before and after him.
It may seem a tear-jerking act of support and indeed it is, but to Ken Tellefsen, it is second nature and a simple act of kindness, a matter of giving back to the business that has given him so much and the strong, young people who carry it on their shoulders. For Ken, it is about sharing a little of his wealth to help motivate others and about finding joy in the fruit of his investments. It is about seeing the young, shy kid he once backed stand up today and receive his second Michelin-star for Alchemist.
I remember taking Rasmus Munk out to eat a couple of times when he was just starting out in the business. Heck, I remember he celebrated New Years with us when he was new in town and had nowhere else to go.
To some readers, it may also seem strange that someone who already spends so much money on eating out would spend even more money on supporting the business directly. To Ken, again, things are simpler: “I love great food, I love grand wines, I love great service and the dining experience as a whole,” he says, but as the interview progresses, it becomes clear that to Ken love runs deeper than simply food, service and wine. His love is for the industry and, more specifically, it is for the people of the industry.
His endless love for the people of the industry was proven once more in the first wave of Covid-19 during which Denmark, like so many countries, faced a total lockdown of the restaurant industry and Ken, like so many other foodies had to find new ways of fueling his hobby: “How long did it last? Two months? I forget. I don’t want to remember. But we ate a lot of takeaway. My wife and I ate takeaway nearly every day, from all over Copenhagen. We must have covered nearly every restaurant.” This, he admits, was partially in an attempt to not only recreate his beloved dining out experiences at home, but also in a legitimate effort to support as large a part of the struggling business as he possibly could by whatever means he had. “It wasn’t the same,” he argues, “but we had a lot of fun and a lot of great experiences. We even had a special 10-course takeaway meal for our anniversary dinner prepared by one of my favorite chefs. It was magical.”
But still, the foodie who ate better than most during the early spring lockdown of 2020, is happy to see things opening back up. “It’s a start. It’s a very good start,” he says in relation to the reopening of restaurants across Denmark. “But I don’t get the 10 PM restaurant curfew. It makes no sense. It’s as dumb as the six-day minimum stay rule in Copenhagen they rolled back a while ago because it had no justification. Soon they will come to the same conclusion here, mark my words.” His tone is, for the first time this evening, a little somber with the tiniest shade of resentment. “At least make an exception for restaurants. We’re sitting down in a civilized manner and the hours from 10-12 are where restaurants make their best money,” he says with a voice full of concern for his friends in the restaurant business, then immediately turns warm and passionate again on his outlook for the future.
“We’ll get back to normal, I’m confident. We may lose 5 to 10 percent of restaurants along the way, but they would probably have closed anyway. Yes, yes, we will make it through this crisis, I’m sure of it,” he finishes his predictions for a better world without Covid-19 restrictions in his usual cheery and warm signature voice. We hope, of course, that the greatest foodie with the biggest heart is right in his predictions of only a minor impact on the industry and the people he loves. And who knows, if we all were a bit more like Ken Tellefsen, maybe there would be no restaurant crisis to speak of at all?
