Episode
How an Engineer-Turned-Michelin-Chef Built Epicurate, the Experience Platform for Luxury Stays
- Podcast
- Behind the Stays
- Published
- May 13, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2814
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Summary
Explore Epicurate: https://epicurate.vip/ Connect with Max: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-porterkhamsy/ Connect with Zach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharybusekrus/ Apply to join the Journey Alliance: http://journey.com/alliance/ — Every once in a while on this show, I get to share news that I'm personally invested in — and this is one of those episodes. A few weeks ago, Journey acquired Epicurate, a private chef and experiences platform that has become one of the most beloved platforms in the luxury segment of the short-term rental world. If you operate in the high-end residence rental space, there's a good chance you've either used Epicurate yourself or you've stayed somewhere that does. The platform powers private dining, in-home wellness, gear rental, grocery delivery, and a growing list of curated services for some of the most respected vacation rental brands in the country — AvantStay, Abode Luxury Rentals, and Red Cottage just to name a few.The man behind it is Max Porterkhamsy, and his story is one of my favorite kinds. A would-be patent lawyer who walked away from mechanical engineering to go to culinary school. He went on to work at a storied michelin star restaurant in New York, then designed and executed a 7-course tasting menu for a tasting room in Sonoma, to cooking private dinners and running concierge for vacation rental guests staying at some of the most coveted homes in wine country. And then, Max started noticing something the rest of us in this industry had been drowning in for years — concierge is broken. The relationships are there. The talent is there. But the tooling underneath it all is a tangle of spreadsheets, email chains, and tribal knowledge that doesn't scale. So Max built the platform he wished he'd had as a chef. And six years late…