This high-end chef trains and employs formerly incarcerated individuals in his restaurant -- because he knows all too well the power of a second chance.

Brandon Chrostowski, founder of EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute in Cleveland, spent a few days behind bars as a teen for fleeing and eluding an officer -- and he credits his success to a chef who mentored him despite his past.

Now he's paying it forward to dozens of others, with his restaurant doubling as a culinary arts training program for ex-offenders.

We have a community of individuals coming out of prison who dont get a fair and equal opportunity because of their past, Chrostowski told The Huffington Post. We give them experience in the culinary arts. They get the fundamentals, but also a perspective on the business -- which means theyre employable. It worked in my life, it works in others.