I have been thinking a lot about the word excellence, what it means, how it applies to each of us, and the impact that it has on everything. It is unfair and limiting to believe that excellence indirectly aligns with conformity. In other words, to be excellent is to conform to someone else’s established standards and not your own. In fact, conformity is the first step in developing a person’s own unique standards of excellence. In the kitchen, we think in terms of “Yes, Chef!” This is, to some, a relinquishing of personal control and being somehow subservient to another person’s requirements, while others could see it as a means to understanding what excellence is and how it can set a course for their own direction.

It would be difficult to find a person who is a “master” at their craft without revealing their history of “Yes, Chef.” Miles Davis considered the most prolific improvisational jazz musician of a generation was classically trained. He developed his skill as a musician by following the standards of masters who were prominent hundreds of years before he was born. He used this foundation of excellence to chart a different course where those standards were blurred. Picasso, from the age of seven, was trained in copying the work of traditional masters. He carried this training through art school until he found his voice in abstract and interpretive work. His reflection on that classic training (Yes, Chef) allowed him to push his interpretations in directions where no one had gone before. Chef Grant Achatz of Alinea Restaurant is considered a contemporary culinary genius who stretches the imagination and interprets food preparations as if they originated on a different planet. Yet, his training was with the most admired masters of classic standards of preparation working with Charlie Trotter and Thomas Keller. Better than many, he understood the importance of “Yes, Chef.”

We teach young children to learn how to color within the lines, not to limit their natural creativity but to give them an appreciation for excellence. Drawing between the lines is not limiting, it is standard setting. At some point in time, those who learn to appreciate an eye for excellence, even if it is someone else’s determination of excellence, will set the stage for a creative future. Picasso, Davis, and Achatz learned to appreciate excellence early on. They simply determined at some point that the lines they were coloring in were not the lines that worked for them. They defined their own lines of excellence and then proceeded to make that their signature. Rest assured, cooks who work for Achatz, musicians who played with Davis, and young budding artists who may have apprenticed with Picasso, learned about excellence by coloring between the lines established by their master.

The point is – excellence is a way of functioning that defines an individual and his or her commitment to a standard of being great, will define the kind of professional they will become, no matter if they continue to follow the way excellence is defined by another or by their own interpretation. Excellence becomes the baseline – the way that they approach everything they do. In the kitchen, those cooks with an eye on making a dent in the culinary universe will approach every task they are given with an eye on excellence. This begins with understanding how essential this is to the person and operation that defines the lines of excellence.

The larger and more complex the business, the more difficult it is to create the environment where excellence permeates every task, so the chef must teach and train, coach and mentor, show and guide, until the lines are clearly defined, and excellence becomes the method of operation. If you are working in a burger operation, the goal must be to view everything about that menu item as a vehicle toward excellence. The bun must be fresh and toasted properly, the tomato – perfectly ripe and flavorful and uniformly sliced, the lettuce crisp and fresh, and the burger made from a perfect blend of meats with the right ratio of fat – grilled to perfection with crisp caramelization on the outside, and flavorfully moist on the inside. The fries are hand cut, thin and crisp, hot and sweet from the right choice of potato, and lightly salted to highlight the flavor and not over-power it. A simple entrée, found in most any restaurant in America. An entrée that can be ordinary and uninspiring or, if done with excellence in mind – uniquely extraordinary and worthy of a journey to try it. So much depends on the individual connection to excellence and a willingness to follow the standards established and color between the lines.

Whether you are charged with preparing a soup or stock, slicing fifty pounds of onions for soup, roasting a 109 rib, or caramelizing beautiful Diver’s scallops in clarified butter – how you approach coloring between the lines and taking your role in excellence seriously, makes all the difference for the restaurant, the guest, the chef, and your own personal brand. Once you adopt a philosophy of excellence, it will become your signature. Be excellent!

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

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