So much to learn, so little time. Where do you begin, what’s the best way to learn? What should you do, where should you turn? If you are serious about a kitchen career and have the focus to map out the best path, then listen up.

Every cook, at least every serious cook, seems to want to work in one of those exceptional fine dining or cutting-edge experimental operations that are depicted in shows like Chef’s Table or The Bear. There is an appeal there – pointing to the frenzy, intensity, preciseness, and organized chaos of chefs and restaurants vying for public attention. I must admit that I am intrigued and having spent some time around that level of intensity find these operations both exciting and nerve wracking. But is this the best way for a young cook to set the stage for a long, successful career in the kitchen?

From my experience, the best approach towards building your chops, filling your portfolio with skills, knowledge, and the ability to adjust to varying challenges in the kitchen begins with time in a busy full-service hotel, resort, or club kitchen. Here are the reasons:

[]       ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The typical free-standing restaurant cannot afford, nor do they need the structure of a full kitchen brigade. It is rare to find a restaurant large enough to justify an Executive Chef, Executive Sous Chef, Pâtissier, Butcher, Boulanger, or even a true Garde Manger while a large hotel or club with multiple restaurants or dining rooms, multiple banquet facilities, and room service will have a need for all those departments. This structure provides ample opportunities for cooks to dive into the full array of work and build a broad skill set that can eventually lead to positions of leadership in complex kitchens.

[]       DIVERSITY OF EXPERIENCE

The opportunity to work in multiple departments provides cooks with experiences from a ‘la carte to banquets of all sizes, breakfast cookery to fabrication, and bread baking and pastry work to centerpieces and ice carving. These opportunities would be difficult to come by in free-standing restaurants.

[]       DEPARTMENTAL FOCUS

In a larger hotel, resort, or club, business is robust enough to require departments with focus. It is common to find a butcher shop breaking down sub-primal cuts of meat, breaking down poultry, portioning steaks, filleting fish and retaining bones for fumet, and in some cases even producing fresh sausages. The pastry shop may be large enough to warrant a bread baking crew, viennoiserie team, those with restaurant desserts, and even ice cream production. There will likely be a person or small crew focused on stocks, soups, and sauces. This type of dedication is important if an apprentice cook is to truly develop an understanding and level of competence in those areas.

[]       CONTROLS

Cost control is everyone’s responsibility in every food operation, but in a larger operation there will likely be opportunities for cooks to delve into those controls through involvement with inventories, waste control, and time with the chef or sous chef as they build production schedules and determine selling prices of menu items.

[]       TEAM DYNAMICS

The executive chef in a large property invests most of his or her time developing teams that are both independent to their specific outcomes and interdependent as a whole team when it comes to events, banquets, or other large group activity. This interdependence is what makes a great kitchen fire on all cylinders. This is where a young cook learns that no matter the task assigned – their work impacts others and the work of each cook may impact theirs.

[]       INTERDEPENDANCE OF REVENUE/COST CENTERS

In a large property, cooks will learn that when one area contributes, as it should, to the financial success of the kitchen, then every area benefits. At different times one area will stand out and carry the day until it is another area’s turn to take the lead. The success of banquets can help to justify the cost of a pastry department and oftentimes the kitchen may fail to contribute as it might to the bottom line but becomes an important reason why room sales are up. How each area contributes to the whole is a lesson learned in large properties like hotels, resorts, and clubs.

[]       MENU DIVERSITY

A multi-outlet hotel, as an example, will likely have a breakfast restaurant, a family oriented mid-priced restaurant, and a fine-dining operation. There will likely be a bar with some food options, room service (sometimes 24 hours per day), a poolside seasonal café, Sunday brunch, and multiple banquet rooms that at times will have simultaneous events taking place. A young cook can have an opportunity to experience each of these venues and the menus that give them strength. This cannot happen in that popular, single-focused, free-standing restaurant.

[]       ASSESSMENT AND BENEFITS

For the young cook starting out, it may be the experience that is most important when selecting an employer, but it is never too soon to start thinking about healthcare, paid vacation time, sick time, and even retirement benefits. It is unlikely that the individual restaurant will be able to accommodate this while the large hotel, resort, or club understands that these “perks” are essential for attracting and retaining the best employees. Accompanying these benefits, a cook will also find a more formal method of assessment of progress and performance. Human Resource departments will ensure that every employee works within the parameters of expectations and scheduled reviews.

[]       LIKLINESS OF FORMAL TRAINING

Finally, the most important factor in deciding where a cook wants to work should be the investment a property is willing to make in formal training. Are there scheduled classes to focus on building a cook’s base of knowledge? Does the property ensure that a cook will rotate through various departments to build technique? Is there opportunity for cooks to progress from commis in the prep area to breakfast cook, evening line cook, banquet cook, roundsman, and eventually a sous chef position? These opportunities are far more limited in that single unit operation even though their chef may be exceptional and the menu noteworthy.

A much better approach towards learning the craft (in my opinion) is to start with the larger, more diverse operation as you build perspective, skill, and knowledge and then, if you so desire, move to those exceptional free-standing restaurants. You will be better prepared to shine, and the property will reap the benefits as well.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

“Work Hard and be Kind” – Dick Cattani

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