It’s the proverbial glass half full or half empty scenario. How you approach life is typically evident in everything you do from caring for your health, to relationships, to your work, and even your purpose. Do you seek sunshine or darkness? To you relish a smile or simply accept a frown? Do you have hope or are you filled with angst and a dim view of what lays ahead?

Granted, there are no shortages of challenges nor limit to negative energy that seems to surround the world every day, but this need not dictate your subservience to it. Quite often, if we take a moment to dissect what we have and where we are with life, career, family, or purpose, the positives and the opportunities, at least in this country, far outweigh the opposite. How we approach life’s challenges is our choice.

For decades I have listened to cooks, service staff, and even restaurant managers complain about the business that provides their weekly paycheck. The unpredictable schedules, excessive hours, disfunction of management, inadequate facilities, meager pay scales, and lack of benefits are real. These challenges have been part of the business for generations and it certainly must change, but rarely do I see or hear those same people expand on the wonderful aspects of one of the oldest professions known to humankind.

We should work to correct what is wrong, communicate effectively with one another, listen to the reasons why some of those circumstances continue to exist, and work together to find solutions. In many cases the answers are best found from the bottom up and not the top down. At the same time, let’s share those reasons why, deep inside, so many people relish the work, the atmosphere, the people, and the creativity. Allow me to point to the positives for a change so that when we determine the work ahead to implement necessary change, we can reflect on why we are making the effort.

[]       IMPORTANT WORK: At a time when it seems that so many people are polarized in their approach towards everything, great food and the act of cooking can melt barriers to agreement and bring people together. As cooks we not only work to fill stomachs and satisfy the palate but help to create a neutral playing field where everyone can agree on how food is a universal language.

[]       THE CHEERLEADERS FOR FARMERS, FISHERMEN, AND RANCHERS: the unsung heroes of the food eco-system are not the cooks and chefs who marry flavors and create beautiful plates of food but rather those who nurture the crops, tend to the soil, raise the animals, risk the danger of high seas, coax flavor from fermenting cheese, bake satisfying loaves of artisan bread, and roast the beans for our daily coffee. As cooks and chefs, we are the ambassadors and the face of respect who pay tribute to these hard-working heroes.

[]       LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER: In a kitchen, everyone is a teacher, and everyone is a student. Each member of the kitchen team has a history to share, a technique to pass along, a story to tell, and a belief to stimulate thought. Although this may happen in other businesses, the closeness of a kitchen crew lends itself in unique ways to collaborative learning.

[]       THE ‘ALL FOR ONE” TEAM: This team environment is one that can lead to success or failure. Everyone has a role to play, and the entire group depends on each player performing those duties to the best of their ability. Like a sporting team, the kitchen is a tight knit group of individuals who are better as a sum of the parts.

[]       THE EXCITEMENT: Let’s not forget the adrenaline that attracts many young cooks in the beginning. Let’s face it, the work, the pressure, the impossible timing, the complexity, and the interdependence of that team makes cooking a rush of excitement. Living on the edge for the young cook is not to be denied.

[]       THE CREATIVITY: Although much of a cook’s work is consistent repetitiveness, there is always that opportunity to “paint on the plate” and appeal to five human senses. Cooking is the only art form that appeals to all five senses simultaneously – the ultimate medium for artistic individuals.

[]       BUILDING THOSE SKILLS: Rarely a day goes by in the kitchen when a cook fails to learn something new or advance their speed, efficiency, or quality of work through repetition, observation, and honest critique. Every day the cook walks away from a shift – better than the day before.

[]       HONEST WORK: We sweat, our muscles ache, our feet throb, and our mental capacity is pushed to the limit. It feels good for some strange reason. Like the carpenter, electrician, mason, plumber, sculptor, or landscaper, we can walk home tired and sore knowing that we put in a good day’s work, for good days’ pay (although not as good as it should be).

[]       IN SERVICE OF THE POTATO: Not least in importance, our work shows respect not just for the farmer, fisherman, rancher, cheesemaker, and baker, it offers a nod of thanks to the bounty they harvest. Done correctly, cooks acknowledge the gifts from the soil, the sacrifice of the steer, pig, lamb, or fish, and the passionate result of bread from the baker and cheese from the cheesemaker. These ingredients are not commodities off the back of a delivery truck, they are sacrifices to the food eco-system.

So, YES, the business of food is faced with challenges that impact those who work in kitchens but try to understand that the underlying benefits outweigh those challenges. Let’s work together to make this a better industry while still showing the world that this is what we are meant to do with our professional lives.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

“Work Hard and be Kind” – Dick Cattani

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

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