After more than 50 years of engagement in the business of food I can safely say that there are two types of chefs on the horizontal line of style: you are either food and craft centric or business centric. Now, these are the extremes as one would divide political alignments as conservative or liberal. We know, historically, that extremes tend to fail in the long term, so success is generally found as styles become a bit more centric. But let’s examine the extremes first in this three-part series of blog posts.

FOOD AND CRAFT CENTRIC:

Chefs on this end of the spectrum are passionate, creative, fully dedicated, sometimes viewed as extreme or obsessive, sticklers for details, demanding, and unwavering when it comes to the standards they live by. The plate is the most important representation of who they are, their vision is the vision for the restaurant, and they are the decisionmaker’s and enforcers, without question. We read about these chefs, hear about the demanding kitchen environments that they rule and still admire their mastery of the craft and innovative approach towards the food experience.

Food and craft centric chefs are immersive by nature, they have their hand in all the details when it comes to cooking methods, flavor profiles, plate presentations, timing, and how the kitchen looks, feels, and functions. Their operations are far from democracies; they are authoritarian by design and not for the weak of heart.

On the positive side, their food is often quite amazing, reflective of the very best that the craft can provide, unique, flavorful, beautiful to see, and totally memorable. The food strives to reflect heart, tradition, vision, and soul as well as the signature of the chef. When referenced, the restaurant and the chef are synonymous – one can’t imagine one without the other. Well-trained cooks in these operations are methods-oriented, in other words they know how to cook and can more easily adjust to factors like flavor differences in ingredients and other factors that influence consistency and quality. Recipes are often replaced with ingrained knowledge.

Chefs who are food and craft centric on the extreme are typically divorced from the business side of the restaurant, they can typically be found in the kitchen – always involved with the food itself and the people producing it – every moment of their existence is consumed with the craft of cooking and maintaining quality standards and consistency in every step of menu design, vendor relationships, storage, pre-preparation, finishing, and delivery to the guest. They are far less concerned with profit measurement – thus the need for a counterpart who is. Food and craft centric chefs MUST partner with a business savvy person or their restaurant will fail.

Now, this is the extreme example of a food and craft centric chef, not necessarily the ones you are most familiar with. These are, however, the ones who draw the most attention from the media and that small percent of consumers who are always looking for innovators to support.

The business centric chef, on the other hand, is a numbers manager. Food to them is much more a commodity to be selected and developed based on detailed analysis of established needs within a market, controlling costs, and generating consistent returns. If an item fails to meet its anticipated contribution, the chef simply eliminates it and replaces the item with a better performer. Creativity takes a back seat to performance expectations, talent is easily replaced with following prescribed steps, and passion is far less important than dependability and following directives. Cooks in these operations are trained to follow recipes and exacting procedures defined by the chef or larger organization. There is little room for creativity or adjustments that the cook might feel necessary.

The food produced by an operation under the direction of the business centric chef is far less personal, rarely based on experiences and a chef’s signature, and typically lack the soul of food that comes from traditions, diversity, intrigue, and a touch of excitement. Food is assembled and not created, lending its nature to be viewed as a commodity, easily replaced when its performance comes into question. These chefs tend to manage and lead from the office, viewing the operation in terms of dollars and cents.

                  Again, this is an example of the extreme business centric chef, not necessarily the ones you are most familiar with. These are, however, the ones who are driving a high percentage of busy restaurants found across the country today.        

                  Your approach as a chef may not fall into the box of these extremes, but your style will tend to lean one way or the other with varying degrees of movement towards the middle. It remains important to note that long-term success, from my perspective, is very limited if one positions themselves on either extreme. Compromise leads to important inclusion of keys to longer-term success. A restaurant chef without a clear understanding of the importance of analytics in menu planning, a lack of emphasis on standards that set the stage for consistency, time spent on cost controls through effective purchasing, inventory management, and waste control, and without the soft skills necessary to lead people, train them effectively, listen to them, and include them in decision making, will find it impossible to attract followers and feed their passion for food while operating a financially successful operation. In the next two blogs, I will walk you through that journey to the middle and how a restaurant chef might establish their reputation as a successful leader.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

www.harvestamericacues.com – BLOG

Check out my author website at: https://paulsorgulebooks.com

Make sure you add a copy of my latest novel – A Cook on the Run – to your office bookshelf. A Cook on the Run is available through iuniverse.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or ordered through your favorite local bookstore.

WHAT KIND OF CHEF ARE YOU? (part one)

After more than 50 years of engagement in the business of food I can safely say that there are two types of chefs on the horizontal line of style: you are either food and craft centric or business centric. Now, these are the extremes as one would divide political alignments as conservative or liberal. We know, historically, that extremes tend to fail in the long term, so success is generally found as styles become a bit more centric. But let’s examine the extremes first in this three-part series of blog posts.

FOOD AND CRAFT CENTRIC:

Chefs on this end of the spectrum are passionate, creative, fully dedicated, sometimes viewed as extreme or obsessive, sticklers for details, demanding, and unwavering when it comes to the standards they live by. The plate is the most important representation of who they are, their vision is the vision for the restaurant, and they are the decisionmaker’s and enforcers, without question. We read about these chefs, hear about the demanding kitchen environments that they rule and still admire their mastery of the craft and innovative approach towards the food experience.

Food and craft centric chefs are immersive by nature, they have their hand in all the details when it comes to cooking methods, flavor profiles, plate presentations, timing, and how the kitchen looks, feels, and functions. Their operations are far from democracies; they are authoritarian by design and not for the weak of heart.

On the positive side, their food is often quite amazing, reflective of the very best that the craft can provide, unique, flavorful, beautiful to see, and totally memorable. The food strives to reflect heart, tradition, vision, and soul as well as the signature of the chef. When referenced, the restaurant and the chef are synonymous – one can’t imagine one without the other. Well-trained cooks in these operations are methods-oriented, in other words they know how to cook and can more easily adjust to factors like flavor differences in ingredients and other factors that influence consistency and quality. Recipes are often replaced with ingrained knowledge.

Chefs who are food and craft centric on the extreme are typically divorced from the business side of the restaurant, they can typically be found in the kitchen – always involved with the food itself and the people producing it – every moment of their existence is consumed with the craft of cooking and maintaining quality standards and consistency in every step of menu design, vendor relationships, storage, pre-preparation, finishing, and delivery to the guest. They are far less concerned with profit measurement – thus the need for a counterpart who is. Food and craft centric chefs MUST partner with a business savvy person or their restaurant will fail.

Now, this is the extreme example of a food and craft centric chef, not necessarily the ones you are most familiar with. These are, however, the ones who draw the most attention from the media and that small percent of consumers who are always looking for innovators to support.

The business centric chef, on the other hand, is a numbers manager. Food to them is much more a commodity to be selected and developed based on detailed analysis of established needs within a market, controlling costs, and generating consistent returns. If an item fails to meet its anticipated contribution, the chef simply eliminates it and replaces the item with a better performer. Creativity takes a back seat to performance expectations, talent is easily replaced with following prescribed steps, and passion is far less important than dependability and following directives. Cooks in these operations are trained to follow recipes and exacting procedures defined by the chef or larger organization. There is little room for creativity or adjustments that the cook might feel necessary.

The food produced by an operation under the direction of the business centric chef is far less personal, rarely based on experiences and a chef’s signature, and typically lack the soul of food that comes from traditions, diversity, intrigue, and a touch of excitement. Food is assembled and not created, lending its nature to be viewed as a commodity, easily replaced when its performance comes into question. These chefs tend to manage and lead from the office, viewing the operation in terms of dollars and cents.

                  Again, this is an example of the extreme business centric chef, not necessarily the ones you are most familiar with. These are, however, the ones who are driving a high percentage of busy restaurants found across the country today.        

                  Your approach as a chef may not fall into the box of these extremes, but your style will tend to lean one way or the other with varying degrees of movement towards the middle. It remains important to note that long-term success, from my perspective, is very limited if one positions themselves on either extreme. Compromise leads to important inclusion of keys to longer-term success. A restaurant chef without a clear understanding of the importance of analytics in menu planning, a lack of emphasis on standards that set the stage for consistency, time spent on cost controls through effective purchasing, inventory management, and waste control, and without the soft skills necessary to lead people, train them effectively, listen to them, and include them in decision making, will find it impossible to attract followers and feed their passion for food while operating a financially successful operation. In the next two blogs, I will walk you through that journey to the middle and how a restaurant chef might establish their reputation as a successful leader.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

www.harvestamericacues.com – BLOG

Check out my author website at: https://paulsorgulebooks.com

Make sure you add a copy of my latest novel – A Cook on the Run – to your office bookshelf. A Cook on the Run is available through iuniverse.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or ordered through your favorite local bookstore.