I am happy to share a commonality with many of the professional cooks and chefs with whom I have worked over decades in the kitchen.  It is this commonality that drives us to do what we do, and it is this commonality that is in short supply nowadays.  The commonality is our voice through food; a voice that is built through years of practice, history and tradition, environment and experiences, family and friends, and a cumulative portfolio of all these influences.  What you see on the plate is who we are.  What you experience in our kitchens is a mix of what life has presented us – some not so great, but mostly wonderful and even remarkable.

It’s interesting how much of this may not be apparent initially – like a great stock it takes time to develop.  There is a foundation that is universal, but then the chef takes over and adds his or her signature to the mix.  Underneath the years of trial and error, wins and losses, memorable days, and ones to forget – each of these culinary professionals relies on the basics to form a blueprint for expression.  Knowledge of the foundations of cooking are essential just like the foundations of music theory are necessary for any expressive musician, or an understanding of color, shape, and texture set the stage for a painter or sculptor.  We all begin there, and we all fall back on that understanding every day that we cook, play, or paint. 

This is what keeps a cook in the game, this is what sets the stage for consistency and familiarity, this is the baseline that keeps a cook employable.  From there a cook or chef is in control of where they go next, what their food will look, smell, and taste like – this is where a culinary professional goes to find their signature. The best cooks are always looking to build on those foundations, to find their voice.  The best cooks are always aware of the opportunities that life brings to learn, grow, experience, and become a channel for each step of their journey.  This is what inspires a person to stay the course and build a life in the kitchen.

You can see it in a menu, you can see and taste it on the plate, and you can feel it when you walk in their kitchen.  The chefs who have found their voice, who have found a way to take what life has offered and use it as their inspiration, and then mold everything into who they are, are obvious to every stakeholder in the restaurant experience.  Yes, they (we) can be sometimes obsessive and even eccentric, but you can’t deny that the result is interesting.  You know this voice is present the minute you walk into a dining room or step foot in the kitchen – there is an energy hard to deny; an energy that permeates every part of the operation.  The cooks who work there know it, the vendors who sell raw materials know it, the owner knows it, and every guest feels it before they even sit down for service. 

That voice is the magic of a very good or even great restaurant.  Once the voice is determined, all parts of the restaurant begin to fall in place.  If the chef has grown in highly professional restaurants where structure and preciseness are the rule, then his or her kitchen will now look and feel that way.  Uniforms will be pristine, the demeanor of cooks will be professional, knives will be sharp, and pans scrubbed clean.  The coolers and storerooms will be organized, and prep sheets methodically built each day, and of course each plate of food will be designed with consistency in mind. The dining room will follow suit with standards of excellence in full swing.  Place settings measured from the edge of the table, glassware lined up like soldiers in full dress, and the approach service staff members take in addressing a table will be tight and professional.

If the chef worked with inventive, inquisitive, never satisfied professionals, then his or her kitchen will thrive on the energy of stepping outside the lines. The menu will be unique with an approach that makes some question what is going on and others applaud at how exciting it might be.  Each cook will feel comfortable straying a bit from the standardized approach while still paying due respect to those foundations.  The voice of the kitchen will drive the voice of the dining room and the experience of the guest.

If the chef has worked with traditionalists who connect with farmers, fisherman, ranchers, and wine makers, then the operation will evolve around those relationships of respect for the ingredient and the work that the provider does.  You will find an enthusiasm for what each cook has on their cutting board is evident in how materials are handled and stored, cared for, and prepared – showing reverence for the privilege of working with them.  This will extend to the dining room as well where servers are just as knowledgeable and committed to the source as the chef and cooks.

When entering a restaurant, you will see and feel immediately how serious everyone is about food and beverage.  This feeling is in the air because it relates to who the restaurant is – a living and breathing vehicle for the voice of the chef.

I have spent my career working with and admiring chefs and cooks like this.  If asked why I chose a decades long life in front of a range, I would immediately talk about the individual and collective voice of this type of cook and chef.  We appreciate each other, refer to each other, respect each other, and constantly learn from each other.  What is interesting to me is how much our voice does evolve because of the openness we have to learning from each other.  We rarely look at what we do as a job, it is who we are.  The kitchen is our studio, our library, our musical score, and the plate is our canvas for expressing the life we have lived, the people we have known, the experiences that have come our way.

There are still many cooks and chefs who are seeking their voice, but far too many who have lost the inspiration to take the journey and collect what life has to offer.  For them, the position of chef is a demanding job; for those who take the road towards their voice, the position is an opportunity to make a dent in the universe using food as their vehicle.

I am excited when I walk into an operation where that voice is evident.  I want to be part of it, to see, smell, touch, and taste it.  This is the place I want to be – with people who grabbed on to the opportunity to speak through their work.  When I walk into an operation where this is not evident, I feel profound sadness over missed opportunities.  Find your voice and know what it means to be all that you can be as a chef.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 60 interviews with the most influential people in food

Let’s face it – everyone likes to win, and nobody likes to lose.  I’m not sure if it is genetic or environmental, but our mental, physical, and emotional state is connected to the result of winning.  Some of us know that winning takes loads of hard work, conditioning, and focus, while others hope they can win without the effort.  But, regardless of the level of commitment to the end, we all try to avoid losing. 

There are so many parallels in life that evolve around the reality of winning and as such it may be wise to try and learn something from it.  So, here it is – the mantra to live by and the importance of this topic to those of us who spend a lifetime in kitchens:  PEOPLE WANT TO ALIGN WITH WINNERS AND WORK FOR WINNING ORGANIZATIONS – PERIOD!  It sounds nice to espouse the cliche: “It’s not whether you win or lose that matters, it’s how you play the game”, but if how you play the game leads to losing – there is little inspiration in the noble approach.  The reality is it DOES matter if you win or lose AND it does matter that you play the game fairly, honestly, and with integrity.  Winning feels good, losing does not.

Okay, so maybe how we define winning needs to evolve. In some instances – winning is not always based on a score: “He who accumulates the most points wins”, but we do know when a “win” has been achieved no matter how it is measured.  Sometimes it simply means how you feel – whether you are satisfied with the results.  But then we need to more clearly define the word “satisfied”. Did you meet yours or someone else’s expectations?  Were your standards met, goals achieved, was progress made?  In some way, shape, or form, there is a carrot at the end of the stick; something that either you established, a peer defined, or a boss/leader imposed.  Reaching for that carrot may be enough to keep you going, reaching that carrot will help to fulfill you, and pushing the carrot even further out will either inspire or frustrate you.  Measuring how the “carrot rule”, is applied is the job of the coach, manager, or in our case chef.

THE OWNER IMPACT:

The role of the owner – whether he or she owns a football, baseball, hockey, or basketball team is to provide the necessary tools towards the vision of winning and define how far out the initial carrot is held. “We expect to win a Superbowl, World Series, NBA final, or Stanley Cup”.  Now, what will it take, in terms of people and materials to reach that goal?  In terms of a restaurant, it might be: “We expect to grow our business by 20%, win the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, earn a Michelin Star, or reach a profit after taxes of 9%”. Now what will it take in terms of staff members and resources to reach that goal?  The “winning carrot” is what drives all decisions, attracts the best people, defines how outsiders will perceive the business, and creates interest in what the business is doing.  No one – I repeat – NO ONE – will ever be excited about a business (sporting team or restaurant) with lackluster goals, or none at all. The most exciting and attractive businesses begin with BIG, BODACIOUS GOALS of WINNING!

THE LEADER/COACH IMPACT:

The leader is responsible for creating the game plan and the learning organization that makes a win possible.  Without a game plan a business is simply hoping for the best.  That NEVER works! The leader/coach will study the competition, analyze the environment around the organization, inventory the individual and collective talent of his or her players/employees, and structure an approach geared towards grabbing the carrot. The structure is based on logic and a touch of gambling.  Mostly methodical once an understanding of the playing field is in hand, it is always inspiring when a coach/leader throws in a curve ball, a trick play, or an unexpected new menu item or style of service – something that makes the competition scratch their heads, and fans jump out of their seats. It is a game of chess where the most effective leaders are thinking four or five moves ahead trying to figure out how the competition is most likely going to react.  When played correctly, everyone is stoked with anticipation of that next move, a change in strategy – the trick play.  This is what pulls people in and keeps them engaged.  This is what inspires people to jump on board and give their best.

THE PLAYER/STAFF MEMBER IMPACT:

It was Coach Belichick whose message to players was: “Do your job”.  Of course, this is what they get paid to do, but does this truly make them jump up and feel that adrenaline course through their veins?  Now, in all fairness, I assume the coach offered more inspiration than simply do what you are told, but it is an approach so many leaders and coaches run their organizations with.  The players or employees need to feel it, they need to be part of the plan for grabbing the carrot, they need to feel properly prepared to perform at the highest level and, they need to be told how they are doing along the way.  It is, after all, the player or in the case of the restaurant – the cooks, dish washers, servers, and bartenders who will do the actual work of reaching for the carrot. 

One of the most important statements about leadership and management I ever heard has stuck with me for decades: “If you are not serving the customer (fan) directly, then your job is to serve the person who is.”  The leader’s/coach’s job is to make sure players and staff members have the tools, the skills, and the shared vision to reach the carrot.  It is the job of the player/staff member to use the skills and tools provided in pursuit of the organizational goals.  This is likely what Coach Belichick means by: “Do your job.”

THE FAN/GUEST IMPACT:

Often referred to as the 12^th man, the fan or guest has a role to play in grabbing the carrot and pushing it even further out after it is in hand.  Cheering on those members of the team and their coaches, serving as vocal ambassadors, continuing to support their efforts with reservations or ticket sales, and standing tall as a loyal fan, is the fuel that keeps the organizational engine running and everyone on track.  “Let’s do it for the fans, for the loyal customers”, is damn powerful motivation.

There are many parallels between sports and what we do in restaurants.  Owners are owners, coaches are chefs and managers, players are cooks, servers, dish washers and bartenders, and fans are loyal guests.  Each of these stakeholders is driven by a desire to be part of a winning formula.  Even when the goal isn’t quite reached, if the commitment to the strategy is alive, they will stand in agreement: “There’s always next year.”

Never stop reaching for the carrot, STAY INSPIRED.  It is this attitude and process that attracts the very best.

Support your local restaurant/team in pursuit of the carrot. Go Bills!

PLAN BETTER -TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 50 interviews with the most influential people in food

Whenever we (chefs) look back on our time in the kitchen, we’re able to categorize experiences in one of three silos: a learning experience, mission accomplished, or inspiration.  Each experience is a moment in time, something that we might want to replicate or forget, but something that will never appear in the exact same manner again.  It is just one of those flashes of inspiration or disappointment occurring for a reason, a reason that changed your approach even just a little bit, something added to your portfolio, a portfolio that defines the person, the cook that you are or will become. The reasons are usually easy to define after-the-fact: improper planning, not paying attention, stepping away from your standards, poor mise en place, lack of teamwork, or just the opposite for those experiences that result in mission accomplished or inspiration.  Sure, luck can be involved, but luck is rarely something to depend on or take credit for.

The important thing about those moments in time is their value as a reference.  The ones that resulted in disappointment provide an opportunity to learn and grow, to make adjustments, to reflect and regroup, and to find a way to store the “ouch” of the experience as a reminder.  “I never want to be in that position again, so what have I learned?”  We all have those moments and man do they sting.  Running out of prep on a busy night, losing your grip on multiple preparations, the burns and cuts during battle, a team member who falls apart and starts that cascade of problems as a result, a slip on the floor, plates crashing and muscles strained, a fire breaks out on the char grill because you failed to keep an eye on it, that forgotten pan of bacon in the oven, or a roast that somehow slipped your mind and went an hour too long…..The list goes on and on.  We have all been there – RIGHT?

On the other hand, there are those moments when you and everyone else is in the zone.  Everything works as it should.  Every plate is perfectly executed, no returns or re-fires, the roast is a perfect medium rare, the grill marks are well-defined, that fish fillet is caramelized beautifully, and you never run out of prep.  The rhythm between front and back of the house is seamless, tempers are in check, and the night ends with everyone sharing fist bumps and high fives.  We have all been there as well – it is what brings us back to try again for excellence.

Moments in time are the basis for the stories that allow us to gain strength and share what inspire us. This is how we learn.  The stories of those moments are what make us interesting and good at what we do.  Without the moments, without the stories, we would be boring as hell and never able to stand tall and show what time has created – an accomplished cook, a seasoned chef, a teammate or a mentor and leader.

It is the moments in time that allow us to be good at what we do and help us find a way to succeed, even on those nights when there are many indicators that we won’t.  Somehow, we pull it off and in the back of our mind we knew we would.  We don’t crumble in the corner accepting failure, no, that is never an option.  We turn back to those moments in time and think: “I’ve been here before, this is what I (we) did, and this is how that moment was turned around, or this is how the moment rose to the level of inspiring.  Nothing can take the place of those moments – they are the real teacher. These are the elements of your education that can only be gained by being there.  You can’t prepare for them initially you must simply accept them and rely on your instinct or the instinct of those around you to soldier through. You can, however, prepare for them when they occur again.  Without these moments an average line cook will never become a great line cook and a great line cook will never become a successful chef.  This is what greatness is made of – not a chapter in a book – a moment in time.

You know all of this if you spent any amount of time in a kitchen. I know there were (are) times when the look in your eyes spoke volumes.  Looking to your teammate or expeditor, sous chef, or mentor – those eyes signaled:

“help, I’m in trouble, I don’t have those moments to draw inspiration or answers from.  Tell me what to do so that I can just make it through this moment, learn, grow, and store another reminder of what or what not to do next time.  Just bail me out now before it all goes sideways.”

Ugh, what a feeling, but you make it through and next time the answers will come, next time you’ll be ready, next time will be different.

Many, over the years, have asked me what’s the difference between a cook and a chef.  My answer is simple: moments in time.  The more you fill your silos with moments, the easier it is to find answers.  This is what your cooks look to you for.  The difference is not just your sophisticated palate, or the repertoire of dishes that you are able to prepare from memory.  The difference is not how fast you are with a knife, or skilled you are at filleting fish, or piping decorations on a birthday cake.  The difference lies in the experiences you bring to the table and the answers you are able to find in the moment.

Don’t ever push aside the opportunity to have those moments, to build those silos, to celebrate the wins, and learn from the disappointment.  This is your education, your real education.  This is what separates the good from the great and the cook from the chef.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 60 interviews with the most influential people in food

It’s the fire in the belly waiting to take charge, the anxiety being held in check, cold sweat running down your back even though it’s 120 degrees where you stand, and the nervous chatter of tongs clicking to the beat of a cook’s rhythm.  It’s been building up for hours now, ever since each cook arrived around 1:00 to start pulling together their mise en place.  Blanching and shocking vegetables, clarifying butter, mincing fresh herbs and shallots, pealing, and deveining shrimp, pounding out chicken breasts for various saute dishes, portioning and oiling tenderloin filets, boning fresh fish, folding side towels, and stacking pans, double-checking prep lists, and tasting, tasting, tasting.  “What else do I need, what am I missing.” 

Time check – 5:15, the chef just walked through, tasted sauces, and reviewed mise.  Everything looks good.  The dining room opens in 15 minutes and the adrenaline is starting to churn.  Line cooks had been busy prodding and busting on each other, laughing, and pushing each other to break the tension.  Now everything is quiet except for the clicking of tongs.  Music had been part of the kitchen atmosphere all through prep, but now it was silent waiting for the ticking of the POS printer.  The air was thick with anticipation.  Cooks kept wiping down their stations, running the edge of their knives down a steel, and re-folding side towel.  The pass was empty for the moment, but soon that would change.  The sous chef is set at the expeditor station, ready with fresh herb garnishes, gaufrette potatoes, fried leeks, and delicate finishing sauces.  The service staff members are gathered by the coffee station downing last minutes shots of espresso and the dish crew is calm and waiting for that first wave of plates and flatware at the turn of tables.  Someone laughs to break the silence; it is a nervous laugh that points to the absurdity of the moment.  Soon the silence will be filled with a cacophony of sound: banging pots and pans, the clink of fine china plates, the staccato of French knives hitting cutting boards, the roar of flames as they lap around steaks on the open char grill and the barking of the expeditor: “ordering, fire, picking up, all day”, and the expected response from each station line cook: “yes, chef”, or “heard”.

At 5:30 the dining room doors open, and early bird diners begin to arrive.  Cooks are now bouncing from foot-to-foot waiting for the chime of the printer as orders in the dining room are being taken by servers who put on a show face that projects calm.  Underneath it all, “calm” is hardly a good descriptor. Ready, yes, calm, not really. Then the printer begins to talk to cooks as the first orders arrive.  Usually deuces at this time of the night.  Seniors tend to arrive right when the restaurant opens.  In and out before the crowds, this is what they like.  This first 45 minutes or so is a good way to shake off the nerves and start to get into a rhythm.  If mistakes are made in the kitchen, this is typically a time when they occur.  It’s like a football team on the first possession. Everyone knows what to do, but sometimes it just doesn’t click right away.

Slowly, the team pulls together, and the night begins to flow.  The orders are coming in at a steady pace now, moving quickly up to the witching hour: 7:00. This is peak time – the rush.  The dining room is full now and there are a dozen parties waiting for tables to free up.  The board is filled with orders for deuces, four-tops, and an occasional large table of six or eight.  Everything seems to blur together, but in the midst of it you get that boost of adrenaline.  This is what you were waiting for, this is the fuel that keeps the cook’s internal fire going.  To many cooks, it is the rush of adrenaline that calls them back every day.  It’s funny, but at the peak of craziness, when there are way too many things to keep straight in your head, the whole scene starts to slow down for the cook.  You’ve got this!  It’s like an NFL quarterback who at the height of his game can see plays develop in slow motion and make decisions based on his ability to measure the field.  “Ordering: three filets mid-rare, two chops medium, four shrimp, two piccata, and snapper – remove the head.”  “Yes, chef!”  Order fire – four pasta, two rib – rare, and a strip – medium.” “Yes, chef.”  Pick-up on table 25.” The response: “25, chef”.  Everything seems well-orchestrated; it flows like a well-oiled machine. 

If things start to blur, if a cook begins to drift away from the moment, he or she only needs to look at the expeditor and call out: “Can I get an all-day?” The expo responds with eye contact that beams: calm down – you’ve got this.  He lists all the items on that station and waits for the cook’s focused response. “Yes, chef.”  Focus is back and everyone moves on.  The orders are relentless from 7:00 till 9:00, this is when 75% of all the business comes and goes.  The witching hours are also the money hours for a restaurant.  Adrenaline in the back and front of the house is flowing freely and everyone works at their peak knowing that they are walking on the edge of the cliff.  If they can stay focused and control the adrenaline then they will be triumphant, but just as easily things could fall off the edge and crash.  “Living on the Edge” was probably written for line cooks.

By 9:00 everything has slowed down.  Reminiscent of that early bird hour, cooks are comfortable, smiling and even laughing at those minor mistakes that no one noticed except them.  Time to start cleaning and breaking down.  Time to roll up the floor mats, sweep up the remains of crumbs on the floor, wash stove tops and stainless tables; time to jump in and give the dishwasher a hand, and time to start the prep list for tomorrow.  Those last few orders trickle in and cooks need to concentrate so that mistakes are not made.  That adrenaline is still rushing through their system as if the dining room were still full and orders were flying in with reckless abandon.  But they are not.  As the kitchen starts to come to a rest, cooks are still bouncing from the rush.  Time to change, punch out, and hit the local watering hole for a cocktail or two while the adrenaline begins to dissipate. Time to put that anxiety and energy to rest.  Tomorrow is another day.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 60 interviews with the most influential people in food

*PHOTO by: Chef Eamon Lee

I have long embraced this philosophy when it comes to restaurants, but it also can apply to any business.  How we greet and welcome people into our fold does have an impact on the quality of the product and experience we offer.  Let me explain:

A few years ago, (50 years ago) I had a conversation with a wonderful woman who owned and operated a successful neighborhood restaurant.  She wasn’t a chef as we might describe that person today, but she was a terrific cook and a savvy businesswoman.  Customers would like up, sometimes around the block, hoping for a seat in her rather small restaurant where she featured, what we called – blue plate specials.  If I remember accurately, she prepared roasts, meatloaf, chicken dishes like fricassee and chicken and dumplings, omelets, and even liver and onions.  Nothing fancy, just good old – stick to your ribs comfort food.  I asked her what made her food so special?

She smiled and walked me into the kitchen and pointed to a jar on the shelf:

“This is my secret ingredient”.

I said I was confused since the jar was clearly empty.  What was the ingredient?  She looked me in the eye and said:

“My secret ingredient is love.  I love my customers, I care about them, I am happy to see them, I want to know more about them, and I am grateful that they put their trust in my cooking.”

She used this secret ingredient as she greeted guests, checked on their experiences during the meal, worked hard to make sure that their meal was excellent, and sincerely thanked them for coming.  This may have been the most important lesson I ever received, and I have carried it with me through more than 50 years as a chef, manager, educator, and consultant.  This love is what we call “hospitality”.  Hospitality is not something you do; it is who you are. Hospitality is what makes the experience of dining special, and it is most definitely what brings people back.  In fact, when done from the heart – hospitality is your greatest advertising tool because your happy guests will pass along the word.

Hospitality, if it is to be true, must happen with guests, with your staff, with your vendors, with your bankers and accountants, with the health inspector, the plumber and electrician, and with anyone else who encounters your restaurant or your department. 

We tend to focus on other essential skills and outcomes while forgetting to acknowledge that people will gravitate to you or your business if hospitality exists. Hospitality needs to be our most important essential ingredient that is used freely throughout the organization.  When we care about people, when their experience is important to us, when we communicate the very best of what hospitality means then the whole feel of the business falls in line.  Happy, welcomed employees produce happy food.  Happy employees and guests want more of that experience and will return. Happy people, resulting from your hospitality, will go out of their way to bring along friends and family the next time they walk through your door.

Do you want the very best ingredients and service from your vendors?  Then treat them with hospitality – care about them, care about their experience in dealing with you and your operation and acknowledge how important they are to you.  Try it, you may be very surprised with the results.  Do you want your employees to feel good about their jobs and come to work excited about exceeding expectations?  Then try treating them with hospitality – show that you care about them and the quality of their work experience, listen and be empathetic, acknowledge how important they are to you and thank them for the effort they put in.  Try it!  Do you want your customers to write great reviews, boast about how fantastic their meal was and share that enthusiasm with others?  Then focus on hospitality.  The food and service still need to be there, but it will be that hospitality effort that makes the experience unique.  Try it.

Here’s the thing – very few restaurants understand this, very few businesses understand this, so if you buy in, your will stand out from the pack.  It will be automatic, and it will be dramatic.

So, build hospitality into everything you do.  Make a New Year’s Resolution that makes sense.  Give it three months and see the difference it WILL MAKE.  Guarantees seem to mean less and less, but for what it’s worth – I guarantee you will be happy with the results.  Remember, this is not something that you do – hospitality must become part of your culture, it must become second nature because it will be who you are.

BE “hospitality” and learn to be great.

“Hospitality is central to the restaurant business, yet it’s a hard idea to define precisely.  Mostly it involves being nice to people and making them feel welcome.  You notice it when it’s there, and you particularly notice it when it isn’t.  A single significant lapse in this area can be your dominant impression of an entire meal.”

-John Lanchester

“Hospitality is present when something happens “FOR” you.  It is absent when something happens “TO” you.  Those two simple propositions – for and to – express it all.”

_Danny Meyer

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 60 interviews with the most influential people in food

I scratch my head when cooks proclaim that they are held prisoner to a job that isn’t going anywhere.  Sometimes they are very explicit and state that their job sucks or that they can’t get ahead.  A number, after the pandemic, chose not to return to the kitchen claiming that it was either a dead end or they were not valued.  Okay, so there are certainly employers out there who probably don’t deserve good employees, and, in those situations, I can understand some level of discontent, but not to the extreme of stating that being a cook is a dead end.  My question to those cooks is: “What are you investing in your career as a cook?” 

That’s correct, I asked: “What are you investing in your career as a cook?”  Really, there isn’t any such thing as a free lunch when it comes to building a career.  You must give and invest in order to receive.  The more you know, the more you are able to do, the more competent you are, and the more diverse your skill set – the greater the opportunities.  Invest, push yourself, learn, grow, and take a chance – this is the formula on which great careers are built.  You want greater pay and benefits – then bring more to the table.  If you do and the employer still won’t pay, then go elsewhere – you are marketable if you are great at what you do.  Greater pay and benefits don’t come just because you are present.  The only time when pay is strictly related to the job title is when you only give back what is expected.  Exceed expectations!  Trust me – when this occurs, great opportunities will come your way, but not before.

Argue with me if you like, but I’m telling you the truth.  Your future is in your hands.  The opportunities are limitless if you take responsibility for your own upward mobility.  So, let’s assume that you are at least somewhat intrigued by my theory – what should you be doing to get on this yellow brick road to success?  Here are eleven to consider:

1. COMMIT TO LEARNING:  Read articles, food history books, professional cookbooks, stories of chefs with their words of wisdom (see list at end of this article), volunteer to work with accomplished chefs after hours, ask for additional responsibilities that provide a chance to learn something new.  DON’T STAY IDLE! Commit to learning something new every day – yes, EVERY DAY!  It might be something small such as how a vegetable is grown or why you caramelize a mirepoix, or the best potato for hand cut French fries – something that methodically builds on your base of knowledge.
2. ASK QUESTIONS: The chef you work with or for is in the position because he or she has done something to earn it.  They probably know more than you about something in the kitchen – ask them how they do it and ask them to show you how.  Be eager for a change, I doubt there are many chefs who would turn you down.  Be the one who obviously wants to learn – they will take notice.  Maybe inventory is not part of your job, but it will be if you want to become a chef someday.  Ask the chef if you can help – even if you do so on your day off without pay.  This is how you build your bag of tricks and broaden your value.
3. VOLUNTEER: Is there a fundraising event in your community that engages chefs in the preparation of a meal?  Volunteer to help.  You might just learn something, AND you will start to build something important – your network.
4. NETWORK: Make your list of accomplished cooks, chefs, managers, entrepreneurs whom you would like to emulate.  Make contact, introduce yourself, ask if there is a way you can talk with them, help them out, cook with them, wash dishes, whatever – connect and start adding them to your list of mentors. You never know when they might help with your career.
5. JOIN: Become a member of the local chef’s chapter of the American Culinary Federation, join the Bread Bakers Guild, Slow Food, USA, or the State Restaurant Association.  Commit to learning from others, finding out what’s going on in the industry, attend workshops, take on-line courses, or simply attend local meetings to network and get your name out there.
6. LEARN ABOUT WINE AND BEER: This is where the profit is in restaurants and long-term, those cooks who know these products will be more balanced as a chef.  Take an in-person or on-line class, participate in tastings, ask your restaurant manager or sommelier for some pointers – it is not only a good career move, but it can also be fun!
7. PAY ATTENTION TO PROFIT: talk to your chef about this.  This is a business of pennies so buying right, storing properly, planning correctly, following procedures and recipes, portioning, controlling waste, and designing effective menus are essential tools in leading a restaurant to profit. In demand chefs are not only masters of cooking, but they’re also smart businesspeople.
8. STUDY PEOPLE: This is a people business – those who we work with and those we serve are your key to success.  Learn to listen to them and seek to discover how to follow first and then how to lead.
9. TRAVEL AND TAKE AN INTEREST IN CULTURE:  If you want to be a great Italian, French, Mexican, Asian, German, Cajun, or Southwestern cook then study the people of those regions, their traditions, their history, their ingredients, and their passion for who they are.  This is an essential ingredient of any cuisine.
10. Be professional – ALWAYS!  Look like a professional, wear the uniform with pride, groom like a professional, talk like a professional, learn to write properly like a professional, approach others in a professional manner and build your brand.  When in a position to do so – insist that others follow suit.  Promote a workspace that is the benchmark for everywhere else.
11. WATCH YOUR ON-LINE PERSONA: what you post is there FOREVER!  Every potential employer will look at your social media presence – what will they find?  Bragging about your latest drinking spree, posting pictures of marijuana leaves, obscene gestures, or political rants, or inappropriate comments will haunt you.  Clean it up – this is part of your resume now.

Do this and I guarantee that others will notice, opportunities will come your way, you will be proud of who you are, your results will speak for themselves, the money and benefits will come without asking, and you will have loads of fun.  INVEST IN YOUR SELF AND STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOUR CURRENT STATE.  BE THE SOLUTION.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 50 interviews with the most influential people in food

ESSENTIALS FOR YOUR CAREER LIBRARY:

• LETTERS TO A YOUNG CHEF: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Young-Chef-Daniel-Boulud/dp/0465093426/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1672426795&sr=1-3

• THE APPRENTICE: https://www.amazon.com/Apprentice-My-Life-Kitchen/dp/0544657497/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1672426718&sr=1-1

• SETTING THE TABLE: https://www.amazon.com/Setting-Table-Transforming-Hospitality-Business/dp/0060742763/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1672426850&sr=1-1

• WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT: https://www.amazon.com/What-Drink-You-Eat-Definitive/dp/0821257188/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3I7BRMQENU3V1&keywords=What+to+Drink+with+What+you+Eat&qid=1672426915&s=books&sprefix=what+to+drink+with+what+you+eat%2Cstripbooks%2C123&sr=1-1

• THE FLAVOR BIBLE: https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2CVKQYMTMHAT4&keywords=The+Flavor+Bible&qid=1672426992&s=books&sprefix=the+flavor+bible%2Cstripbooks%2C112&sr=1-1

• BECOMING A CHEF: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Chef-Andrew-Dornenburg/dp/0471152099/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LVOGEX45YAEG&keywords=Becoming+a+Chef&qid=1672427041&s=books&sprefix=becoming+a+chef%2Cstripbooks%2C113&sr=1-1

• LA METHODE: https://www.amazon.com/Methode-Jacques-Pepin/dp/0671504959/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1672427104&sr=1-1

• THE SOUL OF A CHEF: https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Chef-Journey-Toward-Perfection/dp/0141001895/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1672427156&sr=1-1

• LESSONS IN EXCELLENCE: https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Excellence-Charlie-Trotter/dp/0898159083/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ZIG0MBM0MN6R&keywords=Lessons+in+Excellence&qid=1672427202&s=books&sprefix=lessons+in+excellence%2Cstripbooks%2C109&sr=1-1

• THE THIRD PLATE: https://www.amazon.com/Third-Plate-Field-Notes-Future/dp/0143127152/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1672427252&sr=1-1

• UNREASONABLE HOSPITALITY: https://www.amazon.com/Unreasonable-Hospitality-Remarkable-Giving-People/dp/0593418573/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1672427296&sr=1-1

It is impossible to not be inspired by this photo. Zelenskyy and Andres, brothers in spirit, leaders who inspire; stellar human beings who humble us, show incredible courage and strength, and who give of themselves for what most of us see as right and just.  Americans are so incredibly fortunate to live where we live, and to enjoy the opportunities that abound if we invest of ourselves and work to reap the benefits of a nation that understands and relishes the responsibility to protect its citizens.  This is not the case throughout the world, as is noted in Ukraine.  While many Americans prepare to celebrate over the holidays and chefs and cooks test their skills in restaurants from coast to coast, many people in Ukraine and in other oppressed parts of the world wonder where their next meal will come from, if there will be heat in their homes, and if they will have homes and jobs to return to at the end of the day.  On the streets of many cities throughout our own country there is an increasing number of homeless people, including children who struggle to make it through another day of living on the streets, and in nations ruled by dictators and religious zealots, many wonder if their lives will be taken for speaking their mind or refusing to conform to restrictions based on gender, race, or political beliefs.

Then, as has been the case throughout history, a few incredibly focused and honorable individuals rise up to show us the way, to try and make things right, to show respect for others and raise the flag of democracy and equality.  Such is the case with Volodymyr Zelenskyy who from unlikely beginnings as an actor and comedian, won a democratic election defying the odds to do so.  He turned out to be the right person at the right time – a leader of and for the people of Ukraine, a spokesperson and ambassador on the world stage, a heroic symbol of hope and determination who cheers on a strong people willing to give everything to protect their rights as human beings.  When he spoke before Congress he did not chastise those who have so much when his people have so little during a time of war; instead he praised our lifestyle because we too fought to get to where we are and continue to support what needs to be done to protect what was gained through the blood, sweat, and tears of our forefathers, our military strength, our compassion as a country, and our unity through a democratic process.  This is what he and the people of Ukraine are fighting for.

Throughout the world there are too many examples of tyranny, despair, hate, and destruction imposed by a few who seek power.  There are daily examples of tragedy and destruction when Mother Nature chooses to raise her fist with the might of hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, and floods.  Sometimes it is hard to watch the news or read the daily paper.  When many of us turn the page and shake our heads, a smaller number of heroic individuals stand up and ask: “What can I do to help.”  Such is the case with Chef Jose Andres and his incredible organization: World Central Kitchen.  Before a military can be activated to help, before the Red Cross arrives on the scene, and before the media can fully develop a story, World Central Kitchen is there, setting up kitchens, hosting volunteers, welcoming chefs, and cooks, and finding ways to navigate the feeding of tens of thousands who are impacted by violence or the wrath of the elements.  It’s hard to contemplate.  Even the most accomplished chefs scratch their heads and wonder how it is possible to organize and effectively navigate all the challenges that are presented, yet they do and Jose Andres, like President Volodymyr Zelenskyy manages to be that guiding light, the voice of inspiration, and the world ambassadors to make things happen when others view the task as impossible.

While many of us shake our heads and sigh at the plight of the homeless, or those who simply struggle with their human condition, there are always those who stand up and say: “What can I do to help.”  The problems will not self-correct unless we all are aware and willing to do something to help.  Zelenskyy praised every American for helping Ukraine for it is our tax dollars that help to provide what the Ukrainian people need.  There are many more who give additional when they can, just as there are many who write a check and help to support World Central Kitchen.  Not everyone needs to push aside their jobs and family and get on a plane to help feed the needy in Europe, Africa, the Islands, or anywhere where people suffer; but we do need to find a way to help.  It might be a check for $10 or at the very least mental, emotional, and spiritual support for what is needed.  It might be a few hours before the holidays helping out in a soup kitchen or giving an older winter jacket, scarf or gloves to a homeless person or buying a few extra groceries for a family who may not be able to afford tonight’s meal. 

It’s hard to look at this photo without being inspired to help, or without marveling at the decency and generosity of some and the innate ability to lead that a few possess.  It is impossible to ignore what real leadership is and know that this is what the world needs.

When you sit around your table this holiday season or before you open the doors to your restaurant and welcome in those guests seeking the chance to celebrate all that they have, take a moment to think about this photo, what it means, and how in the days to come, you can find your own way to help and give thanks for our good fortune.  Take a moment to thank those who have made it possible for us to celebrate as we do, to breathe fresh air, to work and earn a living, to enjoy a warm house and a well-prepared meal, and to know that we have the ability to make our own choices, speak our minds, and live the life of freedom.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 60 interviews with the most influential people in food

There was a time when the major holidays, those times of the year when we relished the chance to spend quality time with family, were sacred and protected.  These special days: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day were set aside as times to be with those we love – regardless of a person’s career obligations.  These were the days when our home kitchens were filled with mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, children and even grandchildren.  We cooked together, laughed, reminisced, raised our glasses, ate way too much, and gave thanks for all that we had.  We all looked forward to this tradition and hailed these days as our most treasured of the year.

Some traditions change, they evolve for various reasons; they remain, but they are different. Over time the challenges and yes – stress of the holiday gathering led many to relax and let someone else deal with the cooking and the details.  Those days in restaurants that were once recognized as a time to close and let traditions thrive are now some of the busiest business days of the year.  It made perfect business sense to take advantage of this opportunity to boost a restaurants’ bottom line and fill a need expressed by restaurant guests.  Most of these guests view this as an essential service and those operations that still choose to close and allow their employees to enjoy family are viewed as somehow negligent. “Why aren’t they open?  Are they crazy to ignore this valuable business?”

This is not a complaint; it is the reality of the day and has been now for a few decades.  What is worth stating, however, is the folks with whom I have worked and others whose business has changed in a similar fashion are working on those days to help others enjoy their day.  Restaurants will be full and service staff will put on a smile and do their best to make your holiday special.  Cooks will be standing in front of stoves throwing off their intense heat, arriving early in the morning and staying late at night to prepare those meals that once took place in your home with a kitchen filled with family members. Managers will do their best to keep morale up while the families of those workers are home without one of their sons, daughters, mothers, or fathers present.  They will celebrate on another day – a way to compensate for the absence.  But it won’t be the same.  They all sacrifice for the business of hospitality.

So, what can the average person do?  Be kind.  Thank the person serving your family meal, write a positive comment card recognizing the quality of your meal, leave a generous tip, peak in the kitchen and say thanks, write a great Trip Advisor comment, take a minute a day or so after your meal to write a note to the staff of the restaurant saying how much their work and hospitality meant to you and your family – it will cost you 60 cents for a stamp – the impact when shared with the staff of that restaurant will be priceless.  If service is a little slow on Christmas eve or day in that totally full restaurant – take a deep breath, relax, and smile.  Only kind words please – think about those people who are trying to do their best while struggling with what they are missing at home.

Sure, those of us who are in the hospitality business signed up for this and some might say – deal with it.  Got it, we do try and find satisfaction in celebrating with our team, but it’s not the same.  We soldier through and sometimes even wear a badge of honor as a service provider, but it is still difficult. So, be kind, be grateful, say thank you and please, and relish the opportunity that you have to be with your family and enjoy a great meal.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and raise a glass to 2022 and the new year to come.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 50 interviews with the most influential people in food

I find it interesting that the classic definition of flavor is so shallow, so lacking in understanding, yet so sought after at the same time.  Flavor is the quest of every cook and chef and is the expectation of every diner.  Flavor is, according to most who seek it, paramount when assessing the quality of a meal.  Flavor is how those who consume assess the value of a meal and flavor is how others assess the competence of the cook. Yet, it is so poorly defined and so misunderstood.  If you seek to find the definition of flavor, don’t rely on your dictionary or even most cookbooks where flavor is assumed to be synonymous with taste. Let me be clear – when flavor is the goal, taste is not nearly enough to get you there!

But that’s how flavor is defined and has been defined by most for generations. When asked for flavor descriptors you might encounter words like tasty, appetizing, tangy, sour, salty, bitter, savory, or sweet.  Or in the formal structure of what we assume flavor to be we speak of salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami (savory).  However, this is not flavor – it is taste, one of the essential senses. 

Why am I so hung up on this? Well, if in fact, flavor is the ultimate quest of every cook and chef and if this is what restaurant guests, or even those at your home table seek, then shouldn’t we have the whole picture in hand?  To quote Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland:

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

What is the road to flavor and how do we get there?  This is the question that requires a full answer if the cook or chef really hopes to achieve success. 

So, here it is this is how your dictionary, every recipe, every restaurant menu, every cook and chef, and every consumer should define flavor:

FLAVOR IS A COMBINATION OF ALL THE HUMAN SENSES PLUS SOMETHING SPECIAL.  Great flavor is achieved when each of these senses is approached effectively and that something special is understood.  What are these elements of flavor then?

[]       SIGHT:

How a dish, or an ingredient looks; how it is offered on the plate; how the ingredient colors, shapes, and symmetry are presented; how the physical plate itself looks; how the space where the plate sits is lit; and how the plate is presented to the guest by a server impact the eventual flavor of the food.  You don’t believe me?  Well, how many times have your eyes sent a message to the brain saying: “This doesn’t look good, I’m not going to eat that.”? After all, it must get past the eyes before it gets to the mouth.

Exceptional cooks and chefs understand how important it is to present a beautiful, recognizable, balanced, and functional plate of food, but they may not realize that how it looks impacts its flavor.  Menu planning must include an understanding of this and the selection of the plates and vessels you use to present food must be as important as how it is cooked.

[]       SOUND:

What are the sounds of food and how can that impact flavor?  Part of the experience of eating a potato chip is hearing the crunch when you bite down.  Part of the joy of eating a fall apple is the snap of a tart apple as you bite off a chuck of that juicy, crisp, fresh MacIntosh, Honey Crisp, Jonathan, Granny Smith, or Red Delicious apple.  Eating a well-prepared filet mignon is always enhanced when it is presented on a metal sizzle platter and the hiss of cooking meat is still present.  The pop of the cork on a bottle of champagne creates anticipation, and the crack of caramelized sugar on top of a crème brulee is worth the price of the dessert.  The sounds are everywhere, and an accomplished cook knows how to use them to his or her advantage.

[]       SMELL:

Human beings have approximately 400 olfactory receptors that have the ability to distinguish (if they are their peak efficiency) about one trillion different scents.  We made not be able to identify each, but the receptors know they are there.  We tend to separate them into pleasing and not pleasing, narrowing down the field.  The important point to note is that what you taste can be altered by what you smell.  Many common food items are difficult to identify if you take away the ability to smell and see what you are trying to identify.  As an example, a peak season apple and first harvest potato have very similar textures and water content.  If blindfolded and your nose is pinched shut, it would be difficult to distinguish one from the other when chewing.

[]       TOUCH:

Touch is a process; texture is the feeling.  Touch runs the gamut from the quality of linen on the table, the feel of the plate or glassware, the comfort of the chair or the depth of a rugs pile to the texture of cooked vegetables, tenderness of meat, flakiness of fish, mouth feel of a sauce or a glass of wine, crema on top of your espresso, chew of a Long Island bagel, or the creaminess of that crème brulee.  How the item and the other elements surround the plate of food feel will again impact flavor.  Tasty, but tough does not inspire.  Tasty, but the chair is so uncomfortable will detract from flavor, etc.

[]       TASTE:

No one can take away from the importance of those five taste factors of sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami; but it is so difficult to separate them from the rest of flavors essential components.  Somehow a perfectly cooked steak served on a paper plate lacks real flavor appeal.  That same steak without a steak knife would seem less than exceptional, and fresh sauteed vegetables that were cut haphazardly and overcooked without texture would leave anyone disappointed in its flavor.

[]       CONTEXT:

Ah, the secret ingredient.  Context is a tough one because it is somewhat out of the control of the chef, the cook, or the restaurateur.  Context can mean the story that the restaurant tells and the sincere service mentality of all who work there (something that can be controlled), but often it is the people with whom the diner enjoys the meal and the occasion that is being celebrated.  Food tastes better when cheering the success of a partner or mate, when celebrating a birthday or anniversary, or simply getting together with friends to laugh and raise a glass.  If a restaurant can create a welcoming environment for these encounters to flourish, then whatever is served will resonate positively with those who are dining.  As much as cooks and chefs want to believe that it is all about the food when it comes to real flavor the act of hospitality and the encouragement to celebrate is the key to rave reviews.

Working on the experience of flavor is much more complex than many understand, but now you have the key to unlock that mystery.  Go to work!

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 60 interviews with the most influential people in food

“We must never forget that we are cooks.”  That was a quote from Chef Andre Soltner when he addressed the audience attending an ACF Convention in, I believe Phoenix a couple decades ago.  That statement, in its simplicity was a benchmark for how each of us who works in a kitchen should address our careers.  Push aside the pomp and circumstance that the media has tried to create over the past few decades, a message that many of us have embraced; a media message that somehow chefs are to be held on a pedestal that is far removed from the job we do, a job that drew us to the kitchen in the first place – to cook.  In this role we have a chance to create incredible, important, and lasting memories that are far more important than stars, diamonds, and accolades from Trip Advisor or Yelp.

Of course, there are many wonderful benefits that came from the attention given chefs and their position for some time now, but in the end, it will be this connection to the job of cooking and the ability to create memories that will serve as our legacy.  It need not be award winning menus, although it might – what is most important is the impact of that meal.  Think about those food memories that are imbedded in our subconscious:  it could be a wonderful tasting menu that was themed and connected to a guest or organization.  A menu where each component, every preparation, and each presentation make that connection.  That menu and the meticulous way that it was designed and executed will live with guests and those who prepared it for an eternity.  It might be a much simpler farmer’s dinner where each ingredient was still warm from harvest and the person who nurtured those ingredients is given a stage to showcase his or her caring work.  Maybe it was that incredibly simple sandwich in a brasserie across from the Louvre in Paris – a sandwich unlike the complex ones we tout as excellent in the U.S. – just extraordinary bread, probably a fresh baked baguette, with cultured butter, and paper-thin slices of jambon (ham). The crunch and chew of the baguette, the slightly sweet and creamy fresh butter, and the appropriate saltiness and “melt in your mouth” texture of the ham give you pause. Now this sandwich, in its simplicity, will be remembered as one of the best you ever consumed and represents the pride of the farmer who raised the pig, baker and the sandwich maker. Quite possibly, it could be an order of frog legs dredged in flour, and lightly sauteed in clarified butter, garlic, and lemon from Andre Soltner’s former kitchen at Lutece and served by a gentleman waiter who had been proud of his craft for more than 50 years.  All memorable.

Maybe, it was a perfect bowl of Bolognese and Bucatini with grated parmigiana presented at your table in a tiny Montepulciano, Italy trattoria with a glass of a young, vibrant Nebbiolo. Or an order of three handheld tacos of braised goat and queso fresco at a cantina counter in Mexico City with a shot (or two) of Mescal tequila. That cappuccino that you relished from a coffee shop in the North End of Boston, the heart of the Italian neighborhood was the best you ever had; a cup of coffee so extraordinary that after twenty years you still talk about it.  A bowl of gumbo from the French Quarter in New Orleans is always on the top of your list as is an order of Blue Point Oysters in a small oyster shack somewhere on the New England coast.  All memorable.

It may not always be from the list of extraordinary ingredients or exceptional kitchen execution, sometimes the meaning goes much deeper than that.  It could be an attempt to replicate that chicken and dumplings that your grandmother prepared with such love and dedication.  The chicken “had to be young”, the stock rich, and the dumplings dropped gingerly into the cast iron Dutch oven at just the right moment to protect their tenderness.  A cook may spend his or her lifetime trying to replicate that for restaurant guests.  Or it might just be that moment in time when food and survival are closely linked.  Where hope was as much on the table as the food served.  It could be that simple cheese sandwich and piece of polished fruit handed to a refugee fleeing Ukraine and landing inside the border of Poland.  That sandwich prepared by volunteer cooks working for Jose Andres World Central Kitchen, an organization that knows in the darkest of times, it might just be a simple meal that helps those impacted feel that it’s going to get better.  Or a bowl of minestrone served to a homeless person at a local soup kitchen as the cook who volunteers on his day off to simply give a hand, smiles and offers a greeting. The look in a person’s eyes when handed the sandwich, or bowl of soup is powerful and incredibly memorable for both parties – the one receiving and the one giving.  This is what it means to be a cook.

When we tie on an apron, we take on the responsibility to create memories for others.  It is incredible to think that what we do is so important.  We provide a chance to find hope, to feel good, to enjoy life, and to register memories for a lifetime.  Each of you has a portfolio of those memories and each of you has been responsible for building them for others.  This is what we do, this is why our job is so important and so fulfilling. Making memories – the job of a cook.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 60 interviews with the most influential people in food

Well, here we go.  I haven’t slept much at all over the past few days and certainly won’t until the weekend is over.  The anxiety building up to a full house in the hotel packed with a series of food events has made it impossible to relax.  The preparation has been mind boggling, now we just have to execute.  Ironically, the work beforehand is more nerve-wracking than the actual production and service.  Once we kick things off, I know I can depend on the team to do their work at the highest level.

It is the chef’s job to set the stage.  Hours and hours of work went into planning menus, making sure that the best ingredients are ordered and in-house, scheduling staff, testing recipes and teaching others how to execute them, confirming that the right China plates are in place, and most importantly – the timing of every minute is thought thru.  What can be done ahead, what items must be a ’la minute, when should ingredients arrive to ensure the best quality at time of service, how will they be plated, and can any plating be done in advance?  It is the orchestration that relies on a chef’s previous experience – this is where his or her real skills are tested.  The battery of cooks and service staff are the extended hands of the chef – the people who will execute a meal, an event, as it has been envisioned.  This is what happens behind the scenes, this is what the rest of the team depends on. 

I arrived in the kitchen way too early this morning, the first day of marathon events.  There was no reason to stay at home, I had been awake most of the night anyway, might as well be awake in the kitchen where I might do something to help get the work underway.  Over the past two days our kitchen crew had done as much in advance as was possible, but so much had to be done in the moment.  All the meat and fish fabrication had been done yesterday, stocks were made the day before and volume sauces were well underway.  The prep team had sorted, cut, trimmed, and blanched the stalks of jumbo fresh asparagus, blanched and peeled Roma tomatoes for salads, turned two hundred pounds of russet potatoes, trimmed mountains of haricot vert, and peeled 300 perfect cippolini onions for butter poaching.  Today the cooking and finishing work will begin.

It was 5am and I had been in the kitchen for nearly two hours.  The hoods were turned on, and ovens in the pastry department were up to temp.  The morning baker had already arrived, and we were hard at work before Emmett the breakfast cook arrived.  Coffee was on, Danish dough was being rolled through the sheeter, bacon and breakfast sausage was panned up and ready for the oven, and I was methodically reviewing all the production sheets and BEO’s one last time making sure I hadn’t missed anything.  I walked through the coolers once again checking off advance prep and verifying the quality of ingredients.  Things looked good.

Emmett arrived at 5:30:

“Morning, chef.  You’re here early.”

“Good morning, Emmett.  Are you ready for this?”

“I was born ready, chef.”

Normally, Emmett worked on his own.  He could easily handle 125 breakfasts by himself.  He really is amazing – some people are natural breakfast cooks, a job that requires speed, accuracy, confidence, organization, and the ability to dance when others would fall.  Emmett had it all.  This weekend, because the house was full and everyone would be coming down for breakfast, Emmett would have an assistant.  Sally was not scheduled until 6am, but she walked in shortly after Emmett.  She was working with us as an intern from a regional culinary program.  Sally was full of energy and enthusiasm and had worked enough with Emmett over the past month that he was confident in her ability.  They hit the ground running, rarely spoke, and only used eye contact to direct next steps.  The dining room would open at 7am and we expected over 300 for breakfast with most arriving around 8am – crunch time.  When things got intense, the morning sous chef, Scott, would expedite, and if necessary, I could jump in as well.

The event wall was filled with clip boards, each holding the food function of the day.  Coffee hours, luncheons, break set-ups, and elaborate dinners for groups from 10 to 300 were on deck.  At 7am, breakfast was underway, and the early crew of additional cooks were beginning prep and set-ups for additional functions that began at 10.  All our ingredients were already in-house, only a produce ordered remained and we expected the truck around 9.  By 8:15 the dining room was full.  We had seating for 150 and there wasn’t an empty chair.  A line of people was waiting for seats, so we knew that service was now on fire.  Emmett and Sally were in the zone, Scott was on expo serving as liaison between front and back of the house, calling out orders, wiping the rims of plates, and setting garnishes in place.  I jumped in for about 20 minutes to finish plating orders with bacon or sausage, making sure not to get in Emmett’s way, and then gracefully stepped aside when I saw they were in the zone.

Function prep was well underway by 10am.  Since the house was full for one conference group, normal restaurant business had been suspended for the weekend.  Lunches for the three-day conference were to be buffets so two cooks were dedicated to this.  A variety of salads, poached salmon served cold with fresh mayonnaise, grilled shrimp, a different potato each day, and alternating carved meats including roast beef tenderloin with bordelaise, roast turkey with lingonberry relish, or roast loin of pork with pan gravy and fresh applesauce were accompanied by a variety of breads and desserts from our bakeshop.  Since the group would fit lunch between breakout seminars, we only had a little over 90 minutes to serve 300.  We offered two seatings that filled our dining room and set two buffet lines serviced by a carver at each and three food runners to keep everything stocked.  While luncheons were taking place, the evening crew arrived to jump into prep for our high end, four course plated dinners in the evening.  At peak time during lunch service there would be a kitchen crew of fifteen – from cooks and sous chefs to dishwashers and baking staff. Part of my job was to help keep everything moving smoothly, make sure that everyone was conscious of workspace, a clean-as-you go mentality, and focus on organization and quality assurance.  As much as I would like to jump in and actually cook, these tasks were far more important.  The team is good at what they do, aware of our standards, and serious about doing things right no matter how small or large the task.

Out front, the service staff is just as methodical and organized. Under the direction of our dining room managers, the service staff were busy setting and re-setting tables, clearing and serving beverages, helping our runners keep the buffets looking sharp, and attending to the needs of the guest.  Once the last lunch was cleared it was all hands on-deck along with the housemen to tear down the room and re-set for more a formal, white tablecloth dinner each night.  For this, silverware would be measured from the edge of the table and glassware for wines lined up using a string plumb line.  Tablecloths were doubled up with a silencer cloth to keep noise down, and centerpieces were set with fresh flowers that arrived throughout the day.  Selected white wines were chilled and reds were opened in advance to properly breathe.

In the kitchen, cooks were blanching and shocking vegetables, finishing sauces, making clusters of herb garnishes, searing meats, poaching shellfish, portioning desserts, and reducing coulis for Bavarians, house made ice cream and delicate cakes.  At 5pm every station offered a tasting of prepared items for the evening sous chef, and I followed by a pre-meal with service staff where descriptors of dishes were offered and questions from service staff were answered.

At 7pm guests were seated using our ballroom and all ancillary restaurant space allowing us to seat the 300 hungry diners.  Each place setting included a pre-set amuse bouche (single bite palate teaser). Like the conductor of a symphonic orchestra, the maitre’d signaled the start of service while her assistant helped me orchestrate the steady flow of plates from the kitchen.  The amuse bouche was cleared as a fish course began to leave the kitchen.  If you could put the kitchen scene to music, it would flow like a Bach concerto.  The fish course was fully served within fifteen minutes giving the kitchen just enough time to clear the staging area, set new stacks of plates for the entrée and start the plating process all over again.  In the pastry shop, the beautiful complex desserts that each night included something fresh, something sweet, something with texture, and a sauce were being assembled.  Beautiful Bavarians with piped chocolate filagree garnishes, fresh berries, and spicy apricot coulis on the first night and cream puff swans with warm crème anglaise on the final night were being pre-set at a makeshift staging area in the hotel lobby.  It was a picture of organization that took on a life of its own.

After three days of coffee hours, cocktail receptions, formal dinners, a ‘la carte breakfasts and buffet lunches.  The weekend came to an end as guests checked out after their final workshop and lunch.  The kitchen crew was immersed in deep cleaning mode as everything was scrubbed down, coolers re-organized, everything labeled and dated, and inventories taken so that we could begin to place orders and restock for normal business on Monday.  I sat in my office with our two sous chefs, and the dining room managers as we toasted with a glass of wine.  Another crazy piece of business under our belts.  A team effort that most guests will never see or understand.  This is what we do, it is in our DNA.  Now maybe I can catch a little sleep.

The chef’s job is complex; success depends on the experiences that he or she brings to the table and the passion needed to seek excellence, always.  The ability to pull off all the planning rests on the shoulders of dozens of individuals who all share that commitment to excellence.  Every step, every job is important, and each person is essential.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 60 interviews with the most influential people in food

It’s 5:30am when the alarm clock screams “it’s time!” My bare feet hit the cold floor while the muscles in my legs resist with a creeping cramp that brings me quickly to my knees.  “Crap!!”, I shout while frantically rubbing my calf trying to work out that Charlie horse pain.  I can feel the knot in that muscle move slowly from the top of my ankle to the back of my knee.  Finally, the leg tension starts to subside, and I’m able to stand and limp my way to the apartment kitchen.  I heat a cup of stale coffee from the night before and set the brewer up for another pot. This is going to be a three or four cup morning just to get my body ready to start another day.

I turn on the news as background noise (there’s never any good news) and I faintly catch the key points about another mass shooting, climate anomalies, political battles, the lingering pandemic, and the rising price of goods.  It has all become too commonplace and as such has little meaning.  My focus will soon be on whether staff members show up as scheduled, will deliveries be on time and what will they short me today, how many reservations on the book, and moving through the day – one plate at a time.  I spend 15 minutes on the stationary bike still trying to work out that leg cramp, rush through50 sit-ups, take shower and shave, and down two more cups of coffee.  I’ll catch some breakfast when I arrive at work. 

By 7am I am walking through the back door of the kitchen.  Sunrise is still 15 minutes away and I realize that unless I step outside at some point, I won’t see sunshine again today, or for that matter, until sometime in March.  Of all the things about winter- the cold, snow, freezing rain, slippery roads, and heavy coats – it is the lack of sunshine that bothers me the most. As usual, the early team has been at work for a couple hours and I am greeted by the smell of pastries fresh from the oven, bacon, mirepoix caramelizing for a veal stock, and fresh coffee.  The sous chef, Carl, smiles when I walk to my office: “Mornin chef -another dreary day in the neighborhood.”  I nod and give him a thumbs up.  Before I can turn on the computer, Emmett has my usual breakfast in front of me: eggs over easy, bacon, home fries, and a side of salsa.  “Here you go chef, coffees on the way.”  I pull on my chef coat and say: “Thanks Emmett”.

I quickly scan my computer for any urgent emails and pull the clip board with all the BEO’s off the wall.  Two emails catch my attention: an emergency manager’s meeting at 9am and one note from my most experienced evening line cook: “Sick today, chef.  Can’t make it in.” I polish off breakfast in record time, kick back another coffee, tie on an apron, and walk through the kitchen with clipboard in hand.  There are a few coffee hours, a lunch for 40, and a rehearsal dinner tonight for 25.  A light day in terms of events, but the restaurant is capped on reservations.  We will likely top 200 for dinner.  The hotel restaurant doesn’t serve lunch (except for special events) which gives us a chance to catch our breath. Emmett is flying through breakfast orders (he always amazes me), pauses to give me a thumbs up and turns back to the flat top filled with egg pans, a handful of flapjacks on the griddle, and home fries ready to turn.  I set down my clipboard and jump in to give him a hand garnishing and assembling plates.  I don’t dare try to move his egg pans or disrupt his system.  Ten minutes of sliding plates down the pass and he is back to a comfortable pace.  I give him a high five and move on to the bakeshop. 

This is a busy hotel kitchen and because of our size we can afford the luxury of our own full-time bakery department.  Jeanette is our pastry chef and is supported by Jack the bread baker and a part time assistant (an intern from a regional culinary school).  Jack is the early guy and Jeanette typically arrives around noon and stays through dinner service. 

“Morning, Jack.” “Morning, chef.” 

We review the bakery components on the special menus for the day and typical inventory of baked goods for restaurant service.  As usual, he was on top of everything.  While we talked, he peeled a dozen loaves of sourdough bread from the oven hearth.  The smell never gets old. Finally, I checked in with Dean, our early prep cook, as he finishes checking in the morning produce order. 

“Any shorts on the produce order, Dean?”  He finished signing the invoice and said: “Everything’s good today chef, except for the raspberries.  They looked like crap, so I sent them back.  We have enough to get through today.”

He returned to building his veal stock that will simmer for the next six hours and then reviewed his prep list for the day.  Dean is also the guy to take care of any early breakfast or lunch special events, so he was all over the lunch scheduled for 40. 

He gave me a taste: “Lobster salad, chef.  A nice lunch with warm potato and leek soup, lobster salad, and a strawberry Bavarian from the bakeshop.  I’m all set.”

Next, I check in with Julio, our dependable dishwasher.  I bring him a cup of coffee (part of my routine) – one creamer, two sugars.  “How’s it shaking, Julio.” He smiles and says:

“Another day in paradise, chef.  Thanks for the coffee.”

Julio has worked for me for three years. He is always on time, never complains, keeps the dish area organized and clean, and takes care of the dish machine like it was part of his family.  He is quite simply – awesome.

“Let me know if you need anything, Julio.”

“Will do, chef.”

This is my morning routine.  I swear by it and never waver from taking the time to touch base with everyone.  Each person is essential, and I want them to know that I feel that way. Today, like most days, I think to myself, “such a great team.”  It’s hard to understand why it is so hard to attract new staff.  We pay well, and the team environment here is top shelf.  It’s a different world today, hopefully things will change soon.

It’s just a few minutes before 9am as I break away for the meeting.  Turns out, it was nothing too serious, a few complaints from an event last week that I will need to deal with and early information about an important conference on the books for next month.  A group has booked the entire hotel for three days including all meals, coffee hours, and a reception with live entertainment.  It will be all consuming, I’ll need to get to menu planning today.

When I return to the kitchen I jump on the phone and start calling for a line cook replacement for tonight.  I have three cooks off today, so hopefully I can pull one of them in, otherwise it will fall on my shoulders.  In the old days people worked even if they were sick.  That’s no longer acceptable, especially during a pandemic.  Unfortunately, it will mean overtime for someone, but such is life.

The luncheon goes off without a hitch, breakfast ended up topping 120, Emmett was cleaned up and prepped for tomorrow before noon, and as the clock hit 1pm, the dinner team began to arrive. The complexity of the menu is such that most of the prep is handled by individual line cooks. Dean, the prep cook, takes care of the heavy lifting: stocks, soups, bulk sauces, meat and fish fabrication, and salad dressings, but the detail work falls on station cooks.  They will be working at breakneck speed from the minute they walk in until 5pm when we have pre-meal check-in.  The sous chef will check everyone’s mise en place, taste everything, and then review features with the dining room staff.  I managed to find one of the cooks on her day off and she agreed to come in and cover the open station – that’s relief.

The evening sous chef took the lead in the kitchen while I returned to the office to build menus for the three-day conference next month, process invoices, and put in more work on next year’s budget.  I stopped to join the sous chef during pre-meal and then stuck around until 7pm to make sure they made it through rush hour and help plate the rehearsal dinner.  I took off my chef coat, hung up my apron, made a list for tomorrow, and enjoyed a plate of pasta and glass of wine.  At 7:30 I checked out heading home until tomorrow.  Check off another day – tomorrow will be busier but the team will take it in stride.  It’s dark outside, just as it was when I arrived this morning.  Ah, the joy of life in a winter kitchen, bright and filled with action inside while outside it is cold, snowy, and dark.  I love what I do, but as I walk-through ankle-deep snow, I find myself humming an old Beach Boys song and wondering how many more days until summer.

Stay tuned for the next article – FULL HOUSE -ALL HANDS-ON DECK

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 50 interviews with the most influential people in food

I may be in the minority, but I have always felt, and often promoted, that restaurants can and occasionally do serve a higher purpose.  Since those early days as an apprentice and maybe even before as a 16-year-old dishwasher, I saw something special in restaurant life.  Yes, life – since those who find that higher purpose will likely invest a significant amount of time in a restaurant kitchen, not because they must, but rather because they want to.  The purpose to them involves a connection to the underlying soul of the operation; a soul that highlights history, tradition, a sense of family, respect and appreciation, and an inspiring story.  Is this poetic nonsense or is there truth in this idea of soul?

Soul is likely more evident in single unit proprietorships or small multi-unit operations that are family operated, and less evident in the larger chains simply because larger creates challenges to the feel of a restaurant and a loss of on-site control over that higher purpose.  I don’t have anything against the larger chains, there are some whose mission is built around trying to protect that purpose, but it’s exponentially harder to build and hold onto that soul when hundreds of miles separate units.

Whether speaking from a spiritual standpoint, referencing soul music, soul food, or the soul of a restaurant – it is clear that each of these can “transform the moments in our day and bring us closer to living life from a place that sits well with who we are at our core”₁.  In other words, something goes beyond what is apparent on the surface: personality, sound, food, or service.  “Who we are” is the foundation of our existence that includes our heritage, who we want to be, and who others believe we are and what we represent.  Soul is the definition of you and the pursuit of this will always be our most important goal in life.  Now, this is getting heavy, but bear in mind that it can and should be fulfilling and exciting.

When we listen to authentic soul music, we can feel the musician’s pain and joy.  The music is designed to open the listener up to the performer’s life and story.  When we eat authentic soul food we are transported to the environment where the cook matured, where he or she connected with ingredients, and how their socio-economic condition impacted what and how those ingredients were prepared.  We not only taste soul food; we feel it.  The same can be true in a restaurant.  Expressing this, building a team around it, and telling that story is what I refer to as that higher purpose.

As a cook or chef, we are drawn to those operations where punching a clock is replaced with joining the energy that a restaurant exudes.  Have you worked in an operation like this?  Have you walked through the door with the typical knot in your stomach being overpowered by positive anticipation?  Okay, maybe not every day, but most.  Are you excited to see the people you work with; touch the fresh ingredients delivered by farmers, fish mongers, and ranchers who are passionate about their work; and taking in the smells, sounds, and flavors of honest cooking happening all around?  If you answer yes, then you have been touched by the restaurant’s soul.

Does the place where you work have a story that everyone knows and feels; a story that resonates with every employee, owner, and guest?  Does that story take people back in time and allow them to think about the impact the place, building, people, and food had on who they are today?  If so, then the restaurant has linked with its higher purpose.

When this happens, magic occurs.  The employees work from the heart, not just a prep sheet.  When this happens, the owners feel a sense of responsibility to protect that soul.  When this happens, guests find that their anticipation and actual experience become memorable and at some level, inspiring.

Sometimes the purpose of a restaurant gets lost in the noise of defining success.  Look around in your community and you will be able to pick out those restaurants with soul and special purpose that are part of that success formula as well as those that tend to forget why they exist.  Financially successful restaurant will come and go if they fail to connect to their soul where those that have the order correct may continue to exist for generations.  That small, family-owned Italian restaurant on the corner of your neighborhood; the one that has been there for 75years, undoubtedly has soul.  There is a story there that everyone understands from the host to the dishwasher and each one respects their role in perpetuating that higher purpose. 

I was reminded of this important differentiation today through a shared article about Chef Sean Sherman’s Owamni restaurant in Minneapolis (Thanks Chef Tim Hardiman).  The James Beard Foundation recognized this indigenous operation as the Best New Restaurant in America.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/19/how-owamni-became-the-best-new-restaurant-in-the-united-states

 Sean’s approach is to tell the story of the Lakota people through food and in doing so he has defined the restaurant’s soul.  This higher purpose is felt by all stakeholders in the operation; a purpose that goes beyond the food, it makes a connection to history, traditions, struggles, and perseverance.

The same has been true of operations like Alice Water’s Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, Lombardi’s pizzeria in Brooklyn, Fore Street in Portland, Maine, Berghoff’s in Chicago, Willie Mae’s Scotch House in New Orleans, The Union Oyster House in Boston, The Tadich Grill in San Francisco, The White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island, and thousands of other neighborhood restaurants that live their higher purpose.

When purpose is defined, when teams are built with this in mind, and when the soul of the operation is evident to all, then financial success will come as well.  This is how the great restaurants are defined and where generational longevity is a result.

Note: _{1 –} From the movie “Soul”

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Does your restaurant have soul?

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

Yep, I know there are bruises and wounds to heal, any industry has their share.   Certainly, there are issues and things to be addressed and fixed and there is little doubt that life has not always been fair and kind when it comes to kitchen work, but like so many other businesses and industries – the positive far outweighs those scars and wounds. Take the time to think about it:

This is a profile of the restaurant business that gets lost in all the negative press.

[]       SECOND LARGEST EMPLOYER

In 2021, there were 14.5 million people employed in the restaurant industry₁

[]       THE CLEAREST WINDOW TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

80%of single-unit restaurants in the U.S. are owned by people who started as entry-level employees and 90% of managers started in the same way.₁

[]       THE LEADING “FIRST JOB” INDUSTRY IN AMERICA

1/3^rd of all Americans had their first job in restaurants and nearly ½ of all American workers have had a job in restaurants at some point in their life.₁

[]       A BENCHMARK BUSINESS THAT DEFINES A VILLAGE, TOWN, OR CITY

“Local restaurants are an impactful gathering place for communities, where relationships form, and memories are made.  They preserve agriculture and food preferences and styles of cooking from generation to generation and are the lifeblood of regional food culture.”₂

[]       THE HALLMARK FOR TRADITIONS AND ETHNICITY

The neighborhood restaurant is often the soul of micro cultures.  It is the repository of recipes, cooking methods, traditions, and the power of our melting pot country.

[]       A UNIVERSAL REWARD SYSTEM FOR CUSTOMERS

Dining out is more than a need for nourishment, it is a reward for hard work, a place to celebrate success, a way to recognize others, a mecca for friends to enjoy each other’s company, and a place where the important topics of the day find a home in discussion.

[]       THE REAL CONNECTION BETWEEN FARMERS AND CONSUMERS

The farmer is oftentimes the unsung hero of our communities.  Without them, we would not be able to enjoy the bounty of the earth.  The restaurant is the forum where farmers can see the fruits of their labor come to life.  Restaurateurs are ambassadors for the regional agricultural community.

[]       THE HIGHEST PERCENT OF WOMEN MANAGERS & OWNERS OF ANY

INDUSTRY

47% of all restaurants in the U.S. are owned by women.

[]       A SAFE HAVEN FOR CREATIVE PEOPLE

No other art form has such an impact.  No other art form appeals to all human senses.  No other art form provides the artist with instant feedback on the quality of his or her work.  No other art form connects so many stakeholders through the process of growing, processing, transporting, preparing, serving, and enjoying a product.

[]       THE HEART OF THE ECONOMY IN TOURIST COMMUNITIES

All other aspects of tourism rely on the restaurant to punctuate an experience.  What is travel, a hotel, or a center of entertainment without the provision of quality food?

[]       AN INDUSTRY THAT THRIVES ON TEAM ENVIRONMENTS

Although many industries require teams to accomplish their goals, very few are so closely inter-dependent and focused on teamwork, as the restaurant business.  It is the concept of team that attracts people to a career in food and it is the action of the team that allows a positive guest experience to come to fruition. 

Let’s fix our problems, but not forget just how valuable and important the restaurant industry is to our way of life – a quality life.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 50 interviews with the most influential people in food

Push it out, how many covers, lock, and load, finish strong, over the hump, wrap it up: this the language of the kitchen during service, these are the timestamps like the number of quarters in a football game or innings in baseball.  Get it done, no mistakes, and pick up the pace are all directives that help line cooks make it through another day or night.  When all is said and done, we can wipe our brows and sigh in relief.  We made it!  I get it, I’ve been there, I know the adrenaline behind this and the sense of accomplishment when the rail is free of dupes – it is a race against time, an impossible goal that somehow, we manage to reach.  Mission accomplished. But what about your food, what about the guest’s reaction, what about creating memorable experiences, what about your connection to the plate?

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need for numbers and the gratification that comes from exceeding expectations in this regard, but, if I might ask: “how do you feel about that plate?”  In the moment gratification from taming the volume beast is short lived.  Tomorrow there will be a need to do the same.  “How do you feel about that plate?”   Compromise may be a legitimate goal in negotiations and diplomacy, but not so much when it comes to quality and the meaning of your work. 

Take a moment to assess, to line up the results of your work with your vision of the plate, the guest experience, and the brand that you are trying to build.  I’m not a big fan of quick service restaurants, but I would be willing to bet that the menu items originally created by their corporate culinary team doesn’t translate to what is served in restaurant number 953.  Can they meet the crowds and even exceed budgeted customer counts on a given day?  Probably.  But what about that quality translation?   How does that corporate chef feel when he or she visits a random restaurant and sees how a 16-year-old on the grill has no vision of excellence in execution?  Isn’t it the same reality in a full-service operation where pushing the numbers is priority number 1?

Where is the happy medium, the commitment to those quality stakes in the ground?  Can quantity, speed, and quality coexist?  The answer, of course, is YES!  “But, but, but surely compromise is necessary if we are to turn tables and reach our numbers.”  Compromise in diplomacy means that both sides win at some level.  When we compromise with quality in a restaurant where is the win?  We filled the dining room, and everyone was served, but what was their experience?  Did they sense that the value was there?  Were they wowed into coming back again and again?  Will they write a great review on Trip Advisor?  When we compromise on the quality of cooking, taste, and presentation then we suffer trying to win unhappy customers back and you, the chef, must look in a mirror and see the face of compromise.

So, how do we find that space where quality is maintained, where the customer is wowed, and where the chef feels great about that plate of food while still turning tables and maximizing sales?  Okay, here’s a start:

TEN STEPS TO SIGNING YOUR WORK:

[]       SHARE YOUR VISION, INSTILL A SENSE OF PRIDE

Let everyone know exactly what you expect, get excited, show them how it should be done, and celebrate every act of excellence.

[]       BE THE EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS TO FOLLOW

Make sure you are always on top of your game, never falter from doing every task to the highest caliber.  You set the tone for others to emulate.

[]       TEACH AND TRAIN

Invest in them, engage them, show them, work through problems with them, and measure their performance against your standards.  Help them to become the best they can be.

[]       PUT YOUR STAMP OF APPROVAL ON EVERY PLATE

Be present, watch what goes out, inspect plates, taste everything, let every know that you intend to sign each plate, and, in your absence, you expect that they will do the same.

[]       CELEBRATE EXCELLENCE IN EVERYTHING

Right down to their station set-up, organization of pans, cleanliness of cookware, uniforms, the way they cut vegetables and fillet a whole fish – excellence is a habit – make it so!

[]       SHOW NO TOLERANCE FOR MEDIOCRITY IN ANYTHING

Once excellence sinks in then mediocrity will have no home in your kitchen.  Until then, make it very clear that you expect the best from them and will not tolerate a “good enough” approach.

[]       LET YOUR COOKS BECOME GUESTS

Give your cooks a chance, now and then, to dine out front.  Let them see what the guest sees, taste what the guest tastes, and feel the level of excellence that you are trying to promote.

[]       BUILD IN QUALITY SYSTEMS

Don’t assume that quality will happen build it in beginning with selection of vendors, inspection of ingredients when they arrive, proper storage in coolers and dry storage, the right tools to do the job, chip free plates, spotless glassware, plate presentations designed to wow, and palate building among your cooks so that they know when it is right.  Recipes are not enough; they need to understand great cooking and then they will be able to problem solve.

[]       MEASURE QUALITY AND SEEK FEEDBACK

Find ways to assess quality: chef tastings, peer tastings, pre-meal critique, post-meal assessment, guest comment cards, etc.

[]       SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

Everything is important – groom your staff to develop “restaurant eyes”.  Require cooks to dress professionally on the way to work, have them enter through the front door so that they can look for any slip in excellence, train them to line up items in the storeroom and coolers with excellence in mind, labels pointing out, FIFO inventory management, proper covering, and HACCP labeling, be insistent that floors be cleaned frequently, show servers how to help the dishwasher with proper scraping and stacking, etc.  The list is long – it’s all important.

Act as though everyone, including yourself, is required to sign their work.  Teach your staff to be their own worst critic so that job doesn’t fall on your shoulders alone and then allow yourself to become the cheerleader for excellence.

Celebrate those nights when you break records for guests served or revenue projections that were broken, but never allow compromise of quality to be a reason why those goals were met.  Excellence begins with the person who holds the position of chef, but it comes to fruition when everyone is committed to it.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

I have always loved the restaurant business.  My professional life has been dedicated to the kitchen, the people of restaurants, the ingredients and their source, the process and the adrenaline, the service and an opportunity to make people happy, and of course those plates as they slide down the pass.  There are, of course, restaurants and there are restaurants.  I have been impressed and disappointed in many from those exclusive fine dining establishments with food that should be admired for its beauty to greasy spoons with the best burgers you will ever find.  I have been dismayed by some who attempt to be something they are not, or who feel that a name or location are enough to lead to success.  They are all part of my passion for the preparation and service of food.

I have worked in and in my later years consulted for operations where it was the hope of profit that drove all decisions and been part of those who aligned with a higher calling, a calling that led to success on a whole different level.  These are the restaurants, the chefs and cooks, the servers and bartenders, and the owners who knew that what they did for a living was really important.  “Build it and they will come” was more than a cute phrase from the movies – to these folks, a higher calling meant that cooking is a privilege, service is a way of life, and the chance to work with others and express their own love of restaurants was paramount.  Ironically, in so many of these operations – financial success comes because of this higher purpose.  When profit drives all decisions then a restaurant will lose its character, its soul, and its potential.  Profit is not the means to an end, it is the end brought about by the means, the heart, the soul, and a love of that plate.

Whenever I take the time to pause and reflect on my time working in restaurants and participating in restaurant experiences, I tend to categorize them as wow experiences, surprising experiences, and special experiences.  Hands down, it is the special experience that is most memorable – the operation that moves to the beat of a drum that keeps time with the higher calling objective.

So, what is this higher calling?  Well, it’s not one thing, it’s not something that can even be outlined in a business plan, or for that matter predicted at all.  It’s more a realization than an objective.  It happens when those involved in a restaurant stumble into the life of service, the importance of tradition, the sense of community, and the connections that are possible over a plate of food.  Maybe you haven’t thought about this before, but I have.  It is very likely that you have experienced it, supported it, enjoyed it, but never gave it much reflection, but I have. 

It’s that local apple orchard that decided to offer warm cider and fried apple and pumpkin donuts to people lined up to purchase a peck of MacIntosh, Cortland, or Honey Crisp apples.  Happy customers told their friends, and their friends told their friends.  Suddenly, more family members are joining in to help sell the donuts and add pies and quickbreads to the menu.  Slowly, but surely the grab and go becomes a sit and enjoy hand carved sandwiches on homemade breads, with a glass of cider as a few neighbors, smiles on their faces, joined the family in an effort to meet the demands of a growing business.  People in line are laughing and connecting with others from town as this apple orchard becomes the place to be on a Saturday or Sunday.  This is a place with a higher purpose.

It’s the corner Italian restaurant that has been around for three generations with a menu that rarely changes: it’s predictable, consistent, and fabulous.  The sauce has been handed down from great grandmothers and the bread doesn’t come off the back of a delivery truck – it is made on premise every morning starting at 3am.  IN the back of the kitchen the owner’s mother, now in her 70’s came back to work, to help, and to be a part of the music of the kitchen.  She is hand forming meatballs and rolling out linguini, tortellini, and ravioli.  The same flavor profile used for the past 60 years.  When you walk in the restaurant as a patron you can smell the Bolognese simmering, the meatballs caramelizing, and the salt water used to soften cheese curd for fresh mozzarella.  Nothing fancy, plates are not overly manipulated, the servers are not pretentious, and you can buy a bottle of wine for less than $50.  This is memorable, this is what it means to enjoy a meal at a restaurant where people care about those who work there and those who raise a glass full of hope and good cheer.  This is a place with higher purpose.

It’s the neighborhood food market that has controlled a corner of your town for decades.  You know, the one where the isles are too narrow for people to cross paths, the produce looks like it was picked a few hours ago, the meat case is bright and clean packed with beautiful red steaks and roasts, vivid pink pork loins, chickens with a few pin feathers still intact, and sausages that were made on premise by a butcher with a well fed belly, white bib apron, straw hat, and hands that are big enough to palm a basketball.  It’s a place where the dry goods shelves are filled only with the best of the best, the fish is packed in ice and you know that it was pulled from the ocean that day or the day before, and the cashier, owner, and deli slicer all know your name.  “Try a slice of prosciutto, it will melt in your mouth.”  This is a special place where quality, service, and sincerity are always on the menu and price is judged in relation to value.  This is a place with a higher purpose.

I remember that little bistro in a quaint French village where the owner was the host, the server, and the cook.  Where six tables were all that could fit and they were always full.  Where the menu was there, but rest assured, if you wanted something different and they had the ingredients, it was a pleasure to cook for you.  I think back to that Greek breakfast operation tucked away in a storefront in mid-town Manhattan for fifty years where your morning eggs were cooked to ordered and delivered to your table before you could read the headlines on page one of the New York Times.  This is the place where your coffee cup was always full, where the check was delivered before you had to ask, where after a few visits the waiter remembered what you wanted and placed the order for you.  I remember the twelve-seat operation in the French Quarter of New Orleans that served only gumbo, but man was it extraordinary.  The staff was a husband-and-wife team, with help from parents, children, and even grandkids who learned to clear tables before they made it to high school.  How could I ever forget the takeout only pizzeria that prepared incredible Neapolitan style pizza, throwing dough, and stretching it into perfect circles, spreading sauce made three times a week, virgin olive oil drizzled over fresh pulled mozzarella, sauteed wild mushrooms and thinly sliced prosciutto, topped with leaves of fresh basil and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper.  A father and son and lone dishwasher/box folder were able to crank out hundreds of extraordinary pies every day while carrying on conversations with nearly every customer. And I will always remember that eighty-year-old artisan bread baker whose wood-fired oven bakeshop was tucked away on a farm that was impossible to find unless you had a guide.  A place where baking bread was a religion that took center stage in his life.  A few hours of sleep were interjected at various times throughout the day in between, mixing, feeding the starter, bowl proof, shaping, tending the fire, and baking those crisp crust round loaves with rich, sour dough centers, filled with fermentation holes, as they were pulled from a 500-degree hearth.  He sold 280 loaves of one kind of bread, six days per week.  The bread was delivered by neighbors to local grocery outlets in exchange of a loaf or two to take home. These are places with a higher purpose.

‘

There is so much to love about the restaurant business, but it will always be those operations and operators with a higher purpose who win my heart and my on-going support.  They do it for the love of cooking and baking, and in honor of the farmers, ranchers, and fishermen who supply exceptional ingredients.  They do it to bring the family together, and they do it for the joy of being important to the community where they sit. This is that higher purpose.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

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At a time when it seems as if we all suffer from irreconcilable differences, it may just be the chef and a great plate of food that can bring us together.  This is not a new thought; food has been used in mediation for centuries.  It was even Escoffier who once stated:

“The art of cooking is perhaps one of the most useful forms of diplomacy.”

From government “State Dinners” that bring world leaders together to the cafeteria in the United Nations building and from restaurant meccas for traditional business lunches to your home dinner table – food is a common denominator and great food is a vehicle for bringing people together. 

The key is to find common ground, something that allows people with differences to set them aside in the moment as they appreciate the act of breaking bread.  Ah…what a responsibility and what an opportunity we have as cooks to give people a chance to see each other as people first, not just representatives of an ideology, not simply a person with whom we disagree.  Restaurants are destinations that provide hope for reconciliation and agreement. They are neutral territory where food and drink can demonstrate what people have in common rather than what pushes them apart.  To this end, the chef is the consummate diplomat.

The chef’s diplomatic strategy is complex and specific.  The diplomatic meal is one that considers the diners state of mind, history and traditions, and openness to an experience that educates as well as satisfies. Paying respect to each person’s background while spicing up the plate with flavors and presentations that break new ground, surprise, and invigorate is a formula that only the well-seasoned chef can pull off.  Sometimes an existing menu can accomplish this while at other times there is a need for the chef to go “off menu”.  In either case, having the knowledge to prescribe a meal puts the chef in control of the situation – a position that any true diplomat would enjoy.

It was 2002 when the Economist Magazine coined the word: “gastrodiplomacy” to describe the Global Thai initiative that was focused on improving the image of Thailand and expanding the reach of its cuisine.  As a diplomatic effort used numerous times since, this was described as: “winning hearts and minds through stomachs.”₁

Food is a universal language, one that anyone can appreciate and embrace as a way to discover more about a culture and the people who represent it.  On the international stage this is very commonly used as an effective tool.

I wonder if gastrodiplomacy and the chef’s skills can be just as effective in helping us all put aside our differences, take a breath, break bread, and see each other as people first.  We are people with different opinions, but still the same, nonetheless.  The cook’s table is a place of commonality, a sacred environment where we can re-think how we approach each other, push aside those points of disagreement, smile, laugh, raise a glass, and enjoy what is on the plate in front of us.

Is food the answer to this downward spiral of disagreement and labeling as “with me or against me”?  Pandemic concerns aside, is it time for more community tables in restaurants, more opportunities for chefs to simply cook to unite?  Think about those times in your life when you celebrated others; those times when you enjoyed the company of others without judgement or comparison; those times when it was fun to simply be part of another person’s space. I would guess that most, if not all those experiences involved food.  Food is the catalyst, the magnet that pulls people to the table and the glue that allows them to bond.

We may not agree on politics, we may be over-the-top partisan when it comes to our favorite sporting team, our views on education, the type of music we listen to or books that we choose to read, but we can all agree on a great tasting plate of food. Why not start there and learn to appreciate what we can agree on?  Maybe then, we can grow to listen to others’ opinions without viewing those with whom we disagree as enemies on the other side. 

Every day that I think about the career in the kitchen that I chose (or that chose me) I see just how important the work is, just how much opportunity there is for this work to make a difference.  Think about it.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

*₁ – Fabio Parasecoli – Professor of Food Studies- New York University

More than anything else, when I was in restaurant kitchens I looked forward to planning and testing the next set of menu changes.  A stale menu is not cost effective, ignorant of quality issues with ingredients, uninspiring for employees, and just plain boring.  It is a menu change that tests a chef’s ability to understand the seasonality of harvest, the connection that menu items have with the concept of the restaurant, executive cost-effective items, push the kitchen crew to enhance their skills, and excite the customer.  Are you up to it?

Winter is, by far my favorite season to plan menus.  This is where “real cooking” comes into play; where a chef demonstrates his or her ability to pull flavors out of seasonal ingredients and marry flavors to match the weather outside.  Braising, Roasting, Barbeque, Stewing, Poaching, and any item that engages “low and slow” is appropriate in the winter months.  Depending on where you live this season might last three months, or you could be in for the long haul.  Northern New York State where I spent my career looks ahead to nearly six months of cold, snow, and an occasional ice storm. 

Winter is the time when red wines jump to centerstage, when hearty IPA’s and sour ales are in demand, when hard cider, bourbon, single malt scotch, and barrel aged whiskeys take up much more shelf space behind your bar.  It is the time when guests seek out restaurants with a fireplace, open wood fired kitchens, and the rich, deep smell of charred meats and fish, roasted crispy birds, sweet oven baked garlic, caramelized onions, and short ribs and shanks coming from a six hour braise.  It is the season of butternut, acorn, delicata, and spaghetti squash roasting with plenty of butter and brown sugar, of roasted walnuts, pecans, and marcona almonds added to your salads, and in-house pickling finding its way onto your appetizer boards.  Late season root vegetables like carrots, beets, and parsnips are on everyone’s list.  This is the time for brussels sprouts to jump to a lead role on your menus, roasted, blanched and sauteed, char grilled or smoked – these former “second-class citizen” vegetables are now peaking in popularity.

For the chef interested in helping the bottom line – winter provides an opportunity to work with lesser cuts of meat and poultry, less frequently ordered fish, and dramatically enhance their perceived value through alternative cooking methods that draw out and combine flavors. 

How are your menu planning skills?  What experiences can you draw on in building this menu that moves quickly away from light and piquant to heavy and robust?  There will always be room, even in the winter, for lighter menu items, complicated salads, grilled fish and steaks, and a load of tasty sauté dishes, but in the winter your guests will pull their chair up to a table ready, willing, and able to touch that fabulous, braised pork shoulder that falls off the bone.  Are you ready?

Whenever I dove into the menu change process I worked with the following simple, but effective way to get from concept to plate:

[]       DECIDE ON A DIRECTION

What will be the foundation of your menu?  Will it be consistent throughout the seasons, or will it change at some level as the seasons do?  As an example – Thomas Keller has a sign on his kitchen wall that says: “finesse”.  Although there is no specific cuisine that stems from this, it does set the tone for every menu item, every preparation, and every moment of service.  Epic restaurant in Georgia follows suit with “Culinary Pride” on their kitchen wall – again a driving concept that requires every person to ask themselves – does this dish, its flavor, the presentation, and the manner with which it is delivered reflect “Culinary Pride?”

I took a different approach in kitchens that I directed.  Every menu and every menu item were drawn from a simple idea of “elegant comfort food”.  I expected that every dish, no matter its origin or influence must reflect that feeling of familiarity and exceptional execution.  Decide on a direction.

[]       LET YOUR COOKS KNOW

A common mistake that chefs make (I have been there myself in the early days) was to assume that the menu is the chef’s, and only the chef’s responsibility.  It must be, at some level, collaborative.  If you want your cooks to be excited, your service staff to be proud, and your guests to receive exceptionally well-executed dishes, then everyone must feel like they had some input.  Always be willing to listen to their ideas on how a dish might be prepared or presented better.

[]       PULL TOGETHER RESOURCES TO STUDY

Never feel that it is somehow “cheating” to research through cookbooks, visiting other restaurants, or talking with professional peers and then re-creating an item that inspires you.  Everyone does it at some level – that’s why cookbooks are around.  I have a significant collection of books from all types of restaurants.  Some I have not yet even paged through, but I know that at some point there will be inspiration for a dish or concept inside.

Keep in mind that a “recipe” is nearly impossible to protect under law (copyright, patent, trademark, etc.) so restaurants can and do freely use menu items that another may have “invented”.  But be professional about using established items.  If you add a named classical dish on your menu, then make it as it was originally developed, list it as “inspired by”, or make it uniquely yours.  This is not required but it is the right way to conduct yourself as a chef.

[]       LIST THOSE INGREDIENTS THAT WILL BE IN-SEASON & AVAILABLE

Restaurant chefs have become accustomed to accessing nearly any ingredient year-round.  We know that every ingredient has a season unless we travel around the world to get it.  The best menus take advantage of what is in season where you are.  Asparagus is a spring vegetable, strawberries in June, apples in the early fall, Pacific halibut from June to September, spring lamb in May and June, etc.  So, put together a chart of ingredient seasonality and hang it in your office.  Let this be one of your important guides in preparing menus.  Reference the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch research on seasonality and environmental challenges with certain types of seafood as well.

[]       ATTACH A COST TO CENTER OF PLATE INGREDIENTS

Costing out recipes is time consuming unless you have support staff who can track that for you, however, you can keep a handle on a menu items’ cost by simply charting what your center of plate proteins cost and staying seasonal with their selection. Know that based on your concept there will always be a pricing ceiling that you should avoid.  No matter how well the item is prepared and how exceptional it might be, if you exceed that price ceiling people will shy away from buying it.

[]       PREP, TASTE, SEASON, TASTE

As a seasoned chef you may understand what a menu item will taste like simply by working it through your mind’s eye, but there are far too many variables that impact flavor when an original dish is created.  Make sure that you include a trial-and-error phase to menu development and involve different people in the tasting process.

[]       THINK COLORS AND TEXTURES ON A PLATE

Yes, taste is the ultimate attraction to a dish, but if it doesn’t look good on the plate then a guest’s flavor receptors will reject it.  Any menu that is designed must also consider “plate presence”.  Invest the time in beautiful as well as tasty menu items – the eyes play a role in determining flavor.

[]       WORK IN YOUR SIGNATURE DESIGNS

This is where a chef can build his or her style as uniquely marketable.  If you have a signature, then use it and build it into the menu conversation with your cooks and service staff.  My “elegant comfort foods” had to focus on natural presentations.  In other words, I expected that everything would flow in a natural fashion and would not be too contrived.  I could “do contrived” but chose to avoid it with hot foods in particular. 

[]       THROW IT OUT TO YOUR KITCHEN CREW TO PLAY WITH

When you think that a menu item is “ready” then pass it off again to your kitchen team with the goal of making it better.  You might be surprised at what will evolve.

[]       COME UP WITH THREE VARIATIONS FOR EACH POTENTIAL ENTRÉE

If you want eight entrees on your new menu, then start by developing twelve with two or three slight variations for each.  Through trial and error and a bit of democracy you will come up with the best of the best and everyone has some level of buy-in.

[]       GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

If one of your cooks came up with the idea that put a menu item over the top, then make sure they get loads of credit.  You might even state on the physical men that the concept and specific menu items were a collaboration of ideas and put the names of your kitchen crew on the document.  This simple act will really charge up your team.

[]       MAKE SURE THAT IT HITS ALL OF YOUR STAKES IN THE GROUND

Whatever you hold close as essential to your philosophy of cooking must be adhered to, otherwise your buy-in will wane. 

[]       EDUCATE YOUR SERVICE STAFF

Your service staff members are on the front line.  They interact with guests, they are the key salespeople, and they will suffer the most if a guest is unhappy.  Take the time to explain the concept, the menu choices, the process used in development and require them to taste everything.  Have your bar manager or sommelier offer a pairing tasting so that they know what beverages to recommend.  Make them part of the whole process.

[]       GIVE IT A TRY AND BE WILLING TO DELETE OR ADD IF NECESSARY

Finally, whenever a menu is developed, in this case for that time of the year when robust flavors are so exciting and ever-present, know that all your work may not lead to acceptance.  If the guest doesn’t respond well then write it off as a learning experience and make adjustments to your menu.  It must always be fluid until the guest says: “WOW”.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG

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So, this is something that I have been perplexed about for the past few months: more and more restaurants are beginning to charge for bread.  At first, I was really put off by this.  Come on – is this the way to address your food cost woes?  But after I settled down, I started to think about it.  What is the role of bread in a meal?  Has bread, in the past, been relegated to condiment status? 

Well, maybe, this is exactly the case when like salt, pepper, and butter, the rule of thumb has too often been – give it away but find the least expensive options to buy.  Ah…but what if the restaurant takes bread seriously?  What if they invest in either an in-house artisan baker or buy from a seriously talented Boulanger?  What if the butter on the table is cultured from a high-end dairy or cold pressed extra virgin olive oil is poured tableside for dipping?

Now the formula changes, doesn’t it?  Those beautiful, hard crusted, perfectly handled sour dough loaves or crunchy French baguettes with their fragrant artisan grain chew that make your jaw work overtime to experience the whole product just might deserve more attention.  Should we elevate the bread to course status?  Is it time for restaurants who take bread seriously to add breads to their appetizer menu, or a separate menu course all-together?

I wonder if menus from those serious restaurants should talk more about their bread, just like a chef might talk about the farm where beautiful organic produce is harvested, Angus steaks shipped directly to a restaurants’ salt lined rooms for 18-24 days of dry aging, or seafood that adheres to the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch.  Why not?

If in the early morning bakeshop, a crew of passionate artisan bakers are nurturing a 12-hour proof for dough that will become incredible whole grain boules that smell rich, sweet, and nutty when peeled from a wood-fired oven, then how can we deny the bread superstar status?  When a baker comes in on his or her day off to check on the status of a sour dough “mother”, feed it, and watch over it as if it were a child, then we might just need to re-think the status of bread on the menu.  It’s not just bread, just like a sauce is not simply a coating, or incredible raw milk cheeses are not Kraft singles.

Ah, but here’s the kicker: what if that bread that you charge for is tasteless and untouched by human hands?  What if it didn’t come from that bakeshop in the corner of your kitchen, but rather from the back of a full-service vendor’s delivery truck?  What if you care about as much for the quality of that bread as you do the brand of ketchup you keep on a server’s station for young kids ordering chicken fingers for dinner?  And, what if the butter you buy to accompany this bread is delivered in foil wrapped squares tossed in a wicker basket just before a bus person drops it at your table along with poured iceless water.

There again, I’m going off on a tangent.  Where were we – oh, yes, now I remember – why are restaurants beginning to charge for bread?  As long as I can remember – bread was relegated to condiment status or worse, thought to be better than it is because our bread palates just weren’t developed.  “Waiter, can I have more bread?”  Sure, why not – just open another plastic bag, tear off a few rolls, pass them through a microwave oven to warm them and suck all the moisture out, toss in a few of those foil wrapped butter pats and drop them off at the table without fanfare.  No different than asking for sugar packets, more salt in the shaker, or added non-dairy creamers for that coffee you serve. 

If restaurants want to charge for exceptional bread with a story, if they feel that artisan bread is part of their formula for success, and if they want to offer it to guests with the same pride exhibited when appetizers and entrees are presented to the table – then they should.  Great bread is worth it, commercial, tasteless bread is not.  Make a choice, but you can’t have it both ways without turning guests off.  Make your bread a big deal, make it a signature for your restaurant, talk to your service staff about the bread: the flour used, the skill of the bread baker, the advantages of hearth baking, and the flavor profile of this exceptional product that you take care of.  Then charge for it with a clear conscience. 

“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.”

– M.F.K. Fischer

For decades I have judged restaurants by the quality of their bread and how it is presented.  Bread is important to me; good bread is a celebrity in my mind.  A great meal without great bread is, to me, always subpar.  I will go out of my way to find and patronize a restaurant based on their bread and YES, I am happy to pay extra for it.

On the other hand, if you want to turn me off and keep me from returning, then continue to serve “bread like” product that was extruded from a machine, proofed without contact from a human being, pumped full of CO₂ , conveyor baked in a tunnel oven, blast cooled or frozen, packaged by machine and shipped to your restaurant in the deep freeze section of a 18-wheel truck alongside those breaded chicken fingers, and curly fries.  Go ahead and charge for it on your menu, just don’t expect me or anyone else who appreciates the bread baker and his or her product that is filled with heart and soul to return for another meal.

Sorry folks, that’s my opinion.  Let’s get it right.  CHARGE FOR GREAT BREAD, just make sure that it is great.

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.”

– James Beard

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

Deepest appreciation for the passionate artisan bread bakers of the world.  Bread is the staff of life, something to revere, something to embrace, and something to support.

When did civility (or lack thereof) become only referenced when considering political discourse?  The left and the right may, to some, reference liberal or conservative political beliefs, but when it comes to acting in a civil manner – examples go way beyond politicians and their evolving platforms.  Civility is deeply connected to how we treat each other, the level of respect that we show for the person or people next to us.

Where has civility gone, why is it in such short supply, and what is the impact on our way of life?  Opposing views become disagreements; disagreements become battle; battles define opposite poles that shall never come together; and polarization leads to deep misunderstanding and hate.  This is where we are, and it doesn’t stop with left and right.  It seeps into every aspect of our daily lives and trickles down to our family, friends, children, and grandchildren.  It draws people together into silos of belief and imbeds feelings of right or wrong without any gray area.  People clamor to find those who agree with them whether right or wrong, truth or lie, beneficial or harmful.  A lack of civility is a communicable disease that grows and spreads like a virus from host to host, infecting as many people as possible.  What is most distressing is that once you are accepted into the silo it is nearly impossible to change a person’s position on any topic even when indisputable facts are presented.

“My hope is that we would begin to have a dialogue in this country about the importance of civility.  We can have strong differences, but it does seem to me that most of the country believes it’s gone to critical mass in what I would call the professional class across the political spectrum – left and right.”

-Tom Brokaw

The examples we present are impactful, especially when we are in a position of power (politician, parent, alpha friend, employer, celebrity, writer, strong personality, teacher, or religious leader).  People want to believe in something and someone, there are far more loyal followers than civil leaders, so the one who speaks the loudest, with authority, attracts the largest number of followers – new recruits for the silo.  It may not involve formal membership (although there are numerous examples of silo membership), but those who follow tend to be quite loyal. 

It starts simply, maybe too simply:  Never looking people in the eye, or failing to smile and express “good morning, good evening, thanks, have a nice day.”  It moves on to never holding a door for the person behind you, choosing to jump ahead in line, always finding fault with others and pointing out those faults to anyone who might listen, and misconstruing different opinions as elements of hate and disrespect.  “You don’t like my football team – I hate you.  You like that type of music – I hate you.  You voted for that candidate, get out of my life.  You own those type of kitchen knives – you are a shoemaker.”  The list goes on and on.  It is truly a disease that is creeping through every nook and cranny of our existence.  I can only imagine what it must be like to build a relationship with another individual nowadays.  Soon we will need to fill out a profile of beliefs before going on that first date.

“Civility is not about dousing strongly held views.  It’s about making sure that people are willing to respect other perspectives.”

-Jim Leach

It happens in every community, every place of work, and every industry.  It happens in kitchens where an interesting breed of civility always existed in the past.  As rough and tumble as kitchen life has always been there was an unwritten rule of civility that basically inferred: respect your co-workers, respect the ingredients, respect the chain of command, respect the customer, and by all means respect your skill set.  As long as this was in place, and you worked hard everyone would show you respect once you tied on an apron.

Civility meant that you would never fall down on the job and put your co-worker in a difficult position.  You would never violate the honor of working with ingredients that farmers, ranchers, and fishermen risked everything to put at your disposal, and regardless of how they acted, the customer was respected because they put their trust in you.  Is this still the case?  How many restaurants suffer from employees not showing up to work, failing to step in the kitchen ready to work, failing to respect the standards of excellence that a restaurant is basing its reputation on, or failing to do a job to the best of their ability?  Doing your job as you should is an act of civility; failure to do so is just short of anarchy.  Yet, this is where we are.

A lack of civil behavior exists in healthcare, education, the legal profession, politics, retail operations, head-to-head business competition, law enforcement, the military, and kitchens.  Acting without thoughts of kindness, when being rude and antagonistic becomes the rule and not the exception, when failing to treat others with any level of respect is considered “the way it is”, then how do we continue to categorize ourselves as a civilized society?

Happiness and success come from an environment of respect and caring, not from one where anxiety and blatant hostile discourse are prevalent.  As human beings we crave acceptance and support and when it does not exist, we feel lost and demeaned. 

Kitchen work, as an example, is a team sport.  Those who spend time in front of a stove know in their hearts and minds that working together, supporting one another, and having each other’s back is essential if we are to thrive and succeed.  When acceptable decorum is in short supply then support is replaced with caution and mistrust – this is not the fuel for success or a way to create an environment that breeds unity of purpose.  The same is true in any other environment between co-workers, operators and employees, or employees and guests. 

Civility still exists, but it is in short supply.  There are still businesses and social circles where the rules of civility flourish, but there is a growing presence of discourse, disrespect, and lack of kindness wherever you turn.  You can see it in person-to-person encounters that revert to anger and hate, rude interactions between business employees and customers, news commentators and business associates who interrupt each other during conversation, a lack of respect shown to those once considered professionals worthy of acknowledgement, and even a lack of honor paid to society’s elders. 

Holding doors for others, saying thank you, offering a good morning or afternoon welcome, giving up a seat for a person in need, sharing, and paying respect to those who give of themselves for the betterment of others is just good behavior – something that civilized people do.  You can still see all this pent-up civility pushing to find a home when disasters occur.  Americans are very generous when hurricanes, floods, fires, criminal behavior that impacts others, and family tragedies happen, but in the normal course of a day this quickly seems to fade.  We know that civility is still present, we simply need to embrace it, acknowledge it, and practice it.

Give it a try.  Approach today with conscious civility.  Be kind, welcoming, and supportive.  Pause a moment before you lash out in a hurtful manner and take a breath.  Begin today to condition your behavior towards civility and refrain from giving the finger to others knowing their reaction will be the same.  When we are kind, others will as well.  When we approach a situation with friction then friction you will receive.  Be the example.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Civilized: “An advanced stage of social and cultural development. The act of showing regard for others”

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

Separating the good from the great becomes more difficult when your competition is seeking to do the same.  In a field where mediocrity reins strong it is quite easy to stand out as better – but is this where you want to be?  Average or better than average, good enough, acceptable, not bad, and fine are not terms that inspire loyalty, enthusiasm, or lines waiting to get in.  If you are in it, then be in it to win.  The first characteristic of those who want to be great and those who are great is that they want to be there, and they will do what it takes to arrive at that outcome.

When you line up the great ones (in this case restaurants or even the people who work there) there’s a trait that is common among all – they sweat the little stuff, the details that may be easy to pass off as not that important, but when you add them up, they define how you will be perceived.  This is what separates the good from the great. So, ask the question right now, in this moment, and do so with the understanding that your answer will define your level of success as a cook, chef, manager, server, or restaurateur:  Do you want to be great or are you satisfied with good?  Simple question requiring a simple answer: GREAT or GOOD.

Think about the implications of your answer and then take a deep breath and exhale slowly knowing that you have defined your future, established the reputation of the restaurant, determined who will pay to experience what you offer, and determine where you fit in the marketplace.  GOOD or GREAT – yes, it’s that simple.

If the answer is good then your job is simple – maintain, do just what is necessary, push aside the pressure of the details, and hope for the best.  There are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of GOOD restaurants out there – welcome to the pack.  There are, however, a small, elite percentage of restaurants, cooks, chefs, servers, and managers who will never be satisfied with good – they are on a lifelong pursuit of excellence – they want and NEED to be GREAT!  Is this you?  Is this where you want to sit or where you want your restaurant to be?  If it is, then I applaud you and implore you to SWEAT THE DETAILS. 

So here is a starting point – make a list of every single detail associated with your restaurant experience, your employee experience, your personal and professional goals and then begin the process of assessing how well you are doing with each.  No detail is too small – it all counts – it is the path to being GREAT.  It might begin like this:

[]       Is your website fresh, attractive, exciting, and informative

[]       Is the website easy to navigate

[]       Can guests make reservations online

[]       If there are pictures of the restaurant and your food, are they professionally done and do they reflect the experience you are trying to create

[]       If guests call for a reservation, are they treated in a welcoming manner

[]       Is the process of making a reservation user-friendly and do you offer a confirmation number

[]       Is the parking lot clean and well-lit

[]       Is the exterior signage in perfect shape, properly lit, detailed properly and easily noticed from the road

[]       Is the landscaping attended to, are the shrubs, trees, flowers, etc. healthy and well maintained

[]       Are the windows spotless

[]       Is the exterior lighting functioning properly

[]       Are the eaves and soffits free of spider webs

[]       Is the exterior of the building, the grounds, the parking lot free of litter

[]       Is there transition lighting in the entranceway as guest move from outside to inside

[]       Are the initial smells when a guest enters – enticing

[]       Is it apparent where the guest should go upon entering

[]       Are guests greeted with a smile as soon as they arrive

[]       If a reservation was made, is it managed properly and executed seamlessly

[]       Is your host friendly, professionally attired, and at ease with guests

[]       What is the first impression of the restaurant: lighting, wall and ceiling materials, floors, music, temperature

[]       What is the tabletop like – are tables attractive, appropriate flatware, china, and glassware – is everything spotless

[]       Are the chairs comfortable

[]       Does the host pull chairs out for guests to make seating easier

[]       Are menus presented and is the document explained for easy navigation

[]       Are the menus spotless

[]       Are the menus easy to read under the restaurant lighting

[]       Is the table server introduced

[]       Is water poured within the first minute or two of seating

[]       Is there ice in the glass

Now, this is just the beginning of the list, we haven’t even reached any part of

the product experience, but you begin to see what it takes.  Every detail must be

established, assessed, and managed – every day.  Every employee must “buy in”

to the importance of the details – it is not the manager’s or the chef’s job, it is

everyone’s job and everyone’s passion if greatness is to be achieved.  Are you in?

If you want to start the journey today from good to great, then begin with your

checklist and see where you sit right now.  Don’t shy away from the details –

own them.  Find out where you sit and then delegate every detail to someone,

measure their performance regarding those details and celebrate how well

they do as a team.  Don’t accept being part of the GOOD marketplace, stand out

 as a benchmark for others to respect and wonder about.  As Chef Charlie

Trotter once said:

“I have always looked at it this way: If you strive like crazy for perfection – an all-out assault on total perfection – at the very least you will hit a high level of excellence, and then you might be able to sleep at night.”

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

(Over 800 articles about the business and people of food)

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

More than 50 interviews with the most influential people in food

We need to stop viewing food as an indulgence, as something that is somehow sinister, or worse – something that is utilitarian and consumed simply out of necessity.  These are the extremes of consumption – feelings that we either celebrate or hide – feelings of guilt or annoyance that permeate our everyday lives.  To some – the pleasures of eating are somehow breaking a pact with our body and can only be enjoyed if we violate some established code of what is acceptable.  We indulge in eating chocolate, butter, cream, steak, cheese, or dessert and are relegated to feeling somewhat guilty when we do.  It seems to taste better when we go against this pact and test our will power to resist or succumb.  We feel satisfied and somehow sinister for consuming and enjoying the experience of eating luscious foods and believe that in doing so we will: “pay the price”. 

At the other extreme, some believe that resisting consumption is noble and all who do not are somehow violators of an unwritten rule of good living.  To this extreme – food is only for survival.  Eating is a process designed to fuel the body with what is necessary and avoid any step into the realm of enjoyment.  Cooking and seasoning that may excite the palate are not in keeping with the rule of the food survivalist.

Food is a gift; it is a natural connection that we all have to nature and the cycle of life.  Pleasure is also a gift that is available in several forms.  To avoid the pleasure that good, tasty, well-prepared food is to ignore a gift that is precious and important. 

“Eating is not merely a material pleasure.  Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship.  It is of great importance to human morale.”

-Elsa Schiaparelli

When we cook food with pleasure in mind, we open the door to so many opportunities.  Well prepared food, food made with caring and good feelings towards all who brought ingredients to the kitchen table, and all who are about to consume the “end product”, is a symbol of openness and a sign of willingness to bring peace, happiness, and understanding to the plate.  It is one of the most significant things that can be done for another person – to cook is to open the heart, the mind, and the soul.  This process is a magical expression of a cook’s history and traditions, dedication to a craft, and desire to serve.  Cooking is a highly personal act.

It is over a plate of food that we begin to understand another person, to appreciate their background and their feelings.  When we break bread together, we symbolically open the door to possibility.  Great food breaks down barriers, sets aside differences, stimulates positive conversation, brings a smile to even the most somber face, and sets the stage for transitional conversation.  This is why state dinners, business meetings, weddings, reunions, conferences, workshops, holiday tables, and memorials focus so much on a plate of food.  It is food that brings people together – even those who seem to suffer from the demons of hate, mistrust, fear, angst, disappointment, and uncertainty.

The greatest travesty in the world is that millions of people are malnourished and suffer a lack of pleasurable eating.  It may very well be the root of so much dissent and anger between the haves and the have nots.  This is the most severe crime in a world where production is not the issue but rather access and greed.  If we solve the world hunger problem, we will go very far in bringing people together for the common good.

“We know that a peaceful world cannot long exist, one-third rich and two-thirds hungry.”

– Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States.

“Close to a billion people – one-eighth of the world’s population – still live in hunger. Each year 2 million children die through malnutrition. This is happening at a time when doctors in Britain are warning of the spread of obesity. We are eating too much while others starve.”

– Jonathan Sacks, Jewish scholar.

“The first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind. Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world.”

 – Norman Borlaug, biologist, and humanitarian.

For others who are oblivious to the problem of hunger there is the dilemma of “reason”: why do we eat.  If it begins and ends with seeking fuel to exist, then our lives will be shallow and incomplete.  Eating well is a key to opening the door of understanding, of appreciating others and expanding our knowledge of differences, of stimulating the senses and understanding pleasure.

 “Eating is so intimate.  It’s very sensual. When you invite someone to sit at your table (whether your home or your restaurant) and you want to cook for them, you’re inviting a person into your life.”

-Maya Angelou

When we sit at another person’s table we are asking for a tour of their upbringing, their life experiences, their desires, the flavors of their life, and the dreams they foster – when you cook for someone else you are letting them in, dropping the barriers and opening yourself up to seeing who they truly are.  When you choose to eat what others have cooked you are also showing them how willing you are to keep an open mind and be vulnerable.

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.”

• Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

When a cook steps into his or her kitchen there is an understanding that this is the center of the universe during that moment.  This is a space to revere for it holds the key to their heritage.  This is where the influence of a great grandmother, a mother or father, a fellow chef or chef mentor, or experiences in eating that the cook holds close to heart, come into play.  This is where all of this is expressed through the knife, the hands, the palate, the mind, heart, and soul; this is where it all comes together in an expression of love.

“The kitchen is a sacred place.”

• Marc Forgione

Too often, eating is a process.  The advent of convenience whether it be how ingredients are presented or the methods of cooking available, have crushed the soul of cooking and consumption.  Learning how to pay respect for eating begins with the simple rules of dining.  If we are to begin to change and see what we may have been missing during consumption of food, we must look towards a new set of habits.

“Too many people just eat to consume calories.  Try dining for a change.”

-John Walters

Here are some simple habits that can be adopted by all who prepare and consume well-prepared food:

• Set the table.  Try using tablecloths, well set tabletop, poured water, a single flower centerpiece, soft background music, mood lighting.
• Make sure everyone sits at the same time – no excuses.
• Present the meal – serve well-presented plates and introduce the dish.
• Turn off your phones – no excuses.
• Talk about the food – the ingredients, the farmers and ranchers, fish mongers, how it was prepared, reflections on the flavors and presentation.
• Wait until everyone has finished – don’t be rude.
• Give thanks for the meal – need not be a prayer, just a simple: “Thanks, that was delicious.”

Of course, gluttony is different.  It is not respect for food, but rather a lack of control that seeks to turn a wonderful pleasure into a tool for self-destruction.  For some, it is a crutch to help hide frustration, disappointment, discontent, anxiety, and depression – and in those cases intervention with the cause is the only remedy that works to improve the health of the individual while maintaining the rule of moderation. 

Food should not be an indulgence or a necessary evil – it is a joy to be shared and a common denominator in life.  Food is the universal language that can bring people together and help dissolve differences.  Food is Mother Nature’s gift that we should revere, respect, and enjoy.

These past three years have provided us with many lessons about safety, disease, human nature, information and misinformation, preparedness, our fragile supply chain, and global economics.  We have also learned more about ourselves, our capacity to adjust, our families, and even our kitchens.  Out of necessity we have returned to our kitchens to re-learn how to cook and care for our families, to respect what restaurants do and how important they are to our peace of mind and our lifestyle, and just how special food can be when we slow down – just a bit.  Let’s not forget this.  Let’s continue to invest in food and dining, not as an indulgence or necessary evil, but rather as a gift and an opportunity.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

I woke to a chill in the air.  It’s dark at 6am and has been since 6:30 the previous night.  Days are shorter now and will become shorter still as the next few weeks tick by.  Smoke billows from chimneys as furnaces and fireplaces are once again cranked up.  Flocks of birds are beginning their sojourn south and boats are being pulled from the water.  I reluctantly drag rakes from the outside shed knowing that they will be in full use before the end of the month.  It’s the end of summer and the beginning of fall – the seasons are changing, and they do so just like clockwork – something that we can all depend on.  It’s time to adjust, time for chefs to think differently and move in a new direction.

“Seasons change and so did I.”

No Time – Randy Bachman of the Guess Who

As much as summer will be missed and we may dread winter, fall provides plenty of inspiration for those who cook for a living.  This is the time for the final harvest that has taken a full five months to develop – a time for squash, root vegetables, late season tomatoes, canning and freezing and methods of cooking that most chefs look forward to with great affection.  This is the time to move from light meals and grilling, from beautiful salads and white wine to braised meats, roasted vegetables, stews, and fricassee, to hearty soups and smokers going full tilt and robust glasses of zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, and Barolo.  This is when “low and slow” becomes the more established method of cooking in kitchens throughout the Northeast. 

Without a doubt, low and slow is my favorite style of cooking.  I love that deep smell of slowly caramelizing onions and garlic, lesser cuts of meat rising to a level of prominence, the richness of butternut and acorn squash, parsnips, carrots, and brussels sprouts that were harvested after the first frost.  Stocks simmering on the stove fill the kitchen with enticing aromas and light broths and pan reductions are replaced by pan gravies and the sauces that we have labeled “mother” because of their foundational attributes.  Deeply satisfying and “stick to your ribs” viscosity, these foods help to bridge that change from 80-degree days to those that will barely extend beyond sub-freezing.

All cooking is magical, but slow cooking methods challenge cooks to tap into all their skills and demonstrate how this is a process of coaxing flavors to develop rather than allowing those initial ingredient characteristics to shine.  During those low and slow methods, the essence of each ingredient blends with others creating something totally unique and wonderful to experience.  Every hour that a lamb shank braises changes the texture, aroma, taste, and experience of consuming this ingredient that early on in cooking would be difficult to chew.  That brisket that would transition from tough to tougher during those first few hours of smoking in a wood fired pit will melt in your mouth after another 8 hours or so.  Carrots and parsnips that are low on the flavor scale as a raw vegetable become deeply pronounced and sweet during roasting or braising and a simple combination of onions and garlic are irresistible the longer, they come in contact with fire or indirect heat.

All of this is true and quite remarkable, but it will always be soup that demonstrates a cook’s real connection with the craft.  I have enjoyed cooking thousands of restaurant meals and have equally enjoyed tasting the work of countless other chefs who continue to work on mastering their craft.  I will always remember the mushroom soup at Union Pacific Restaurant when Rocco DiSpirito was at the helm.  It must have taken a pound of mushrooms for every cup of broth.  The double lamb consommé at the original Aquavit in the lands of Marcus Samuelsson was so good that I refused to share it with others at the table.  It was topped with a quenelle of foie gras – truly the finest soup I have ever tasted.  Through my own kitchen experiences, I have enjoyed making lobster bisque for a party of two as well as Mulligatawny for 500 in massive kettles.  The joy of combining ingredients to make these heartwarming bowls of goodness is what cooking is all about.  It was Chef Michael Minor of Minor Foods who said whenever he visited a restaurant for the first time, he would always order a cup of the soup of the day first.  If the soup was good, then he knew the rest of the meal would be good as well.  If not, then he would pay for the soup and go elsewhere.

Fall is the precursor to winter; it is the transition from the warmth of summer to the months of bone-chilling cold in the winter.  Nature can be cruel at times, but it presents us with incredible food and the warmth that colder month’s methods of cooking offer as a gift and a way to help us move on and find our place until Spring.

There is a story behind every dish, a story worth sharing.  Chefs and cooks tell their stories through the selection of ingredients, connections with the source, combination of flavors, attention to the details associated with cooking that dish, and the passion with which the finished product is plated and presented.  The story behind low and slow begins with admiration for the farmer, the rancher, and the fisherman; addresses the attention they give to the lengthy process of bringing those flavors together, and the connections to the seasons best represented by these treasured methods.  Every bite connects the diner with the dish, the chef, and the history behind it.

Raise a glass to great cooking and settle in – it will be quite some time before we plant seeds for another season of ingredients.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com – BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

Maybe to some the title of this article may seem contrived and exaggerated.  How could food change your life?  Yet, to others it makes perfect sense because they have been there – they are experienced.  As a cook and later in life a chef for almost 55 years now, I can easily reflect on a few moments of my own when a taste, smell, presentation, or texture of a dish or ingredients has given me substantial pause.  It is these moments that help a cook to mature and set the stage for how that person will cook and how he or she will conduct themselves in the kitchen.  Am I serious? You bet I’m serious (smile and nod if you agree).

Maybe it was the first time you ate a tree ripened Bosc or Anjou pear – not one of those rock-hard ones that you find in your local grocery store.  It could very well be that late September MacIntosh apple picked and eaten on the spot.  Hard, tart, splashing your chin with juice, snapping between your teeth as it tears from the core.  How about that first spit roasted chicken, a perfectly braised lamb shank, medium rare inch wide slice of prime rib, or for a cook that first raw oyster filled with a briny liquid that reminds of the sea.  The first time a cook captures the smell of steak cooking on an open flame, peppers roasting, garlic and onions leaving their essence in a pan of clarified butter, or sour dough breads being pulled from a wood fired hearth – this is the moment that solidifies their commitment to spending countless hours in front of a range, always trying to find ways of expressing admiration for ingredients.  There are countless food moments that come to mind, but maybe none more significant than those that filled a childhood with connections to family.  We will never forget a grandmother’s apple pie or an Italian mother’s meatballs and sauce.  Maybe it was as simple as a light fluffy omelet or crunchy Belgian waffles that graced the Sunday morning kitchen table.  A simple bowl of creamy macaroni and cheese or freshly made pasta and clams – these are the foods that drew us into the kitchen and constantly inspire us to bring those experiences to menus in restaurants where we work.

The best cooks, you know – the ones that stand tall in restaurant kitchens with their names on the menu and those who aspire to reach that level in the future – cook from their experiences with those food moments that changed their lives.  As much as they (we) remember them and try to express them, we are always looking for new moments, new chances to blow our minds with flavor, texture, smell, and appearance.

To this end, the question is: “can you become a well-balanced cook without those experiences?”  Maybe those who aspire to become one of those chefs who stands tall within a field of many needs to chart a course that includes exposure to food moments.  Quite possibly, those cooks need to seek immersion with other chefs, with ethnic centers, with distant countries and pockets of cultural influence.  Quite possibly, those cooks need to delve into their own family background and ask important food questions – make connections to those food events that left their mark.  Those ingredients that a cook has not experienced must now become part of their wish list and even more importantly discover when they are at their peak or from where they represent their best qualities.  There are peaches and there are ripe Georgia peaches.  There are cherries and there are Western New York cherries or Rainer cherries from Washington State.  There are fresh chickens and there are organically raised chickens and there is halibut and there is halibut from the Pacific Northwest.  The list goes on and on and the need for food moments must include an in-depth search for the best of each one.  When the best become your benchmark then real cooking begins to form a pattern of standards of excellence – stakes in the ground that define a cook.

While there is a case to be made for statements like:  “You must be Italian to cook real Italian”, or: “Unless you grew up part of the Mexican culture it is impossible to represent their cuisine” – a deep experiential exposure to the traditions and culture of others, to the best ingredients and how they are used, and why an age old cooking process is essential can establish any serious cook as a true representative.

Seek out those food moments and relish the ones that you have had.  Be inquisitive and not just accepting of a method or list of ingredients, know that reliance on a recipe is not a substitute for understanding methods and ingredients.  There is a difference between cooking and becoming a cook – here lies the challenge to all who want to stand tall in a crowd.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

CAFÉ Talks Podcast

https://cafemeetingplace.com/cafe-podcasts

Ironically, there is always room to be great and there is plenty of room to be mediocre.  With more than one million restaurants in the US we can flip a coin and hope for the great, will likely step through the doors of good, and far too often settle into the mediocre.  The choice to be great or not so great is in the hands of the restaurateur and the folks who make a living with food.  We can all choose to be great at what we do; choose to master our craft and create outstanding experiences for guests and co-workers alike, or we can choose to shrug our shoulders and surrender to mediocrity.

This is a topic I have presented numerous times and it seems as though whenever I travel it rises to the top of my thinking.  I relish great restaurant experiences, take pride in the operations where I have worked, feel connected to nearly anyone who works in professional kitchens and restaurants, and admire restaurant folks who find comfort in being the best that they can be.  Unfortunately, dining out and finding the right place to work is oftentimes a wishful roll of the dice.  I wonder why this is the case.  There is no shortage of workbooks, courses, consultants, standardized mechanisms, or benchmarks to look to for help and there are plenty of examples of successes and failures to view if you are an outcomes follower.  Those who strive for excellence are far more likely to succeed and those who avoid doing things right will most likely fail.  Plain and simple.

Some mediocre operations may experience a false sense of euphoria simply because of supply and demand.  When a destination welcomes more people than there are restaurant seats then even the mediocre seem to thrive but check back in a year or two and you will probably find a new owner, a new concept, and a different shot at success.  I always wonder if these restaurateurs scratch their heads and wonder what went wrong, or if they knew they were living on borrowed time from the start.  What are they thinking?  Is it a case of a lack of knowledge (likely often the case), a lack of caring (I guess this is common as well), or a multitude of excuses that point everywhere except back at the person in charge?  I can’t get my arms around why people go into business without the drive to be great.

So, just in case the information is not well known to some – here is the BEST OF Restaurant 101, a good start.

[]       START WITH KNOWING THE MARKET

Find out everything you can about your guests and potential guests.  It all matters – education level, income bracket, age range, frequency of dining, and food and wine preferences.

[]       KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO BE AND HOW YOU WANT TO BE PERCEIVED

Set the bar right from the beginning – We want to be the best fish fry restaurant in town.  Our goal is to be the restaurant of choice for locals.  Our restaurant will be viewed as providing exceptional experiences and great value.

How you define yourself is how you will be if there is measurement in place and quality controls to ensure that you hit the mark.

[]       BUILD A CONCEPT THAT MAKES SENSE

Don’t try to be something that you are not.  Don’t strive for something that is beyond your ability to reach.  Stick with what you are capable of and do it exceptionally well.  Keep in mind that even a sandwich shop can be extraordinary.  Excellence is not reserved for fine dining.

[]       KNOW HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS

Budgeting, cost controls, smart purchasing, labor management, marketing, and the legal issues that surround a business are just as essential as a great plate of food.  A restaurant cannot survive on attitude, service, and food alone – it must operate as a savvy business.  If you can’t do it, then partner with someone who can.

[]       BUILD IN CONSISTENCY AND DEPENDABILITY

Whatever your concept, whatever your menu – make sure that you execute it well every time.  Build your systems so that every person can depend on the same quality time and time again.  Make sure that every part of your system aligns with consistency: purchasing specs, production, flavor profile, presentation, and service.  Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose.

[]       KEEP IT SIMPLE AND DO IT VERY WELL

Don’t over think your concept or your product – the best food is simple and relies on the quality of ingredients and the attention to detail that cook’s offer in the process of preparing them for the plate. 

[]       HIRE ENERGETIC, CARING, POSITIVE PEOPLE

It’s all about your people.  Hiring is not something to take lightly.  Seek out individuals who like to serve others, who relish doing great work, who you can depend on to be exacting every time, and who exude a positive approach. 

[]       TEACH AND TRAIN EVERY DAY

This is your most important job.  Building skills, knowledge and confidence is a critical part of the search for excellence.

[]       TEST, TASTE, STANDARDIZE, PRACTICE, AND ASSESS YOUR ABILITY TO MAKE EXCEPTIONAL FOOD

Stay on it.  Measure adherence to your standards – don’t let it go out to the guest unless it passes the excellence test.

[]       OFFER CARING SERVICE

Sure, technical service is important, but it is sincerity and commitment to helping people enjoy the restaurant experience that counts even more.  Don’t think service – think hospitality.

[]       MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS SPOTLESSLY CLEAN

Goes without saying.  Clean, pay attention to details, polish and stay focused on this most important attribute of a great restaurant.  From the parking lot to the restrooms, carpet, walls, tabletop, and uniforms, stay on it!

[]       MATCH THE AMBIENCE TO THE CONCEPT

The ambience should support the product. Does it?

[]       BUILD AN APPROPRIATE TABLETOP

It’s fine to have quality disposables for a $10 meal.  It is important to have crystal, bone chinaware and sterling silver when the menu is priced in line with an American Express card.

[]       SEE EVERYTHING THROUGH THE GUESTS EYES

Walk through the operation as a guest would.  See the whole experience as they do and then adjust to make sure that everything exceeds their expectations.

[]       TREAT EVERYONE WITH RESPECT

Customers, employees, competitors, vendors, and any stakeholder connected to your experience deserves respect.  Let this be your reputation.

[]       PROVIDE THE TOOLS TO DO THE JOB

Don’t allow your employees to struggle to do their job well.  Give them the tools – it is a wise investment.

[]       RECOGNIZE AND REWARD EXCELLENCE

Let this be the expectation and make sure that when it exists, all those involved feel your appreciation.

[]       PAY FAIRLY, CHARGE FAIRLY

We need to put this discussion to bed.  Make ways to pay your staff well, expect great things from them, offer them enticing benefits, and then charge from the standpoint of a value formula that offers the best quality, the most exceptional experiences, and memories that encourage guests to return.

[]       SEEK FEEDBACK – INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL

Don’t wait for it – ask for it!  Ask your employees and your guests to evaluate your work.  Product, service, hospitality, ambience, cleanliness, and value – engage everyone in the assessment process.

[]       BE THE EXAMPLE

As an owner, operator, manager, chef – you set the example for others to follow.  Be that example.

[]       BE YOUR OWN WORST CRITIC

Yes, it’s great when your dining room is full, your customers return, your employees stay, and your bottom line brings a smile to your face.  But you can always improve!  Ask for feedback – it is the breakfast of champions.

[]       RESPOND TO FEEDBACK

You asked for it – act on it.

[]       KNOW YOUR COMPETITION AND FIND YOUR NICHE

Study your competitors, not to cut them off at the knees, but to learn from their mistakes, appreciate their success, and find out where you best fit.

[]       NEVER GET TOO COMFORTABLE

Comfort is the devil in waiting.  Things change, people change, curve balls will come your way; stay on your guard.

[]       STAY WILLING TO CHANGE BEFORE YOU HAVE NO CHOICE

When you see danger hiding around the corner, or opportunities that arise, don’t fight change – embrace it.

OK, so that’s a long list, but it represents the most basic rules of the game if you go into business with any hope of succeeding.  Don’t open a pizza shop – open the best pizza shop, a place intent on becoming the benchmark for others to follow.  Don’t put a sign out front that says: Oyster Bar, unless you intend to learn everything you can about oysters, the fisherman who harvest them, their flavor profiles, and how to open them fast and efficiently without losing any of that briny liqueur from the sea.  Please don’t open another steak house until you have spent time on a cattle ranch, tended to those beautiful animals, visited processing plants that do it right, built an understanding of what makes great beef, and worked alongside exceptional grill cooks who can tell degree of doneness by just looking at a steak.  Before you decide to feature artisan cheeses on your menu – spend time with cheesemakers, learn what an animal eats and how it impacts the flavor of its milk and the flavor of the cheese.  Taste hundreds of cheeses and build your palate, know what accompanies each cheese on the plate and which wines are kickass pairings with each one.  You get the idea.

Start with your feet moving in the direction of excellence.  What will it take to be the best, how will I approach the task at hand, how will I measure progress, and who will I take along for the ride.  Do what my friend from decades ago showed me about excellence.  He was a maitre’d and before his restaurant opened for business each night he insisted that servers measure the distance from the edge of the table to the flatware, lined up glassware with a string plumb line, had table and chair legs polished before service, Steamed wine glasses to remove any possible water spots, misted plants, adjusted room temperatures for the crowd to come, and reviewed each new item on the menu with servers and chefs in attendance including the best wine pairing suggestions.  His philosophy was simple – start out as close to 100% as you can knowing that when it is busy things will surely slip a bit.  If you are focused on exceptional, then when you slip it will still be better than almost everyone else.  Once your staff has a taste of excellence, their tolerance for mediocrity becomes very low.

Do it right!

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

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The sun creeps over the horizon, morning fog begins to burn off and the late summer dew is visible on grass and trees.  It’s too early for normal traffic on the roads and the sidewalks are clear of people aside from an occasional dedicated runner.  Yet, within this calm there are lights on in kitchens across the country and the smell of sourdough breads, breakfast pastries, and bacon waft through the air, even making those dedicated runners slow down and take it in.  Breakfast cooks, bakers, and pastry chefs have been at work for the past few hours getting ready for the day ahead. 

Bakers need space and time – something that is hard to find once the rest of the crew arrives and early morning guests expect those pastries, bacon, sausage, home fries and pancakes as close to 6am as possible.  The kitchen only calmed a few hours ago from a busy evening service.  A time when a full battery of cooks, servers, bartenders, and dishwashers fought to keep pace with the crowds that began at 5:00 and only slowed after 10:00.  It was 1am before the dishwashers finally turned out the lights and locked the kitchen door behind them.  It was a good night with two full turns of the dining room.  Even at this hour the kitchen carried the deep aroma of caramelized onions and garlic, the rich smell of prime steaks that a short time ago filled the char-grill, and coffee that is brewing twenty hours a day.  The kitchen was at rest for just a few hours – time to re-charge its batteries, breathe deep and prepare for yet another day of relentless punishment.

There is little conversation between bakers and breakfast cooks only dedication to the task at hand.  Both realize their role, both are highly accomplished, both are organized and purposeful.  Bread dough is kneaded and placed into floured bannetons; Danish is rolled, and shaped and croissant dough is folded, buttered, rolled, folded, buttered, and rolled again and again.  When handled correctly this will produce countless layers of light, flaky, buttery pastry.  Pans of bacon are retrieved from the oven while home fries are caramelizing on a griddle, fresh eggs are cracked and blended for scrambled and omelet orders, and those first pots of coffee are brewed.  At 5:30am the service staff arrives.  Quiet and bleary-eyed from never enough sleep, they go about the process of checking their stations, touching up carpets and tabletops, squeezing fresh orange juice and filling breakfast creamers.  Everyone will be ready just in time – a process that breakfast guests are unaware of and likely don’t care – they expect that everyone does their job – whatever it might be.

Those first orders require smiles on each server’s face, and quick reflexes on the part of cooks.  If guests could take the time to stand in the kitchen and watch the symmetry, the grace of a breakfast cook they would be amazed.  What they don’t know remains a mystery to all except those who work in the kitchen.  There is a silent rhythm, a syncopation and beauty to the way that the cook moves from pan to pan, plate to plate until an order is ready for the pass.  Eggs over easy are flipped gracefully in pans so as not to break the yolk, omelets are folded perfectly and slide under a salamander broiler where they rise to the heat, pancakes are turned at the right moment to reveal a perfect golden brown and plates are assembled quickly and exactly as they slide into position on the shelf of the pass.  Baskets of fresh pastries are assembled, still warm from the oven, cultured butter and fruit preserves are assembled for each table, and coffee is poured cheerfully at tableside the same moment that breakfast entrees arrive through the hands of a back wait.  The rush is on.

This is just the beginning of a day where talented cooks and servers perform their craft.  This is just another day of relentless work, sweltering heat, the intense pressure of time, and potential accidents waiting around every corner.  This is the beginning of Labor Day weekend – special days in America that recognize the hardworking people of our country.  A day when offices are closed, government buildings shut, and home BBQ’s flourish in every neighborhood and many families look forward to a time of family, fun, and reflection.  Not so in the restaurants in towns and cities from California to New York.  In these businesses we gear up for yet another busy few days.  Labor Day is just another day for these folks.  These are the exact people that we are celebrating on this weekend.  Unfortunately, they don’t have the opportunity to celebrate their own contributions to American society.  Their role is to be here and serve.  This is what they signed up for, no need to feel sorry for them, but instead simply recognize and thank them.

Breakfast ends, the stacks of dishes are piled high as dishwashers try to keep pace with the speed of the morning shift, the line cook is busy cleaning the grill, washing and sanitizing, laying out bacon to be baked tomorrow, par cooking and dicing potatoes, slicing mise en place for the next morning’s omelets, and making pancake and waffle batter that will be perfect in another 22 hours.  By the time the lunch crew arrives, the line will be ready for a different style of cooking – clean and organized as if nothing had occurred over the past three hours.  Similar activity is taking place in the dining room as tablecloths are replaced and touched up, place settings aligned, glasses checked for water spots, chairs polished and carpets touched up, napkins are folded, and plants are misted.  In another hour the lunch crowd will arrive.

Each meal period brings its own unique challenges and focus.  As the restaurant moves from the simplicity and uniformity of breakfast to dinner where preparations are more complex and presentations more precise. The type of cook and his or her individual and teamwork evolves from breakfast to dinner.  In all cases there is an intensity of purpose, the pressure of time, the exactness that consistency demands, and the passion for the plate of food presented to the guest.  This is a business for both the craftsperson and the artist, for the organization of the military and the improvisation of a jazz musician, as well as the knowledge of a scientist and the traditions of a historian. 

From the classic American diner to a Michelin starred fine dining restaurant, the hardworking cooks, servers, managers, and chefs deserve recognition and respect.  This is a business that is important to the American way of life, it is a business that rewards others for the work that they do, and a business that is rarely understood.  On this Labor Day weekend, if you want to pay respect to these hardworking individuals who have chosen a career of service and expression through food, then send a message of thanks for a great meal back to the kitchen, be respectful to your server – they have a very difficult job, write a positive note on Trip Advisor or Yelp, tip generously, understand that the restaurant business is a business of pennies and owners are typically not getting rich by charging what they do, and by all means – return often and bring a friend.

Happy Labor Day.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Support your local restaurant

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

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There is a major fallacy about cooking – the belief that you can teach someone to become a cook.  Now that every chef and culinary educator has their feathers ruffled – let me explain.  Yes, we can teach or train someone to perform the steps in cooking and through practice we can do this quite well – just like it is possible to teach or train someone to play the piano or guitar, violin, or cello.  It is the same as training someone to play the game of baseball, basketball, football, hockey, or golf.  So, where is the fallacy?  There is something missing in this formula, something that separates someone who can cook from a person who is a cook; something that differentiates someone who plays the piano from a person who is a pianist; or teaching someone to play basketball vs. developing a basketball player.  The missing ingredient is who the person is and how they became that person from birth to a given point in time.

When we think of those who know how to play basketball vs. players like LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, or Larry Bird we start to see a significant difference.  Someone who plays the guitar may be worlds apart from Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck; a high school teacher who understands how to play the cello is not quite the same as Yo-Yo Ma, and a chef working for a major chain of busy restaurants may understand the complexity of the job and the outcomes that are necessary may be a far cry from Dominque Crenn or Daniel Boulud.  On one hand, they all know how to execute their taught skills and they all talk the same language, but that is where the comparison ends.  Some call it an innate talent while others understand that there is something even more substantive than that.

If you take the time to study these differences and discover more about individuals you will likely find rich family heritages, a lifetime of engrained traditions, and a plethora of life experiences that go beyond sitting in a classroom or working day in and out on a restaurant line.  These individuals have breadth to their backgrounds, something that is built into their essence, almost a part of their DNA. 

The most accomplished chefs cook from their heart and soul.  They express what they were exposed to throughout their lives: the culture, history, traditions, and life-experiences that cannot be replicated in the classroom or simply taught through repetition in the kitchen.  Daniel Boulud grew up in France, his parents operated a café, he lived on a farm, he pulled carrots from the ground, watched local artisans mill flour for bread, and walked the vineyards where grapes were crying out to become wine.  This is where he cooks from.  Yo-Yo Ma suffers through debilitating paralysis yet his struggle like the knotted old vines of the grapes from Bordeaux helped to create beautiful music like magnificent wine.  LeBron James and Michael Jordan built basketball into their lives as the way out of the hood, a skill – yes, but more importantly, an answer for them.  Their struggle became a passion for this way out, a friend, a mentor, an answer. 

When a cook understands the work of the farmer, when he or she bends down to pull those carrots from the ground or dig potatoes to find that long awaited exposure to the sun from their earthen home, when they have picked a ripe tomato from the vine and tasted it right there – dripping with sweet moisture warmed from the July sunlight – then a real cook is born.  When a young boy or girl spends Sunday mornings with a grandmother making sauce for that traditional Italian (full day) meal, when they smell those tomatoes slowly cooking with garlic, onions, pork, chicken, and beef, sweetening as the process continues for hours – then they understand how to make a great sauce – this can’t be taught fully by following a recipe or even understanding a process.  It is that grandmother’s passion that makes all the difference in the world.

I grew up in a family that was Americanized.  A family that always cooked balanced meals, but that never reflected their history or traditions.  My grandfather left Norway when he was 17 and traveled to find a new life in America.  Once on these shores he was compelled to set aside his history and act like and become – American.  Such a shame that I had to discover what it meant to be Norwegian on my own.  My grandmother on my mother’s side was my only real connection with food tradition and I believe that my real desire to become a chef stemmed from her.  She lived with us for maybe 15years, the most formative years of my young life.  She cooked most of the meals since both my parents worked full-time.  A few things stuck with me forever – statements that said it all, that relayed a deep family connection to cooking:

One of her classic dishes was chicken and dumplings.  This dish was exquisite, so much so that I insist that it be my birthday meal every year.  Her matter-of-fact statement continues to drive one of my bedrock beliefs in cooking:

“To be made right you must use a young chicken.  If you don’t, it won’t be right.”

Throughout my career in the kitchen, I have stressed the importance of using the correct ingredients, from the right source, prepared in the correct manner if a dish is to work.

She also stated, as strongly as I ever heard her speak of anything:

“Never serve day old pie.”

Freshness, seasonality of ingredients, cooking a ’la minute are all philosophies of a cook that make sense.  My attempt to stick to this belief is a credit to my history, to my grandmother.  It would never sink in as well coming from a textbook or a fellow cook.

I relish my collection of cookbooks.  Some would say I have way too many or wonder how often I read or use them.  OK, I don’t use them enough, but they are there, and they represent what I appreciate most about the craft: they represent those special life lessons for each chef or cook who wrote them.  Marcus Samuelsson’s reflections on his life in Africa and then Scandinavia, Lidia Bastianich’s musings about life in an Italian family, Daniel Boulud’s and Jacques Pepin’s classical cooking upbringing and stories of early years in France, or Sean Brock’s connections to heritage crops and traditional Southern cooking through the eyes of a child growing up in that environment.  These are all priceless reflections on where their passion and unique skill set came from.  This is the difference between a person who knows how to play the cello and Yo-Yo Ma. 

Recently, I received a book from my friend Chef Jake Brach – currently the chef responsible for Culinary Learning and Development for Rich Products in Buffalo, New York.  He may not work for a four-star Michelin Restaurant (although he did spend time at Charlie’s Trotter’s in Chicago and Charlie Palmer’s Aureole in New York City), but his passion as a chef is undeniable and his impact on the food system is immense.  This self-published book, “Of Food and Family” is not about what he does, it is about who he is as a cook.  It is a vivid reflection on his history, family traditions, connection with farmers and producers, and imbedded appreciation for every aspect of the journey that an ingredient travels from farm, water, or ranch to plate.  This book, like so many others in my collection is a key to unlock what it means to be a cook, not just know how to cook.

“Food is the thread that has held families and nationalities together for generations.” 

-Brach

The culture of food is the basis for most chef’s start – the spark that lights the passion for a career behind the range.  Reflecting on cooking with his family he states:

“These are the traditions and flavors that last a lifetime and the ones we pass on to our children.”

-Brach

Chefs who are on the level of Yo-Yo Ma, Eric Clapton, and Michael Jordan, and those who are simply recognized by their peers and the guests they serve as authentic and accomplished tend to come from strong food traditions, backgrounds where food connections stretch from the ground to the table, and who have traveled and experienced other cultures and understand their role in bringing all of this to the plate. Cooking has never been a job to them, it is an expression, a sharing, a statement of just how important all those life experiences have been.  They eat and cook who they are – savoring every bite, relishing the chance to work with each ingredient, and committed to paying respect to all who helped them to paint on a plate. 

A FEW BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR LIBRARY:

         Daniel Boulud

Marcus Samuelsson

Lidia Bastianich

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Lidia+Bastianich&page=2&crid=2HMI5378RXH6H&qid=1661707876&sprefix=lidia+bastianich%2Caps%2C113&ref=sr_pg_2

Sean Brock

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Cook from the heart and soul

Cook like you mean it

Represent your traditions and experiences

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

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Bigger isn’t always better.  Bigger brings a significant upswing in headaches, unforeseen challenges, an inability to flex, and long-term costs.  Bigger is less predictable and much more difficult to control and bigger takes cooks and chefs away from what they love to do, what attracted them to the trade in the beginning – to cook from the heart. 

I have very fond memories of walking the streets of St. Paul de Vance in southern France, or the walled in villages of Tuscany, the narrow streets of Oslo, Norway, and the typical hidden villages found in parts of historic Germany; places that were home to those special little restaurants that reflect the terroir of the region.  There were eighteen or twenty seats (mostly deuces) and in better weather maybe two more tables on the street or alleyway in front or beside these tastes of a chef.  A chef/owner was busy by the stove with an assistant who also washed dishes and bussed tables and out front a single server and maybe, in the busiest of operations, a host/bartender who was likely the spouse of the chef.  That was it!

The restaurants in this storyline boasted menus that changed nearly every day depending on what could be found in local open markets and from friendly farmers and those who raised livestock.  The business was likely open four days per week – usually mid-day till early evening giving everyone a chance to enjoy life outside of work and the chef ample time to shop in the markets for ingredients.  Those four or five employees were like family.  They sat down and ate a meal together, enjoyed the company of each other’s families, and shared some of the good time profits (when they existed).  The food was, of course excellent, but more importantly reflective of the region and its history and the experiences of the chef.  The wine list carried the names of vintners whom everyone in the community knew and the ambience was warm and unpretentious.

There were no sophisticated profit and loss statements or cash flow charts, no point-of-sale systems or computer analytics to pour over and make decisions by; these were not the type of operations that required that level of analysis.  The chef/owner knew how well (or poorly) they were doing and what the customer thought of the experience because they spoke with them every night, worked with each ingredient, took the garbage out, counted the cash, felt the pain associated with every broken plate or wine glass, and wrote the checks each week for employees and vendors.  This restaurant was their house, and they had a handle on how the house was doing. 

The kitchen was not filled with the most sophisticated equipment and certainly not computerized.  The dish machine was likely an under counter unit and there was no need for a walk-in cooler since supplies were purchased every day; a reach-in or two would suffice.  A single eight burner range and convection oven, maybe a plancha or small char grill, a couple stainless tables, sinks, butcher block, and a salamander were all that was required aside from a battery of well-seasoned pots and pans, utensils, and tiny ice machine and storage racks.  This was plenty for a chef, enough to produce a wide range of items to match the freshness of the ingredients available.

There was little waste since managing twenty seats was much easier than trying to fill expansive dining rooms with a turn or two on busy nights.  The chef never bought ingredients by the case, but rather what he or she needed to service their space.  Instead of thirty-gallon trash cans spread out through the kitchen, there were two much smaller cans, a recycling bin, and tubs for compost.  Out back on a small patch of land, or in baskets hanging from windows, the chef grew all the herbs needed to support the cuisine of the restaurant.  This was a lean, fine-tuned machine that worked from the premise of being manageable and comfortable.

It’s true, a restaurant of this type is not likely to make the owner rich, but it could provide a comfortable living.  This business was a reflection of the person, and the person was not a slave to a much larger, more complex beast.

For the guest there was a high level of comfort and trust.  In most cases, the people who filled those twenty seats were there on a regular basis.  You might find the same people there on a Wednesday or a Friday who would grace a table every week.  Occasionally, they would bring a friend or visitor to the area to turn them on to “their restaurant” and meet the chef or host who were also their friends.  This is where people met to talk about their families, local events, a bit of politics, a love of music and art, and laugh with reckless abandon over a plate of magnificent comfort food.

The chef was not trying to impress a local food critic or find fame through his or her latest cookbook or Michelin star, but rather just working to help his friends smile, fill their bellies, and enjoy a piece of their local traditions with food.  These restaurants were comfortable, fun, familiar, rewarding, and part of their lives.

Maybe this is just an exercise in nostalgia, a drift back to personal good times, or a naive look at what once was and no longer is, but I wonder if it’s time for this to return.  Maybe it’s time for chefs to return to feeling the significance of their craft and to stay connected to every aspect of what it takes to bring ingredients to the table.  Could it be time for the restaurant business to slow down and serve their neighborhoods without having to support something so large and so fragile.  Maybe the approach to our labor issues is not hiring a human resource director and re-writing employee manuals for the umpteenth time or figuring out ways to afford to pay for employee retirement plans, but rather to keep it smaller, bring back that family feel to employment, share in their success, and think about a quality of life where work is not something demanded of the employee but rather something that the employee embraces and enjoys.  Maybe pushing for more volume and higher check averages can be replaced by creating incredible value that goes beyond price, that involves experiences and fond memories and charging what will allow the restaurant to flourish and the customer to feel as though it were worth every penny.

” Good friends, good food, good times.”

-author unknown

Sure, this is naïve, but remember this country’s restaurant business was built on the backs of private, single unit entrepreneurships.  This industry was designed to have orders handwritten on a green order pad and was brought forward on the backs of cooks who went to market, smelled the fresh radishes and fish before they were bought, visited farmers, and discussed what would be coming out of the ground next week so that menus could be designed around supplies at their peak of maturity.  These are the restaurants that are portrayed in stories of community, and these are the restaurants where young cooks first developed their passion for a serious craft. 

Maybe it’s time to bring them back.

“Small businesses (restaurants) are the heartbeat of your neighborhood, the spine of your local economy, and spirit of your town.”

-Zachary’s

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I still remember that day in downtown Buffalo.  I was probably 10 or 11 years old on a shopping trip with my parents when we walked by a diner window with full view of their short order cooks.  I was instantly mesmerized by their motions, their intensity, their speed, and their control.  The grill was full, visible sweat was rolling off their foreheads, smoke was billowing off the burgers caramelizing from the intense heat, a line of green and white order slips were posted on a rail just at eye level, servers were calling out more orders as plates were filled with food and slid onto a shelf toward a person who seemed to inspect every plate before it was picked up and delivered to a guest; yet through all of this seeming chaos the cooks remained calm and almost poetic in the steps they took and the organized motions they made.  It was amazing!

I’m not sure that was my “a ha” moment, you know that point in time when you think: “This is what I want to do for a living”, but it did leave a lasting impression, one that I still recall 60 years later.  This was my first observation of controlled hustle.

Since that day, and throughout my career in the kitchen I experienced both controlled hustle and the absolute opposite: uncontrolled chaos.  One is incredibly gratifying and the other completely mortifying.  The difference between the two happens before the first order is received.  The difference is a culmination of knowledge, skill, experience, confidence, and preparation.  There is a statement that I remember from my early days in kitchens that sums it up: “If your mise en place is right you can handle any amount of business.”  Each of those factors: knowledge, skill, experience, confidence, and preparation are part of a cook’s mise en place.  We tend to believe that “mise” is all about the right amount of prep and how it is organized, but in terms of controlled hustle, it is so much more.

As I look back, those short order cooks in the Buffalo diner window had it all together.  Watching them in amazement the depth of what I witnessed didn’t fully sink in until I realized what it took to get to where they were.  Hustle is an attitude, but even deeper than that it is an achievement that comes from knowing the job, the product, and timing; development of a high level of skill in cooking to ensure the product is properly cooked and presented; accumulation of a mountain of experience that allows the cook to anticipate challenges and mentally prepare for them; the confidence that comes from competence – you know that attitude of “bring it on”; and, of course, the right amount of ingredient prep, pans in place, towels folded, utensils within reach, knives sharpened, and plates counted and stacked so that nothing can get in the way of the cook’s rhythm.  This is what I saw that day, and this is what I sought to emulate throughout my career and what I hoped to teach staff members to model their work after. 

Uncontrolled chaos, the opposite of hustle, comes from ignorance of any or all of the factors that lead to controlled hustle.  The workflow of those short order cooks was not an accident, it was not instinctive, and it was not solely the work of the manager or chef who hired them.  That mesmerizing workflow was a result of total commitment on the part of the operational management, the chef, and each one of those cooks.  Everyone needs to take responsibility for setting the stage.  The result of this commitment is a thing of beauty and the result of a lack of commitment is painful to watch.

When uncontrolled chaos takes hold, you can see in in the eyes of the cooks and service staff, you can feel it in the air, your gut hurts as you watch everything quickly fall apart leading to missed orders, improper cooking, long customer waits, and angry guests leaving and intending to never return.  That sweat on a cook’s forehead looks different, their eyes reveal the first signs of panic, the fight or flight reflex is looming, tempers begin to rise, and that sense of hopelessness is right around the corner.  If you have worked for any length of time in restaurants, then you have been there.  This is a place that you never want to visit, an experience that you never want to repeat, a dreaded outcome that keeps cooks up at night.  Once you have been through this you either want to walk away and find a different career or buckle down and do whatever is necessary to not end up there again. 

I suppose uncontrolled chaos is something that needs to be experienced – a teaching moment that serves as a right of passage.  It doesn’t have to occur, but then again, maybe it does.  If the result is a total commitment to “the hustle” then maybe there is a positive life lesson to be had.  A chef who has never felt that chaos will likely never be able to adequately prepare to avoid it.  A chef who fails to invest the time to help cooks understand and prepare for controlled hustle will, without a doubt, see many of those chaotic nights on the line.  

Beyond the controlled and the uncontrolled lies the most serious of problems in restaurants: the “I don’t care malaise”.  I can look back on that short order cook experience with fondness and admiration – this is what drove me to constantly improve over the years and try to avoid chaos.  I cringe when I think of those moments when things slipped out of control but know that each moment when that occurred gave me more resolve to avoid it in the future.  Each of those moments of being out of control is still so vivid; I can remember each one, and there are a few dozen that I keep in my mental catalogue.  Each experience still wakes me up on occasion and I have been removed from daily kitchen life for some years now.  The haunting continues.  I never want to be in that position again.   But now I see with increasing frequency, too many operations and far too many cooks who suffer from malaise.  They live in a different segment of the uncontrolled chaos community – they are part of the fall out that results from a lack of control and they don’t seem to really care.  I am not sure where this comes from or how it is allowed to continue, but it is tragic to watch.  The hustle is the source of positive adrenaline, that juice that so many cooks and chefs from my generation and before, sought.  This is the energy of the kitchen, its enticement, its magic, and the charisma that confident cooks portray.  When it is lacking then a restaurant has little heart and very little soul. 

Chefs need to build an environment where the hustle is expected and where cooks anticipate being part of it.  A truly successful restaurant is not driven solely by a menu or by the ambience of the dining room.  It is not a result of great marketing or a brand with sizzle and it certainly is not simply determined by the right location.  A successful restaurant embraces the hustle and all that helps to build the confidence for that to occur.  It doesn’t end with great hiring practices – this is simply where it begins.  Chefs need to inspire, teach, train, support, show, critique, and reward the hustle – this is the lifeblood of a great restaurant.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Nurture the hustle!

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

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