Category Archives: Restaurant success

OVER THE HILL – A CHEF’S PERSPECTIVE

30 Friday Dec 2016

Posted by in Restaurant success, Tips for the Teacher, Tips on Restaurant Team Building

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over-the-hill

Still one of my favorite and sobering quotes comes from the band “Little Feat” when they proclaimed: “You know – that you’re over the hill when you mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill.” It would be false to claim that the aging process doesn’t take a toll. We steadily lose many of the physical attributes of youth as we age – this is the natural course, and although with exercise, good nutrition, and a health maintenance plan you can slow down the impact of aging – the changes that come are inevitable.

Chefs live on the edge for a significant part of their lives. They work excessive hours, stand on their feet all day long, pick up things that are too heavy, work in conditions of extreme heat and noise, eat poorly, feel the constant stress from every direction, and cut and burn themselves on a regular basis (oh, and when we are young we add in a fair amount of hefty play time). This steady, intentional battering intensifies the impact of aging – physically, mentally, and emotionally. So when a person claims that a chef or cook is over the hill – there is good reason to believe that this is likely the case.

On the other hand, this change is very individual and need not impact at all on a chef’s importance to an organization; in fact, when managed correctly, an aging chef may very well be increasingly valuable to an organization. So – what do we lose and what do we gain?

I have often stated that cooking on the line is a young person’s game. I hold true to this observation and can quickly site why this statement is true:

WHAT WE LOSE:

[]         PHYSICAL STAMINA

Standing on your feet for 10-12 hours a shift, working under excessive heat, moving constantly to stay ahead of the game, lifting 50-pound sacks of onions, flour, potatoes, and carrots, and lugging around 20 quart pots of stock and sauce, is reserved for those with strong backs, fresh knees, and shoulders that have yet to show the sag of decades of abuse.

[]         CONSCIOUS MIND STAMINA

The amount of “in-progress” cooking that a line cook must keep floating around in his or her conscious mind is far beyond a typical 50 year-olds ability. A line cooks mind is pummeled with relentless orders and plate organization every night. Keeping in mind that we naturally lose rapid-fire ability and front and center capacity to remember these things, it is easy to understand why young minds are better- acclimated to this work.

[]         RECOVERY TIME

I know that in many respects I can still work as hard, and nearly as fast as many cooks who are less than half my age. The problem is that it takes me two days to recover from one 12-14 hour shift in the kitchen.

[]         SHORT-TERM MEMORY

Younger cooks have the ability to listen, collect, assimilate, and use information that comes to them throughout a shift with relative ease. You know you are starting to feel the impact of age when you ask the expeditor every 5 minutes for an “all day” review of the orders impacting your station.

[]         A DETERIORATING PALATE

As we age many of our taste buds and olfactory sensors start to slip in to atrophy. When younger, these sensors do replace themselves, but somewhere between age 50 and 60, we lose them at a faster rate and their recovery is negligible.

Now, this is all very true, and only in rare cases will you see a line cook or chef work a busy line when they are over 40, let alone later in their career. Again, there are ways to work at improving and lengthening a cook’s abilities in these areas, but the change will still come at some point. Chefs simply need to accept this and move on with a new strategy – a strategy that takes full advantage of a new set of skills that come with age, and rarely before.

SKILLS THAT IMPROVE WITH AGE:

[]         WISDOM

Being smart and being wise are quite different. As we age and acquire more experience we tend to look at and use the knowledge that we have accumulated in a more profound manner. A young culinary school graduate may have an extensive base of knowledge about cooking, but lacks the wisdom to use it properly and draw full advantage from it. Those with maturity in the position are able to appreciate what they are able to do and understand their own shortcomings. When they have shortcomings – chefs may seek the advice of others where a young cook may choose to drive ahead with reckless abandon. Knowing the difference is wisdom.

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.” 

–Lao Tzu

“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.”

-Madeleine L’Engle

[]         NEW FOUND PATIENCE

One characteristic of cooks and young chefs is a universal lack of patience with people and situations. This leads to the all too commonplace friction in kitchens that occasionally accelerates into some pretty intense encounters. As we age it is fairly common to find that we discover that patience truly is a virtue that reaps countless benefits. Pulling people along rather than kicking them in the ass is typically a much better motivational tool.

[]         THE EXPERIENCE OF MISTAKES

It would be very difficult to problem solve unless you have gone through the experience of screwing up. Everyone else in a restaurant looks to the chef to have the experience and wisdom to pull them out of a problem situation and make the right decisions. Although it is always best to avoid mistakes, some of the best decisions are drawn from those that we make.

[]         REASON

“Do it because I said so” is a response from the inexperienced. Time is a great stage setter for being able to know and apply the “why” to a decision. In rare cases the young may have this ability, but for the most part – age is a great contributor to the ability to reason.

[]         NO SHORTAGE OF IDEAS, BUT THE ABILITY TO PRIORITIZE THEM

Chefs are able to make sense of the great ideas that float around in their heads as well as those of their staff members – front and back of the house. This ability to prioritize as doable immediately, in time with some effort, and far fetched, but great to dream, is directly related to experience in the role and maturity as a kitchen professional.

[]         A BIT MORE COMMON SENSE

Common sense is not so common and if it does exist, chances are, common sense comes from a series of failures that allowed chefs to apply the experience to problem solving.

[]         CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Mature chefs are never shy with a dusting of optimism, but as they age, and with the right experiences, chefs are able to temper their enthusiasm with touches of reality. This will help to minimize poor decision making that comes from a naïve outlook on what will work and what won’t.

[]         A BIG PICTURE APPROACH

Age allows chefs to separate the emotion from a systematic approach towards decision-making. Chefs must look at the financial implications, impact on staff performance and morale, how the decision marries with the operation’s brand, and how the public will view a decision. Rash decisions can quickly turn a restaurant in the wrong direction.

[]         A FLAVOR MEMORY BANK

Although a cooks taste buds may falter with age, a seasoned chef (no pun intended) can still visualize how a dish should and will taste based on quality of ingredients, cooking methods used, and how it is seasoned.

[]         THE ABILITY TO SAY NO AND THE UNDERSTANDING TO SAY YES

The normal inclination of a cook or chef, and the training that we all go through points to only one answer: “yes”. Although this may be the right method in a service economy – a chef will factor in the ability of the operation to deliver an exceptional product, other demands on the kitchen at that time, the cost/benefit relationship of the decision, and how an event or product fits with the brand and philosophy of the restaurant. Occasionally, the best decision is to say “no”. Only age and experience will allow this to happen.

[]         AN UNDERSTANDING OF, AND WILLINGNESS TO ADMIT WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW

Age sets the stage for chefs to stand up and say: “This does not fit in my (our) wheelhouse. Once this statement is part of the consideration then a chef can either decide to say “no”, or find the necessary talent and skills to attempt a new task.

[]         AN EXPANSIVE NETWORK OF INFLUENCE

Age and time allows the chef to build a support mechanism of advisors who can help with any and all business decisions. This network takes many years to develop.

[]         WILLPOWER THAT MATCHES THE PHYSCIAL STAMINA DRAIN

All of that desire to “play as hearty as you work” is tempered by professionalism and the knowledge that chefs need to separate work and play and be the rule and positive example rather than the exception.

[]         ENOUGH TIME IN THE TRENCHES TO LEAD AND AN APPRECIATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL ON THE FRONT LINES

The further a professional chef moves from the trenches, the more he or she learns to appreciate those who do the real work of cooking and serving. A chef can’t manage a person unless he or she has done their job at the highest level. Age is the differentiator.

[]         AN APPRECIATION FOR TRYING AND ZERO TOLERANCE FOR THOSE WHO DON’T

Chefs know that even if a cook fails to meet the standards of excellence for the property – if they have the right attitude and give it their all – then the rest can be taught. If the attitude is not there, then there is little hope that the individual will be successful. This understanding only comes when a chef spends enough quality time with staff, and years of experience.

[]         AN INNATE ABILITY TO PICK THE RIGHT EMPLOYEES

Mature chefs have seen it all. They know what is required of staff members – above and beyond the talent to cook. Mature chefs have an uncanny ability to select team members with the professional chemistry to become an asset rather than a liability.

[]         A DESIRE TO TRAIN AND MENTOR ENTHUSIASTIC COOKS

As a chef ages, he or she begins to realize that his or her real responsibility is to teach, train, mentor, and celebrate the success of others.

“The fun thing about getting older is finding younger people to mentor.”

-Mike May

As I turned 66 this week, the whole challenge of aging was quite prominent in my thinking. Although I am not enamored with the aches, pains, and physical limitations of aging, I am still thrilled to point to what age has provided.   I could not do what I do today if it had not been for the time I had in the trenches, the joy of winning and the agony of defeat, the challenges of trying to find balance and the time now to realize it, the cuts and burns, swollen feat and hands, trips to the chiropractor, headaches and stress induced meltdowns that accompany being a cook and becoming a chef. We need to take the bad with the good and know that the positive column is far more robust. As my doctor once told me when I was moaning about some aches and pains and stated to him that getting old kind of “sucks” – he said: “The alternative to getting older is not so good.”

Am I “over the hill?” – not quite yet, but I do have the wisdom to pick my hills with considerable thought. Sometimes a nice, flat hike is just as rewarding.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Over the hill is a state of mind

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

http://www.harvestamericaventures.com

**Photo taken with the Prisma app.  With my good friend Kevin at the Three Penny Taproom.  We’re not over the hill yet.

KITCHENS ARE THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING COMMON SENSE

06 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in Healthy Living Through Better Cooking, Restaurant success, Tips on Restaurant Team Building, Uncategorized

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It’s likely everyone is familiar with the statement by Voltaire, “Common sense is not so common.” From our personal experiences I know that you, like me, have found this to be true. People are not born with common sense; they acquire it through life experience. I would present a theory that there are few environments more appropriate for acquiring common sense than a professional kitchen.

Those who have spent time as a cook or chef have all fallen prey to or effectively acclimated a new member of the kitchen family with a directive to “Go down to maintenance and bring back a bucket of steam.” Of course, if we were to sit down and analyze the request one would assume that the obvious response should be, “You can’t fetch a bucket of steam.”

“Never assume that the obvious is true.”

-William Safire

To that young, eager new hire, it is his or her responsibility to act on a request and do so with enthusiasm. Returning to a room full of laughter, this new recruit is embarrassed at his or her lack of common sense.

The Internet is filled with ample quotes on the value of and the lack there of – common sense. This gives credence to the importance of the subject and the need for a solution to the world’s terrible grasp on the obvious.

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.”

-Thomas Edison

So why is the kitchen a perfect environment for learning common sense? First, we work very hard; second, we all practice stick-to-itiveness; and third we acquire common sense through vivid everyday, hands-on experiences that test our true understanding of the obvious. Here are some examples:

[] LIFT WITH YOUR KNEES, NOT YOUR BACK

Kitchen employees are constantly lifting heavy objects whether a pot filled with stock or sauce, a strap pan from the oven with two full rib eyes, or a 50-pound bag of carrots, onions or flour. It doesn’t take much to tweak that back as a person bends at the waist rather than spreading the weight by bending your knees. The majority of Workman’s Comp claims in kitchens are due to back strain. We learn after that second visit to the chiropractor.

[] DON’T PULL A PAN FROM THE OVEN OR STOVE WITH WET OR DAMP SIDE TOWELS

Cuts in a kitchen are one thing. In many cases they become an annoyance. Burns on the other hand can totally consume your thoughts, your physical abilities and your desire to continue with any task. Steam burns are the worst. We learn after the application of burn cream and a lost-nights sleep popping painkillers.

[] WATER AND OIL DON’T MIX

You might be able to challenge this when creating a sauce emulsion or vinaigrette, but when you apply heat to this mixture, the water and oil go into battle with each other. Whichever one loses winds up spit out in any and all directions. Once the loser of the battle comes in contact with your arms or face you learn about common sense.

[] DULL KNIVES ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAT SHARP ONES

Actually, it might be more appropriate to say that people lacking common sense are dangerous; the dull knife is just a tool that they use to hurt themselves. Dull knives require more pressure creating more opportunity for slipping from your grasp and finding some appendage to damage. Additionally, dull knives, when they cut through skin do so with reckless abandon, never a clean cut.

[] IT’S HOT IN THE KITCHEN – DRINK LOTS OF WATER

The body rarely sends advance warnings of dehydration. When you are dehydrated the body stops. You get dizzy, break out in cold sweats, lose your ability to think clearly and become weak in the knees. At this point it is too late – time to sit out the game. Hydrating is common sense, once you sit the bench.

[] LET PEOPLE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE

Kitchens are high traffic areas: servers in and out from the dining room, dishwashers carrying stacks of plates, line cooks moving with lightning speed behind the line, deliveries on two-wheel carts and nosy managers who fail to understand that the kitchen is not a place to hang out. “Behind you. Coming through. Hot behind you. Corner.” These are all simple communications that can save a crash, broken plates or injuries. Until you have collided with a server carrying a tray for a table of six, you will never understand.

[] ASSUME IT IS HOT – USE A DRY SIDE TOWEL

Whether you are a cook on the line, a pot washer or a server picking up orders in the pass – assume that the pan, pot, or dish is hot – very hot! Use a dry side towel. You learn common sense as the welts start to appear on your palm or the first layer of skin on your fingers is seared shinny from the heat of the vessel.

[] REMOVE THE HOT PAN FROM THE FLAME BEFORE DEGLAZING WITH BOOZE

Flaming a dish is a line cooks favorite thing to do. We love flames and these pieces of showmanship allow us to stand out in the moment. This is great if you are in control of the flame. Adding booze to the pan while still on a flame will result in an explosive burst of flame headed right for you arms or face. You learn common sense when the flame wipes out your eyebrows for the third time.

[] HOT FOOD HOT AND COLD FOOD COLD

These are the most important Cardinal Rule in a restaurant. Hot food on cold plates will chill down the food by the time it reaches a guest table and a salad placed on a plate just removed from the rinse/dry cycle in a dish machine will wilt and lose its texture and eye appeal. We learn common sense after we are made to re-fire dishes or re-plate salads and desserts.

[] DON’T WEAR SNEAKERS IN THE KITCHEN

Sneakers do not provide enough support for the most important part of your body – your feet. Sneakers do not protect your back from the strain of being on your feet for 10-12 hours at a time, and sneakers will not protect your feet from hot liquid spills or that out of control 5 gallon pot that finds its mark on your big toe. Purple toes and lost nails as well as another trip to the chiropractor will teach common sense.

[] DON’T SCOOP ICE FROM THE MACHINE WITH A GLASS

The absolute WORST act of sin in a restaurant. Broken glass and ice cubes are indistinguishable. God forbid that a glass of water reaches a table with shards of glass hidden behind a scoop of cubes. This is something that you never want to learn from experience. Teach your staff this “law of the restaurant” and if anyone ever violates it – fire them on the spot.

[] UNPLUG IT BEFORE YOU CLEAN IT

There are some safety mechanisms on power equipment in the kitchen, but foolish people can over ride them all. If you know of anyone who has ever been hurt by improper use of a slicer, Robot Coupe, blender, Buffalo chopper, stick blender, etc. then you know what you should do. Knowing is one thing:

“Knowledge counts but common sense matters.”

-Lou Anne Johnson

[] THE COOKS UNIFORM HAS A PURPOSE

Setting aside the concepts of professionalism and tradition, long chefs pants protect against burns, long sleeve chef coats protect against splashes, burns and general heat and aprons add the extra layer of protection as well as keeping your uniform fairly clean.

Common sense is not so common, but it can be acquired. The learning process must always be a result of either personal experiences or observation of the impact that common sense has on another person’s wellbeing and performance. To this end, kitchens are filled with daily opportunities to learn.

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

-Albert Einstein

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

http://www.harvestamericaventures.com

Restaurant and Culinary School Consulting, Training and Coaching

Follow our blog at: http://www.culinarycuesblog.wordpress.com

 

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Setting the Record Straight About Restaurant Profitability

13 Friday Dec 2013

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Setting the Record Straight About Restaurant Profitability

I am on a mission today to set the record straight. There is a terrible misconception on the part of the media, restaurant customers and even many restaurant employees that food establishments make gobs of profit. “I can purchase those ingredients at 1/5 the cost and make that dish at home”! Yea, you probably could assuming you have access to the same ingredients and know how to cook, but this does not take into account why you go out to restaurants. The modern restaurant serves many roles from the reward system for patrons to a source of entertainment and knowledge. But for decades the primary reason why people go out to dinner is so that they don’t have to cook or clean up. This is reminiscent of the old advertising adage used by public transportation in Buffalo while I was growing up: “take a bus and leave the driving to us”. Now the cost of operating those restaurants, like the cost of operating any business go way beyond the obvious cost of the primary raw materials. So, in an effort to clarify what many do not realize, here is the reality of restaurant profitability.

1. On average, if the restaurant does everything right they can realize a net profit of about 5% before taxes. That means that of that $50 tab for your dinner at a favorite steak house, the restaurant MIGHT realize a net before taxes of $2.50. That assumes they do everything right and do not have any waste, spoilage or theft (external or internal). This assumes they have the time to check prices from their vendors every day and always buy right. This assumes that their employees are always diligent when it comes to portioning, utilizing all ingredients, and properly preparing dishes according to the recipes developed.
2. What can go wrong? That dining room ambience that you love costs lots of money to maintain. Think about the cost of those fresh cut flowers, the price of china, glassware and silverware. Understand that each cloth and napkin placed on a table cost money to rent (yes, rent – most restaurants do not own their linen nor do they launder them). That nice stemware from Riedel that you like to drink your French Pinot Noir from probably cost $15 and guess how many break on a daily basis. The Italian bone china that the chef loves to use to highlight his/her cuisine may be $15-20 per plate, and you guessed it – they also break frequently.
3. Music is another issue that escapes most people who dine or even work in restaurants. Even if we play CD’s in a restaurant there is a fee that goes to BMI and ASCAP. Even more so if you have live music (not including what you pay the musicians).
4. Maintenance can be a real drain on restaurant operations. The cleaning chemicals used to wash dishes, clean floors, sanitize surfaces is substantial.
5. How about restaurant build out? The cost per square foot of building a kitchen including equipment can be in the neighborhood of $400 per square foot. A relatively small 600 square foot kitchen would thus cost approximately $240,000 to build. Dining room space is cheaper, but typically much larger in square footage. That restaurant that you love to go to is a multi-million dollar project. This needs to be paid back over time and guess what – the bank is not patient when it comes to payment due dates.
6. Bar inventories are important to a restaurant’s health and the selection demands of the public. The nature of state liquor authorities is to require payment cycles from restaurants that range from cash on receipt to 14 days or so. If you miss a cycle payment the vendors will not and cannot deliver to you or will require COD. So, that restaurant wine cellar with a list of 200 wines by the bottle and a selection by the glass may have a value in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more.
7. Food is highly perishable, especially proteins and produce. In some cases shelf life is measured in a couple days. It must be used in that period of time or it becomes costly waste. Since in a ‘la carte restaurants we never really know what you are going to order, managing ordering and inventories is very important. Any waste will eat away at that 5% net.
8. Let’s talk about waste: it costs lots of money to have that restaurant waste and recyclables taken away.
9. Uniforms: we want our staff to look good, crisp and fresh and since they are working around food, their clothing needs to be sanitary. Thus, most restaurants rent uniforms, aprons and side towels. This can account for thousands of dollars of cost each month.
10. Insurance is of course an issue with any business but in restaurants we also need something called third party liability insurance to protect the operation and its employees from an intoxicated guest who causes harm to a third party who in turn chooses to sue the restaurant. Yes, if a customer drinks too much it is the fault of the restaurant.
11. Marketing and advertising is a shotgun effort in most cases. We place ads in the newspaper, magazines, radio and television to try and stimulate traffic. We never really know how well this works but find ourselves in a position that failure to continue advertising might negatively impact business; so we continue to spend thousands and cross our fingers (social media is helping a great deal with driving down marketing costs).
12. Turnover and training is an on-going issue in restaurants. Since rates of pay are fairly low, the work hours are long and stress runs high, employees come and go way too frequently. Although we should spend more on training, typically by the time we finish training a staff we need to start over with new ones.
13. Staffing is expensive in restaurants because it is a labor-intensive environment. Lots of preparation and support work that can require a restaurant to have dozens of staff to support those 100 dinner guests tonight.
14. Note that I have not even touched on mortgage or lease, utility costs, equipment repairs or property taxes.

Now, this may seem like I am complaining; I am not. It is however important to counteract the misconceptions that people have about this fantastic business that services the public in so many ways. We are the first businesses that charities go to for assistance, the first businesses that provide employment for young people just starting out and the first business that guests turn to when they have had a rough day and need to be pampered. This is what we do and we love it (for the most part).

Many restaurants that have continued for quite some time do so simply because they are able to maintain a positive cash flow, not because they make gobs of profit. Those who find it hard to control those sensitive costs are unable to create a steady flow of cash or are unable to meet the needs of a fickle customer base, become part of that 66% failure rate.

A simple request would be to acknowledge that restaurants provide a service, one that is costly to provide and that although your steak might seem pricey, you understand that a great deal goes into bringing it from steer to plate. Fortunately, there are restaurants out there for every socio-economic level, 965,000 of them in the U.S. as of last count.

http://www.harvestamericaventures.com

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