Latest Posts
-
Listen up – Food and Beverage Professionals
If you are a seasoned food service manager, a chef, or serious cook looking for that next step in your career – I have great opportunities for you. Whether you are in those early stages of your career or well-established… Continue reading
-
KITCHEN LIFE – I REMEMBER WHAT I MISS
It’s interesting how people look forward to retiring from their careers – something that they spent maybe 50 or more years of their life doing. It is also confusing to see how many can do so without a thought or… Continue reading
-
CHEFS – TIME TO BRING BACK THE “WOW” IN DINING
Let’s put aside, at least for a short time, the antagonistic, woe is me, hard-nosed dialogue about the problems with staffing, the generation that doesn’t want to work anymore, the cheap employers that don’t want to pay a fair wage,… Continue reading
-
LESSONS GIVEN – LESSONS LEARNED
History has demonstrated that people tend to have short memories. Even through the most challenging and tragic experiences, when the lessons are quite vivid – we quickly push aside the need to change in favor of a return to what… Continue reading
-
NO ONE WANTS TO WORK ANYMORE
Now, I have your attention. I hear this statement every day and receive countless calls from restaurant operators pleading for help finding employees to fill their vacant roles. I don’t believe this statement for one minute. Is there a labor… Continue reading
-
A NEED FOR SOLUTIONS
I have been asked to provide potential solutions for a generations long dilemma in the hospitality industry, a dilemma that has resulted in physical, mental, and emotional burnout and even a dependence on drugs and alcohol to serve as a… Continue reading
-
IS THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY ADDICTED TO NORMAL?
We are so close to the turning point, so close that we can almost taste it. If we can just get past the vaccine hesitancy then the country, and the restaurant industry might be able to see the light at… Continue reading
-
FOOD NOISE OR FOOD SYMPHONY
I find it very interesting how diverse the food experience is. In all cases, the process of eating is important and accomplishes similar goals. Just as all cars can move a person from one geographic point to another yet the… Continue reading
-
A COOK’S DESTINY
Every day I read articles predicting the demise of the restaurant business – in particular the inability of restaurants to attract employees. There are a number of reasons why this is true and most do point to an industry that… Continue reading
-
WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF KITCHEN LIFE
This appears to be one of those times of reflection – a time when those hard working people in kitchens around the country are asking a simple question: “Why am I doing this?” The pandemic is not the cause of… Continue reading
-
WHAT I WISH I KNEW AS AN 16 YEAR OLD BREAKFAST COOK
My first real job at the age of 15 (unless you count being a paperboy) was washing dishes and helping out the breakfast cook at a local diner. By the time I graduated from high school I had worked at… Continue reading
-
THE DOG AND BUTTERFLY
Sometimes I get a bit lofty in my reflections of kitchen life and the cooks who spend time behind the range. This is probably one of those times – yet oftentimes I can’t help myself. Take the analogies for what… Continue reading
-
CHEF – A PATH TO GREATNESS
The first question is always: “Do you want to be great?”, followed by: “Are you willing to put forth the effort to be great?” Let’s assume that the desire to be great is innate – a desire that we are… Continue reading
-
WHY CULINARY PROGRAMS FAIL
There has never been a more important time for culinary schools than right now. Sure, I know how much the restaurant/foodservice industry is suffering and how many operations are shutting their doors as a result of avoiding decades of challenges… Continue reading
-
CHEF OF THE COLD KITCHEN
We have all heard the phrase: “If you can’t stand the heat – get out of the kitchen”. To many it defines what it is like to work in a restaurant kitchen – toiling over cherry red hot flat tops… Continue reading
-
DON’T SETTLE FOR MEDIOCRITY
It would be difficult to find a more sinister, demoralizing, harmful, or self-destructive word than mediocre. Mediocre sucks the lifeblood out of an individual or an organization – it is the dark side of the moon, the harbinger of discomfort… Continue reading
-
A CHEF’S MANIFESTO – 2021
An exercise that I have found to be really helpful is to occasionally state/re-state what you believe in as a chef. Every now and then this can serve as a “checks and balance” activity to keep you on the right… Continue reading
-
THE AMERICAN RESTAURANT 2022 (Post Pandemic)
Ah…now is the time for everyone to start speculating about what the restaurant business will look like when all of this craziness is over. Let’s start with what we are fairly comfortable saying: whatever “normal” is will likely not make… Continue reading
-
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A TAVERN
Every year, a significant number of new restaurants open and almost as many close their doors for good. It is, that spark of “I have a great idea for a restaurant” that drives many people towards the leap into entrepreneurship… Continue reading
-
MOMENTS LOST
How did it happen that we drifted apart In so many cases no room for a start We live in a world closed off to so much Where neighbors and friends are kept out of touch What you believe, what… Continue reading
-
THAT FIRST NIGHT ON THE LINE ALL OVER AGAIN
One thing is for sure – we will be back. We don’t know exactly when, or what it might look like, but we will be back. A year has gone by and most cooks have now forgotten what it was… Continue reading
-
FOR THE LOVE OF RESTAURANTS and COOKING
I am optimistic and realistic at the same time. I am optimistic in the ability of the restaurant business to recover and shine, to bring people together once again, to return to a position of central to the life of… Continue reading
-
A SURREALISTIC PILLOW EVENT
In the mid-sixties, a relatively unknown band (outside of San Francisco) released an album that would become one of the enduring recordings of the last 60 years. The Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow was both strange (surreal) and comforting (pillow) in… Continue reading
-
CHEFS – VALUE and the TOP LINE DRIVE the BOTTOM LINE
In the restaurant business there are really only two ways to view profit: a very small amount of profit balanced by very significant volume, or a significant amount of profit on far less volume. How you approach the design of… Continue reading
-
CULINARY SCHOOL – STICK YOUR TOE IN THE WATER BEFORE BUYING A BOAT
There are a handful of very significant decisions that we make in life – decisions that involve tremendous commitments of time, effort, focus, and yes – money. Starting a relationship, a decision to marry, buying a house or an expensive… Continue reading
-
THE KITCHEN MAGIC OF CHEF PHIL LEARNED
Our industry recently lost a giant of the professional kitchen. Chef Phil Learned stood tall in the kitchen of The Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville Notch, NH. In its day, the Balsams was one of the finest destination resorts in… Continue reading
-
THE 2021 CHEF SKILL SET
It is always safe to say: “things change”. Change is an inevitable part of life and as we all know if we fail to recognize that and adapt – we can become obsolete. Throughout history there are countless examples of… Continue reading
-
THE EINSTEIN MOMENT FOR RESTAURANTS
I have been thinking quite a bit lately about a comment made by Chef Jeremiah Tower during our recent podcast conversation. He stated: “The restaurant industry needs an Einstein Moment.” There are numerous ways that we categorize these occurrences: Eureka… Continue reading
-
A CHEF’S LETTER TO CONGRESS
When approached, as it should be – your position is very challenging, at times – almost impossible. By design you are charged with defending the Constitution, protecting the American people from harm, creating and passing laws that support the Bill… Continue reading
Harvest America CUES BLOG 