Culinary Cues

MAY 1, 2023

I could not think of a career more rewarding than being a cook and a chef. So, no matter what their journey has been like; no matter their heritage, race, gender, education level, or portfolio of beliefs – this is a business of unity in purpose. There are many reasons why I am so grateful for the decades I spent in front of a range.

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Front of House Back of House Food Order Seasonal Menu 427

Culinary Cues

JULY 14, 2021

Look around – they’re slowly, but surely coming back. If any line cook really wants to become a property chef – they can, in time, with dedication, with a commitment to learn, and with the patience and resilience that is necessary to build a skill set and the aptitude that must accompany a future chef.

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Food Order Café Ordering Inventory 473

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 19, 2023

What about that moment when the training wheels came off and you were able to balance and ride your bike independently? How many inner musicians, writers, athletes, teachers, entrepreneurs, cooks, chefs, and restaurateurs never rise to the surface because they were never recognized, encouraged, trained, taught, or given the opportunity?

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Training Seasonal Menu Back of House Leadership 367

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 30, 2023

When excellence is involved, when the food excites and inspires, when the passion of the cooks is evident, then those focused on the plate can and should be proud. There is a lesson here for cooks, chefs, and restaurateurs – a simple message that stands out from every other “road to success” Prophet: Whatever you do, do it well.

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Fine Dining Front of House Dine-in 2016 353

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 18, 2022

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. Each of those factors: knowledge, skill, experience, confidence, and preparation are part of a cook’s mise en place. I still remember that day in downtown Buffalo. It was amazing!

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Customer Experience Food Order Hiring Café 411

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 30, 2022

I scratch my head when cooks proclaim that they are held prisoner to a job that isn’t going anywhere. 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.

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Workshop Article Uniforms Take-out 361

Culinary Cues

MARCH 10, 2022

If you doubt my belief – think about this: If a line cook calls out – we simply spread the work out among those who are present. How frustrated would a line cook be if he or she had to clean their own sauté pans after every use? How fluid is a kitchen when the cooks and dishwasher are in sync?

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Front of House Back of House Uniforms Hiring 447

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

Get it done, no mistakes, and pick up the pace are all directives that help line cooks make it through another day or night. But what about your food, what about the guest’s reaction, what about creating memorable experiences, what about your connection to the plate? But what about that quality translation?

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Customer Service Customer Experience Uniforms Point of Sale 344

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

So, what did you learn – Jack?” They were all very nice and took the time to talk with me even though their kitchens looked very busy. Well, they started to pick up some cooking skills as they watched the action. Before they knew it, they had moved from dishes to prep work and in some cases helping on the line.

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Back of House Hotels Uniforms Certification 265

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 28, 2021

You earned this title through years of hard work, loads of unique experiences, trials and tribulations moving through positions from commis to prep, line cook to sous chef, and now having arrived at the helm. Cooks are busy at work with their own preparations as breakfast orders from the dining room arrive at a harrowing pace.

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Kitchen Safety Front of House Fine Dining Seasonal Menu 423

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 9, 2021

What we seem to forget sometimes is that those memorable experiences are due to a collective effort of every person involved in creating a dining event. So, what are we doing to create a memorable experience for this team? The goal of every restaurant and every chef is to create memorable experiences for the guest.

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Front of House Customer Experience Workshop Dine-in 473

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 20, 2024

There’s a reactionary movement that I keep seeing in restaurants; a movement that assumes the answer to the restaurant bottom line is to take more and give less or give too much to justify raising prices. If we fail to look at the entire restaurant package, then we fail to realize how to earn profit. Come on, we know this!

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Fine Dining Food Truck Back of House Pricing 389

Culinary Cues

MARCH 4, 2022

I would assume that many chefs who read this article – at least the ones from my generation have reflected on where they are, what they have done, and what they are still able to do. We read the articles and listen to chefs and restaurateurs desperate to fill positions of line cook, sous chef, chef, manager, etc.

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Coaching Training Fine Dining Article 472

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Walking down the streets in the once most robust city in proximity to my home, I was deeply concerned at what I saw. This can easily be applied to what I experienced on this late November day. The stores were empty, and restaurant service staff were staring out windows from the vantage of unfilled seats. President John F.

Customer Experience 362

Customer Experience Customer Service Food Safety Retail 362

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 21, 2023

Suddenly patrons were standing in long lines not just for the food and ambience, but to catch a glimpse of the chef in his (or noticed better late than never) or her starched chef whites wearing a smile and walking through the dining room like a member of royalty. The once restaurateur-centric restaurant was about to become chef-centric.

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Back of House Food Supply Government Dine-in 390

Culinary Cues

APRIL 23, 2022

From the dishwasher to the prep cook, line cook to sous chef, and server to restaurant manager – food cost percentages must be something that everyone takes on as a job requirement. Let’s look at how this works: [] SMART BUYING. Now that I have your attention and you are back in your chair, let me explain.

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Food Seasonal Menu Waste Point of Sale 381

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

We may not remember too much from the rest of the story, but we do remember that line. Why do we remember this line and what significance might it imply in relation to work in a kitchen? Why do we remember this line and what significance might it imply in relation to work in a kitchen? So, let’s take inventory.

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Employee Relations Fine Dining Training Communication 385

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

It happens now and again, that question comes up on-line, usually from individuals new to a professional kitchen, or those who have little idea about how kitchens work. What is the difference between a cook and a chef”? THE LAW: Look to the chef to see how the kitchen will act. It goes with the turf.

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Restaurant Law Coaching Café Sourcing 409

Culinary Cues

MARCH 21, 2022

To the novice it may appear the cooks and chefs are plagued by OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) but let me be clear: a kitchen without this level of organization will revert to chaos and chaos never wins in the long run. When a kitchen is this organized, cooks practice detailed organization without even thinking about it.

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Front of House Back of House Point of Sale Uniforms 353

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 19, 2022

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. Why aren’t they open?

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Hospitality Café 2022 Specials 375

Culinary Cues

MAY 19, 2022

Jake didn’t even spend much time at the expo station until this first group of reservations was well underway – the line could handle it quite well. Everyone knew what was coming any minute now, so they continued to bounce from foot to foot, clicking tongs, and hydrating as much as possible. This was “order/fire” time.

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Seating Dine-in Seasonal Menu Leadership 374

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 28, 2023

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. What you see on the plate is who we are.

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Food Supply Dine-in Uniforms Presentation 362

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

There are cooks and there are cooks – each has his or her list of responsibilities, required skills, and bag of tricks. Just because you are listed on a schedule as a cook does not necessarily mean that you are adept at filling every position under that designation. When the order is placed the cooking is almost instantaneous.

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Back of House Dine-in Restaurant Law Ordering 518

Culinary Cues

MAY 9, 2022

Suddenly, I was on my way to becoming a short-order cook. I was in a groove and actually looked forward to going to work every morning. She was serious about cooking, even though it was a diner, and made sure that I knew that there was no room for mediocrity. I looked at her without a smile and said: “I don’t have any plans.”

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Hotels Food Order Café Inventory 361

Culinary Cues

MARCH 18, 2022

Your knives are always sharp, but you run the blades down a steel just the same, sanitize the edge and line up your station for another day of work. The arrogance, the tasteless jokes, the lack of understanding about what a cook or a chef does. Now it’s time to get to work. Some people just don’t know. Screw them!

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Café Training Waste Seating 414

Culinary Cues

JULY 23, 2022

He just wanted to catch up and share what was going on in his life. There are vivid memories of catering events from hell, lines of people waiting for their char-grilled hamburgers or racks of slow cooked BBQ ribs. There are profound memories of exceeding our own expectations and showing our peers what we were made of.

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Employee Relations Workshop Events Social Media 373

Culinary Cues

APRIL 25, 2021

At the other extreme – an extraordinarily prepared, multi-course meal, touched by accomplished cooks, presented on a plate of fine china, in a pristine environment, with attentive service and complemented by exceptional wines will reveal all that food might attempt to be. I find it very interesting how diverse the food experience is.

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Food Fine Dining Café Customer Experience 418

Culinary Cues

JULY 12, 2020

The kitchen lights are back on, deliveries arrive, the battery of ranges is fired up, and cooks (some of us) are welcomed back. After four months of idle time – time without a schedule, time without a chance to do what cooks normally do – this kitchen just seems vacant. Somehow, it just doesn’t feel right.

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Front of House Back of House Dine-in Food Truck 403

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

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. So, what is this higher calling? There are, of course, restaurants and there are restaurants. They are all part of my passion for the preparation and service of food.

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Food Truck Customer Service Customer Experience Food Supply 393

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 3, 2022

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. 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.

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Back of House Hotels Front of House Book 337

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

It is so easy to fall into the trap of a stereotypical line cook. We can deny it and point to examples of cooks who are always professional, kind, cool under pressure, and willing to listen, but face it – this is more the exception to the rule rather than the rule itself. Why is this? Is this the person you want to be?

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Take-out Customer Experience Blog Training 379

Culinary Cues

JULY 8, 2021

So, here we are – the battle lines are drawn and as challenging as competition has been in the past – it is now becoming brutal. A local business (with a high-profile clientele) is offering upwards of $60,000 a year for line positions that previously paid less than half of that.

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Sports Take-out Café Training 473

Culinary Cues

JULY 18, 2023

I had worked in kitchens since I was 15 years old; this I have mentioned a few times in this blog. I had worked in kitchens since I was 15 years old; this I have mentioned a few times in this blog. Like many of you I started out washing dishes and then helping the breakfast cook (Millie) during the rush.

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Hotels Blog Café Management 347

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

This is a behind the scenes look at the place and the people that bring a plate of food to the guest’s table. In the kitchen – work responsibilities are divided into oversight and action positions – the number depending on the scope of the restaurant menu and the size of the operation, but basically there are chefs, cooks, and support staff.

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Seasonal Menu Back of House Customer Service Front of House 517

Culinary Cues

APRIL 16, 2022

Just as these two factors inspired you to become a chef, so too are they what inspire your guests to return time and again – driving that potential for profit and helping you to attract the very best cooks. The most important word ever uttered by a guest and ever embraced by a peer cook or chef is WOW!

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Hotels Presentation Reservations Social Media 370

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 8, 2020

The line was just 15 minutes into the 7 o’clock push and the board was full. The line team was in total sync: Alex looked at his sous chef expediting on the other side of the pass – his eyes said: bring it on chef. This has been a long haul for the eager, confident line cook who started out three years ago as a dishwasher.

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Kitchen Safety Take-out Training Food Safety 445

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

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. What are they thinking? Ironically, there is always room to be great and there is plenty of room to be mediocre.

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Fine Dining Front of House Customer Service Customer Experience 392