Harvest America CUES BLOG

Most people don’t get it. Most restaurant owners, managers, family members of cooks, friends of cooks and chefs, those in other professions, service staff, and restaurant patrons, don’t get it. Deep inside that crusty exterior, behind the veil of authority, underneath the hard-nosed, sometimes reactionary body of a chef lies a person who is haunted by an unrelenting need to be expressive, do things exceptionally well, and be more self-critical than any writer for the local food column will ever be. There is the weight of exposure that keeps most chefs up at night. It is a close-knit industry of wannabe perfectionists who feel every ounce of pressure that looming failure can present. Chefs put their name on every dish that leaves the kitchen. Even if they never invest any physical time in preparing a particular dish – if they are the chef, then the responsibility for quality lies squarely on their shoulders.

As if that weren’t enough, the menu and each morsel of food presented represents the chef’s life of experiences, his or her family history, the cuisine of their forefathers, every chef who contributed to their training, and everything that they believe in – as it pertains to food. This is why ownership of the menu is so important to the chef, this is why the exactness of each plate, the consistency of flavor, and the beauty of the presentation are so critical to the chef.  When the menu is not their own then they are left with all the responsibility for the guest and employee experience and very little authority to set the stage for success. It is a juxtaposition that is nearly impossible to manage.

To the owner/operator there are two things that define success: customer satisfaction and profit. These results are driven by offering strictly what the customer seems to want to buy. The model makes sense from a clear business perspective. To the chef, what defines success is far more complex and includes: expression of his or her history – all of the people and flavor experiences that brought the chef to this point need an avenue of expression; the menu must excite the culinary team so that they enter the kitchen charged up and ready to perform their magic every day; the menu must represent those who contributed to the plate including farmers, ranchers, cheesemakers, bakers, and fishermen; and the menu must educate and excite the guest beyond simply satisfying their need to eat. When, as is quite often the case, the chef is expected to focus on being both a savvy businessperson and the passionate, determined, polished cook who defines the image of the restaurant then something gives. Both are equally important, but does it really make sense for the same person to wear two hats?

Great food is every chef’s goal, inspired guests is a highly desired outcome, charged up cooks and a team in total sync is the chef’s calling card, and financial success is something that every chef is fully cognizant of, but this can only happen when chefs are able to focus on what they have been coached to do. Food without emotion, without a connection to personal history and life experience, without the passion that comes from total mental and physical commitment is simply a commodity. Chefs need to be totally immersed in this environment to thrive and to reach the goals that are innate to the job.

This does not excuse chefs who lash out, who wear their strong emotions on their sleeve and point the finger at those who do not follow their intended steps towards greatness. It does not justify hostile environments that are void of empathy, calm, and a teaching attitude. It simply points to what may be behind it. Like a passionate sports figure who speaks boldly, rallies the team, points out those who are not carrying their weight, or shows anger when they personally have failed to be great – so too are many chefs cut from the same cloth. Teams wouldn’t want a player without that passion and neither would

a restaurateur. The question is how do you keep that emotion channeled and helpful rather than destructive? Here are some thoughts:

[]       DISCOVER: Acknowledge that passion, history, and personal food experiences are important to the chef and important to the operator. Build this into your model.

[]       AGREE ON CONCEPT EARLY ON: Using DISCOVER as a springboard and the operator’s business objectives as a guide, agree upon a concept and stick with it.

[]       ESTABLISH THE FOUNDATIONS: Just as the chef will have important signature statements on the menu so too will the operator. Build in those “business decision” standards that must be present, allow the chef to interpret them, but keep them as essential to the operation of the restaurant. Typically, the operator wants items that demonstrate popularity or high expectations among the customer base. The balance of the menu should offer justified poetic license for the chef.

[]       CONTROLLED FREEDOM: Give the chef room to be expressive and connected to his or her vision but establish some parameters that make business sense, i.e.: must fit within a certain food cost percent, must have a demonstrated “fit” within the restaurant theme, etc.

[]       STAKES IN THE GROUND: Just as an agreed concept is critical, so too are the chef’s and operator’s stakes in the ground. Put them on the table, require rationale, and in some cases business commonsense, i.e.: feature local ingredients, sustainably sound, respectful of the seasons, core of vegetarian, humane treatment of animals by vendors, etc., but able to fit the price sensitivity of our intended audience.

[]       PROVIDE THE ANALYTICS: The chef’s focus should be on team dynamics, food quality, and building an image of excellence in the operation. Have someone with the same level of passion for numbers and comparisons prepare and present comparative data as a tool for the chef. You can’t hold the chef accountable until the data is there.

[]       CONNECT THE PASSION AND THE BUSINESS: Whatever discussions ensue about food and beverage should always include discussions about the business of restaurants. Don’t talk about new tabletop purchases without the impact on the bottom line, discussions about pursuing recognition for your wine list by the Wine Spectator must include the payback of such a move, and expanding the menu must always reference how it will impact labor cost.

[]       MEASURE AND CELEBRATE: Celebration is a way of living, not just the completion of a goal. Make your restaurant a destination for celebration. Celebrate the small wins and the big ones as a way of doing business. “Thumbs up, thanks, great job, fantastic, delicious, you rocked that one, etc.” are all celebratory measures that cost nothing, but yield great rewards for the workers and the operation. Measure as you will: clean plates, guests who pause to take it all in, photos being taken of the food, kind words, proud servers who present the work, a mention in a restaurant review, frequent diners who bring in guests, these are always worth celebrating – do it and do it often. At the same time, any measure that points to a shortcoming is really an opportunity to move the needle in the win column next time. Talk about them, not in a condescending way, not accusatory, and certainly not as a means of embarrassment or punishment – talk about them, peer-to-peer and collectively find solutions. Make recovery an uplifting experience.

[]       PROTECT THE BUSINESS MODEL: One point that I hear far too often is when an operator gives a chef control over the menu or the experience there is a risk they will eventually leave and take that experience with them. Protecting the business model means standardizing as much as you can, internally cross-training people who can fill in if the chef departs and structuring the core of the menu experience to drive stability. A chef’s departure only becomes a serious problem when you don’t plan for it happening at some point.

“Chef, one of your most important jobs will be to train the next outstanding person to take your position if you ever move on.”

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

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