For those in the full service Country Inn world, one of the greatest fears is to be in the middle of dinner service one evening, only to hear shouting from the kitchen as your chef walks out never to return. As this happens not infrequently with "artistic" staff people, it is very important for all Innkeepers to take control of their destiny by planning for this event before it happens. If you are not "held hostage" to your chef, and he or she knows it, you may never have to deal with this issue.
One of the first elements of the plan is to make sure that in the event of any calamity in the kitchen, be it a walk out or simply a work injury, you are able to complete service through other staff members or by your own familiarity with the menu and cooking techniques. Most Innkeepers have some abilities in the kitchen, and by watching and practicing where appropriate, should be able to at least pinch hit for a night or two. At our Inn in Maine, we took that a step further. We had developed the ability to routinely run the kitchen at least once every few weeks to give the chef a needed day off. The chef still prepared all the food prior to actual service, and we learned how to cook and plate it. The result was that the chef knew that we could survive without him if we had to, and this eliminated a lot of ego issues. During the slower Winter seasons, once of us actually became the sous chef, helping with plating and learning his techniques. In a small dining room operation this turned out to be an excellent plan.
In larger Inn restaurant operations, the plan is different. Here, the goal is to make certain that the chef spends as much time as necessary developing the skills of his sous chef, so that in the event of an emergency or a problem, that individual can step up and replace the chef, at least in the short term. In essence the "plan" is similar to what happens in the corporate world, i.e. the chef is required as a part of his job to train his replacement and to have qualified backup at all times. Thus, the care and feeding of the sous chef becomes a very important part of the plan.
The key to proper management of kitchen staff is to be proactive, to make a concrete plan, and to make certain that "hostage" is never a word to be associated with your operations.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I like it a lot! Very nicely done. Easy to find helpful information. All the best!
- www.blogger.com q
phentermine
Very helpful and accurate. We own an 11 room in with a 64-seat fine dining restaurant. In addition to having one of the owners (me) versed in cooking and plating, we have found another tactic helpful in relieve the stress of feeling dependent on one chef. We have some temporary kitchen help at the chef/sous chef level that help us out on big events and holidays. Mostly retired chefs or young sous chefs who work elsewhere but who like the opportunity to pick up extra hours here and there. We love our executive chef, but having a few extra people who know our menu and can pinch hit has relieved a lot of stress of being dependent on a single chef. (We found these people when interviewing for sous chef positions.) Thanks for the article.
As a chef at an inn, I believe that all owners should take premptive measures to not be at held at the mercy of the chef. I furthermore wholly back the idea that the chef does need days off. However, the worst thing you can do to the chef is ask them to prepare the food ahead of time so that the owner can "take over" the range. Speaking from experience, there really is no point in taking the day off if I have to prepare everything ahead of time. I have to work twice as hard because no one ever thought to find someone experienced to fill in. It is very disheartening to have an owner fill in for you when you are not there. Odds are in favor they won't prepare the food the same way(as I have experienced). It trivializes any experience and education that the chef has(more or less saying any trained monkey can pull this show off while you're not here) Its true that a lot of chefs are tempermental and egotistic. Maybe the reason is that they are overworked and undervalued. There is nothing more insulting when you are short staffed and overbooked to have an owner say "What can we do to help?" What makes him or her think that they are qualified? Sure the help is appreciated, but now not only is the chef in the weeds (bcs no one cared to staff properly) but now it takes twice as long to get the tasks done bcs the chef has to stop and explain everything each step of the way. While labor does need to be in check, there also must be a balance between overextending and making sure that there is enough "talented" staff to pull it off.
Post a Comment