Hey y’all,

So I just started at this little neighborhood bistro/cafe/bar spot after about a month of not working because my other restaurant closed. After a couple of weeks, the high of just being able to be back to work (and learning a new kitchen) began to fade and the flaws (in primarily management) have begun to get to me.

It’s a little difficult to explain my frustration to those around me (non-kitchen folk), but hopefully y’all will get it:

The guy (the “chef”) is just not there most of the time. Nobody really knows when he’s coming in, nobody really knows how long he’s staying, what he’s there to do exactly. To be fair, in reality, he’s more of a kitchen manager, but he talks and talks (I’ve heard him talk far more than I’ve seen him do any sort of work, especially helpful work - a ratio of ~70/30) about creating a kitchen-team setting that strives to be at the level of fine dining (which at a small place SHOULDN’T be that hard). Yet, there’s no one there to set the standards. No one there to enforce the specifics he ONLY shares in little fits when one of us fucks up. I’m all for setting/holding up standards for my coworkers, but I can’t enforce them, and often times he seems to be a bit over critical of my suggestions when I try to make them “official.”

Moreover, as a new hire, I already know this is a long standing issue as I can see his bad habits in the other cooks (leaving a messy work station, leaving projects incomplete/unattended, going to the FOH to hang out, mindlessly placing shit in the walk in) and other bad habits that he clearly isn’t aware of (not changing out bottles/marrying different date items, almost never changing pans, NEVER condensing).

Then there is the problem with keeping our kitchen actually stocked with the ingredients we need to properly prepare our mise and dishes. All too often during these few weeks have we run out of fruit or some other produce we go through regularly (oh yeah, they don’t order a lot of that shit that we run out of a lot, they pick it up from the grocery store). We have been out of certain spices for weeks off and on, ones that seriously effect the end product. Now, I get that part of that falls on we cooks who may not be proactively communicating these levels, but might I add that even when we write it on the “Need” section of the white board (which I doubt he looks at) or text him about it (which he may or may not respond to, but definitely not in a timely manner). And, to add insult to injury, he got on us/suggested to us that we should hound his ass more about him not responding/not getting shit we need (he has a very clever way of turning his flaws/slacking into our responsibility, and he uses it often).

Now, I realize that the above very much gives off the vibe that I’m complaining, and I’d be lying if I said that I’m not. I won’t try and justify my “right” to complain - if I want a change, I’m the only one responsible to make that change, whether that’s externally or internally. I desperately want to be a better cook and a better leader - a chef, for myself and my team. Part of figuring out what kind of chef I want to be, I’ve found, is figuring out what kind of chef I DON’T want to be - and for that, I am thankful for complaining.

PS

I’m ALL down for worker led and run institutions and I have only 2 qualifications for bosses to meet for me them to earn my respect: they must 1) show me they can do the job I was hired to do (which he has done and met) and 2) they must show me they are competent enough to effectively do their job (which he hasn’t - not as a kitchen manager, who manages the people and running of a kitchen, or a chef, who guides, teaches, and sets standards for chefs and ensures a properly stocked and organized kitchen. THIS is why I am so upset. Why am I, and one other guy, getting paid hourly while we’re sitting at home creating prep list formats for the new menu cost analysis tables, while he’s salaried and is there MAYBE 25 hours a week. Also, they hired consultant to come in a write like 3-4 dishes for the new menu and the “chef” tweaked a few of the old recipes, but left the bulk of the menu the same. I just don’t see why he’s on that pay scale. Usually salary sucks, but he’s chilling I swear.

PSS Side Story, to really drive the point home:

Today we had a demo of all of the items on the new menu for FOH. His decision was to have all of us cooks cook and prepare the dishes to be presented (save his “sous”, who was supposed to just stand there and watch). I had imagined that he would act as a sort of expo, calling out the dishes and watching us execute his calls (you know, like a chef?), calling out our mistakes as we make them, gently and firmly guiding the dance and dialogue of the cooks (you know...like a chef?). But alas, no, we frantically banged out the menu, and when the dishes were done, he either took them from the pass and delivered them to the FOH staff, explaining the dish, OR he would angrily point out all of the flaws and mistakes, sometimes hop on line to “fix” it, and almost always berate us on how bad our communication was. (I suggested almost immediately to the group that we needed an expo, but no one took it seriously, and I wasn’t about to skimp out on doing actual work while my fellow cooks were banging it out.) Honestly, we did really fucking well, despite the trap doors. We pulled our shit together when yelled at, and limited our mistakes and maximized our communication as we went along.

Apparently (as in he flat out said this) his method is to tell one person a detail of something and then expected them to tell everyone else. His reasoning being that in between shifts, and when he’s not there, it will be imperative that communication be high between all of us, and since we don’t have an expo (it’s usually only 1-2 cooks) we have to make sure we’re checking each other and holding each other accountable (duh - I just don’t see how that’s effective in a situation that resembles literally no situation we will ever face in that kitchen).

Okay, I’m done.

So, please, if you could share you’re thoughts on the situation or advice on how to get through all of this, please let me know.

I’m already working on organizing the fuck out of the day-to-day operation and the kitchen as a whole - meaning, I’m doing my best to be proactive instead of just complaining.

Thank you ☺️