A Chef's Journal

It happens every so often that we lose a chef.  And so it is with the soon-to-depart  Chef Jeremiah.  It’s a shame because he is a gifted set a hands.  My wife and I were trying to count the number of cooks we’ve hired and lost in the past 15 years we’ve owned the restaurant.  We counted a dozen or so in that time frame.  Of course, some left for more promising careers and some were asked to depart (at knife point).  Most showed promise and some were just down right gifted.  As a chef and owner, I admit I expect more than the average restaurateur.  You can’t fool me for long in the kitchen.  Either you have it or you don’t.  When you find one that fits you like to hold on to them.  You pay them what they’re worth (as much as the market will bear), and take care of them in hopes the are in it for the long haul.  But honestly, the life expectancy of a good chef  is about 2 to 3 years.  A lot of effort goes into training new employees, and even more effort goes into keeping their interest.  This ‘revolving door’ of chefs is  perplexing.  I can only expect from my own experiences that at some point they get bored and need a new challenge.  My challenge is to replace a good set of hands with a potentially good set of hands.  You can only hope that when you hire someone new you have made a wise choice.  The bigger challenge though is that it isn’t noticeable to your customer.  Customers want and expect what they always get.  And when you own a 5 star restaurant like us the expectations are even higher.  Smooth transition is everything.  Fortunately our reputation has put us in a position that chefs are attracted to work for us.  So we’ll shake the tree and see what (or whom)  falls out.  Hopefully there are no injuries.  I don’t want to lose a chef  before he, or she is hired.  

By the way, I apologize for the infrequency of writing.  It’s been a helk of a month.  I’ll tell you about it soon.  Very soon!