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So You Want To Be A Chef

So You Want To Be a Chef – Part II

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You are on you’re feet all day, anywhere between 7 and 15 hours a day, 5-7 days a week. So what that means is the most important tool in a chef’s repertoire is not his Wustohf knives or his fancy Japanese water stone, but is your feet. For some people you can buy a pair of Birkenstock clogs and you are set, but for some of us you need to really pay attention to your feet and what type of shoe would be best for you. Over time I ran into a few issues that have caused a extreme strain on my daily fatigue and overall personality.

I started coming across my first issue when I tried to work out and do my daily shifts on the regular. I wasn’t properly stretching on the daily and so started  creating a extreme amount of tension on my muscles and started breaking down my arches and so got diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. To relieve this pain and to prevent this from happening to you, there are various stretches that you can do that I would recommend starting immediately and getting into a set routine. Another thing you can do is roll a frozen water bottle up and down your feet, it relieves the muscle and helps keeping that muscle from having excessive muscle inflammation.

Another thing to watch out for is making sure that your toes have plenty of room to wiggle, and that your feet fit comfortably in the shoe with no tightness or pinching. Also make sure that what ever shoe you where has proper cushioning and arch support. My newest issue I have been diagnosed is called Nemouras, it is a symptom in the middle of the 3rd and 4th toe where your nerves create a small hard ball, and every time you step on it you have a hot searing pain that shoots up your leg. I am not completely sure how this happened, but I think it was because with my flat feet that the Birkenstocks were not giving me the proper cushioning in the balls of my feet and in response my muscles and nerves created this stone where I was constantly hitting the floor first. The remedy right now was a couple of shots injected at the podiatrist office in each foot, and hopefully I will not need surgery to remove these little knots.

Any job where you are on your feet for long hours at a time are going to create these possible situations, I am not bashing on the chef life but trying to inform. That is the whole purpose of this thread of blogs is to give that heads up to the next generation of chefs so hopefully they can avoid these problems and have a easier time at reaching their career goals. Feet pain are not something people always talk about when you ask people about what it is like, but It is something you will deal with for as long as you are in the profession.

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So You Want To Be A Chef Part 1

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This post is for the dreamers, the Food Network Star want a bee’s, and the people bored at their desks at work. Before you go quit your cushy desk job, sign up for a overpriced culinary school, or think you will be on Food Network in the next five years, think again. like anything else in life I implore you to do your research, ask the oldest chef who is working in your favorite restaurant, and really find out what it is all about. It is intense, it is painful, and it is really messy, but most of all it can be a lot of fun.

What you need to remember about the cooking industry is that it is part of the service industry, what I mean by that is that it was a industry created from servants waiting on people with money. There can be money made in the industry, don’t get me wrong, but it will take every ounce of you to make that happen. You can’t half-ass it, you can’t focus on the negative aspects, and you can’t expect anything. So before you make that decision make sure that you have the passion, the dedication, and the resources to be able to be successful.

My recommendation to any aspiring chef is to go to college, get a degree in something else and make money first. Then when you are good at that start focusing on becoming a chef, start practicing at home and start understanding how a recipe truly comes together. Get a second job, in a good restaurant part time in the kitchen and start learning how a kitchen line really works. Then when you have made your nest egg and understand the basics go find yourself a chef to run your kitchen and get your restaurant going.

Understand that even the most knowledgeable restauranteurs fail at this endeavor, and that actually 86% of most restaurants close their doors in the first year. Only through experience can you truly learn what you do not know, and in the restaurant industry their will always be something you do not know. Hire people who do know, and I am not talking about a experienced server or bartender, because what they know is how to rob you and how to find the way to do the least amount of work. Hire professionals with experience and credentials that can actually help you see all the corners and crevices that only someone with experience would know.

Most people supervised a cafeteria when they went to college or served a few years back in the day and think they know it all, they don’t know shit and neither do you. That is the attitude you need to have to be successful, just don’t let your employees know that ;).

Unless you are opening a one man band type of operation the next thing you need to be is a leader. Make sure you are truly honest with yourself on this one because you WILL be tested every day and if you are not then you will fail. Understand that the word professional doesn’t really apply to majority of the people who will be working for you. These will be kids, old people, people who have no other options, immigrants, or ex convicts. What that means is that you better know how to talk to each of these types of people and you better get ready to deal with some stupid crazy stuff. Hiring with background checks and work references my alleviate some of these situations, but if you are just opening then you probably wont have the money or time to look into this. My recommendation is to not get stingy with this part, because it is really necessary when hiring in this industry. Add a little extra to the loan or the necessary investor amount of capital to really try to get the best you can with what you are working with.

It isn’t all about the food and drinks either, you need to be a pretty handy person when it comes to maintaining your place. While in college take a basic electrical and carpentering class, maybe even a computer and networks class for fun. If you want to make a pretty good gross profit on your facility then you can not call someone in unless you really have to, professionals are expensive and every dollar saved helps.

It isn’t all negative though, like I said it can be a lot of fun, but if that”s why you are doing it then you have to plan to open your own place because working for a corporation will suck all the fun out of it. Some people just want to have a place to go and drink, some want to just meet and have fun with the servers, but if you are like me it is because you want to do all kinds of different foodie things and have your mad scientist moments. Working for a corporation you for the most part can’t do any of that unless you are in the key position and even then there is always someone lurking around the corner with a reason for why you can’t. So make sure you have your dream nicely laid out in a business plan and get ready for a never boring roller coaster ride that wont shut down until you do. It definitely beats the boredom of sitting in front of a desk, staring at a computer screen in a air conditioned room, right? 🙂