Ask Dave
April, 2000 

Where you get a real answer, not the watered-down corporate response. 

Please send your questions to dave@dinersoft.com

Q. I want to be a cook.  I have no restaurant experience but all of my friends say I am a great cook.  What should I do?

A. You're in luck!  There is a shortage of good kitchen help, which makes you are a hot commodity.  I suggest you first determine whether the restaurant industry is for you before spending time and money on formal training.  Cooking for a group of friends, who all appreciate your talents is quite different than cooking for a particular customer whose is paying $30 to have his steak cooked perfectly--with 20 other orders ahead of him!

Get a part time job as a prep cook in a local restaurant to determine if this is really what you want to do. Try to move up to a line cook position because that is really where you will be able to learn the way a kitchen operates during the "crunch" time.  It takes a special breed to work in the kitchen but if you are good there are plenty of jobs available.

Q.  My CEO came into my restaurant the other day and did a "Line Check".  I am the Head Kitchen Manager and he didn't even talk to me the whole time he was there (about 45 minutes).  Later, my District Manager yelled at me because I didn't have the new special ready to taste while the CEO was here.  (I just got a faxed memo about it at 10am that morning and didn't have time to prepare).  I used to like the restaurant business because it was fun, but it seems to be getting more and more political and corporately structured.  Any advice?

A.   In today's highly-competitive, stockholder-driven business environment, the unfortunate scene you describe is far too common. As caring for the people, the food and the atmosphere takes second place to the almighty "nickel on the dollar", pressure ends up escaping in some unfortunate ways.  In my last stint in a large chain, we used to say, "Shit flows downhill."   

Before you throw towel into the linen bag, though, consider talking with your District Manager.  Let him know how you feel.  Assure him that you want him to succeed but also affirm that it won't be at the cost of your own dignity.  

Also, look at the incident as an opportunity to examine your own behavior.  Do you yell at your cooks?  Do you find yourself thinking or saying people are stupid when they are just not well-trained?  Have you ever come back from two days off thinking, "can't someone figure out what to do when I'm not here?"  These are all symptoms of the same disease affecting your DM.

It is a tough business and it takes great leadership to make a restaurant successful, let alone to create an environment where people feel appreciated and needed.  

It is easy to turn into a petty tyrant. Don't be one. 

If all else fails, a smaller company where there is a dynamic leader and an exciting concept might be an option for you. With the current unemployment rate, they need you more than you need them.