Tags
Business, Chefs life, Company, Hotel, Kitchen, Oven, Pastry Chef, Tongs, volunteer
Most people in the perceived normal environment work eight to ten hours per day follow a budget or guidelines set by the employer, stop regularly for breaks, and are in an ergonomically produced environment. They are encouraged to work efficiently and with as least amount of stress and undue pressure in the work place as possible. If the equipment you need to produce your days’ work is damaged or broken it is expected that it would be replaced ASAP so as to not to disrupt the workflow.
Have a look at our lot in life “the Chef”, if you did not laugh you would probably cry.
Now the real world, we generally go to work in a hot room with no windows or natural light, preferably with very little ventilation and defiantly no air conditioning. The day our aggressive yearly budget is accepted, we then set about trying to lower our own food cost and wage % to make things just a little harder. We have no need to fix our equipment because if a coat hanger or spoon cannot fix it, then that particular piece of equipment is not worth having. And by the way if it has not been stolen you have to question why it is still in the kitchen.
Things are still looking ok though, at least we have a kitchen to work in, so let’s now write a menu that requires a Brigade of 12 to execute and then expect your staff of four to complete it on a daily basis. When you are partially through your day in hell prepping the menu, please do not forget to write up some daily specials just in case the menu you have will not cater for the unknown hordes that may or may not turn up. Please be mindful not to over prepare, as we do not want any waste.
At this point in time you may feel that all this is a bit dramatic, insinuating that our life is generally hell and all our equipment is dodgy if it has not already been stolen. Well think again, here are some real life stories that most of us should be able to relate to,
1 Go to work on day one and have a lesson on lighting the deck oven. Step one reel, off approximately 100 meters of hand towel and roll into a ball. Turn the gas on light the paper ball, throw it in to the oven, quickly turn and run so as not to blow yourself up as well as the oven.
2 Before leaving work of an evening lock your Tongs and glad wrap in the oven and chain it shut with your own padlock. Be at work early to beg the Pastry Chef for use of the Robot coup. This is the only Robot in the Hotel, and this nutter has had the blade super glued to the bowl, the Bowl glued to the Base and it is chained permanently to the bench with just enough chain on it to be washed in the sink. Nothing unusual about that?
3 A job came up requiring some volunteer work as well as a paid job, the volunteer work was no problem, organize a master class and complete it. The paying part of the job proved to be a little more interesting, prepare and serve a formal dinner at, preferably six star standards for 120 guests. Be aware that you have only four staff in total to prepare the dinner. By the way the venue is in a remote location. When we inquired as to what equipment would be made available to us, the answer was exceptional, you have no kitchen.
If you have ever wondered if you are in the Hotel industry check out the following and then decide
1 Going for cocktails and Dinner is not your idea of a nice evening
2 When someone asks your exact job profile you lie
3 You work in an area and with people that you would not allow your Children to visit
4 You get really excited about a 2% pay increase
5 It is dark on your drive to and from work
6 You have worked in the same kitchen for 4 years under 9 different managers
7 You see a good looking person and know it is a guest
8 Food left over from a Banquet is your main staple
9 All the work you were hired to do gets done before nine and after five
10 Your already late on the assignment you just received
11 Your GM, s favorite lines are, When you get a few minutes, in your spare time, I have an opportunity for you
12 Fifty % of the Company does not know what you do. The other fifty don’t care
13 Vacation is something you roll over to next year
14 Change is the norm
15 Nepotism is encouraged
16 You read this entire list and understand it
At the end of the day we would rather be in a kitchen than anywhere else, it is fun to let off some steam but to those of us there is no better place to be. One day I intend to write a book on the adventures that we have had throughout our careers? I think I will wait until most of us have retired.