Stay Hungry = Stay Foolish
by Ellen Duffy
Opinions expressed in this articles do not necessarily represent the point of view of Best Served. In furtherance of bringing more voices to the table, we are committed to sharing varied thinking throughout the industry.
STAY HUNGRY = STAY FOOLISH
JOBS
While writing at a splintered, third-hand restaurant booth that landed in my home kitchen, an upended, dirty microwave that came with my tiny apartment serves well enough as a desk.
Time to talk about the false promises, disingenuous sales pitches, and enticing tactics that we kitchen folk have been subjected to by management during the hiring and onboarding process. I'll boldly attribute my makeshift desk and substandard apartment to this practice, provided I'm fair enough to ascribe due credit to a small series of bad decisions made in my lifetime.
If your heart is in what you do and you love- no, WORSHIP- the practice of feeding others and expressing yourself through food… if it is your religion, then you are probably willing to take more risks and make more concessions when accepting a promising new job, more than your average nine-to-fiver who'll ask about company culture, paid personal days, and benefits packages.
You're a dishwasher? You want so badly to be on a line, cranking out those gorgeous plates.
Line cooks, how hard do you want that shot at controlling the kitchen chaos to your liking, enforcing every prep list, and selecting each and every detail of the plating and presentation?
Chefs, I humbly ask permission to speak for most of us by saying that business ownership is our holy grail, and that we'd pretty much sacrifice anything… Hell, even compromise some of our morals, personal politics, and basic human needs just to summit that mountain. Many of us have. I have walked that thin line.
If you identify with any of the three aforementioned, then I'm here to tell you that you wear that hunger on your sleeve, no matter how coolly you think you play it off. You will be the last to know that. There are a few exceptions, whose savvy I admire.
If I'm a G.M., an executive chef, or a virgin restaurant owner, I want YOU on my team. Here's why. You are drooling at the opportunity to realize your dreams under my umbrella- whether those include Food Network fame, local notability, financial security, or a shot at hanging with the line dogs after years of time served in the dish pit. I can smell that on you.
You're a bargain.
Guess what. I'm going to treat and pay you accordingly. I know I can promise you that all of your dreams will come true, if you just put up with this minimal pay rate for now, "'til your "ninety-day review." I'll watch that hungry optimism hijack your decision-making process. "We'll talk in three months when this place has taken off. You will reap the rewards. Trust me." It's a half-truth at best.
After all, business is business. Can we really blame them?
You'll train yourself to hold your pee for twelve hours. We menstruating individuals will don layer upon layer of black chefs pants, maxi pads and tampons, just to avoid showing weakness by leaving the line to give 30 seconds' of attention to our own bodily needs.
If you're me, you'll pick a smoke break over food, urgent urination, or a Zen moment alone in the walk-in to shed a quick tear, privately scream, or simply breathe for a moment.
The onus for this predicament does not land squarely on the shoulders of business owners.
We work in a world of endless contingencies. The goalposts move constantly in any restaurant. How's the weather today for patio business? Which fridge broke down? Who no-call/ no-showed? Who's going to post bail so we're not down a guy? Do you have forty bucks I can borrow to get him out before dinner rush? Cool, I'll be right back.
The word "fluid" is too euphemistic for our respective work environments.
The state of any restaurant changes by the minute. Those who hire put their best foot forward while trying to sell you on a job. You put your best foot forward during the interview, perhaps to the point of sycophancy. You risk it all, even a living wage, for that Unicorn Job that's sitting in front of you, seducing you with opportunity and possibility.
The odds of walking into that new kitchen and having what was promised to you are slim-to-none. "Where's that creative control, authority, responsibility and paycheck that they told me about? What happened? Why am I washing dishes for ten hours a day on a salary, with no overtime? Is this even legal?"
Chances are plethoric changes have taken place in this restaurant during the six short days that passed between your interview and your first day. Now, you're just the new guy. Blame it on the rain.
For some, this is how we climb the ladder. They get hired to wash dishes and are thrown into the fire of line-cooking within days, thanks to a large party or a mass employee walk-out. Many chefs have skipped from porter positions all the way up to sous chef, within weeks, by being in the right place at the right time. This fluidity can work for us as much as it can against us.
There's merit and reward in taking a risk and paying those dues. It's always a gamble. But in gambling, the house always wins.
It's crucial to be hungry, passionate, and optimistic, in this field. If you don't love it, leave it; you won't make it. Even if you do love it, you still might not make it.
That financial bottom line is the top concern of any business owner. There are plenty out there who prey on our hopeful hunger. Protecting yourself is all about striking that balance between showing the world that you'll do ANYTHING to land on the next rung of the kitchen ladder, and knowing your own worth. You, too, have a bottom line to worry about, as a human being. How high up that ladder can you really climb once these "dues" that you're paying have compromised your health, self esteem and basic human needs?
We are a group of professionals: dishwashers, porters, prep cooks, line dogs, and chefs. That's easy to forget when much for the world doesn't see us that way.
Stay Hungry. It's the only way to achieve those dreams.
As far as staying foolish? Consider keeping some of that hunger to yourself; that cohort of hopeful, moneymaking owners is on a need-to-know basis. Express your passion but respect yourself. Never forget your own bottom line.
You have a business to sustain, as well, and that business is You.
My name is Ellen Duffy. I'm a chef in the Boston area with fifteen years' culinary experience.
Our universal language is food. It uses all five, perhaps six, of our senses, surpassing math and spoken word as a mode of communication.
Sharing food has the mystical ability to bulldoze cultural barriers, teaching us about one another and revealing our similarities.
I've cooked for food insecure people, traveling rockstars, and everyone in between, all of whom have been an honor to serve.
My spare time is spent as an avid music junkie (I could never cook without it), writing, and hanging with my cat and editor, Steve.
