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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Once things get rolling banquets will have about 20 full time associates, 5-10 part timers/interns/J1s, and 2 more CdPs. I'm the hot CdP, we don't have a garmo CdP yet, and we have a pastry CdP. Banquets is going to be self sufficient we think, and not rely on other kitchens for things, so we'll be doing everything out of there. Still got about 100k budgeted in case we find we need more equipment or little odds and ends to make this or that work. Dude I have missed a lot. Where the hell are you now? It looks like you landed in the right place!
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Nov 18, 2017 03:51
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Willie Tomg posted:Reminder: the correct response to the callout "hot, behind" is "Thanks, I work out." I've always been partial to saying, "Hot. This is hot. I will burn you. I will burn you and laugh. I will burn your face. I will burn your mom. I will burn your mom's face." although I only worked at one place that was constructed so badly that the whole soliloquy was necessary on a regular basis... The place was a death trap- three tiny dead-end galleys- one hot (and open to the dining room, no less) one cold and then the dish pit and walk in, connected only on one side by a narrow hallway. Nearly everything saw a saute pan at some point so the dishwasher would have to run up to the hot line and grab hot dirty pans every few minutes unless they forgot, in which case the sous chef would quickly and ragefully run them back. Whoever was on the cold line would have run plates and either pass them through the hot line window or out the hallway to the waiters. Then the pastry chef decided lava cakes were a great idea, which made the cold line run from her station through the dish pit to the walk in and all the way up to the hot line oven, hit a timer, back to cold line, timer goes off, back to hot line, plate the cake on the saute station (without killing/being killed by the sous chef) then toss it in the window for the waiters to ignore until it was tepid mush. Yes, I was the pastry chef.
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Nov 19, 2017 06:36
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Sign on the door: No animals allowed inside except service animals as defined in the ADA Policy: Anyone can bring whatever dog in without question Reality: Any dog who misbehaves is immediately evicted along with owner. This saves you any and all headaches about determining what is and isn't a service dog, keeps dogs from being a disturbance and keeps you within the law.
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Nov 24, 2017 06:26
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Skwirl posted:No one is allergic to colors. I cooked for a guy who had severe allergies to most food dyes. He was cool as poo poo- he helped me shop (since a lot of the ingredients he can't have are sometimes listed on packages as "natural coloring" or "natural flavoring") and hung out in the galley (this was on a boat) a lot. He was used to always having to cook for himself or supervise his food, so he was my de facto prep cook for the trip.
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Dec 7, 2017 00:41
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Anyone ever work for a personal chef service? My day job gets really slow in the winter, I could use a side gig.
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Dec 7, 2017 00:53
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Lest anyone is confused, $7.25/hr is nowhere near a living wage anywhere in the US, and that would be the wage at which employers could begin to take tips away to "redistribute" them. Yes, the American system is broken as gently caress, but a good first step to fixing it is not reducing the take-home pay of tipped living wage earners to poverty wages.
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Dec 9, 2017 16:55
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The point of "singling out" any one guy is that "it's the whole culture" should never be an excuse for even one assault. One attacker out of a thousand facing consequences is better than zero out of a thousand. Every female chef I know has stories. Most of us have lots of stories. Some of them will break your heart, some of them will turn your stomach, and most of them don't ever get told unless we're talking to each other. In the past, the conversation that started with "the whole culture is hosed up" ended with "it will never change until there are real consequences." The introduction of real consequences is a step forward. We shouldn't wait until we manage to hold everyone accountable at once to start holding anyone accountable at all.
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Dec 12, 2017 00:28
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virinvictus posted:I meant I hope that it pushes servers and cooks to actually report this s*** going down rather than whispering about it over prep tables. I hope it pushes management to actually fire predators rather than blaming anyone who reports harassment, labeling them a troublemaker and finding an "unrelated" reason to replace them. Victims don't keep silent for fun.
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Dec 13, 2017 04:31
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Phil Moscowitz posted:Sorry for all the sexual harassment, here’s a recipe I thought you’d like I love how the only thing he actually apologizes for is disappointing others. I mean, I get that he has to walk a line legally regarding admitting to specific things that might end up in a lawsuit/trial, but come on. It's like if my Uber driver intentionally ran over three hobos during the course of the ride and then apologized to me for the bumpy ride and said that he hopes I can still give him five stars.
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Dec 16, 2017 22:30
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Willie Tomg posted:I Got Damage about cut gloves and suited managers mandating them instead of just... teaching knife skills at places I'm glad to no longer work for, but held onto mine specifically because it lets me mandolin like a dumbass with no consequence. me: I need a new cut glove. safety manager: You realize these are designed to stop you from accidentally cutting yourself, not for allowing you to hack away at produce like a madwoman with no regard to your safety, right? me: Do you want me to keep wearing the cut glove with holes scraped in the knuckles? safety manager :*sigh* (I was a contractor for Exxon.)
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Jan 28, 2018 00:31
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:No cardboard in my kitchens, everything from produce to protiens to spices will be stored in Cambros. WiFi? Keep talking, I'm almost there...
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Jan 28, 2018 16:44
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Hauki posted:gently caress, I might struggle to find a one bedroom apartment here for that. That's a lot of the reason we chose Louisville. We can buy a nice small house that is very close to the city center for 200k or less that is more or less guaranteed to appreciate in value. Mr. W's pension/VA disability will cover the basics so I can afford to keep working for nonprofits or if I totally lose my mind, go back and manage restaurants again while I finish my undergrad degree.
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Jan 31, 2018 18:37
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Tell your left handed cook she's not allowed to use a disher and get her a heavy pointy scoop.
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Feb 3, 2018 10:08
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Not only is "all you can drink" illegal almost everywhere in the US, charging a fee to come watch the Super Bowl on TV is illegal, too! Most places get away with it because they only do it once a year or whatever and the cops have better poo poo to do than defend TV networks, but a decent handful of places get fined every year for these kinds of violations. I would totally work tonight as a server though. Next week, I'm taking two days off my day job to deliver flowers for V-day. A couple hundred a day to drive around and listen to the radio in my car- dealing with customers who are almost never going to complain about what I'm delivering? Hell yes.
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Feb 4, 2018 23:57
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cods posted:[...]Every hotel I have worked in has been the same... My friend, you are crispy. You've already checked out. It's immaterial at this point whether there are better alternatives for you in the restaurant business because, barring a major mental realignment, you are probably not in a place where you would be able to take advantage of them. I might even venture to say that you are on the edge of getting self-destructive. Do yourself and your spouse a favor and take a hard look at where you WANT to be in 5-10 years and take the steps you need to get on that path. I am not talking out of my rear end here. I've been burned out. Eventually you get to a point where you start to become something you don't want to be, and then it's time to move on. Yeah, there are plenty of people who are successful in the industry, but that doesn't mean it's right for everyone. I'm not saying you should get out because the industry is bad or to blame, but I think you should get out because it's no longer good for you and it's time.
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Feb 7, 2018 01:18
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Oldsrocket_27 posted:The real trick is to work for a mildly sketchy joint that overpays the poo poo out of you to keep your head down and do your job, regardless of minimum wage. This exists? I've only ever worked for moderately sketcky joints that underpaid/overworked me and used domestic abuse tactics to keep me from leaving. I must have been doing it all wrong...
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Feb 9, 2018 10:53
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I went back to get my twice yearly taste of service industry and delivered flowers. It was a living hell. Freaking amateurs. Sure, order flowers to be delivered to "Jane Smith, hospital basement, Fort Bragg." I'm sure finding her will be no problem at all. Or go ahead and try and surprise someone by sending them flowers when they work in a tightly secured building. The gate guards just LOVE when you show up to FORSCOM headquarters unannounced and uninvited with a wagon full of flowers and a list of names.
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Feb 16, 2018 19:06
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Well yeah, injuries that happen on the clock are the responsibility of the employer. Always report your injuries, no matter how minor. Nope. They're not the employer's responsibility if the employee is violating a procedure on which they have been trained. I had a worker's comp claim denied because I had signed a training document saying "don't lift with your back, ask for help with heavy objects." I was hurt when I was told to move a mobility cart with a dead battery. The only way to move them without hooking up a spare battery (which we didn't have) was to lift them from the front and roll them on the back wheels. I hit a bump in the carpet and fell into the cart. I had to pay for the urgent care visit which they told me was mandatory and covered for an at work injury, and I was placed on probation for violating safety procedures.
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Feb 19, 2018 20:17
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Phil Moscowitz posted:The whole point of workers comp is that in exchange for employees giving up the right to sue their employer, the employer doesn’t get to say it was the employee’s fault they got hurt. I realize I was born under an unlucky star or whatever, but I've never known of a workers comp case that didn't end badly for the worker. I remember one guy I worked with, his wife was nearly crushed to death when a filing cabinet fell on her. She was completely disabled and unable to work, and we bought their kid christmas presents that year because her worker's comp claim kept getting denied/delayed and they could barely afford to keep themselves fed, let alone buy toys.
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Feb 25, 2018 22:12
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I like them shoestring style with a sprinkling of sugar and salt.
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Apr 5, 2018 16:26
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Dear industry thread, Today was really rough at work. My coworker who rescues and bottle feeds kittens brought two three-day old babies to work. When I felt like rolling in to work around ten-ish it was time to feed them so I was helping. This one kitten was such a fussy eater and meowed so loudly while I was on the phone that the farmer I was talking to about selling his fresh strawberries asked what was going on and then went on a boring tangent about his barn cats. I got some kitten formula on my shirt, too. Whoops. Also I was less productive than usual because of people coming in the office to snuggle the kittens. I still accomplished a reasonable amount, though and I get paid by the hour so it's all good. And since my boss is on vacation I treated myself to a five hour workday. I came home in time to hit the grocery store and get stuff for supper, which I didn't manage to get on the table before my husband came home. Turns out his new consulting gig lets out early pretty much every Friday AND he was still kinda full from lunch when his team took him out for ramen to celebrate him coming to work there. What a kerfuffle! I'll also be running around for a bunch of appointments when our platinum vision and dental kick in. Nobody has screamed abuse at me in months. It's kind of disconcerting. I kind of miss the industry sometimes, but my psychotherapists says that Stockholm syndrome is highly treatable and my prognosis is good.
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Apr 7, 2018 01:29
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Nah, we get frustrated and just do the work ourselves. Woah you left cheffing?
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Apr 18, 2019 23:13
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I've been out of the industry for... five years now? Last night I had a ticket dream.
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Apr 24, 2019 19:41
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Dumbest injury was in culinary school. I had one of those cheap dial thermometers in my sleeve pocket and I opened a walk-in door with my shoulder. No real damage other than a massive bruise that hung around for weeks, but I must have hit a nerve just right because it is a pain I will never forget. My whole arm went numb.
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Jan 27, 2020 07:31
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My new place does family meal and shift drinks. It owns. We only get one shift drink and it has to be well liquor, beer or wine, but having a drink while we count and divvy up tips is really nice after a long shift. And our cooks really work to outdo themselves for family meal sometimes. Last one was ramen and it was amazing.
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Oct 2, 2021 12:49
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shoechat: I'm a huge dansko aficianado because I need something with a slight heel to keep my ankles aligned- flat soles absolutely kill me. What works for you is going to depend on the anatomy of your feet and legs. Some people (like me) also tend to "roll over" shoes faster than others, so pay attention to any uneven wear patterns, especially if you have joint issues. In other news, I've gotten a new job working as a server in a little European bistro near my house. So far it's quirky but pretty nice. Shifts are short, the people are nice, I get 5 shifts a week consistently (I had to quit my last job because they never scheduled me enough) and the guests are pretty much all reasonable tippers.
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Nov 9, 2021 00:50
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Hey goons, I need some advice. For those of you who don't know me (I haven't posted much in awhile) I like to describe myself as your stereotypical 40-year-old waitress, but my career has been a lot more than that! I have a culinary degree and have been working in the industry since I was 16 in various capacities from manager to executive chef to pizza delivery drone. I'm planning a move with my partner to the Charlottesville, VA area in the next year. I'll be buying a house. We currently live in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA where I work as a fine dining server in a nice little European bistro. I just got off the phone with my loan officer, and basically what I'm going to need is an unconditional offer letter with sufficient salary from a VA employer within 60 days of closing. My original plan was to go up to VA and live with my mother-in-law for about a month while I close on a house and find a new fine dining serving gig. That might still work, but the bank is really looking for a salary guarantee and the tipped min wage in VA is $2.13 so that's a barrier. What I'm looking for is tips and connections about breaking into working as a beer/wine/liquor rep. I have a lot of wine/cocktail knowledge (less so about beer) and think it might be a good fit. I have to take a job in something foodservice-adjacent to show continuous employment within the industry. I took a couple years off recently to be a full-time student, and that's hurt me a lot on my mortgage app since it looks like I've only worked in foodservice for less than two years, despite literal decades of experience. The loan officer agreed that I have the money for the mortgage that I budgeted, it's just a matter of proving it, and securing proof of future income. Any tips and leads are much appreciated. If you want to know more about me and my experience before hooking me up with your contacts, just hit my DMs or ask here. I'm an open book. I'm open to working BOH again but I'd kind of rather not. I'm just not a stellar line cook. I do best on fine garde manger and there's not a lot of call for that outside large hotels. I would consider FOH management at an established restaurant or hotel, but I'm really more of a product person instead of a people manager. I've worked in FOH management before and it's fine, but it's not my first choice. However, I can't afford to be too picky so any foodservice job with a decent base salary will work. I can always change jobs later. UVA is a big employer in the area so I'll be looking at them. But mostly I'd like to draw on everyone's wisdom on how best to proceed, specifically on how to approach distributors for a job as a rep after a long career in the industry. Thanks in advance!
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Mar 7, 2022 16:28
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Bayham Badger posted:Amazing info Thanks so much for this! It's a great place to start and gives me some talking points. I'm sure I'll have some follow-up questions once I start applying.
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Mar 7, 2022 18:03
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bloody ghost titty posted:Re: distributor work. That’s all *excellent* advice. Oh I'll definitely take you up on that. My resume is a bit of a mess after a decade as a military spouse and all the moving around that entails. My wine knowledge is actually pretty good- it's a bit of a hobby of mine and I've been wine tasting with my dad since before I was strictly legal. I don't have the palate to be a sommelier, but I can sus out beyond just the basics.
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Mar 8, 2022 15:33
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Late to earbud chat, but the dishwashers and two of our cooks always have earbuds in and it drives me nuts. Not so much the dishwashers- we're pretty good about dancing around each other in the pit when we have to, but the cooks really shouldn't have them in during service, especially the loving expo! It's a family-run restaurant and the expo jerk is the owner's grandson so he gets away with murder. Everyone hates him. He was a cook in the Navy for like two years and he's going to culinary school so he thinks he's hot poo poo. Those two things don't impress me much, so he and I don't get along. He also thinks he will win against me in a backstabbing war, which is kind of cute. I've been eating cocky young male cooks for lunch for decades now.
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Jun 11, 2022 13:15
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Remulak posted:You eat pieces of poo poo for lunch? just got to braise them long enough and the poo poo taste cooks out.
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Jun 12, 2022 15:03
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Bayham Badger posted:the russians used a pencil this comment needs more love. Funny story. So one day I walk in to my FOH job at the German bistro I work at and notice that the 6 pan that usually holds flat leaf parsley for schnitzel garnish contains cilantro instead. We do not use cilantro for anything. I tell the expo, "hey, that's not parsley, it's cilantro." He replies, "it's parsley." Okay... So I mention it to another server, who looks up parsley on her phone and helpfully shows me a picture: "see, it's parsley!" No, it's not. So I tell the chef/GM, who should know the loving difference. HE tells me, "oh no, that's just flat leaf parsley!" and then tastes some. "See, it's parsley!" Ten seconds later he's like "no, wait... you're right, I'm sorry, this is cilantro." We still used it. The purveyor had mislabeled it as parsley. "Go to culinary school, "they said. "You'll be respected as a chef" they said...
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Jul 4, 2022 02:20
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I work at a German restaurant that serves a schweinhaxe as big as a human baby, it's ridiculous. I think my favorite dish is sauerbraten with spaetzle, though.
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Jul 24, 2022 06:00
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I need a new restaurant home. The tl:dr; for those of you who haven't been keeping up with my career since 2007... I've been in the industry since 1996, on and off, mostly on. I graduated culinary school in 2007. I have worked every position in the house from dishwasher to general manager. I don't have any really famous or prestigious restaurants on my resume, but I've done some cool poo poo. I've also done a lot of horrific poo poo as a result of spending 11 years of my career as a military spouse with no control over where I lived. So my resume is a poo poo show with stints at the Smithsonian or a season cooking on a schooner in Maine sandwiched between stretches working pizza delivery or managing doomed tiny restaurants. Recently, I've been focusing on serving. The money is better, I can work more independently, at 41 my body can't take 5 line shifts a week, and I'm good at it. I hate management, and would only consider managing a team in very special circumstances, and then probably only as a FOH manager at a very generous salary. I vastly prefer fine dining to burn-and-turn. Since moving to Southern Maryland in April, I've been struggling. I also own a pet sitting business which was thriving in Atlanta to the point where I actually quit my restaurant job. Up here, I've been hurting for clients so I went back to serving. I lasted two months at a lovely italian red sauce joint owned by a local couple. I left because we had vastly different ideas about how much access to my free time they got for $3.63/hr part time. So I took a job in the breadstick mines (olive garden.) I could write a novel about why OG sucks to work for (hint, American capitalism is killing us all) but most of it would be old news to you. Suffice to say it blows, I'm not happy, and I'm not making any money. It's too depressing for me to keep track of accurate numbers, but an average shift is 4 hours, $650 in sales and $75 in tips. (edit: this is after tipping out the bartender and the completely useless bussers. I have never had a server job where I consistently averaged under 20% walking out the door so I don't think my current numbers are a reflection of poor service.) There are zero good independent fine dining restaurants within a 30 min drive of me. I'm thinking of widening my radius, but a long commute changes the game a bit, especially when it comes to scheduling pet sitting around my restaurant schedule. I don't want to jump ship until I know I'm landing somewhere I can stay long-term. I also don't want to burn bridges with Darden, because they own a brand I would actually really like to work for if I ever get the chance (Seasons 52). So what I'm thinking is identifying target restaurants, eating there twice, and if they pass my smell test, sending them a resume with a very detailed and customized cover letter about how I would be an asset to their team. I'm also looking at booze distributors and winery/brewery/distillery operations for sales rep jobs, but those are a bit harder to find. I've been talking to one brewery who says they want me to open up territory for them in my county, but they suck at returning emails and I'm not sure how serious they are. Give me all of your advice and suggestions. I've run through my savings and need something, but I'm not happy with what I've got right now. Wroughtirony fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Nov 7, 2023 |
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Nov 7, 2023 18:00
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Mob posted:There's a handful of Ruth's Chris's in MD, not sure how long they have to be under the Darden umbrella before you can transfer there but you'd definitely make better tips than at OG. Hell you'd probably do really well at Longhorn. The servers at mine do pretty well unless they have a table full of teenagers. The nearest RC is over an hour away in Annapolis, but there is a Longhorn in town. I might go talk to them, but I don't know how tight they are with OG management so I worry that if I go in they'll hear about it.
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Nov 8, 2023 22:31
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Just noticed the new thread title. It fits, and it's somehow comforting that I'm still this forum's career disaster poster child after all these years.
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Nov 17, 2023 01:23
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Got approval to move from the breadstick mines down the street to the steak sweatshop. Just gotta wait on the paperwork. Might be a frying pan --> fire situation, but it should be an improvement.
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Nov 20, 2023 22:29
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Had someone claim to be allergic to onions (very very rare) but was fine with onions cooked in things or onion powder. Just ask for your salad with no raw onions, you absolute bag of dicks.
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Mar 4, 2024 19:45
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Who was it here that cooked for a yacht or sailboat, had to plan a cruise-worth of meals that were zero sodium? And then the last night they had a seafood boil where everything would be cooked in seawater, but, oh, that's okay! That was me. And I still don't know how I managed not to leave that scene in handcuffs.
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Mar 5, 2024 14:35
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Coasterphreak posted:This is because if you’re crazy enough to work boh you’re probably unhinged and deeply unpleasant. Sometimes I feel like a universal translator in restaurants. I can speak fluent chef and fluent FOH, and as an elder millennial I can communicate with the olds and the kids both. It's sort of too bad I hate managing, I'm pretty good at a lot of aspects of it.
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Mar 5, 2024 21:35
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