I can champion your challenges of a new addition to your management team. I have been fortunate to experience several corporate companies as a professional chef and even more as an apprentice. I bring to the table alot of background & experience, well roundness, and most of all a fresh, exciting passion to get things going. I keep informed, stay in touch with new ideas, and remain teachable and open minded. I think my biggest influence and contributors as to my passion towards my career is largely credited to some fantastic mentors I've had. In this business, you come across some really great people. You know, we deal with guests-people-our customers everyday. And with experience you come across all sorts of situations and challenges which just makes you a better person. And thanks to some great coaches I've had, I learned quite a bit. And it makes me realize how much more there is to learn still. I believe surrounding yourself with the right people makes a big difference. From my bosses, to my peers and co-workers to my team members and staff. It all adds up.
I believe there is a big difference between just getting a job with a paycheck and actually landing a career with a contribution to the business.
Big Difference! I often hear people talking in the background of just wanting any job just to get a job. I understand that degree of flexibility within reason but there has to be more of a driving force behind wanting just a job. It's my opinion, my belief that being associated with a great operation is number one. A great place that respects its people, has a great team, great managers, a positive atmosphere, and value its customers. All the rest like the perks, benefits, and pay will just roll right in. As a professional and artist in food service, I look to connect with the operation, believe in it, and
buy into its culture. It's a both business and personal relationship. Much more than just a paycheck which you can get just about on any corner even in these challenging times.
As JFK said, I'm not looking for what the company can do for me, I am
looking for what I can do for them. I truly believe in this. Part of my
Portfolio Archive contain old newprint articles that I collect and kept with me throughout the years. These are articles that reflect alot on my
outlook on hospitality food service and working it as a career professional. Articles like the top 10 reasons of career satisfaction,
secrets of a chef's zest for career success, and how the creative types add to your business. These articles and more are long since yellowed and
aged but I still share the same values since then. I pride myself in the
contributions that I gave to my companies in the past. Contributions as
a team and as an individual.
So does it mean that I am picky and not easily satified? Of course not!
Good question but no. Afterall I have been married over 20 years. Long time I know and same wife, just a little older (don't tell her that). I'll put that test of time and commitment towards anything else anybody could throw at me. My last couple of jobs were only a couple of years each. I did move on good terms. And I am happy with my former references. I have commited myself in the past to a company for over 7 years till it was sold off and I had to work for a nearby company. Everything I worked is in the
same restaurant hospitality food service business. I see that as consistent. My love for the business has ever grown since then.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
RESTAURANT CHEF CONSULTANT, Long Beach Ca Chef, Professional restaurant consultant...adding to your restaurant either through contract or retainer can make all the difference...
I'm not always available for consulting although I would love to be. I actually enjoy working as a career chef longterm for a great company that I can commit and dedicate myself to as I hope the company would likewise do onto me. I would love to share through my blog, emails, and links, the many ways I can help you. I am currently available to speak with you on any issue of concern that you may have in successfully opening or operating a restaurant. I am also seriously seeking to join a quality restaurant hospitality food service team that I can call my home team for a longterm career. I am open to consulting at this point until I join such a team. I do have a passion for the arts and consider culinary consulting to be almost a hobby and past time for me during the free time I have when not at my career job. And at present time, I am not at a career job although I am actively searching for one. So let me begin by why I believe someone would need a chef consultant such as myself.
* If you're gonna sell shoes, then you better know them better than anyone else!
-this was from my friend back at Houlihans during my college cooking job. I asked him what he thought about me opening up a restaurant. I was really young but I loved the business. He was right, if I wanted a restaurant, I had better know the business better than anyone that would be working with me. And back then, I didn't know a whole lot. Now years later, I know I can open a restaurant. My point is the desire sometimes is just not good enough, you got to have the technical and tactical skills necessary. (A good coach will coach his team and not the other way around.)
*those who can-do
those who can't-teach
You can't expect to know everything but you gotta know alot. You also got be honest and know your strenghts. If you're lacking the knowledge and skills, then get someone on board who does know and can do. Its called a team. And each player has their place. And the chef consultant definitely has his place.
There's alot to be said with a second pair of eyes, another look, a second opinion, a hired gun...you know- a problem solver. Kinda like using the right tools for the right job, then it's using the right people for the right job. And of course, it's never a one man show, we draw off each other, network the problem and arrive at a team
solution. The chef consultant gets the ball rolling, stimulates thought, and guides the process. I had a boss who once said that one of the best ways to solve something was to just ask a question. Ask someone a question who is in the path of getting your solution. It'll work. What do you think? Scenario: we have a cook dragging on an order thats getting late and the customer is looking anxious. So you want him to put a hammer on it and get the food on the rail asap. So do you push him? Not wise to do during a rush at least not rude but artfully. You ask him, "hey Jose, when can we get that saute chicken?" He'll figure it out and can participate in pushing out the food. He'll say, "right now, it's in my hands." So you respond, "great! thank you, can I wait for it or will it be a minute"? Jose says, "don't leave, stay, it'll be 30 seconds". See, problem solved, at least for now-no whip to crack. And after the rush you can touch base with Jose and thank him again, offer your assistance in his job success and see if he has any concerns. If alls well-move on.
* If you're gonna sell shoes, then you better know them better than anyone else!
-this was from my friend back at Houlihans during my college cooking job. I asked him what he thought about me opening up a restaurant. I was really young but I loved the business. He was right, if I wanted a restaurant, I had better know the business better than anyone that would be working with me. And back then, I didn't know a whole lot. Now years later, I know I can open a restaurant. My point is the desire sometimes is just not good enough, you got to have the technical and tactical skills necessary. (A good coach will coach his team and not the other way around.)
*those who can-do
those who can't-teach
You can't expect to know everything but you gotta know alot. You also got be honest and know your strenghts. If you're lacking the knowledge and skills, then get someone on board who does know and can do. Its called a team. And each player has their place. And the chef consultant definitely has his place.
There's alot to be said with a second pair of eyes, another look, a second opinion, a hired gun...you know- a problem solver. Kinda like using the right tools for the right job, then it's using the right people for the right job. And of course, it's never a one man show, we draw off each other, network the problem and arrive at a team
solution. The chef consultant gets the ball rolling, stimulates thought, and guides the process. I had a boss who once said that one of the best ways to solve something was to just ask a question. Ask someone a question who is in the path of getting your solution. It'll work. What do you think? Scenario: we have a cook dragging on an order thats getting late and the customer is looking anxious. So you want him to put a hammer on it and get the food on the rail asap. So do you push him? Not wise to do during a rush at least not rude but artfully. You ask him, "hey Jose, when can we get that saute chicken?" He'll figure it out and can participate in pushing out the food. He'll say, "right now, it's in my hands." So you respond, "great! thank you, can I wait for it or will it be a minute"? Jose says, "don't leave, stay, it'll be 30 seconds". See, problem solved, at least for now-no whip to crack. And after the rush you can touch base with Jose and thank him again, offer your assistance in his job success and see if he has any concerns. If alls well-move on.
STARTING YOUR OWN RESTAURANT, I've got some real ideas that'll work...
Starting your own restaurant. What kind? I've got some real ideas that can work...yeah, I know...everyone has their ideas of what kind of restaurant to open.
1. No fly by night ideas here.
I have been thinking of these ideas, playing them out in my dreams, and sizing them up with actual restaurants for over 20 years. This goes back to my high school days of working summer jobs in many different restaurants. Even in college when I could I was working several different restaurants seasonally. And my early apprentice years, I've worked 2 jobs at a time and even at some points 3 at a time. However, in my professional culinary career, I focused on only one career job at a time. Such are the demands of a professional culinary career. I would say that my professional career resume jobs plus my early apprentice jobs and my youth work has put me exposed to and experienced in well over 20 concepts. So my ideas are founded in a real world, working experience of hospitality food service. I feel very accomplished for being in my forties.
2. My Ideas in a Nutshell...
I can briefly describe some ideas I have: basically I have 6 ideas, not a bunch but 6 solid visions that came as a result of being a restaurant lifer. I separate them into 2 groups of 3.
a. About the 6 concepts.
And not that first 3 are any better or worse than my second 3, but the first 3 concepts are those that I could never open financially since they are way outside my means and the second 3 concepts are those that I could one day actually see myself being able to afford to open. This first set of 3 I could see myself assisting someone else to open and let them own the places. I would be happy with a starting interest in them and backing out the picture or stay around in an advisory capacity. It would add to my consultant experience and create a new resume as a consultant. The second 3 are more dear to my heart because I can see myself being able to afford the cost of the start-up or being co-owner with someone. So it breaks down like that.
b. The first 3...
1. A diner concept.
I'm not trying to keep details a secret but just generally tell you where I'm going with this. The diner will be styled somewhat like dennys with several touches that would make it very attractive and competitive. I know that my example of Dennys may touch a spark with my bon apetit colleagues but remember it is simple, consistent, been around, brand recognized, profitable and fast and cheap. We all eat there. My take on it would be a twist in the culture and physical dynamics. Most of all- the name of the restaurant. I got a good one that says it all and with today's lifestle, it would fit nicely in all the big cities metropolitans. There is a need for this kind of restaurant. I know Dennys proved it. I want to take it a step further. The bottom line is it must be a business that's profitable. Too many chef owners are opening up places after leaving cooking school and working a job or two and believing they got the right place. Sure, they got the drive, the passion, maybe even the skills, but do they have the right food. See, alot chefs have big egos and I admit I have mine but I stay grounded and I give the people what the people want. Get it? Alot of chefs are cooking for themselves, to themselves it looks good, to themselves it taste good, to themselves this is what people want. Thats where I check my ego in. Too many chef/owners are sitting in a beautiful white tablecloth place with only crickets and cobwebs as customers. There is a time and place and a way for every type of restaurant. Just some basic laws of business, one must follow first.
1. No fly by night ideas here.
I have been thinking of these ideas, playing them out in my dreams, and sizing them up with actual restaurants for over 20 years. This goes back to my high school days of working summer jobs in many different restaurants. Even in college when I could I was working several different restaurants seasonally. And my early apprentice years, I've worked 2 jobs at a time and even at some points 3 at a time. However, in my professional culinary career, I focused on only one career job at a time. Such are the demands of a professional culinary career. I would say that my professional career resume jobs plus my early apprentice jobs and my youth work has put me exposed to and experienced in well over 20 concepts. So my ideas are founded in a real world, working experience of hospitality food service. I feel very accomplished for being in my forties.
2. My Ideas in a Nutshell...
I can briefly describe some ideas I have: basically I have 6 ideas, not a bunch but 6 solid visions that came as a result of being a restaurant lifer. I separate them into 2 groups of 3.
a. About the 6 concepts.
And not that first 3 are any better or worse than my second 3, but the first 3 concepts are those that I could never open financially since they are way outside my means and the second 3 concepts are those that I could one day actually see myself being able to afford to open. This first set of 3 I could see myself assisting someone else to open and let them own the places. I would be happy with a starting interest in them and backing out the picture or stay around in an advisory capacity. It would add to my consultant experience and create a new resume as a consultant. The second 3 are more dear to my heart because I can see myself being able to afford the cost of the start-up or being co-owner with someone. So it breaks down like that.
b. The first 3...
1. A diner concept.
I'm not trying to keep details a secret but just generally tell you where I'm going with this. The diner will be styled somewhat like dennys with several touches that would make it very attractive and competitive. I know that my example of Dennys may touch a spark with my bon apetit colleagues but remember it is simple, consistent, been around, brand recognized, profitable and fast and cheap. We all eat there. My take on it would be a twist in the culture and physical dynamics. Most of all- the name of the restaurant. I got a good one that says it all and with today's lifestle, it would fit nicely in all the big cities metropolitans. There is a need for this kind of restaurant. I know Dennys proved it. I want to take it a step further. The bottom line is it must be a business that's profitable. Too many chef owners are opening up places after leaving cooking school and working a job or two and believing they got the right place. Sure, they got the drive, the passion, maybe even the skills, but do they have the right food. See, alot chefs have big egos and I admit I have mine but I stay grounded and I give the people what the people want. Get it? Alot of chefs are cooking for themselves, to themselves it looks good, to themselves it taste good, to themselves this is what people want. Thats where I check my ego in. Too many chef/owners are sitting in a beautiful white tablecloth place with only crickets and cobwebs as customers. There is a time and place and a way for every type of restaurant. Just some basic laws of business, one must follow first.
A RESTAURANT IN A BRIEFCASE, Restaurant Owner's Manual...
With alot of quality time and real working experience in hospitality food service business, you can literally have a venture concept packed in a briefcase. I believe with time anyone who really enjoys the restaurant business and really has a passion for customer service will dream of opening up their own place or at least want to be a part of opening some original concept.
(Sidenote: I feel strongly about pursuing something because you love it and not because you wanna get rich. Because if you love it, you'll work it, take care of it, and people will see that and surround you with prosperity. I know when the love for the arts come first then everything else like money, fame, ect. will fall in place. This is probably why start-up restaurants in california have one of the biggest failue rates of new businesses.) I like to compare the restaurant business to a sports team franchise. They both have alot in common. Restaurants are a extremely competitive business. It is also teamplayer oriented and performance driven. If you're great in restaurants, you will make the place successful which means financially which translates to more money for you. So love your job, you'll do it well, and be rewarded for it. Did you ever see a star NBA player who wasn't getting paid well. Hard work equals success.
A restaurant in a briefcase.
You can have the name of your dream restaurant already in your head. You can even have the concept theme and type of menu uploaded there also. But it is a good idea to start getting these ideas on paper-I mean onto an electronic media source. It is inspiring to see how a complete restaurant can fit onto a set of floppies and hard disks and that can fit easily into a briefcase along with other media aids and stuff. I suggest this in addition to putting everything on a the hard drives, shared files, intranet, internet links, web pages, ect. Of course you will want everything continuously backed up and in sync with your removable media and disks. The idea being that you can physically have a resource library that is easy to visually index and physically access. As an illustration, you can have a 1000 songs on your ipod, but it would be great to have the actual cds in your library. I know you can have a virtual library uploaded on the net, but we're talking about original file souces for a restaurant which have to be downloaded primarily from your own mind. So working and saving onto removable media especially cdrom-r disks would be ideal. There will a point where all this will be kept in a virtual storage. But now, during the venture
startup planning phase for a dream restaurant, its best to keep it simple and work out of a briefcase. If your buddy is curious about your inventory system, hand 'em a disk-say check it out. Just remember to keep disks backed up and create a filing system/labels that coincide or can be referenced to your hard drive, ect. Makes sense? Lets move on.
1. Table of Contents
Having a restaurant in a briefcase is alot like having a huge book report that you carry around. Its simple to show, share, and work on. We're keeping our database system simple at this point. You over complicate it and
(Sidenote: I feel strongly about pursuing something because you love it and not because you wanna get rich. Because if you love it, you'll work it, take care of it, and people will see that and surround you with prosperity. I know when the love for the arts come first then everything else like money, fame, ect. will fall in place. This is probably why start-up restaurants in california have one of the biggest failue rates of new businesses.) I like to compare the restaurant business to a sports team franchise. They both have alot in common. Restaurants are a extremely competitive business. It is also teamplayer oriented and performance driven. If you're great in restaurants, you will make the place successful which means financially which translates to more money for you. So love your job, you'll do it well, and be rewarded for it. Did you ever see a star NBA player who wasn't getting paid well. Hard work equals success.
A restaurant in a briefcase.
You can have the name of your dream restaurant already in your head. You can even have the concept theme and type of menu uploaded there also. But it is a good idea to start getting these ideas on paper-I mean onto an electronic media source. It is inspiring to see how a complete restaurant can fit onto a set of floppies and hard disks and that can fit easily into a briefcase along with other media aids and stuff. I suggest this in addition to putting everything on a the hard drives, shared files, intranet, internet links, web pages, ect. Of course you will want everything continuously backed up and in sync with your removable media and disks. The idea being that you can physically have a resource library that is easy to visually index and physically access. As an illustration, you can have a 1000 songs on your ipod, but it would be great to have the actual cds in your library. I know you can have a virtual library uploaded on the net, but we're talking about original file souces for a restaurant which have to be downloaded primarily from your own mind. So working and saving onto removable media especially cdrom-r disks would be ideal. There will a point where all this will be kept in a virtual storage. But now, during the venture
startup planning phase for a dream restaurant, its best to keep it simple and work out of a briefcase. If your buddy is curious about your inventory system, hand 'em a disk-say check it out. Just remember to keep disks backed up and create a filing system/labels that coincide or can be referenced to your hard drive, ect. Makes sense? Lets move on.
1. Table of Contents
Having a restaurant in a briefcase is alot like having a huge book report that you carry around. Its simple to show, share, and work on. We're keeping our database system simple at this point. You over complicate it and
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