# A question for all Professional Chefs!



## SAMFER (Feb 29, 2020)

Hey all! I'm new to this forum however I wanted to introduce myself.

Im 28 years old and the Executive Chef at a newly opened gastropub. As of December last year, I have 10 years of cooking experience and over 5 of managing, most spent as a sous chef up until 2 years ago when I became Head Chef. We are open 5 days a week currently and 6 during the season from 11:30 AM - 9 PM.

As the Chef, the owners expect me to be on the line most times. Because of our long hours I have stated that I will not be on the line for that many hours. They didn't seem thrilled, however I have never seen any of my chefs cook as much as I do. I have no problem getting my hands dirty, cleaning and working with the team; but I am not going to be doing it on the slower days when I have other things to attend to (that are just as important.) I have also stated that I should be expediting for half a shift in the morning and then I can cook the other half with the night crew. The owners are really nice people, this is their first restaurant and I don't think they understand what exactly the chef does. In order to do my job correctly, how do I bring up this argument of why I cant be cooking for 50+ hours a week if there are other things that need attention?


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

I've been in your shoes before. 
Since this is their first venture into restaurant ownership, they are flying by the seat of their pants. They really don't understand and that's where you come in. 
You have to explain to them that you are the leader first. If your crew is doing their jobs there is no need for you to be behind the line. The Chef expedites and oversees things.
You need to sit them down and explain all of what you know to them.
They are clueless.
If you don't, you will end up getting frustrated and worse. Good luck.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

So, this is their first restaurant. What did they do before now? You need to explain it in terms that they understand. I often use an analogy to a construction foreman. It's not a perfect analogy, but it works. If the foreman is so busy doing "grunt" jobs then he is not doing his job which is overseeing and making sure that everything is going as planned. If he has to focus on the task at hand and not on seeing the big picture things can quickly go off the rails. There needs to be someone there that is watching the "big picture" and if that person is too focused on the small tasks they can't stay focused on the big picture.

That being said, I understand their want to have "their" chef cooking and there is no way to avoid that, but I don't feel that I chef should spend more than 50% of their time cooking on the line and usually it should be much less than that. I try to run a station 25% of the time, max. If I am spending time on that, I am not spending time on other things I need to be doing and the owners are paying way too much for a very expensive line cook.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

How many seats in the gastropub? How many covers per day? How many cooks on the line at one time? How many BOH employers total?


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

You know....I've rethought about this for a couple days now. I'm trying to put myself in the owners shoes.
What if......these owners want their Chef on the line, and in addition, perform all the other duties as well?
We don't know anything about the OP's place, as cheflayne asked.
Could be the place is so small there's no need for a "Chef" but more a working kitchen manager.
I'm not saying the OP is crying fowl, I'm just trying to look at another angle.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

The wonderful thing about being a chef is the kitchen must be able to run without you, but you must be so essential so the kitchen can't run without you. Your job is to set in place and maintain the structure or infrastructure so your staff can do their jobs. You work the window during rush, that really should be it. You get called on for plating help by banquets, that should be it. Your job is to train, make sure logs are properly filled in, the Ecolab guys are scheduled properly, inventory doesn't kill cash flow, people's bids are in by Tuesday, scheduling, stuff like that. All your work on the line should be training which can actually take up half a shift for a week if you have a real new guy, then you gotta make sure your sous is smart enough to recognize what you are doing and repeat the same thing for you while you're rotating the inventory and making the prep lists. 

All this is the infrastructure you need to set up so things run smoothly.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Good points Kuan, but again, I ask, what about the "working Chef?" It depends on the place eh?


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I would say for most places working chef means not more than half the time on the line, and then it's quality maintenance and expediting, not cooking at your own assigned station. Training a person at a station yes, working it a full shift, no. 

It boils down to you just don't pay a chef that much to do that job. I mean it's hard enough to work saute and plating you can't also keep an eye on the grill sauce getting dry while yelling at the new fry guy to temp the inside pork chop.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

kuan said:


> I would say for most places working chef means not more than half the time on the line, and then it's quality maintenance and expediting, not cooking at your own assigned station. Training a person at a station yes, working it a full shift, no.
> 
> It boils down to you just don't pay a chef that much to do that job. I mean it's hard enough to work saute and plating you can't also keep an eye on the grill sauce getting dry while yelling at the new fry guy to temp the inside pork chop.


Of course, each place is different. Back to this situation though and we find that said owners, who have no restaurant ownership experience believe their Chef should be on the line more than half the time. The onus is on the Chef to educate the owners, about just what a leader does.


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## Mischief (Dec 13, 2018)

I hop on the line to train, give breaks, and help when needed but I am never scheduled to be on the line. It depends on the business but there certainly isn't enough time in the day for me to be cooking for 4 or more hours.


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## ari9 (May 5, 2012)

Mischief said:


> I hop on the line to train, give breaks, and help when needed but I am never scheduled to be on the line. It depends on the business but there certainly isn't enough time in the day for me to be cooking for 4 or more hours.





SAMFER said:


> Hey all! I'm new to this forum however I wanted to introduce myself.
> 
> Im 28 years old and the Executive Chef at a newly opened gastropub. As of December last year, I have 10 years of cooking experience and over 5 of managing, most spent as a sous chef up until 2 years ago when I became Head Chef. We are open 5 days a week currently and 6 during the season from 11:30 AM - 9 PM.
> 
> As the Chef, the owners expect me to be on the line most times. Because of our long hours I have stated that I will not be on the line for that many hours. They didn't seem thrilled, however I have never seen any of my chefs cook as much as I do. I have no problem getting my hands dirty, cleaning and working with the team; but I am not going to be doing it on the slower days when I have other things to attend to (that are just as important.) I have also stated that I should be expediting for half a shift in the morning and then I can cook the other half with the night crew. The owners are really nice people, this is their first restaurant and I don't think they understand what exactly the chef does. In order to do my job correctly, how do I bring up this argument of why I cant be cooking for 50+ hours a week if there are other things that need attention?





SAMFER said:


> Hey all! I'm new to this forum however I wanted to introduce myself.
> 
> Im 28 years old and the Executive Chef at a newly opened gastropub. As of December last year, I have 10 years of cooking experience and over 5 of managing, most spent as a sous chef up until 2 years ago when I became Head Chef. We are open 5 days a week currently and 6 during the season from 11:30 AM - 9 PM.
> 
> As the Chef, the owners expect me to be on the line most times. Because of our long hours I have stated that I will not be on the line for that many hours. They didn't seem thrilled, however I have never seen any of my chefs cook as much as I do. I have no problem getting my hands dirty, cleaning and working with the team; but I am not going to be doing it on the slower days when I have other things to attend to (that are just as important.) I have also stated that I should be expediting for half a shift in the morning and then I can cook the other half with the night crew. The owners are really nice people, this is their first restaurant and I don't think they understand what exactly the chef does. In order to do my job correctly, how do I bring up this argument of why I cant be cooking for 50+ hours a week if there are other things that need attention?


Not sure this question could be answered accurately without a lot more details. I'm executive chef of two restaurants which I own plus I own other businesses in the field. So I see this from multiple angles. Some days I'm on the line at one of my restaurants. It's announced before hand. No one really needs me on the line but choose to be. However as an owner I fully expect my chef to be on the line all the times. That's what I'm paying him to do. Like I said just to many unknown details here.
ChefAri


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