# A new adventure begins



## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Hello peeps....I've had enough retirement for awhile. It was getting old. 
I decided to put my food experience to work again and now I'm the produce manager at our small town grocery store. 
The store belongs to the IGA chain. We carry fresh meats and a well stocked store. 
All I do is keep produce and fruit looking good until the customer buys it. 
We are very rural, so many of the wonderful items that can be purchased in terms of fruit or vegetables goes unsold here. 
You'd be hard pressed to find Radicchio here. That's 140 mile round trip away.
Anyway....I still get to use my food knowledge to help the store. Wish me luck and happiness, Ciao


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

Chefross, best of luck in the new job adventure. I think the keyword here is rural. You'll probably know almost all the people coming in for their weekly groceries. I wish you the best...ChefBillyB


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

chefross said:


> Hello peeps....I've had enough retirement for awhile. It was getting old.


I know what you mean, I need to stay busy and engaged with life and people...at least part time LOL. Good luck on the new adventure.

I am working part time as a flattop cook at a cafe in a an equestrian center. It cracks me up that this is the first time in my career that I have actually worked a flattop. It only took me 46 years to get around to it.

I was reading the other day that restaurant turnover rate is at 73%. I believe it because I have been there about 8 months and already have seniority. Nobody at work can believe that I am as old as I am because I work circles around them. My boss loves me because I am light years faster at cooking and put out better food than anybody else she has found yet. _Good to know that my 46 years haven't been wasted. :~)_

I love being around young people at work because where I live is rural foothill country where people come to from the city to enjoy retirement, so is all my neighbors are old farts like me and I am not ready to be an old fart yet.


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

*cheflayne, I retired on 11-11-11 and never looked back. With all the problems with employees it made owning a business miserable. I figure even a bad day of fishing is still better than working. I was happy to be successful in the profession I loved. I figure cutting it short before I started to hated it was worth it.*


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

chefbillyb said:


> I retired on 11-11-11 and never looked back. With all the problems with employees it made owning a business miserable


I definitely retired from being an owner for a lot of the same reasons, I even did IT for a couple of years but there is just something about the controlled chaos of kitchens that keeps pulling me back into them.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

chefbillyb said:


> *cheflayne, I retired on 11-11-11 and never looked back. With all the problems with employees it made owning a business miserable. I figure even a bad day of fishing is still better than working. I was happy to be successful in the profession I loved. I figure cutting it short before I started to hated it was worth it.*


Ahhh chefbillyb...I've always said that my job would be perfect if it weren't for the customers and fellow employees....hahahahahaha


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Awesome congrats sounds like a great role for you. Post some photos of your fruit and veggie stands! Happy for you.


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## tatnall (Oct 23, 2012)

chefross said:


> The store belongs to the IGA chain. We carry fresh meats and a well stocked store.
> All I do is keep produce and fruit looking good until the customer buys it.


Good luck. If you are at an IGA, you are definitely rural. Still, I am sure they are grateful to have someone with your knowledge taking care of their produce. My regular store isn't great but the produce manager really cares. He is always pulling bad produce to trimming brown spots and such so their produce is consistently good--way better than the high end markets most times.


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## tatnall (Oct 23, 2012)

cheflayne said:


> I know what you mean, I need to stay busy and engaged with life and people...at least part time LOL. Good luck on the new adventure.
> 
> I am working part time as a flattop cook at a cafe in a an equestrian center. It cracks me up that this is the first time in my career that I have actually worked a flattop. It only took me 46 years to get around to it.
> 
> ...


Tryon? Pretty area, if so.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

tatnall said:


> Tryon? Pretty area, if so.


Other coast, although I grew up in the Blue Ridge foothills.


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Good to hear youre putting youself back in production Chef. Though I sense it might be a little below your skill set  theyre lucky to have you and if its rewarding to you, all is good!


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## ShelteredBugg1 (May 1, 2019)

cheflayne said:


> I know what you mean, I need to stay busy and engaged with life and people...at least part time LOL. Good luck on the new adventure.
> 
> I am working part time as a flattop cook at a cafe in a an equestrian center. It cracks me up that this is the first time in my career that I have actually worked a flattop. It only took me 46 years to get around to it.
> 
> ...


You are really not that old though ?


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

The one thing I found since I started is that I've had to re-think my views looking at fruits and vegetables from a customer point of view rather than my "Chef's" point of view.
If I wouldn't buy it, I won't sell it to others. 
But I take issue with products with blemishes and see that people won't buy them.
I can take a roma tomato or yellow bell pepper with wrinkles and put it at half price to sell it, but I'm told to write it down on the waste chart and take it home or give it away to other employees.
I hate throwing away food. Cut away the bad and you have perfectly good product.
I have to un-learn and relearn....


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## jcakes (Feb 18, 2007)

Will they let you donate those blemished produce items? Is there a shelter who would take them? Or let you do a cooking demo to show how something that doesn't look perfect can still be used?


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

jcakes said:


> Will they let you donate those blemished produce items? Is there a shelter who would take them? Or let you do a cooking demo to show how something that doesn't look perfect can still be used?


As a matter of fact we do. The food pantry here in town gets a lot of our dated products and a lot of fruits and veggies. More during the summer months, than now.


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