Inspiration.
Long walks, photography, gardening, get together with friends, music, a bad nineties crime thriller or science fiction are some of the things I enjoy doing with my personal time away from work, and how I get inspired too, the random things and circumstances that surround us.
Our brains need to constantly process nature in order to remain inspired, productive and with a sense of purpose. When you see a butterfly and you can think of the mathematics behind its flight pattern, the physics that allows that living creature to seem like they’re levitating with almost no effort, and so on, it inspires you, keeps you curious. Why is the sky blue? you name it, curiosity and our opposable thumbs makes us unique biological machines.
Inspiration makes you set up goals and find tools to reach those goals and find new ones, helps you persevere when you find obstacles, inspiration helps you find self-discipline but also rules you need to break in order to establish new ones, keeps you honest with yourself and the people in your life.
Inspiration enables you to love, to keep breathing.
Rest.
Our bodies are no other than biological machines that need to sleep and rest, they need to heal when the sun comes down, to reinvent themselves overnight and find the strength to remind you that you’re alive.
Work.
When I started working in hospitality I joined a vicious circle. It’s not a secret how hard we work; servers, dishwashers, prep cooks, line cooks, bartenders, chefs, everyone involved in the daily operations. Even those who take a ridiculous amount of cigarette breaks work hard too, not as hard, but they work their long hours.
When I share my unpopular opinion about work-life balance in our industry I create new enemies or get a cynical comeback such as: «it’s the nature of the beast» or «you’re in the wrong industry» etcetera. I’m sure workers in other fields can relate with these kind of roadblocks.
I’ve been a manager for a long time now, I schedule people and delegate. My job is to make things happen under budget, following standards and all that boring stuff, it has been a constant battle but my main priority has always been to provide my coworkers a work-life balance, and trust me it’s been hard, for everyone involved, workers and owners. In the food and beverage world we have very creative independent chef-owned-kitchens too, this essay is not about you, necessarily. I’m talking about heavy production kitchens, whether it’s a hotel, a catering company, suburban supper clubs or a fast food restaurant.
I honestly don’t remember the last time I worked a 40 hour shift, if ever, and it’s not like I can’t do it, those who know me can assure you I’m a workhorse, but I want to experience life outside the kitchen, not to mention trying to avoid chronic injuries or depression.
Kitchens are broken, this is why.
Let’s start with the concept of «Brigade de cuisine» a very functional system of hierarchy that promotes chefs from within, a successful and real culinary college if you will. It pretty much starts with prep cooks, moving up until they become soup cooks, roast cooks, etc once they feel confident with their stations and skills, based on performance they can become chef de partie, sous chef and one day a chef de cuisine. Head Chefs in this system are mentors, they make sure cooks have all the tools necessary, a game plan and the motivation to perform well as a team. This system delegates responsibilities and creates a true creative environment, mostly.
These kitchens are almost extinct, some large hotels preserve the brigade, otherwise it’s very expensive to operate that way. Today we have kitchen managers and cooks multitasking every single night, cutting corners left and right (sometimes having a criminal mind is appreciated behind the line) and overworked, overwhelmed, underpaid, unhappy and uninspired workers dreaming of leaving the industry they dreamed of joining when they were little. Today we have managers trying to hire a decent cook, taking months at times to find someone who’s not going to burn water. Why is it so hard to find good cooks? Because we don’t train people or promote from within, that’s the problem. Not to mention the fresh out of college kids who want to start at the top of the food chain, but can’t (because seriously) so they usually join a different industry so they can pay their student loans.
Training isn’t easy, you need to create a relationship with the cooks, an honest one. You can’t treat them bad, yell at them, denigrate them. You empower, create a vision and offer them paths for growth, you inspire them. Some will be happy with becoming a reliable line or banquet cook, some will appreciate your leadership so they can become a manager one day, some will just appreciate the paycheck and that’s just fine, because after all, we are workers first.
Knowledge isn’t free, isn’t easy to get. Chefs tend to forget where they acquired their skills from, I don’t care if you memorized a Betty Crocker recipe book or you worked with an amazing chef in Las Vegas or Brooklyn, we’re here because someone else passed that information to us, I do believe some chefs are geniuses, but where did they get not only the knowledge but the inspiration from? And that’s important to remember. Teaching is very difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort, it’s very frustrating at times and we need to learn how to bite our tongues. Again, it’s about empowering. Give credit to your staff too, specially when they make your name look good.
Income.
I think any worker in America should work 40 hours per week and have enough money to own a home, to eat fresh and balanced, to maintain whatever keeps them inspired for 40 hours, and a comfortable bed that allows them to dream, dream big and rest, all with one paycheck. The first step to revolutionize this industry and hospitality in general is raising the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour.
Automation and outsourcing are also killing this industry and many others. It’s a new reality, it’s inevitable. That doesn’t mean it’s right. Call me crazy but I’m not a big fan of providing machines with A.I. and a biodegradable body with artificial cells that regenerate. I mean, they’re going to evolve from flipping burgers at Hardee’s to cylons chasing our civilization at light speed around the universe; that’s going to far, but what I mean is, what’s the real purpose of automation? is it progress? is it helping us? If it’s progress, then we need to find a more democratic transition, give time and resources to workers to acquire new skills.
I have a feeling that dishwashers, fast food workers, janitors, housekeeping personnel, servers, some bartenders, line cooks, prep cooks, bussers a going to lead the new labor rights movement, it’s a movement that needs to be revised, workers’ rights are without a doubt eroded.
Managers that side with these values, lets all play a secondary roll, we can join the picket line, but not be the headliners, our rolls are to inspire and offer support, but this is a fight hourly workers need to lead, and I’m truly convinced that the lives of everyone involved in our industry will be changed for good, workers, supervisors and managers.
I’m currently burnout, reaching the Executive Chef position has been one of my biggest honors, and it has been a 18 years of evolution and hard work, so I don’t take it for granted or would like to throw the towel without a fight, I want to work less hours, that’s no secret and I’m not ashamed of it anymore, but it’s a fight not for Executive Chefs like me or managers, we have to put our workers first, we take care of them, they’ll take care of us.
I have had one of the most challenging moments of my life as a worker and a person just in the past months, without going into details, I couldn’t have kept my job, my mental health or my love for this industry if it wasn’t for the integrity, hard work and dedication of two talented cooks, and a third one that joined us right after the crisis. They kept me going, kept me inspired and we did it, but honestly they did it, I will forever be thankful for all of the sacrifices they did. It opened my eyes even more, if I’ve been a promoter and believer of better labor practices and rights, I’m feeling more passionate about it now, not just for me, but for them, you have my promise, I will join your picket line or fights for your rights whenever you decide and mobilize.
As far as I’m concerned, the food and service industry was not excluded from the eight-hour day movement, so let’s fix that.
