1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,080 Hello chefs, This is Chef's PSA Podcast. 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:04,280 I'm your host, Andre Natara. On today's episode, we're going 3 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,720 to talk about is the culinary industry facing a crisis. 4 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:21,760 Stay tuned. Recording this episode a little 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,600 bit early. So today is Wednesday, September 6 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,800 27th and 23. Tomorrow is actually my 7 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,710 birthday, September 28th. I hope you wished me a happy 8 00:00:30,710 --> 00:00:32,990 birthday, but if you didn't, shame on you. 9 00:00:33,630 --> 00:00:36,470 I still expect a present. Put a chefspsa.com. 10 00:00:36,470 --> 00:00:39,990 Go get yourself a book, a journal, one of the free ebooks. 11 00:00:39,990 --> 00:00:43,590 Get some merch, get a happy cook hat, whatever. 12 00:00:43,710 --> 00:00:46,110 Go celebrate my birthday by buying yourself something nice. 13 00:00:46,230 --> 00:00:51,390 Anyway, the reason I bring up the date is because today on my 14 00:00:51,390 --> 00:00:54,910 Instagram I put up a poll. I put up several polls actually, 15 00:00:55,590 --> 00:00:59,270 wanting to take a pulse of what the state of the industry is. 16 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,800 Everything from Is the industry harder since 20/20? 17 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:05,840 What are your staffing levels looking like? 18 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,400 Are your menus too big for the amount of staff that you have to 19 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,120 pull it off? What's the skill level like of 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:16,040 the current team that you have in the kitchen and how many jobs 21 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,280 do you need to make sure you're making ends meet? 22 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,160 So I put that up on Wednesday and the results are very 23 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,920 interesting. And the reason I did that is 24 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,210 because I was starting to sniff out that we're having some 25 00:01:30,210 --> 00:01:32,890 problems in the industry. This episode is going to be a 26 00:01:32,890 --> 00:01:34,570 bit of a rant. I'm not sure if I have any 27 00:01:34,570 --> 00:01:38,050 solutions as I wax poetically. We will find out if I could have 28 00:01:38,050 --> 00:01:41,730 some bright insights, but more so than anything I have 29 00:01:41,730 --> 00:01:43,730 concerns. If I'm being honest, I've been 30 00:01:43,730 --> 00:01:46,930 pretty connected to the industry as of late in terms of talking 31 00:01:46,930 --> 00:01:49,770 to a lot of my chef friends. I've been getting a lot of Dm's 32 00:01:50,170 --> 00:01:53,570 and I'm starting to notice a really repetitive pattern. 33 00:01:53,730 --> 00:01:56,170 A lot of chefs that I know are burnt crisp. 34 00:01:56,970 --> 00:01:58,170 They're bringing up the same issues. 35 00:01:58,170 --> 00:02:00,570 They don't have enough cooks. They're getting a lot of 36 00:02:00,570 --> 00:02:02,290 pressure from ownership to perform. 37 00:02:02,970 --> 00:02:06,890 Their menus are too big, They're working too hard, The hours are 38 00:02:06,890 --> 00:02:09,289 too long. Cooks are working two jobs. 39 00:02:09,289 --> 00:02:11,570 They're willing to leave for a buck here or a buck there. 40 00:02:11,810 --> 00:02:15,330 Restaurants are raising their rates very quickly in order to 41 00:02:15,330 --> 00:02:17,770 pull all the cooks from the market, at least all the good 42 00:02:17,770 --> 00:02:19,450 ones. Chefs have always worked hard. 43 00:02:20,210 --> 00:02:22,810 I don't think that's. I don't think that's new. 44 00:02:22,810 --> 00:02:26,750 I think I I was a chef for a very long time, so seven days a 45 00:02:26,750 --> 00:02:28,270 week then and seven days a week now. 46 00:02:28,270 --> 00:02:32,270 Hard is hard, but I think the difference is a lot of the chefs 47 00:02:32,270 --> 00:02:35,310 that I'm talking to are not only working the long hours, but it's 48 00:02:35,310 --> 00:02:38,390 at a sprinter's pace and they're having to compromise quality 49 00:02:38,790 --> 00:02:41,750 where before at least they had enough people where they didn't 50 00:02:41,750 --> 00:02:44,710 have to sacrifice the quality. Someone messaged me and they 51 00:02:44,710 --> 00:02:48,030 said that they had put in their notice and this is someone that 52 00:02:48,030 --> 00:02:51,010 I communicate with often. We're going a little bit back 53 00:02:51,010 --> 00:02:53,210 and forth, so I was asking him the question why he was leaving. 54 00:02:53,210 --> 00:02:56,090 He just said all his cooks have to come in at 4:00 PM. 55 00:02:56,090 --> 00:02:59,050 The restaurant opens at 5:00. So not only is he the prep cook, 56 00:02:59,050 --> 00:03:01,130 but he also has to set the line for all the other cooks. 57 00:03:01,130 --> 00:03:03,730 The reason the cooks have to come in late is because they all 58 00:03:03,730 --> 00:03:05,850 have second jobs. Because one job doesn't pay 59 00:03:05,850 --> 00:03:09,410 enough, which one thing leads to another, Which leads to bad 60 00:03:09,410 --> 00:03:14,930 service, not enough product, mediocre quality, Not something 61 00:03:14,930 --> 00:03:17,800 that they're happy with. The hours are still long, but 62 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,080 sometimes you could put up with long hours if you're enjoying 63 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:22,760 what you're doing, If you're not as frustrated, you could deal 64 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,920 with it, right? It's kind of like if you're 65 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:26,960 playing a video game that you enjoy, you can play it all 66 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:28,880 night. It doesn't matter that you've 67 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,160 been playing it for 24 hours. You know when you were a little 68 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,120 kid, you'd play video games 24 hours a day, if not longer. 69 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:37,800 But if you didn't enjoy the video game all of a sudden, you 70 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,480 might not want to play it for 24 hours straight, much less 10 71 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:42,720 hours straight. That's kind of what's happening 72 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,280 in the kitchen. A lot of times people would say 73 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,520 why do they work so many hours? A lot of chefs enjoy being in 74 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,320 the kitchen that long. I know right now personally, I'm 75 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,400 doing a chef in residence program at a restaurant in 76 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,240 Dripping Springs and I wake up in the morning and I get ready. 77 00:03:58,240 --> 00:03:59,240 I go to work and I'm there all day. 78 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:00,840 And then I come home. I go to sleep and I do the same 79 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,360 thing and I'm like back in the grind for a short period of 80 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,040 time. But I'm fully switched on and I 81 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,280 can't turn it off right. I'm an all in type of chef, so 82 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:12,840 I'm driving to work. I'm making my notes to talk 83 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,500 about When I get there, I come home, I'm thinking about new 84 00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:19,100 things. If I have any time off, I'm 85 00:04:19,100 --> 00:04:21,820 looking at things that I could incorporate, whether it's the 86 00:04:21,820 --> 00:04:24,340 culture or the philosophy or even on the menu. 87 00:04:24,980 --> 00:04:28,180 So there are some chefs like that, just they are so into it, 88 00:04:28,220 --> 00:04:30,180 they can't turn it off because it's fun. 89 00:04:30,220 --> 00:04:32,180 It's like a video game. They're racking up the high 90 00:04:32,180 --> 00:04:35,780 score, but what if it's not fun? If it's not fun, you're not 91 00:04:35,780 --> 00:04:37,540 going to be doing that. You're not going to be trying to 92 00:04:37,540 --> 00:04:39,260 move things forward. You're not going to be trying to 93 00:04:39,260 --> 00:04:40,540 push. And so this guy that I was 94 00:04:40,540 --> 00:04:43,220 talking to says to me that he's put in his notice and he's going 95 00:04:43,220 --> 00:04:44,890 to leave. He doesn't have a plan. 96 00:04:44,890 --> 00:04:45,770 He doesn't know where he's going. 97 00:04:45,770 --> 00:04:47,530 He's picking my brain. Where do you think I should go? 98 00:04:47,650 --> 00:04:50,930 It's an interesting question because here's what I do know, 99 00:04:51,130 --> 00:04:54,050 is that not all places are suffering the same. 100 00:04:54,690 --> 00:04:58,570 A lot of the smaller independent restaurants may be suffering 101 00:04:58,690 --> 00:05:03,170 more so than the big players. A lot of the chain restaurants 102 00:05:03,170 --> 00:05:05,210 are suffering, especially those chain restaurants that have 103 00:05:05,210 --> 00:05:07,290 massive menus. You know, the ones that have 104 00:05:07,290 --> 00:05:10,370 like 50 menu items and three cooks to pull it off, right? 105 00:05:11,390 --> 00:05:15,830 And when you have massive menus and a few cooks to do it, one 106 00:05:15,830 --> 00:05:18,710 thing has to give, right? Usually the cooks can only do so 107 00:05:18,710 --> 00:05:21,390 much, so you're probably going to take shortcuts and compromise 108 00:05:21,390 --> 00:05:24,230 on the quality. So I had said to him, as taboo 109 00:05:24,230 --> 00:05:26,790 as this sounds to a lot of people, it's not taboo. 110 00:05:26,790 --> 00:05:28,950 And I think we have to reframe how we think about this. 111 00:05:29,790 --> 00:05:32,710 I said to him, and he's working in a great restaurant, I won't 112 00:05:32,710 --> 00:05:35,830 say which one, but he's working in a very top end restaurant 113 00:05:35,830 --> 00:05:39,300 with a big name chef. And I said to him, sometimes you 114 00:05:39,300 --> 00:05:42,100 need to take the corporate job so that you can have more free 115 00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:43,820 time and you have more infrastructure. 116 00:05:43,820 --> 00:05:46,820 You get the benefits, you have more resources, You have a human 117 00:05:46,820 --> 00:05:49,340 resources department. You might get the free gym 118 00:05:49,340 --> 00:05:53,180 membership, the health benefits, the PTO, all the things that I 119 00:05:53,180 --> 00:05:55,940 think are valuable, especially for what today's cooks are 120 00:05:55,940 --> 00:05:59,140 looking for. And you could find that in a 121 00:05:59,140 --> 00:06:01,540 corporate environment. It's much more difficult to find 122 00:06:01,540 --> 00:06:03,900 in an independent restaurant that's independently owned and 123 00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:06,660 independently run. But there's a tradeoff, and that 124 00:06:06,660 --> 00:06:10,680 tradeoff is usually you're trading the chef life for 125 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,040 quality of life. Might be giving up a little bit 126 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:15,840 of that creativity, depending on, you know, if you have, if 127 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:17,520 you're in a corporate structure where they're writing the menu 128 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,600 for you, something that you got to think about because quality 129 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,360 of life seems to be a hot topic. People are talking about burnout 130 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:25,720 all the time, being overworked and underpaid. 131 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:27,760 I'm not really sure how I feel about burnout. 132 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,360 I think burnout is a very real thing, and I've experienced it 133 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,040 before. But when I've experienced 134 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:33,960 burnout, it's never been in jobs that I like. 135 00:06:34,900 --> 00:06:36,980 When I'm having fun at work, I am not burned out. 136 00:06:36,980 --> 00:06:39,580 When I'm enjoying myself, I can work there all day long. 137 00:06:39,740 --> 00:06:40,940 You're around people that you love. 138 00:06:40,940 --> 00:06:42,380 The kitchen crew is just humming. 139 00:06:42,980 --> 00:06:45,100 They're like your second family. Don't feel burned out. 140 00:06:45,100 --> 00:06:46,340 You're cooking food that you enjoy. 141 00:06:46,500 --> 00:06:49,020 Don't feel burned out. Change that situation up. 142 00:06:49,380 --> 00:06:51,540 You're cooking with people that you really don't like, People 143 00:06:51,540 --> 00:06:53,380 that you don't get along with. You don't like your boss. 144 00:06:53,380 --> 00:06:55,980 You're cooking food that you're not inspired by burnout. 145 00:06:56,180 --> 00:07:00,020 A lot of the burnout has to do with not just the amount of 146 00:07:00,020 --> 00:07:02,820 hours that you're working, but the amount of joy that you're 147 00:07:02,820 --> 00:07:05,020 getting out of those hours that you're putting it. 148 00:07:05,180 --> 00:07:07,500 It's the missing part that not a lot of people talk about, but I 149 00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:11,180 think it's equally as important as you really have to enjoy what 150 00:07:11,180 --> 00:07:14,020 you're doing, or if not, that burnout comes on a lot quicker. 151 00:07:14,220 --> 00:07:16,620 If you have a chance, you need to go back and listen to Chefs 152 00:07:16,620 --> 00:07:17,660 PS:. A episode one. 153 00:07:18,380 --> 00:07:20,980 And in that very first episode, I talked about the state of the 154 00:07:20,980 --> 00:07:23,140 union coming right out of the pandemic. 155 00:07:23,700 --> 00:07:26,060 And what we were facing and some of the things that I had brought 156 00:07:26,060 --> 00:07:30,640 up was that during the pandemic, a lot of people left and they 157 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,280 found other careers where they can make more money, a side 158 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:34,400 hustle, whatever the case may be. 159 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,760 So a lot of people left, which put a lot of stress on the 160 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,080 restaurants that were opening. Then a lot of the people that 161 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:44,240 came back were basically playing arbitrage between employers. 162 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,760 Meaning I'll work here and I'll get a raise and then I'll go 163 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,040 there and I'll get $0.25 more and then I'll come back and I'll 164 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,280 get a dollar more. Where previously chefs would say 165 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:54,600 if you leave, you're not coming back. 166 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,380 But post COVID, they were begging people to come back, 167 00:07:58,460 --> 00:08:00,580 even if they had burned the bridge, because they were all 168 00:08:00,580 --> 00:08:03,220 desperate for staff. One of the other things is we 169 00:08:03,220 --> 00:08:07,180 had promoted many people into positions of leadership, which 170 00:08:07,260 --> 00:08:10,180 they were not ready for, but we were desperate. 171 00:08:10,180 --> 00:08:11,700 We needed people to lead the teams. 172 00:08:11,860 --> 00:08:14,300 So maybe someone became a sous chef or an executive chef that 173 00:08:14,300 --> 00:08:18,980 was maybe two or three years removed from where from being 174 00:08:18,980 --> 00:08:21,980 ready for that position prior to the pandemic. 175 00:08:22,350 --> 00:08:25,030 So now here we are, 2023, basically pretty close to 176 00:08:25,030 --> 00:08:26,550 wrapping up the year. And where are we? 177 00:08:27,110 --> 00:08:29,830 We created a big mess. We promoted people that weren't 178 00:08:29,830 --> 00:08:32,390 ready. We're seeing the fruits of that 179 00:08:32,590 --> 00:08:36,150 people were overworked, was almost like we didn't learn the 180 00:08:36,150 --> 00:08:38,990 lesson from the pandemic to streamline the menus and make 181 00:08:38,990 --> 00:08:40,470 something that's more cost efficient. 182 00:08:40,710 --> 00:08:43,070 Cooks came in with different expectations, right? 183 00:08:43,190 --> 00:08:45,390 The industry feels different. I could tell you that for sure 184 00:08:45,910 --> 00:08:48,310 in just three short years, the industry feels different. 185 00:08:48,310 --> 00:08:49,790 I'm not saying it feels better or worse. 186 00:08:49,790 --> 00:08:51,150 I'm just saying it feels different. 187 00:08:52,030 --> 00:08:54,430 I can't necessarily put my finger on what is so different 188 00:08:54,430 --> 00:08:57,150 about it, but I can tell you it feels different. 189 00:08:57,270 --> 00:09:00,830 And if you've been cooking for a while pre 2020, you know what 190 00:09:00,830 --> 00:09:02,790 I'm talking about. It's very difficult to put your 191 00:09:02,790 --> 00:09:05,270 finger on exactly what it is that's different, but it is 192 00:09:05,270 --> 00:09:07,350 different. I don't know if it's social 193 00:09:07,350 --> 00:09:10,430 media or if it's the type of food that we're cooking or if 194 00:09:10,430 --> 00:09:13,390 we've lowered the bar. I'm not sure exactly what it is, 195 00:09:13,390 --> 00:09:15,430 but it's definitely not the same. 196 00:09:15,670 --> 00:09:18,630 I'm going to share some of the results from the poll that I put 197 00:09:18,630 --> 00:09:21,460 up with you. The first one I put up was, is 198 00:09:21,460 --> 00:09:25,700 the industry harder now than it was in 2020 or I should say 199 00:09:25,700 --> 00:09:29,820 prior to twenty 2081% of the people that voted yes, the 200 00:09:29,820 --> 00:09:33,020 industry is harder now. That got me curious, why is it 201 00:09:33,020 --> 00:09:34,740 harder now? So I wanted to dig a little bit 202 00:09:34,740 --> 00:09:36,140 deeper. I put up a lot of questions. 203 00:09:36,340 --> 00:09:40,860 The next question I had put up was how staffed is your kitchen? 204 00:09:40,860 --> 00:09:44,660 Are you fully staffed, down a few cooks, or are you desperate? 205 00:09:44,860 --> 00:09:47,420 Only 21% said they were fully staffed. 206 00:09:48,180 --> 00:09:51,020 Think about that. Only 21 percent, 21 out of 100 207 00:09:51,020 --> 00:09:53,540 restaurants are fully staffed. That's crazy. 208 00:09:53,780 --> 00:09:57,860 That's crazy to think back when all the culinary schools were 209 00:09:57,860 --> 00:10:03,060 popping up, like around 2010 to 2015, and you had a stack of 210 00:10:03,060 --> 00:10:06,900 resumes and people were doing stages and working for free and 211 00:10:06,900 --> 00:10:08,980 culinary labor was just a plenty. 212 00:10:09,340 --> 00:10:13,340 There was a line out the door to work at mediocre places. 213 00:10:13,660 --> 00:10:16,380 Now you have some of the best restaurants in the world putting 214 00:10:16,380 --> 00:10:19,860 ads on Facebook and Craigslist for cooks and sous chefs. 215 00:10:20,060 --> 00:10:23,500 Places where you would have to get tapped on the shoulder to go 216 00:10:23,500 --> 00:10:26,300 work are now putting ads. Interesting times. 217 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:28,920 The next question I put up is your menu too big? 218 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,640 Only 13% said it could be bigger, 52% said it was the 219 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,640 right size and 35% of the people said it was too big, which I 220 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:38,720 find interesting because I actually, I thought that number 221 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:41,960 would be higher, which tells me that some chef owners are 222 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,320 putting a lot of thought into the menu and are focusing on 223 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:46,360 better quality, fewer, fewer items. 224 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:48,600 But there's a trade off, right, because the customer has to 225 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,720 understand that too. Some of the best restaurants 226 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,600 that people are talking about in the last few years really are, 227 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:00,440 are sniper specialists. They do a few things very well. 228 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:02,960 They don't have big menus. I'll give you an example. 229 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,400 Maybe they're a Taco shop or a ramen shop, or they serve this 230 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,520 pizza and it's excellent. They don't have 100 items on the 231 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:14,040 menu that are OK. They have 10 that are excellent. 232 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,400 I mean, there's a couple of restaurants in Austin that I 233 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:17,960 could think of. You know, Franklin's BBQ is a 234 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:19,680 legendary restaurant in Austin, TX. 235 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:22,270 There's a line out the door. People are camping out, so when 236 00:11:22,270 --> 00:11:24,630 they run out of brisket, sold out, sign goes up and their 237 00:11:24,630 --> 00:11:27,310 brisket is world class. Best in the world arguably. 238 00:11:27,550 --> 00:11:30,470 But they only just do a few things and they do it very well. 239 00:11:30,630 --> 00:11:35,070 And then you get owners of other places that think they got to be 240 00:11:35,270 --> 00:11:38,710 something for everybody and they have too many items on the menu 241 00:11:38,950 --> 00:11:41,070 and then it puts a strain on the staff and then you start to 242 00:11:41,070 --> 00:11:43,990 deliver. Mediocre, because there's no way 243 00:11:43,990 --> 00:11:46,470 you could put out excellent food when menus are. 244 00:11:47,190 --> 00:11:50,710 It's just not practical. Maybe you could point to a 245 00:11:50,710 --> 00:11:52,310 restaurant that does that very well. 246 00:11:52,630 --> 00:11:54,910 But in my opinion, if you want to be a successful restaurant, 247 00:11:55,190 --> 00:11:58,070 you got to hone in on your concept and your brand, and you 248 00:11:58,070 --> 00:12:02,710 have to deliver that very well. The next question I asked was 249 00:12:02,710 --> 00:12:04,870 the skill level of the team around you. 250 00:12:05,150 --> 00:12:09,870 Is it better, worse or the same? 23% said that the team that 251 00:12:09,870 --> 00:12:13,510 they're with right now is better, 40% said it's worse. 252 00:12:13,710 --> 00:12:17,200 Now think about that. And 16% said it's really bad. 253 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,720 So let's call that 5056% are saying that it's way worse than 254 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:26,000 it currently was, 21%, the same 23% are saying it's better, 255 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:29,200 right? So a large portion of the chefs 256 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,120 and cooks that answered on the polar saying that the situation 257 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,040 is worse. So not only is the industry 258 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,200 harder, but the cooks are not as skilled as they used to be 259 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:39,120 before 2020. What happened? 260 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,640 I don't know. I I don't know what happened. 261 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:42,920 And these are rhetorical questions. 262 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:45,660 I wish I had answers. Like I said, this podcast was 263 00:12:45,660 --> 00:12:47,620 going to be a little bit of a rant because I don't know the 264 00:12:47,620 --> 00:12:49,580 answers to some of these questions, but I feel like they 265 00:12:49,580 --> 00:12:52,620 need to be discussed, and I'm hoping that this podcast starts 266 00:12:52,620 --> 00:12:54,900 to open up the conversation. At least it's identifying what 267 00:12:54,900 --> 00:12:57,260 the problem is, because if we want to move the industry 268 00:12:57,260 --> 00:12:59,100 forward, we have to understand what the problem is. 269 00:12:59,340 --> 00:13:02,460 The last question I had put up on the poll was how fairly 270 00:13:02,460 --> 00:13:05,340 compensated are you? Are you compensated well? 271 00:13:05,340 --> 00:13:09,100 You're fine. You get by with one job or you 272 00:13:09,100 --> 00:13:12,380 need to have more than one job to make ends meet. 18% said they 273 00:13:12,380 --> 00:13:16,050 need more than one job, and 48% said they struggle. 274 00:13:16,650 --> 00:13:19,410 They struggle with what their pay rate is, but they make ends 275 00:13:19,410 --> 00:13:20,810 meet. But they struggle a little bit. 276 00:13:20,970 --> 00:13:24,970 And only 33% felt that they were fairly compensated, which I 277 00:13:24,970 --> 00:13:29,290 thought was interesting because if you know anything about human 278 00:13:29,290 --> 00:13:31,130 nature, we could all make more money, right? 279 00:13:31,370 --> 00:13:34,250 You give me a $10 raise, I'd like an $11.00 raise, right? 280 00:13:34,250 --> 00:13:36,830 That's just, it's just how we're wired, right? 281 00:13:36,830 --> 00:13:38,030 We always want a little bit more. 282 00:13:38,190 --> 00:13:41,110 At least a lot of us are. Clearly 33% are not wired that 283 00:13:41,110 --> 00:13:42,830 way. So as I was looking at all of 284 00:13:42,830 --> 00:13:45,510 this and I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to pinpoint what the 285 00:13:45,510 --> 00:13:46,990 issue is. So it's harder now. 286 00:13:46,990 --> 00:13:50,830 Like I said, some of the issues have to do with the pandemic. 287 00:13:50,830 --> 00:13:52,870 A lot of people leaving, a lot of the good cooks not coming 288 00:13:52,870 --> 00:13:54,710 back. A lot of it feels like we were 289 00:13:54,710 --> 00:13:58,110 on pause for three years and we weren't seeing improvement. 290 00:13:58,350 --> 00:14:03,310 A lot of people left fun jobs that they enjoyed for a little 291 00:14:03,310 --> 00:14:05,830 bit more money, right? And then the people that were 292 00:14:05,830 --> 00:14:08,630 left behind didn't enjoy them as much and they're no longer fun 293 00:14:08,630 --> 00:14:10,590 jobs. Sometimes it's people can't make 294 00:14:10,590 --> 00:14:12,790 ends meet financially. Menus are too big. 295 00:14:12,790 --> 00:14:15,310 We haven't fully corrected that issue across the board. 296 00:14:15,510 --> 00:14:17,870 And the industry's harder. I'll share a little story with 297 00:14:17,870 --> 00:14:22,070 you. I had quit a job years ago and 298 00:14:22,270 --> 00:14:25,270 one of my best friends and I, we were sitting down and he wanted 299 00:14:25,270 --> 00:14:26,470 to quit. And I would talk to him out of 300 00:14:26,470 --> 00:14:29,510 quitting and then I would want to quit and he would talk me out 301 00:14:29,510 --> 00:14:31,030 of quitting. And we were there for each 302 00:14:31,030 --> 00:14:31,910 other. Like I said, we were like 303 00:14:31,910 --> 00:14:34,020 brothers. Like I pulled him off to the 304 00:14:34,020 --> 00:14:37,340 side and I told him I had quit while he was off for a few days. 305 00:14:37,540 --> 00:14:40,020 The thing was is when we're having a conversation, he's the 306 00:14:40,060 --> 00:14:41,780 the place was screwed up. He understood. 307 00:14:41,780 --> 00:14:44,900 He understood why I had quit, but he told me, he says, I know 308 00:14:44,900 --> 00:14:47,780 this place was screwed up, but at least it was screwed up and 309 00:14:47,780 --> 00:14:49,740 we were here together. Like we had each other's back. 310 00:14:50,220 --> 00:14:53,020 I remember that that hit me pretty hard because he was 311 00:14:53,020 --> 00:14:54,740 right. I felt like I was abandoning 312 00:14:54,740 --> 00:14:57,100 him, abandoning him as a cook and chef. 313 00:14:57,340 --> 00:14:59,940 And you have to think about that like they're they're the 314 00:14:59,940 --> 00:15:03,500 industry is more than just you sometimes. 315 00:15:04,500 --> 00:15:08,700 And sometimes things do not get better when everyone starts to 316 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:11,260 jump ship for a dollar here or $0.50 there. 317 00:15:11,980 --> 00:15:14,340 Sometimes if you're enjoying where you're at and you're 318 00:15:14,340 --> 00:15:17,140 enjoying the people that are around you and you care about 319 00:15:17,140 --> 00:15:21,580 them, sometimes the bigger decision is to help rebuild the 320 00:15:21,580 --> 00:15:24,060 team. It's not everyone's job. 321 00:15:24,380 --> 00:15:26,620 Rebuilding the team isn't everyone's job, but it's some 322 00:15:26,620 --> 00:15:29,180 people's jobs. It's when the leaders step up, 323 00:15:29,420 --> 00:15:33,520 it goes back to that saying win together, fail together, if you 324 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,600 can lift up your team. Because understand that when one 325 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:38,720 person leaves, it creates A domino effect. 326 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:42,320 When you leave, you're putting your work on the person that's 327 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:45,520 left behind and it makes it more stressful for them. 328 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,120 And then they leave, and so the other person that's left behind, 329 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,000 it's triple the work for them and so on and so forth. 330 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,960 It compounds pretty quick. Sometimes when things are bad, 331 00:15:54,900 --> 00:15:56,580 the best thing to do is to not leave. 332 00:15:56,580 --> 00:15:59,180 If you're attached to the place and you care about the people, 333 00:15:59,180 --> 00:16:01,900 where you're at is to weather the storm and get through the 334 00:16:01,900 --> 00:16:03,700 tough times. I don't know what we're going to 335 00:16:03,700 --> 00:16:07,020 do about this wage situation because it's a real problem. 336 00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:10,700 And if you go back and listen to my podcast on food cost 337 00:16:10,700 --> 00:16:12,780 management, you should have a better understanding of money. 338 00:16:12,980 --> 00:16:15,380 But I could tell you this, it's not as simple as waving a magic 339 00:16:15,380 --> 00:16:17,820 wand. I know I see a lot of comments 340 00:16:17,820 --> 00:16:19,700 and I read a lot of things where people say, oh, owners are 341 00:16:19,700 --> 00:16:22,140 making so much money. It's not necessarily true. 342 00:16:22,300 --> 00:16:26,470 A lot of times owners make no money and they keep putting 343 00:16:26,470 --> 00:16:29,670 money into the restaurant to keep it open, to supply salaries 344 00:16:29,670 --> 00:16:31,710 for the staff that is there. I know that's. 345 00:16:31,830 --> 00:16:34,630 I know that for a fact. A lot of times owners don't take 346 00:16:34,630 --> 00:16:36,270 home any money and it's a money pit. 347 00:16:36,390 --> 00:16:38,590 They lose millions of dollars when the restaurant closes. 348 00:16:38,870 --> 00:16:41,470 It's a big investment and I think a lot of people think that 349 00:16:41,470 --> 00:16:43,910 some rich person is putting all their money into a restaurant 350 00:16:43,910 --> 00:16:45,790 and the restaurants making them rich. 351 00:16:45,790 --> 00:16:48,390 It's not necessarily the case. I think more people go broke 352 00:16:48,390 --> 00:16:50,990 opening restaurants than get rich opening restaurants. 353 00:16:51,110 --> 00:16:53,920 There's unicorns. Of course, There's always 354 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,560 exceptions to the rule, but the majority of the people aren't 355 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:58,120 getting rich off off restaurants. 356 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,560 They do it because it's a passion project and if they make 357 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,560 money, great. But I can tell you the majority 358 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:06,200 don't. So we need to look at raising 359 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:08,119 menu prices. But then people don't want to go 360 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,599 out and eat. Do they want to pay for what 361 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:12,520 we're serving? I've seen restaurants starting 362 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:17,200 to add a couple of dollars to the menu price to provide 363 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:19,200 affordable healthcare for their employees. 364 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,960 There's restaurants that are doing tipping for the front of 365 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:24,849 the house, service teams and culinary teams. 366 00:17:25,089 --> 00:17:26,890 There has to be some creative options out there. 367 00:17:26,890 --> 00:17:28,810 And I'm and I'm not sitting here and say I have. 368 00:17:28,970 --> 00:17:31,170 I have all the answers, but I want to begin the discussion 369 00:17:31,370 --> 00:17:34,250 because I truly do love this industry and I do love the 370 00:17:34,250 --> 00:17:35,730 people in it. I love the cooks, I love the 371 00:17:35,730 --> 00:17:38,130 chefs, and that's what chefs PS:. 372 00:17:38,130 --> 00:17:40,010 A is all about. I'm trying to help everyone win. 373 00:17:40,210 --> 00:17:42,610 Well, let me rephrase that. I'm trying to help everyone win 374 00:17:42,610 --> 00:17:43,770 That listens to Chef's PS:. A. 375 00:17:43,770 --> 00:17:44,890 If they don't listen to chef's PS:. 376 00:17:44,890 --> 00:17:45,370 A. Fuck them. 377 00:17:45,610 --> 00:17:48,890 Anyway, let's keep the discussion going and let's make 378 00:17:48,890 --> 00:17:51,430 the industry better. Obviously it's not a one person 379 00:17:51,430 --> 00:17:52,950 job. We're all in it together. 380 00:17:53,110 --> 00:17:55,590 A better industry for all of us. We all win. 381 00:17:55,590 --> 00:17:57,190 We all get better. We all make more money, We all 382 00:17:57,190 --> 00:17:59,910 cook better food, We're all successful. 383 00:18:00,710 --> 00:18:03,110 Anyway, If you want to support the show, you know what to do. 384 00:18:03,110 --> 00:18:06,830 Make sure you leave five stars. If you're watching on YouTube, 385 00:18:06,910 --> 00:18:08,430 hit the like button and subscribe. 386 00:18:08,710 --> 00:18:11,390 Go to chefspsa.com. You get all the books merge. 387 00:18:11,430 --> 00:18:14,110 I just started a Facebook page. I guess I forgot to say that. 388 00:18:15,230 --> 00:18:18,270 Look for Chefs PSA on Facebook. I'm on there. 389 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:20,400 I'm posting on there. Don't message me on there. 390 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,000 I I really don't like using the Facebook app. 391 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:25,640 I have enough apps as it is, right? 392 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:27,480 Twitter. Facebook threads, like all these 393 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,200 social media apps are a little overwhelming. 394 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,560 Instagram is the best way to get ahold of me or Twitter. 395 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:35,120 I'm on all the other social apps. 396 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:36,560 Let me know what you think of the show. 397 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:38,680 You could comment in the poll if you're watching on Spotify. 398 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:40,720 Thank you very much. See you next week. 399 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:42,200 Hit the porno music.