1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,900 Hello chefs. You're listening to chefs, PSA 2 00:00:02,900 --> 00:00:05,100 podcast. I'm your host Entre natera. 3 00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:09,700 On today's episode. We are doing part two of opening 4 00:00:09,700 --> 00:00:25,200 your restaurant, so stay tuned. Before we get started, let me 5 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:27,700 give you an update on how things have been going. 6 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,500 We just got back from San Francisco and I was over there, 7 00:00:31,500 --> 00:00:35,100 speaking on a panel conference for hotel asset managers. 8 00:00:35,100 --> 00:00:36,800 So for people that don't know what that is. 9 00:00:37,300 --> 00:00:40,500 An asset manager is basically, the person that's the liaison 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:46,000 between a hotel owner and, like, a hotel GM or whatever. 11 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,900 There's The Operators. I was on a panel to discuss food 12 00:00:50,900 --> 00:00:54,700 and beverage trends. Where they're going how to deal 13 00:00:54,700 --> 00:00:58,300 with there chefs. What's Innovative, what's new? 14 00:00:58,300 --> 00:01:00,400 What's going on in AI? Anyway. 15 00:01:00,700 --> 00:01:01,600 I was, there was fun. I had. 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,000 And I was like, 24 hours in San Francisco. 17 00:01:04,900 --> 00:01:07,600 Had to find somewhere to eat. I ate really good pizza. 18 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:09,800 I want to say that the name of the place was Empire pizzas 19 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,200 Sicilian style, pizza was excellent actually. 20 00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:15,200 And for people that don't know Sicilian Styles like that, you 21 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:20,100 know, thicker crust was, like, a pan pizza square, or rectangle. 22 00:01:20,100 --> 00:01:21,300 In this case, many of those excellent. 23 00:01:21,300 --> 00:01:25,400 So shout out to those guys, That whatever they're doing, it's 24 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,800 really fucking good. So I also ate another place 25 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,600 called dela, Rosa Pizza. I couldn't tell you where in San 26 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:32,600 Francisco's downtown anyway stumbled upon it. 27 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,700 Someone's that go there. I don't know how I got there. 28 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,000 I didn't have GPS. I just stumbled in ate some 29 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,500 pizzas also, excellent. I kind of say Empire was better 30 00:01:41,900 --> 00:01:44,000 anyway. Nonetheless, the food in San 31 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:44,700 Francisco? Is good. 32 00:01:44,700 --> 00:01:46,500 I forget how good the food is there. 33 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,200 I think they just have a better frame of reference there of what 34 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:55,000 good food is, right? So I think San Francisco even 35 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,400 though they the city did get a little bit snubbed by many 36 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,600 awards recently. I still think it's one of the 37 00:02:00,607 --> 00:02:05,200 strongest Food cities in the country of the United States. 38 00:02:05,500 --> 00:02:08,600 Maybe even one could make an argument that it is the 39 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,000 strongest. You know, obviously the argument 40 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,200 goes New York San Francisco. Anyway we digress. 41 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,500 What else have I been up to? I started writing the new book 42 00:02:18,500 --> 00:02:23,600 that I'm working on I just currently titled bad sooo good 43 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:28,900 Chef so bad Sue comma good chef. And the way that I decided to 44 00:02:28,900 --> 00:02:31,400 write the book is it's a conversation between a sous 45 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,100 chef. And his current Chef as the Sous 46 00:02:34,100 --> 00:02:37,000 chefs, getting ready to leave to go to another restaurant. 47 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,600 And he's nervous about not being a good sous-chef. 48 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,000 He's afraid either bad sous chef so it's a conversation between 49 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,600 the two and really what inspired this conversation. 50 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,000 Is a lot of the weekly cigar Sunday's that I do where we sit 51 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,300 down and we go back and forth and I get a lot of questions. 52 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,600 I noticed a lot of the questions are repetitive and it's hard for 53 00:02:53,600 --> 00:03:01,200 me to give a long format answer in an Instagram real or not a 54 00:03:01,208 --> 00:03:05,000 real and A short story. Sorry, which is only a minute. 55 00:03:05,100 --> 00:03:06,800 And sometimes I'm like, I got to answer. 56 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,000 I'm looking at the little timer kind of like shit. 57 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,900 I gotta hurry up. And a lot of times I don't I 58 00:03:12,900 --> 00:03:14,800 mean I'm putting thought into the answers but I want to put 59 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,600 more thought into the answer and there's a different gear that I 60 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,000 go into when I'm writing versus when I'm speaking. 61 00:03:21,100 --> 00:03:23,700 You know, my podcast gear is different from my Instagram gear 62 00:03:23,700 --> 00:03:26,700 which is different from my being in the kitchen gear, which is 63 00:03:26,700 --> 00:03:30,900 different from my riding gear. And I feel like when I'm writing 64 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,400 because I'm able to go back and reread what I say and edit I'm 65 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,300 able to put the most amount of thought into what I'm writing 66 00:03:38,300 --> 00:03:41,800 versus different things. So anyway, that book is coming 67 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,900 out, I'm excited about it and for people that have been asking 68 00:03:44,900 --> 00:03:47,500 because a lot of people ask me, how do you crank Out book so 69 00:03:47,500 --> 00:03:48,900 fast. So I'm going to share my secret 70 00:03:48,900 --> 00:03:51,800 with you when I'm writing books and this has nothing to do with 71 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,100 opening a restaurant. This is just anecdotal, but when 72 00:03:54,100 --> 00:03:59,500 I'm writing books, what I do is II got a bunch of sticky notes 73 00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:01,300 and I just put them on a big whiteboard as a, okay? 74 00:04:01,300 --> 00:04:03,700 We're going to write about this. So I list out all the things 75 00:04:03,700 --> 00:04:04,800 that I want to write about every day. 76 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:06,500 Just put a sticky note on front of the computer. 77 00:04:06,500 --> 00:04:09,800 I make sure I sit down and write even though sometimes I don't 78 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,600 want to and that's actually most days. 79 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,200 I don't want to. I just it's more about the habit 80 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:16,500 of getting into it and some days I write shit like I'm looking at 81 00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:18,399 this, like the fuck is this? This is terrible. 82 00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:21,500 But anyway, nonetheless, I forced myself to sit down and 83 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:25,800 write The next thing I do is you know before I used to have an 84 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,200 editor and now you know I used to have a lot of problems with 85 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,500 my editors in the first couple of books I noticed it was not 86 00:04:31,500 --> 00:04:33,600 catch all the typos or grammar whatever. 87 00:04:34,500 --> 00:04:37,000 And so now obviously open my eyes, much more efficient. 88 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:42,200 So I'll cut what I write paste it in Ai and ask you to edit for 89 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,100 me which probably was what these people were doing. 90 00:04:45,100 --> 00:04:49,300 Anyway, I think my editor was using an AI software but now 91 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:52,000 it's like I'm in control of that. 92 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,300 I use AI software to edit my word. 93 00:04:55,300 --> 00:04:57,800 So anyway, that's how I write. And then when it comes to 94 00:04:57,800 --> 00:04:59,600 typing, because a lot of people say, oh, don't you get tired of 95 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:01,000 typing? No, I don't. 96 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,200 And the reason I don't is, sometimes I type, but not always 97 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,100 a lot of times. I use the dictate button, that's 98 00:05:06,100 --> 00:05:07,900 on Microsoft Word. So I could just speak into the 99 00:05:07,900 --> 00:05:09,800 microphone. And obviously I'm used to doing 100 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:14,000 that with podcast, so that's my writing secret. 101 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,900 But anyway, wanted to share that with you for people that are 102 00:05:16,900 --> 00:05:19,500 maybe interested in writing your own books. 103 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,900 That's how I do it. Okay. 104 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,600 Anyway, we digress. Now, let's get into opening your 105 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,800 restaurant, and I should say that this is, this probably 106 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,400 should have been a series more than just, the last episode in 107 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,500 this one. So you should go back and listen 108 00:05:37,500 --> 00:05:40,500 to episode 21 restaurant mental exercises. 109 00:05:40,500 --> 00:05:42,600 That one really should have been the first one in this whole 110 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,200 series because that episode takes you through the process 111 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,900 of, have you thought of everything that needs to go into 112 00:05:47,900 --> 00:05:49,900 your concept? Did you think about the play? 113 00:05:49,900 --> 00:05:52,300 Where did you think about the uniforms that episode just kind 114 00:05:52,300 --> 00:05:54,800 of walks you through the process of everything that you would 115 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,600 need to go through? Through mentally to design and 116 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,400 visualize your restaurant. The other two episodes that you 117 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,900 should go back and listen to is number 19, how to create your 118 00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:05,900 kitchen culture. So I'm going to gloss over that 119 00:06:05,900 --> 00:06:10,900 in this episode but basically an episode 19 it's how to get 120 00:06:10,900 --> 00:06:12,800 everyone to work on the same standard. 121 00:06:13,900 --> 00:06:16,400 I won't get too much into that in this episode because I 122 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:17,900 already covered it in episode 19. 123 00:06:17,900 --> 00:06:19,700 So that should also be a part of this series. 124 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,000 And then also go back and listen to episode 23 on marketing 125 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:28,900 yourself as a chef because Obviously, without marketing, 126 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,500 you know, you run the risk of getting lost in the noise. 127 00:06:31,500 --> 00:06:34,400 So marketing is a differentiator, those three 128 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:38,400 episodes along with the last one which is part one should go with 129 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:42,600 this one, which is part two, but the main focus of this 130 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,200 particular episode is going to be what happens. 131 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:49,100 Now that you're in the building. Usually what happens is all the 132 00:06:49,100 --> 00:06:50,900 equipment starts arriving. You got to put away all the 133 00:06:50,900 --> 00:06:52,300 boxes. You got to wash all the small 134 00:06:52,300 --> 00:06:58,100 Wares and normally the The week before opening and about, we're 135 00:06:58,100 --> 00:07:00,300 actually probably like the month depending on how soon you get 136 00:07:00,300 --> 00:07:03,700 access to the building about a month before opening, and about 137 00:07:03,700 --> 00:07:06,000 the next two months after that are probably going to be the 138 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,500 most difficult period, unless you're closing the restaurant. 139 00:07:09,500 --> 00:07:11,900 Like so the opening and the closing is really the most 140 00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:14,500 difficult Parts. Opening sucks, closing sucks. 141 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:16,400 But let's just talk about opening for a second. 142 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:18,300 The first three months of operation. 143 00:07:18,300 --> 00:07:22,100 So one month prior to opening and two months post opening are 144 00:07:22,100 --> 00:07:23,800 going to be the most difficult. Let's assume you're in the 145 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:25,600 building. You have to set your chin up, 146 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,000 you have to organize it. You got to wash all the small 147 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:32,400 Wares, you should have already created training, manuals for 148 00:07:32,407 --> 00:07:35,800 your staff culinary, team and service team, and that will 149 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:38,800 usually be some sort of, you know, depend on what you call 150 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:43,900 it, the recipe book, The use record, the pickup chart, the 151 00:07:44,100 --> 00:07:46,800 menu syllabus, everyone calls it, something different, but 152 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,300 nonetheless, you should have some sort of documented. 153 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,600 Packet that you could give to your staff that has a photograph 154 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,200 of the recipe that has the ingredients of the recipe, that 155 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,800 has the allergen. So is there a Liam, as your 156 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,200 Dairy, whatever the case may be, to make sure that they know that 157 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,700 this dish has this and it's a big explain that to the guest. 158 00:08:04,900 --> 00:08:07,500 Is there a narrative or some sort of story that goes with the 159 00:08:07,508 --> 00:08:08,800 dish? So you can say, oh yeah, these 160 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,100 truffles were forged over here or, you know, we found these 161 00:08:12,100 --> 00:08:15,100 deer in the woods for, you know, the salad that we're making 162 00:08:15,100 --> 00:08:19,200 inspired by Rene redzepi, all those things, definitely, 163 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:20,500 Important. You want to make sure that you 164 00:08:20,500 --> 00:08:23,200 have some sort of narrative marking on the table, so does it 165 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:25,100 get a fork? Does it get a knife? 166 00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:27,600 Is there any special touch points? 167 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,100 All that should be in your menu syllabus right? 168 00:08:30,100 --> 00:08:31,700 So you can give that to your service team. 169 00:08:31,700 --> 00:08:33,400 You give that to your culinary teams play, know what they're 170 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:35,600 doing, they should have recipes and so on, and so forth. 171 00:08:35,700 --> 00:08:38,400 Hopefully you've done all that before opening and you're not 172 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,100 doing that right before. Then you're going to go into 173 00:08:42,100 --> 00:08:47,000 training and in my opinion you should do some sort of slideshow 174 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,500 presentation menu training without them tasting first. 175 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,200 Get everyone familiar with the stories, get them familiar with 176 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:55,800 you, make sure that they're taking good notes. 177 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:57,400 Let them see the photos of the food. 178 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,200 I'll do all that on day one because what I've notice, if you 179 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,100 let them taste right away, a lot of times, people just focus on 180 00:09:04,300 --> 00:09:06,700 eating and not really paying attention to what they're 181 00:09:06,700 --> 00:09:09,300 tasting. So I spend a good portion of the 182 00:09:09,300 --> 00:09:12,100 day, educating them on what they Culture is what the standards 183 00:09:12,100 --> 00:09:14,700 are with the food's going to look like, go through all the 184 00:09:14,700 --> 00:09:17,000 non-negotiables of the restaurant. 185 00:09:17,100 --> 00:09:19,600 And then the next a focus on the tasting. 186 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,900 I let the cooks prepare as many of the dishes as possible 187 00:09:22,900 --> 00:09:24,800 because they are going to be the ones that are prepared. 188 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,500 Then you get into what's known as Mach service or friends and 189 00:09:29,500 --> 00:09:31,700 family. Whatever the case may be call it 190 00:09:31,700 --> 00:09:36,900 whatever you want, but that is basically training for you and 191 00:09:36,900 --> 00:09:39,300 your staff and there's a couple of different ways to do that. 192 00:09:39,300 --> 00:09:42,500 But sometimes it's like you invite friends and family. 193 00:09:42,500 --> 00:09:46,000 Sometimes it's just staff. Sometimes you you know, you 194 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:47,700 invite people, you give them 50% off. 195 00:09:47,700 --> 00:09:50,300 Sometimes it's all calm. That depends on you. 196 00:09:50,300 --> 00:09:53,400 And you know what your budget is and what you want to do, if you 197 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,600 can I mean the more training your staff has the better, 198 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,300 there's a cost associated with that it gets more expensive, the 199 00:09:59,300 --> 00:10:01,600 more you train but obviously the more you train, the better you 200 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:02,900 will be when you open your doors. 201 00:10:04,500 --> 00:10:06,100 There's different ways that you could do that. 202 00:10:06,100 --> 00:10:09,200 So let's just say you're using your staff only, you could have 203 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,500 an, a team and A B team. So, for example, The A Team goes 204 00:10:13,500 --> 00:10:17,900 and eats and the B-Team cooks and serves and then they flip so 205 00:10:17,900 --> 00:10:20,400 18b team or it could be, you know, the friends of the people 206 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:24,400 that work there or it could be people that you invite Etc, what 207 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:26,300 you really want to do is you want to make sure that you're 208 00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:29,200 getting feedback from the people that are eating and you also 209 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:32,500 want to make sure that your stress testing the operation. 210 00:10:32,500 --> 00:10:36,500 So you want to push the Human the service team to their limit 211 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,900 because you want to find out what the breaking point is 212 00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:42,000 before you open. You don't want to find that out 213 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,000 after you. Open, you gradually, increase 214 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:46,200 the cover. So, again, let's just say you're 215 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,600 doing this for three days on day one, maybe you're doing 50 216 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:50,800 covers on day to maybe you're doing 100 covers. 217 00:10:51,100 --> 00:10:53,400 And then on day 3, maybe you're going and depending on what the 218 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:56,900 two previous days are, maybe you're going up to 150, I'd 219 00:10:56,900 --> 00:11:01,300 rather fail and pre mock service then in actual service. 220 00:11:01,300 --> 00:11:05,100 So, if you find out, hey, we push to 150, but Our sweet spot 221 00:11:05,100 --> 00:11:07,100 is 100, that when you open up, you say, okay? 222 00:11:07,300 --> 00:11:10,700 We're going to start at 100 until we're confident enough to 223 00:11:10,700 --> 00:11:15,100 go back to 150 because you do only get one chance to open 224 00:11:15,100 --> 00:11:17,400 correctly and everyone is going to come out to the new 225 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,500 restaurant. Everyone wants to go to the new 226 00:11:19,500 --> 00:11:21,900 restaurant and try the food and judge them and get on social 227 00:11:21,900 --> 00:11:23,100 media. And say, there were there at 228 00:11:23,100 --> 00:11:26,400 that hot new restaurant, not understanding that. 229 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:29,500 Hey, we're still like operating with training wheels, were still 230 00:11:29,500 --> 00:11:31,900 trying to figure this shit out there. 231 00:11:32,300 --> 00:11:33,600 People don't care. Like, they don't understand 232 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:34,700 that. They're gonna judge, You hardly, 233 00:11:34,700 --> 00:11:37,000 I do didn't have enough salt, or didn't have this like, okay, 234 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,000 it's pre. It's like week one or 235 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,700 pre-opening or mock service. So keep that in mind. 236 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,400 Another thing to keep in mind, when you're doing mock service 237 00:11:45,500 --> 00:11:49,800 and pre-opening, Is that you need to make sure you have very 238 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:52,000 specific guidelines on how you want people to order. 239 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,500 If you just give people a menu and a free-for-all, they could 240 00:11:55,500 --> 00:11:58,800 order whatever they want, they won't order like your typical 241 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:01,000 diners because people ordered differently when they have to 242 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:05,400 pay it versus when it's calm. I know I've been in Pre openings 243 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,200 where it's like, okay, you can order whatever you want, we're 244 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,500 taking care of the whole thing and people were like, you know, 245 00:12:09,500 --> 00:12:13,700 Lobster and shellfish, plateaus and big old steaks. 246 00:12:13,700 --> 00:12:15,800 And it's like, that's not how you would really order. 247 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:18,500 If you were paying for yourself, like let's get a tin of caviar 248 00:12:18,500 --> 00:12:20,100 for each of us. Let's order everything on the 249 00:12:20,100 --> 00:12:22,900 menu if you want to stress. Test the kitchen. 250 00:12:22,900 --> 00:12:28,000 Yes, but it's not a true test of what they're actually going to 251 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,000 go through. So you want to make sure that if 252 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,300 you can, what I would do is like I'd have menu one menu to menu 253 00:12:34,300 --> 00:12:37,000 three and I would black out certain things on the menu and 254 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,900 say, okay, if you got menu 1, these are the only things you 255 00:12:38,900 --> 00:12:40,900 could order. You also might want to say, 256 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,100 you're only allowed to order, you know, like a normal person. 257 00:12:44,100 --> 00:12:46,400 You might you guys you know for every two people you get to 258 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,000 share two appetizers or one app to whatever the case may be. 259 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,000 Three appetizers, yet one entree, one side and half a 260 00:12:53,008 --> 00:12:54,700 desert per person. So there's two people. 261 00:12:54,700 --> 00:12:57,100 You get one dessert and you got a shirt because if not people 262 00:12:57,100 --> 00:13:00,300 start ordering crazy, right? And the reality is most 263 00:13:00,300 --> 00:13:02,300 restaurants, don't operate like that. 264 00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:07,600 So you want to kind of manage it a little bit so that you get a 265 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,500 true stress test of what opening night is going to look like. 266 00:13:11,700 --> 00:13:17,200 Now, when you go into the opening phase, I think one of 267 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:22,500 the things that but I do is I always staff one and a half 268 00:13:23,300 --> 00:13:25,400 times what my normal staffing needs would be. 269 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,400 So let's just say, let's just say, I need 10 Cooks in the 270 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,900 kitchen, I'm going to hire 15 because I know about five people 271 00:13:31,900 --> 00:13:36,800 are going to quit because it's too hard Long, Day's long hours, 272 00:13:38,700 --> 00:13:42,500 everyone's working crazy. People are on their feet all 273 00:13:42,500 --> 00:13:44,800 day. It's chaotic it's stressful. 274 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:47,500 No knows what they're doing people crack. 275 00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:49,500 And they say, you know what, I'm not coming back tomorrow, people 276 00:13:49,500 --> 00:13:51,400 are going to quit on you with no notice. 277 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:52,600 They're just not going to come back. 278 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:53,500 You're not going to see them again. 279 00:13:53,500 --> 00:13:55,800 They're going to be a ghost. People are going to break down 280 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,100 in the walk in and start crying because it's hectic and you 281 00:13:59,100 --> 00:14:02,000 know, tempers are high and all this is going on. 282 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,500 So you have to understand that chaos of opening is going to 283 00:14:05,500 --> 00:14:09,800 break a lot of people. So when you're hiring you need a 284 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,700 higher more not like At one and a half is usually what I go. 285 00:14:12,700 --> 00:14:16,000 But I mean, if you have the ability to go to 21, do that 286 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,400 because you're going to lose people after about two months or 287 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,600 so, it starts to settle into. Turnover should turn down 288 00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:27,000 significantly but plan on losing a lot of your staff in the 289 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,000 initial phases of the opening process. 290 00:14:30,900 --> 00:14:34,400 Keep that in mind over staff from a service team standpoint, 291 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:36,900 you'll normally get, you know, best of the best for some 292 00:14:36,900 --> 00:14:39,200 reason. Service teams always want to 293 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,600 work at the hot new restaurant. Probably Cuz they make the most 294 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:43,800 amount of tips to initially. And then like, if you go to a 295 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,800 restaurant, when it first opens up and it's the hot new 296 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,700 restaurant, they got like the best servers in the city and 297 00:14:48,700 --> 00:14:52,400 then you go back to that same hot restaurant like a year 298 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:54,000 later. It's like the worst servers in 299 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:55,300 the city like what the fuck happened? 300 00:14:55,300 --> 00:14:56,600 Where all the good servers goes like? 301 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,200 Oh yeah, it's it's the nature of the Beast. 302 00:14:59,300 --> 00:15:01,000 They come in and they go out right? 303 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,900 Then go to the next hot new restaurants something, you know, 304 00:15:03,900 --> 00:15:07,600 it's, I tangent, but it's very relevant to this conversation. 305 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,900 I came across this website called Kitchen Confidential. 306 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,600 Prudential's and what it is. It's like rate your employer at 307 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,800 Glassdoor kind of thing, right? For culinary industry. 308 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,800 It's like I worked here. I got paid. 309 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:23,000 This is what the environment was like. 310 00:15:24,300 --> 00:15:27,600 And when you're opening up a restaurant, I think when you 311 00:15:27,608 --> 00:15:29,900 have apps like this is the way of the future, right? 312 00:15:29,900 --> 00:15:34,000 Social media and all that. Creates much more transparency 313 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,100 in this industry. So I think if you are opening up 314 00:15:37,100 --> 00:15:40,700 a restaurant, you need to be aware that your kitchen culture 315 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:45,100 and your restaurant work culture needs to be positive from day 316 00:15:45,100 --> 00:15:47,000 one. Because if not, you're gonna 317 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,800 have a very hard time recruiting and I only see things like that. 318 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,000 Becoming more and more prevalent in this industry and all 319 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:56,900 Industries. Really, but specifically in The 320 00:15:56,900 --> 00:15:58,700 Culinary world because that's what we're talking about. 321 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:00,800 I do expect that you are going to see things like that. 322 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:02,900 So if you open up a restaurant and then you have 10 negative 323 00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:06,700 review saying, you know, the owners of jerk chefs a jerk, 324 00:16:06,700 --> 00:16:09,200 right the Sous chefs a jerk. No one like working there they 325 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:13,100 were mean to me, blah blah blah. They don't pay well Don't go 326 00:16:13,100 --> 00:16:15,000 work there. It's gonna hurt your future 327 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,000 business, right? It's gonna hurt your reputation 328 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,800 in your community to get staff. So you want to make sure that 329 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,200 from day one, you are building that good workplace culture, 330 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,100 knowing that it's going to be intense and stressful and 331 00:16:25,100 --> 00:16:27,100 chaotic. Keep that in mind. 332 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,400 Now, the other thing that and get this is just my opinion. 333 00:16:30,900 --> 00:16:34,700 But if I'm opening up a restaurant, I want to be the top 334 00:16:34,700 --> 00:16:38,600 pane place in the city, right, because when you pay the most, 335 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,100 you don't got to argue and negotiate with people. 336 00:16:41,100 --> 00:16:44,600 Like you're paying the most To get the best of the best cooks 337 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:46,900 in shops to come work for you, knowing that you're going to 338 00:16:46,908 --> 00:16:48,800 have turnover, eventually, it kind of settles down and then 339 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:52,700 you go back to one to one. But initially, I think you want 340 00:16:52,700 --> 00:16:56,300 to be paying the most and you know, eventually that changes 341 00:16:56,300 --> 00:16:58,800 when things open up and someone else is going to come on and 342 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,200 they're going to be the highest-paid Kitchen in the 343 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,500 city. But I think initially for me, I 344 00:17:03,500 --> 00:17:05,900 always want to be the most expensive restaurant. 345 00:17:06,500 --> 00:17:09,200 And I also wanted to be paying the most, because here's 346 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,000 something. And this is just my opinion. 347 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,800 But this is also been My strategy people don't ever say. 348 00:17:16,300 --> 00:17:18,700 Let's go order. The second most bottle of 349 00:17:18,700 --> 00:17:21,000 champagne when someone wants to flex, they say, give me the most 350 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:22,599 expensive thing. Give me the most expensive, 351 00:17:22,900 --> 00:17:24,700 whatever on the Mayo, on the most expensive steak. 352 00:17:24,700 --> 00:17:26,500 I want the most expensive caviar. 353 00:17:27,300 --> 00:17:29,700 When people want to flex, you need to allow them the ability 354 00:17:29,700 --> 00:17:33,000 to flex. So I always thought I'm going to 355 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:34,700 do, you want to flex and show off your money? 356 00:17:34,700 --> 00:17:36,100 I will be more than glad to take it. 357 00:17:36,108 --> 00:17:38,800 So, let's be the most expensive. I don't want to be known as the 358 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:40,400 second most expensive. No one ever says. 359 00:17:40,700 --> 00:17:42,700 Let's go to the second. Most expensive restaurant. 360 00:17:43,300 --> 00:17:45,900 Especially if they want to flex, right? 361 00:17:45,900 --> 00:17:48,400 So, that would be my strategy there, the other strategy, and 362 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,200 maybe that's not your model, maybe your, you know, maybe your 363 00:17:53,500 --> 00:17:55,200 Maybe you're a casual spot so that doesn't matter. 364 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,600 But let's assume maybe for this conversation, your high-end 365 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,900 behind him. Casual forget what I said. 366 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,500 The other thing is people never say, let's go work at the place 367 00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:09,600 that pays second, like, they all want to work at the place that 368 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,700 pays the most no one wants to work at the place that is 369 00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:17,900 silver, metal. Second best, if you are at the 370 00:18:17,900 --> 00:18:20,700 top, you are the Apex. Everyone's going to want to come 371 00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:23,000 work for you. It's a no-brainer. 372 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000 You will have fewer staffing issues. 373 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,700 If you open up and you say let's just do it right from the 374 00:18:27,700 --> 00:18:29,100 beginning. Let's pay the most right? 375 00:18:29,500 --> 00:18:31,700 And it's good for everyone, it's trust me. 376 00:18:31,700 --> 00:18:33,400 We could have a whole conversation about Bout this. 377 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:37,100 But anyway, I always think pay the most have a good workplace 378 00:18:37,100 --> 00:18:40,000 culture and that will solve a lot of the issues moving 379 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,700 forward. Anyway, things to think about, 380 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,400 And then finally when the doors open and things start to settle. 381 00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:50,700 My advice is, don't start out with the most difficult menus 382 00:18:51,100 --> 00:18:52,900 because things are not going to go. 383 00:18:52,900 --> 00:18:55,000 Well, you're going to have to change things on the Fly. 384 00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:57,500 Cooks are still learning. You can start introducing the 385 00:18:57,500 --> 00:19:01,200 difficulty as time goes on. And you also have to understand 386 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:03,500 like is the city. Like, if is the city ready for 387 00:19:03,500 --> 00:19:06,500 what you're trying to do, is it a proven concept or do you have 388 00:19:06,500 --> 00:19:09,500 to prove it? Something that you need to think 389 00:19:09,500 --> 00:19:12,600 about what I recommend is every day after service. 390 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,400 You sit down your culinary team. That's the leaders. 391 00:19:15,700 --> 00:19:17,600 And you also sit down with the service team leaders and you 392 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:21,600 discuss every single point of failure that happened and you 393 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,200 discuss it and you find Solutions because if you're not 394 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,500 finding solutions to problems early on, they will become big 395 00:19:28,500 --> 00:19:30,500 problems later on. So let's just say you have a 396 00:19:30,508 --> 00:19:33,700 dish on the menu, there's dishes too many touch points and it's 397 00:19:33,700 --> 00:19:36,900 too complicated in the cook and always crashes the line and 398 00:19:36,900 --> 00:19:38,800 Everyone Falls behind Behind when they order that. 399 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:39,600 Oh shit. Dish. 400 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:41,700 Like they ordered pop. They order the oh shit dish. 401 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,900 The solvent like on day one. Don't let your ego get in the 402 00:19:45,900 --> 00:19:48,000 way get rid of it. Put it on the menu later when 403 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,000 everyone gets better. If there's a dish that's 404 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,800 crashing, the kitchen on on opening week then get it out of 405 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:55,400 the way. Like unless it's like the number 406 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:59,000 one dish like your steak house and it is the, you know, the 407 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:00,800 steak then okay. Maybe that's a different story 408 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,700 but solve it quickly. Try and solve these problems as 409 00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:05,900 quickly. Don't let your ego get too 410 00:20:05,900 --> 00:20:10,100 attached attached to specific dishes or ways of operating if 411 00:20:10,100 --> 00:20:12,800 things don't work right away. Unless you know that Hey, you 412 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:14,200 know what? It'll take time but this is 413 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,100 going to work in the long run. Maybe it's a good idea. 414 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,300 Those are all things that I think people need to consider 415 00:20:19,300 --> 00:20:22,300 when opening a restaurant. Treat your team. 416 00:20:22,300 --> 00:20:27,700 Well, stock up the fridges with coffee, Red Bull, water, snacks, 417 00:20:28,300 --> 00:20:30,700 whatever the case may be, make sure people are nourished 418 00:20:30,700 --> 00:20:33,800 hydrated and energized, ready to go awake and ready. 419 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,300 And then, you know, I talk about this in the culture episode, but 420 00:20:38,100 --> 00:20:41,300 make sure that you establish boundaries from the jump. 421 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,100 So if people color outside of the lines, you correct them 422 00:20:44,100 --> 00:20:46,200 right away and they know that this is the way it's going to be 423 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:49,600 last thing that I'll talk about on this podcast with regards to 424 00:20:49,608 --> 00:20:52,700 open a restaurant. And the team is make sure you 425 00:20:52,700 --> 00:20:57,200 have a solid stewarding DISH, Team and treat them well because 426 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,800 there's nothing worse than opening up a restaurant. 427 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,500 And you got dishes, stacked to the ceiling and the dishwasher 428 00:21:03,500 --> 00:21:05,300 walks out. And now your cooks that are 429 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:09,000 exhausted and your servers that are exhausted, have to clean up 430 00:21:09,100 --> 00:21:11,600 Stewart in area and they're like, okay, I'm definitely not 431 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,700 coming back. So consider all those things. 432 00:21:16,100 --> 00:21:19,900 Anyway, let's wrap it up. I hope you enjoyed this series 433 00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:23,400 on opening up a restaurant. If you feel free to comment on 434 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:24,700 here, I think there's a comment box. 435 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:27,700 If you're listening on Spotify, make sure you leave five stars 436 00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:30,400 on this episode on all episodes right chefs. 437 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,800 PSA is only a five-star podcast, go back and listen to episodes, 438 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:37,300 21. 19, and 23. Those are the episodes that kind 439 00:21:37,300 --> 00:21:41,500 of are included to help you open up a restaurant as well. 440 00:21:41,500 --> 00:21:44,400 So, mental exercises, creating kitchen, culture and marketing, 441 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:46,600 all important, when it comes to open, Restaurant. 442 00:21:47,100 --> 00:21:49,000 And then lastly, if you want to support the show, go to Chef 443 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,300 cbsla.com. You can get all the books. 444 00:21:51,300 --> 00:21:55,000 All the merchandise, everything that we do, we have the two free 445 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,600 ebook. So culinary dictionary, and also 446 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:00,500 100 basic recipes. Go get culinary leadership. 447 00:22:00,500 --> 00:22:02,800 Fundamentals. The book or kitchen Art of War. 448 00:22:03,100 --> 00:22:05,900 If your are a strategist, anyway. 449 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,100 Thank you. All see you next week and hit 450 00:22:08,100 --> 00:22:08,900 the porno music.