1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,760 What I did know is that I thrived in that environment of 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,360 chaos when it the tickets came in and it was crazy. 3 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:11,760 I I could kind of, I could function higher level than 4 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:14,320 everybody else. Don't know why, don't know how. 5 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,480 Hello chefs. This is Chefs PSA and I'm your 6 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,560 host Andre Natera. Today my guest is Chef Josh 7 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:21,600 Sutcliffe. He's the corporate executive 8 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,560 chef at 5570 Private Members Club in Dallas, TX. 9 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,840 He's worked in some incredible restaurants including Mirador 10 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:31,960 and FT-33. He was recognized as Rising Star 11 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,360 Chef of the Year by Culture Map Dallas, recovering his journey 12 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,720 from family upheaval at a young age that led him to washing 13 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:40,880 dishes and falling in love with the kitchen. 14 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,480 Pirate life. Balancing chef creativity with 15 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:46,160 business acumen and some advice to younger chefs. 16 00:00:46,160 --> 00:01:00,360 Stay tuned. What happened? 17 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:01,800 How did we get here? Yeah. 18 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:03,800 How did how did this whole thing start? 19 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,000 I was, I was sitting on the couch, right? 20 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:11,160 And I was 13 years old and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, knock on 21 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,200 the door. I think it was a Sunday. 22 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:19,240 I remember opening the door with my sister and they were like 15 23 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,800 feds at my front door. And of course, being 13, right, 24 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,920 you don't know, like, I know something's not right, but I 25 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:30,360 have no idea what's going on. And, you know, that was the 26 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,720 moment my life changed for forever. 27 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:38,680 And it's something I think about now. 2020, was it 24 years 28 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,160 later? And. 29 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:43,240 Where were you living at the time? 30 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:45,600 I was. Living in in like just north of 31 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,360 Wilmington, NC. So I was born and raised in 32 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,440 Wilmington and then we moved to Hampstead, which is like 30 33 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:56,160 minutes N near like a little small beach town and small, you 34 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,520 know, we had like 1000 people in our high school. 35 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:01,800 So it was, it's a small town. And anyways that, you know, that 36 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,480 change the, you know, feds came in, did what they do tear your 37 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,120 house apart. Later come to find out, you know 38 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,240 what dad was selling pot big quantities. 39 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:13,440 He ended up going to jail for about 4 1/2 years. 40 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,920 So miss him all through high school and that transition, but 41 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:18,320 that's when I got introduced to restaurants. 42 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:18,680 What? What? 43 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,960 What about your mom? My mom, so she fortunately, 44 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,440 like, you know, we had to sell everything and she, you know, 45 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:29,960 they, they tried to ring some stuff on her that she knew and, 46 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,640 and she did a little bit, but not enough to luckily not enough 47 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:35,360 to send her away. So she continued to work. 48 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:37,600 We made some major changes, right? 49 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,960 We were living in like a, you know, a pretty nice house that 50 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,040 we, my, my family had built, my mom, my dad, I'd built, it's 51 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,240 probably about 3000 square feet. And we were there probably like 52 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,000 3 or 4 years before all this happened. 53 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:52,600 And so, you know, we, we moved into a 38 foot camper, right? 54 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,880 So it was me, my two sisters, my mother, I was 13. 55 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:02,480 And right, like this is huge change in, in the pivotal point 56 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:04,000 in my life. And so that's where. 57 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:06,040 You're in high school. Yeah, I was going in high 58 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:06,640 school. I was in 8th. 59 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:09,240 Grade well, this I mean, but image matters at that point. 60 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,160 Like image is everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 61 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,520 And, and, and my sisters were working at a local restaurant 62 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,120 and and that was it, right? It was like, OK, we'll have to 63 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:19,560 get a job and there's no time to pout. 64 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,320 Like let's you know, you know, I have two older sisters, right? 65 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:23,840 So I'm the man of the family at this point. 66 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,480 I had to take care of them and and my mother and be there and 67 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,800 be this, be this anchor. So I started washing dishes and 68 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:33,760 I loved it. Like it was. 69 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:35,440 It was a calling. Yeah. 70 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:37,200 I didn't even know about cooking at this point, right. 71 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:37,840 I hadn't. I didn't. 72 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:39,880 All I knew was like, I love this. 73 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:42,560 And it was hard. I'd come in three pot sink. 74 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,640 This is like, I'm sure those restaurants are still out there 75 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,160 where like the chefs and the people aren't washing the 76 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:49,600 dishes. They just throw it in the three 77 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,200 pot sink, fill it with soap. You come in at 3:00 and this 78 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:54,560 thing is just a mountain. And guess what? 79 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:55,880 Get to work. You get to scrub. 80 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,040 And I need that. I need those pans for service. 81 00:03:58,040 --> 00:03:59,000 I need that. I need that. 82 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:01,720 And you got to knock it out. And so that was like my 83 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:03,080 introduction to the restaurant business. 84 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:05,960 And it was something about working with my hands and 85 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:08,800 something that was really tangible for me, like, OK, I 86 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,040 just have to finish this task quickly and do it well, and then 87 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:13,960 I move on to the next thing. And so there was something about 88 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,519 that, that task oriented thing where it was like the only thing 89 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:19,880 that's going to make a difference whether I'm great or 90 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:21,760 not great here is my speed is my. 91 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,880 You're you're 131313. They're putting you under the 92 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:25,800 table. Oh yeah. 93 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,680 Yeah, I mean, you know, it's probably making like 150 bucks a 94 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,800 week, maybe 100 bucks a week, things like that, you know, just 95 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,080 paying me, sliding me cash. And, you know, I'm not going to 96 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:36,400 name the drop, but you know who you are. 97 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,000 Love you guys still keep in contact with them. 98 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,920 And so, yeah, I washed dishes for a year and I loved it, man. 99 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,080 I just the energy of the kitchen. 100 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,520 And then, you know, it's very much like that pirate situation. 101 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,080 Guys are smoking cigarettes in the back and going through the 102 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,280 hood vent. You know, my kitchen manager, 103 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:55,320 rest in peace. He died a couple years ago. 104 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:57,960 I was wearing, you know, sandals in the kitchen, right? 105 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:03,040 Like that short sandals, music blasting, just like, you know, 106 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:09,880 early 2000s, just like stain or like stain and like Creed and 107 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,560 kind of like that, that just like that punk rock thing and 108 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,000 chaos, you know, just doing 350 covers a night. 109 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,360 And so I, I was about a year in washing dishes and I was like, 110 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,200 man, like I want to go over there. 111 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,880 I want to be over there. And I could imagine being 13 or 112 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:30,080 14 years old, you know, teenager, young man, and then 113 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,120 you're hanging around with all these grown ass pirates and 114 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,040 they're smoking cigarettes. They're fucking drinking and 115 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,480 they're cool and and they're probably taking you outside and 116 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:42,160 giving you life lessons. 100% right, that was that was my 117 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:44,080 introduction into life really quickly. 118 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,720 And again, I loved it and I had a bunch of great people around 119 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:50,560 me, I think, and and I was fortunate enough to have my 120 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:52,120 friends work there, right, because it was just that kind of 121 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:54,920 it was a seasonal joint. So it's like, hey, homie, like 122 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,080 my three guys like, hey, you want a job to make some money 123 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,840 this summer, we need a fry cook or we need a grill cook, we need 124 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:02,440 a sautee cook. And so, you know, it's fortunate 125 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,520 enough through that, you know, from 13 to 18 full time to be 126 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:08,840 able to work with my friends. And it was, it was very 127 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:10,200 definitely a special time in my life. 128 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,760 But you know, that's where I learned that really quickly. 129 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:14,240 I'm, I'm really good at this thing. 130 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,960 I didn't know anything about the craft or anything about really 131 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,080 the skills that were needed to be ultra successful. 132 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,120 What I did know is that I thrived in that environment of 133 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,720 chaos when it, the tickets came in and it was crazy. 134 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,160 I, I could kind of, I could function higher level than 135 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,680 everybody else. Don't know why, don't know how, 136 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,120 but you know, that's been like the the pillar that's continued 137 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,320 to push me forward is like, I'm just great at this thing and and 138 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,080 you know, through the years trying to find like what, you 139 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,320 know, what are the other things that I'm great at and keep kind 140 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:50,280 of just pushing towards those. Things how did how did you 141 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:55,280 balance going to high school and working and, you know, finishing 142 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:58,600 school and trying to trying to do good and trying to also be 143 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,520 the man of the house and then going to this restaurant? 144 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:04,560 I mean, it's a lot of pressure for a 13 year old. 145 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,600 Yeah, A. 14 year old, yeah. I mean, I think I was blessed to 146 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,520 be raised with great values and ethics, first and foremost, 147 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:12,920 right? Like while my dad, you know, 148 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:18,360 gots into prison, I was raised proper, was raised, you know, in 149 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,720 the South, you know, like, respect, respect your elders, 150 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,800 hard to work all those things. So like, my structure had 151 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,040 already been built. And so I think like that was 152 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:32,040 obviously something that allowed me to be successful. 153 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,640 And then also I got lucky, man. Like I just was around a bunch 154 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,400 of great people. And so when this transition 155 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:41,720 happened and I was living in this camper with my mom and my 156 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,680 my sister, my older sister end up moving out because she like 157 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:46,800 was getting, she was there for a year and she graduated high 158 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,840 school and she went to college. And so it ended up just being 159 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:50,120 me, my middle sister and my mother. 160 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,000 And so at 14, I moved out because I I couldn't, I couldn't 161 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,160 be in that situation. My mom still works at Corning, 162 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,840 Corning Corning fiber optics. She's going to retire next year. 163 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,640 Shout out mom, love you. 3030 plus years there. 164 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:08,480 And so she's working 12. You know, it's a an hour commute 165 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:10,800 hour back. So she's gone 14 hours a day. 166 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,080 She's working 12 hour shifts. You know anything about Corning 167 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:14,680 and those kind of operations union. 168 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:17,440 So you work like 7 days on, you get 7 days off. 169 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:19,960 She's gone a lot. So I moved out, you know, 170 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:21,920 there's just no, I didn't have any. 171 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,440 Anybody tell me what to do? So I moved out and I kind of 172 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,120 just started messing around and sleeping on couches at 14. 173 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,720 And I was fortunate enough to have a, a near and dear friend 174 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:31,360 of mine. His mom pulled me inside and 175 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:32,799 it's like, you need to come live with us. 176 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,880 And so I think without her life looks a lot different, right? 177 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,960 And so instead of me like pushing away, I, I said, yeah, 178 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,600 like I would love that because I don't want to be couch surfing 179 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,480 and figuring out my life at 14. And so I went and stayed with 180 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:51,560 her and, and, and, and her son was my one of my best friends. 181 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,200 And so I was fortunate enough to have that stability from 14 182 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:57,240 pretty much to until I graduated. 183 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,720 And, you know, just to be able to have a place to call home and 184 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:03,680 go to. And she supported me and bought 185 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:07,520 me clothes and gave me a, you know, spending money even though 186 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:09,360 I was working. And, you know, she ended up 187 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,080 buying me a car when I was like 17. 188 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,360 And, you know, Terry is, you know, near and dear to my heart. 189 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:17,120 So definitely a second mother, you know, without her, I 190 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:21,280 definitely would probably not have been where I am today. 191 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:23,400 So, so you decide at a certain point like I'm going to go to a 192 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:25,600 cooking school and I'm going to become a chef or. 193 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,840 Yeah, when I was 16, I was like, I just knew. 194 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:30,480 I loved it. I was like, this is what I want 195 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:32,320 to do in my life. Were you more in love with the 196 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:34,120 cooking or were you more in love with the environment? 197 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:42,760 The environment, I didn't even the like what we know now. 198 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,560 And when I come, I came to love change over time. 199 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,120 I fell in love with the with the chaos of all of it. 200 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:53,200 Like I love the thrill. I love the idea that I could 201 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:57,400 just curse like a sailor. I love the idea that, you know, 202 00:09:57,560 --> 00:09:59,920 you worked in the back of the house, like you kind of called 203 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:01,040 the shots. So I told you, you were getting 204 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,640 the steak in 4 minutes. It's you and you were getting 205 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:04,880 the steak. If your table wasn't ready, you 206 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:06,080 better get your table ready, right? 207 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:08,800 Like, you know, it's that that thrill of being a chef. 208 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:10,920 I'm in charge. Like you just figure it out. 209 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:13,280 We're doing all the hard work back here, right? 210 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,320 It's that old school kind of mentality. 211 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:18,760 And so I fell in love with that. The partying, not coming to work 212 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,160 till, you know, 3:00 in the afternoon and staying up all 213 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:24,040 night and going out and hanging out with people and smoking 214 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,880 cigarettes and doing drugs. I fell in love with that first 215 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:30,240 and foremost. And I loved cooking. 216 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,160 And so I knew I wanted to be a chef, but I didn't know what I 217 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,400 would have to give up to be successful at that point in 218 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:37,000 time. I just knew that like, I'm going 219 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,440 to go to culinary school and I went to my own restaurant one 220 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,800 day and that's all I knew, right? 221 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:44,760 And so moved and did some stuff. How? 222 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:46,400 How old were you when you went to culinary school? 223 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:51,520 So I went to, when I graduated high school in O7, I went to a 224 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,040 Community College in Charlotte, NC. 225 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:58,160 So I moved right out and did six months party like a sailor. 226 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,960 And I was like, man, I can't, I can't stay here like this is 227 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:05,160 dangerous. So I moved back home and I 228 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,880 enrolled into that local Community College, did that for 229 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,880 six months. And I was like, I can't, I 230 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:13,440 can't, I can't do this. Like I'm having too much fun, 231 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:15,480 I'm partying too much. I've got a great job making good 232 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,720 money. And I just kind of was like, I'm 233 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:20,080 just going to, I'll put school in the back burner. 234 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:26,080 And so from like 18 to 21, I just partied and had as much fun 235 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:29,440 as I could and worked and had a great life. 236 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:31,920 You know, I was able to always live with friends. 237 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,360 You know, I had some great spots, spent all our money on 238 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,240 booze and drugs and paid rent and and made it to the next week 239 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,200 and pretty simple life. Yeah, the pirate life. 240 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,400 That's right. And then I realized, you know, I 241 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:45,080 was like 21. I was like, if I don't get out 242 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:49,840 of here, I'm not getting out. And so again, very fortunate to 243 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:52,920 have, you know, my mother was able to kind of help me get this 244 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:58,280 loan for El Centro. I'm sorry, El Centro, but the 245 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:00,640 cord on blue in San Francisco. I originally wanted to go to 246 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:04,120 Hyde Park, but I had a couple pending charges as far as like 247 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,360 drunk in public, like nothing major, but that was a life I was 248 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:09,800 living. And so like forget to mention 249 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:13,960 from the age of 14 to 21, I probably, I was probably issued 250 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:16,840 anywhere from 6 to 8, like underage drinking tickets. 251 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:20,720 And so I was always kind of in the court system because of that 252 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:23,200 because I didn't have any authority, I can do whatever I 253 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:24,920 want. And so that led to a lot of 254 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:27,840 like, hey, dude, you're drinking again, here's a ticket, call 255 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,760 your lawyer, take care of it. And so when I applied to CIA in 256 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:34,520 Hyde Park, they obviously didn't like that and they wanted me to 257 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:36,520 send like this four page letter of like how I was going to 258 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:38,360 change and stuff. And I'm like, fuck this. 259 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,280 Like, you know, I understand that what I'm doing isn't great, 260 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:46,240 but I'm also not like doing anything terrible and I'm not 261 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:48,480 going to do that. And so I was like, forget them. 262 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,920 I'm going to figure this out another way anyways. 263 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:52,080 And. This is what the Cordon Bleu is 264 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:53,120 like. The Cordon Bleu we'll take, 265 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:54,480 we'll take anybody. We'll. 266 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,760 Take anybody. And so it all worked out. 267 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,200 It was obviously very easy. It probably was a month process 268 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,200 from start to finish and got the paperwork sign. 269 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,840 Mom helped me kind of like bear kind of the front of like the 270 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,280 first year of loans, 300 bucks a month or something. 271 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:11,520 And I could have never afforded it. 272 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,000 And so that gave me the flexibility to be able to just 273 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:18,000 like jump on a plane, live in a hostel, which is like that, you 274 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,120 know, San Francisco's a whole another story, maybe for another 275 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,560 time. And anyway, so like that, that 276 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:27,840 set me there and that place and that time and that was, that was 277 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,000 a jump I needed. And it was also the risk that I 278 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,520 needed to take to move my career forward. 279 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,240 So that's what I do. But you played sports too, 280 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:37,000 right? I played basketball, you played 281 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:38,840 basketball, and I was good at basketball. 282 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:40,800 My vision has always been an issue. 283 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:42,760 You know, like you really need purple vision. 284 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:44,680 Like purple vision when? You were trying to get LASIK. 285 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:50,000 Yeah, my, my, my eye is too bad. So I, I had, I had really bad 286 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,680 vision. I had laser surgery like in 2016 287 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:58,000 or 2017, I don't remember, but it was I fucking hated wearing 288 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:00,960 glasses in the kitchen because they fog up, they're constantly 289 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:03,800 greasy, they're scratched, I'm constantly pushing them up my 290 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:05,880 face. And then after I got laser 291 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:08,200 surgery, I was like, why the fuck did I never do this sooner? 292 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:10,840 It was fucking great. I had like 2020 vision the next 293 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:12,240 day. It's amazing 'cause I have a bad 294 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,720 stigmatism in my left eye that has denied me the two times I've 295 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:18,440 tried. But technology does change and 296 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,120 yeah, I think hopefully in the next couple years with 297 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:24,200 technology changing, we'll be able to get it done. 298 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:25,720 Yeah, I have fucking laser eyes now. 299 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:27,200 It's fucking great. It's amazing, I'm sure. 300 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:29,520 It's fucking great, especially because I've spent my whole 301 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:30,400 life. Can't wait for the day. 302 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,600 Wearing wearing glasses, right? Like and I played sports too, so 303 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:35,760 I remember playing baseball when I was a kid. 304 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,040 You got you got the straps. No, I wouldn't wear them. 305 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:40,720 So I'd fucking strike out because I couldn't see the ball. 306 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,400 And I remember once the fucking ball hit me right on the hand 307 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,920 because I, I couldn't, I, I just didn't see it until it was too 308 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:48,600 close or until it's too late, really. 309 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,400 But the reason I ask about basketball and sports is because 310 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:55,840 I'm wondering, did playing sports prepare you for kitchen 311 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:57,240 life? A. 100% I think about it to this 312 00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:59,200 day. Yeah, I think you probably, but 313 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,760 you being in the game so long too, you see a lot of, you know, 314 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:05,880 similarities with with chefs running teams. 315 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,960 It's a it's a team game, right? And the, the further you get 316 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,120 down the path, the more you realize I'm, I'm a piece of this 317 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:16,920 puzzle and I can't do I can't be successful about all these 318 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:21,720 people. And so yes, it, it is played a 319 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,960 huge part in who I am as a person and who has I am as as a 320 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:30,840 chef, even as a person, you know, even to this day, like I 321 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:32,120 don't want to do something by myself. 322 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,520 I don't want to be, I want, I want to be in a, in a group 323 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:41,440 setting where like the team is, you know, we're all equal part 324 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,000 of that sum and we're all like without one piece. 325 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:49,200 It, it, it doesn't work. And and for me, I've always 326 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,920 enjoyed that. Yeah, I, I agree. 327 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,760 I think well, and what a lot of young cooks don't understand is 328 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:58,040 when they get into a kitchen for the first time and you're 17 or 329 00:15:58,040 --> 00:15:59,560 you're 18. You, you kind of touched on this 330 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,640 earlier is you might be walking in with cooks that have 10 years 331 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,800 experience, 20 years experience, two years experience and you're 332 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,400 all expected to fucking work together and perform at the same 333 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,760 level. The the guy that's been cooking 334 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,960 for 25 years and is in his mid 40s and he's a disgruntled line 335 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,880 cook and he's a beast on the grill and he's pissed off at you 336 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,240 because you're three months experience and you can't keep up 337 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:24,600 with them and they don't give a shit. 338 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:30,600 But when you have that sports, I don't want to say sports 339 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:32,880 training, but you know, just just being on teams and working 340 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,840 with people, you understand that you're hey, look, I'm playing 341 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:37,200 this part. I got to get better because 342 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,440 they're the star player. You know, that competitive 343 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,600 mindset does lend itself well to kitchens, I think. 344 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:49,520 You know, you talked about earlier how you wanted to get 345 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:52,880 into a kitchen because you liked that environment more so than 346 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,760 you loved cooking. I often say to people, just 347 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:57,560 because you love to cook doesn't mean you're going to love 348 00:16:57,560 --> 00:16:59,280 working in kitchens. They're 2 completely different 349 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:01,560 things, loving to cook and loving to work in kitchens. 350 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,760 There's people that love to work in kitchens but don't 351 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:06,000 necessarily love food. And I know that's very strange 352 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:08,240 for people to hear it, but they could give a shit about what 353 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:09,480 they're cooking. They just want to be in the 354 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:11,839 kitchen, right? They, they just love the thrill 355 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:13,720 of it. And other people like they love 356 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,480 nothing more than cooking. And then they go get their first 357 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:19,480 cooking job and they're like, Oh my God, I make the greatest 358 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,520 fucking casserole. And the chef says, like, Hey, 359 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,359 we're not making your fucking casserole, Go clean the walk. 360 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:26,280 And and then you're, you're picking herbs after that. 361 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:28,280 Like you're not, we're not, we're not trying your casserole 362 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,480 maybe for family meal one day. And the reason I bring that up 363 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,960 is because now that you're a chef, now that you're operating 364 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:40,400 your own kitchen, if you could look at your career and some of 365 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,960 the ups and downs that you've had throughout from being a line 366 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,640 cook to now being an executive chef and, you know, multiple 367 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,560 properties. What are some of the things that 368 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:52,920 you're advising young cooks on now when they're coming into the 369 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,400 industry? I mean, you know, it's a loaded 370 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:00,400 question and I know that we could talk about it for hours. 371 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,360 Yeah. But I think start starting at, 372 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,280 you know, I think tying it into the sports thing really quick, 373 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,240 understanding that like it is a team game, right? 374 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,160 And so something that I always enjoyed was like, hey, dude, 375 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:19,280 like if, you know, if Joey fucks up, we're all running sprints. 376 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:26,160 And that it's something I think that for me is, you know, and 377 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,000 again, everybody's different. Everybody's going to see it 378 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,200 through the same viewpoint. And like you said, some people 379 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,680 love cooking, but they don't love the chef part or they don't 380 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:34,560 love the food part. And so now everybody's going to 381 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:40,760 gravitate towards it. But kind of understanding that 382 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:45,480 like everybody plays a role and in a big pivotal piece and how 383 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,760 this thing moves forward. And as you start out 384 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:50,400 understanding that it's a team game, right? 385 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:53,640 A lot of people, you know, myself included as a young cook, 386 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:55,920 it's like me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. 387 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,040 And you know, what am I doing or how am I growing? 388 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,800 And I didn't understand how that affected the team, right? 389 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,240 I had no idea. And and I don't expect for you 390 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,600 can't expect for a young chef or a young cook to to be thinking 391 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:09,480 like, well, what is the chef going through? 392 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,840 What's he looking at? But, you know, I think that's 393 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,640 important to kind of just like compartmentalize as you start 394 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:18,200 cooking. OK, this is a long, long game. 395 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:21,840 There's many layers to it. It's about a big group of people 396 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,600 being successful. This one person at the top has a 397 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,040 lot of challenges and they're trying to make sure all these 398 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:31,360 pieces work. And so I just need to go in and 399 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,040 I need to do great in my role. And if I do great in my role and 400 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:36,840 I understand my role, hopefully I can move up. 401 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,960 And so learning the basics, right, like, you know, I'm sure 402 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,280 you've talked about it so many times on this podcast, being 403 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:47,640 being to work on time, you know, showing up early, being 404 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,440 consistent and when you're there, like learning your stuff, 405 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:53,480 but trying to make things better. 406 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,400 And then you're not always going to get tall every little single 407 00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,960 thing. And so you know, hopefully using 408 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:03,640 a little bit of like your intuition to, you know, as an 409 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,560 example, like if I'm, you know, on the egg station or something 410 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:10,040 and. I've been trained to cook eggs 411 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:12,280 and you know, there's recipes and they're showing me, but you 412 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:17,960 know, I, I guarantee 100% every time, unless maybe you're at the 413 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,000 French Laundry, there's something about that station 414 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,720 that can be more efficient. Every restaurant you work at, an 415 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:26,000 example, you know, would be like, OK, I'm cooking eggs and 416 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:30,240 my my coolers over here and I'm putting eggs over here and I'm 417 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,480 turning back around and I'm grabbing salt, you know? 418 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:35,280 OK, well, why don't you take the salt and have salt here and put 419 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:36,280 a second salt here? Who? 420 00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:38,320 I showed you that who I trained. To do that, I thought you were 421 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:43,840 gonna say just mix your salt and pepper, just dump them together. 422 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,120 Don't, don't do that. That's very. 423 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:49,200 Don't do that. Yeah, don't do that. 424 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,560 Let's let's not do that. Very steakhouse style, but you 425 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:57,040 know, think about what can make your job easier. 426 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,560 Not because so I didn't show me or hey, I was showing to do it 427 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:02,640 this way. So I'm not going to Nobody is 428 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,200 going to get upset at you. If you like make a station 429 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,320 better. If you say hey, like chef like 430 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,640 and you don't even have the teller chef, but like, hey, like 431 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:12,760 I was putting tasting students here and I was turning around 432 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:14,280 dumping them here, but there's not a trash can. 433 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:16,840 So I'm pulling the trash can up beside me, which is gross. 434 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,360 And you don't want to do that. OK, we'll get a six pan and 435 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:22,120 label it, you know, dirty spoons and put it here, right. 436 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:27,600 You know, get a rack like make your station work for you as you 437 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,040 as you move through the kitchen and try to make everything that 438 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,040 you do better, right. Like, hey, man, like I came in, 439 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,280 I worked this egg station and now I'm getting promoted because 440 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:38,600 I'm doing a great job and I'm going to, you know, maybe hot 441 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,520 apps or whatever, or the Sally line or going to Expo, I'm going 442 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:45,160 to grill. But this station is better now 443 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:50,280 because I've kind of set better systems in place and and guess 444 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:51,840 what? The next person coming on, they 445 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:56,000 will see something that you didn't see, and they can also 446 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,480 make the station better. It continues to grow in our 447 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,560 kitchens. We're always talking about that. 448 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,160 When you come in, identify something that's wrong, fix it. 449 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:07,240 Every single day you come in, there's gonna be something 450 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,680 that's not right. I wish that wasn't the case, but 451 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,040 that is the case. And so get, get good identifying 452 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,840 that and trying to, to resolve it and, and put a solution in 453 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,400 place. And, and, and, you know, that 454 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,800 could be, you know, somebody's burning something or, you know, 455 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,200 I walk in and, you know, somebody's dumped pasta in 456 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:26,480 water. That's not boiling, right. 457 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,160 Those are like things that are just that that's the job. 458 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:31,720 But you know, putting the salt here and the salt here, having 459 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,280 two salts or having two things or tasting spoons, like those 460 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:36,680 are things that if you put a good system in place, like it's 461 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,000 not going to change. The moment you became sous chef, 462 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,400 the rules changed. You can't drink with the crew 463 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,120 anymore. You can't look the other way 464 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,800 anymore. You can't be liked and respected 465 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,440 at the same time. Caesar's not above the law and 466 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:52,320 neither of you the sous chef blueprint the manual that nobody 467 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:53,760 handed you when you got promoted. 468 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:59,280 Get it at Chefs psa.com. What is when you on board a new 469 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:02,000 a new cook on your team? What is on boarding look like? 470 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,640 What is the training process look like? 471 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:07,960 It needs to look better and we're and we're. 472 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:09,720 What does the ideal onboarding look like then? 473 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:11,840 Yeah. So and we're getting there, 474 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,200 right. We, you know, our business has 475 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,920 boom and grown so quickly and now we're scaling. 476 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,160 And so there's a lot of things that we have to put in place. 477 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:25,120 And I think this resonates with people listening because you 478 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,880 rarely are you going to find something that's 100% ideal. 479 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,680 But the goal for me is to continue to build towards that. 480 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:33,920 You get all the information beforehand that you need. 481 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:35,920 You get all your paperwork, you get your insurance stuff 482 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:38,800 beforehand. Everything gets filled out. 483 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,600 You give it to, you know, the chef, you show up early, you've 484 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,440 already been given, or maybe on your first day, you're giving 485 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,880 recipes, you're giving training manuals, you're giving job 486 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:52,320 descriptions. And then you're kind of talk 487 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:54,000 through like, here's your station that you're going to 488 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,480 start on, here's the dishes, here's your prep list, this is 489 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,360 where it lives, here's these items. 490 00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:02,200 And kind of just briefly go through, right? 491 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,640 Like, you know. Are you like hardcore 492 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,000 standardized recipes? Yes, everything grams I'm 493 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:08,680 assuming. Everything grams, everything in 494 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,480 percentages. We built some really good 495 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:13,440 systems, right? If, if you know in a system we 496 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,240 built in our kitchen is if like you come buy a recipe and for 497 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,640 whatever reason, like and you know, this stuff just happens. 498 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,440 It's an oz right there. We have a, we have a document in 499 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,520 a specific spot. You grab the document, it's a 500 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,280 recipe revision. You make the revision, you sign 501 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,440 it. And this would be like a high 502 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:34,160 level prep cook or like the lead prep cook or, or somebody in a 503 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:35,720 white coat. So somebody as a chef would do 504 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:36,720 this. Nobody else would do this. 505 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:38,040 Blind Cook's not allowed to do this. 506 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:40,440 They don't know about this. But if you did, you're really, 507 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:42,160 you know, you're really stepping up. 508 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:43,640 You know, you're going the right direction. 509 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,440 Yeah. And then we have a box. 510 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,800 Then you drop in the box. So essentially the chef's 511 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,600 walking by, they can see it and they can pull it, pick it up and 512 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,200 say, OK, cool, we made this revision, talk to the chef about 513 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:54,760 it. Hey, like this is all in ounces. 514 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,680 I tweaked it in grams. And then that chef knows to go 515 00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,600 take. So we use Meese as a recipe 516 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,840 system. And so they go in, they update 517 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:03,880 it. Boom, now it's in it's in grams 518 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,760 versus oz. But yeah, everything's 519 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:08,560 standardized. I mean, we tried because we're 520 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,320 trying to scale a business. The idea is that anybody can 521 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,080 come in, they get the proper training, they get the proper 522 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:18,760 information and then, you know, they are are training for about 523 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:20,400 a week and then they're on their own. 524 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,440 But they're they're, you know, for the first two or three weeks 525 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:26,960 there, there's constant supervision and, and tasting of 526 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:28,960 their dishes. Like when it's slow make me this 527 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,720 make me that make me. This what would it look like for 528 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:32,360 someone to be successful in your kitchen? 529 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:35,640 Like when you look at the cook, that's like, OK, here's this 530 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,760 person, they are successful because they do these things. 531 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:38,720 What? What are some of those things 532 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,400 that they do? Well, inherently, like, you 533 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,040 know, when somebody gets there or they don't, right? 534 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,440 That's first and foremost. By the way, someone said that to 535 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:49,800 me once is like, there's people who get it and there's people 536 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:50,840 who don't get it. That's right. 537 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,760 And it's fucking been true for my entire life. 538 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,360 No matter what, it seems like that that person that never got 539 00:25:57,360 --> 00:25:59,880 it still hasn't got it. Yeah, so I would say if you 540 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,240 don't get it, then you then you're in the wrong field, 541 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,320 right. And and if you're struggling and 542 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:10,240 you can't, you know, you know when you're gonna get something, 543 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,880 you know, like, hey, I got, I got a shot here, right? 544 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,440 I got a shot to, I played varsity my freshman year. 545 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,400 I got a shot to like I'm throwing the ball 90 miles an 546 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,480 hour and on the mail, I'm like, I got a shot here, right? 547 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:23,960 Don't lie to yourself. And if you're struggling in the 548 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,680 very beginning and you just can't find it, it's probably 549 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,480 you're probably you are in the wrong field, but not probably 550 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,840 right. People that are really 551 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,880 successful, I think maybe you don't come in and crushing it in 552 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:37,400 the beginning, but you get it right. 553 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,600 And so some of those things, I would say, first of all, you 554 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,400 have to get it. And that means like obviously 555 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,800 showing up on time. And then as you start to see 556 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:48,880 stuff, right? Like a big sign for me is like 557 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:55,600 day 2 or day three, the person isn't like doing small tasks, 558 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:56,640 right? They're not grabbing. 559 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,000 OK, maybe you don't know the dishes, but like at this point, 560 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,520 if you haven't remembered, that 1/2 sheet tray and a resting 561 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,680 rack lives here in this area and the salt and pepper lives right 562 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:07,400 in front of it. And that's your seasoning tray 563 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,320 and your Kumi is going front with a wet towel. 564 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:12,800 And those things are already in a tray. 565 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,160 It's not like you're we're not pinting those up. 566 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,720 For people that might know, what's a Kumi pan? 567 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,480 Your Kumi pan is. Because that's not, that's not 568 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:22,240 like that's a that's insider knowledge. 569 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:23,800 Yeah. So for, for, for the people that 570 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:24,840 are listening, like, what did he say? 571 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:26,080 Where can I buy a Kumi? Pan Yeah, yeah. 572 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:27,400 Well, yeah, good luck buying them. 573 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:28,360 They're hard. They're hard to find. 574 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:30,240 They're very expensive. I mean, I get them on Amazon, 575 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:31,680 but they take weeks to get there. 576 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:33,560 Yeah. Every time I go to like JB 577 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:34,520 Prince or something, they're out. 578 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,360 And so I Amazon them. They're just like they're 579 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,760 they're stainless steel trays and they fit perfectly and they 580 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,360 have different sizes. And so generally for, you know, 581 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:47,320 finishing salt garnishes and. And you know, if you're at like 582 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,840 a steakhouse, for example, like you're probably running that on 583 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,000 your Expo pass and you're probably putting like your oils 584 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,480 in there, but it's really like to to set your mis and plus up. 585 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:57,000 It's that fucking Swanee station. 586 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:57,800 It is set up. Yeah, yeah. 587 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,520 That's so, so like when you're on Instagram and you're looking 588 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:02,600 at those, those Michelin star kitchens, like where do you get 589 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:03,560 those pants? What are they called? 590 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,200 They're called Kumi pants. Called Kumi pants. 591 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,800 You find them on Amazon and just need a little bit of lead time. 592 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:09,600 Yeah. And so it's like things like 593 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,320 that where it's like, OK, well, maybe like you haven't mastered 594 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:17,000 the omelet or maybe you don't remember the whole like every 595 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,120 component on the chicken dish. But if you, you know, if you're 596 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:24,160 not like doing some of the things again, setting your 597 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,600 station up properly, like having your towels folded in the right 598 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,800 spot, getting your drop tray down on the floor or like where 599 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:34,080 it needs to go, you know, getting, you know, getting kind 600 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:35,880 of your bread set up or, or whatever it is. 601 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:37,400 I'm, I'm thinking about these things because they're in our 602 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,120 kitchen getting your plates where they need to be put at 603 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,400 like, you know, your oven at the right temp. 604 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,880 Like then I'm concerned, right. If you're getting the food stuff 605 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:48,840 and maybe you're forgetting some of the station stuff, then OK, 606 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:50,040 like you're doing one of the two. 607 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,600 But the people that are really excelling, like are taking 608 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,520 notes. Yeah, they are taking, they're 609 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,600 taking photos of their station. Like they're doing those things 610 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,800 like they're showing you that they want to succeed and you're 611 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:04,120 not going to memorize everything. 612 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:05,960 Use the tools. Take a picture A. 613 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:11,560 Lot, a lot of line cooking is muscle memory, repetition and 614 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,000 just, and, and speed and efficiency. 615 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,000 Because I, I've worked in places and I, and I can say this for 616 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,120 myself as a line cook when I was young, I didn't know how to 617 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:21,840 cook, but I was really good on the line. 618 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,520 So I was really good at making the dishes that they told me to 619 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,000 make, but I couldn't like, OK, make something else. 620 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:29,200 Well, I don't know how to make anything else. 621 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,960 I know how to make these dishes. So I wasn't a good cook, but I 622 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,800 was a good line cook. And I and I think people don't 623 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:37,360 understand what you're talking about. 624 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:39,200 It's like, yeah, you just want to turn around. 625 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,880 The salt's always there, the pepper's always there, the 626 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:42,960 towel's always there. The pan is always there. 627 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,480 It's always hot. My burner works just like this. 628 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,520 And you start to pick up the the autopilot settings of you can 629 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,600 get in that flow state and just crank out food. 630 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,360 And then there's other people that know how to cook, right? 631 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,280 There's other people that's like, hey, I'm not the greatest 632 00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:58,320 line cook, but I know how to cook. 633 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,440 I can make a delicious sauce. I can make delicious braises, 634 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,000 food, beautiful plates. Like, OK, that's a different 635 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,320 skill, but they're not always the same person. 636 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,320 Agree And, and, and on that note, like I'll tell you about 637 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:13,640 myself, right? Like I, I have a problem like 638 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:18,160 cutting straight, you know, and, and I've picked these things 639 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,640 I've been doing this for 23 years, right And it's nothing 640 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,480 like at year 10 I was like, Oh yeah, this is weird or turning a 641 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,000 potato in culinary school. It was always challenging for me 642 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:32,200 and you know, I think early on I thought like, man, like I just 643 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,760 suck at these things And guess what, Like if I would have 644 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,680 practiced more, I could have got them, but it naturally wasn't my 645 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,520 strength. And so you know that that didn't 646 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,520 lead me down a path of like if I if I if I like rolled up in 647 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,520 culinary school, Mr. Patricio, he's a chef, Chef Patricio so 648 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:51,680 good do a tornado behind his back. 649 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:55,960 You know, like this is crazy. But if I was good at that, like 650 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,760 maybe I would have chose and, and like focus to go down a 651 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:01,800 different path as far as like trying to go the French Laundry 652 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:06,120 or going to take a three star different focuses. 653 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:07,840 But also like Nash, I wasn't great at that stuff. 654 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,880 And still to this day, those aren't my strengths, right? 655 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,680 And I, I think through my journey, I, you know, I've been 656 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:16,880 fortunate enough to be able to like look through a lens and try 657 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:22,440 to understand what am I good at? And what do I want to like put 658 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:26,600 time into and focus and my energy into, you know, is if the 659 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,680 answer is like, Hey, I'm not great at tornaying, but I'm 660 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:32,240 really passionate about going to work at this restaurant and I've 661 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,200 got it out of Pernet. And for because of that, like I 662 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:36,560 think that's going to open up this door. 663 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:38,440 It's going to lead me down this path because I don't really want 664 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:39,600 to open a restaurant in Mission star. 665 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:44,480 They're like that probably would have made sense, but for me, I 666 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:50,440 ran into the business side of things and the leadership side 667 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:55,200 of things, and I found more interest in in in care in that. 668 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:59,080 And so like, I took that path that was a little bit of a 669 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,280 tangent, but in like onto the cook thing. 670 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:07,440 Yeah, you just know, right? Like you have to want to be 671 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:10,000 successful. And so if you want to be 672 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:11,760 successful, you have to do things that are going to set you 673 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,200 up for success. And yeah, cooking is easy, 674 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:15,720 right? I can say that because it's easy 675 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:16,840 for me. It was easy for you. 676 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,360 Learning the nuances is something that like, I mean, 677 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:25,880 again, it's been a long time and I, I still, I, I, I really love 678 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,640 talking about this stuff. Like I've been, you know, doing 679 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:33,600 it since I was 15 and going out and talking about the dinner 680 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:36,480 service and how many steaks I, you know, I put up. 681 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,840 You see, I put up 13 steaks all the same time, 3 salmon and four 682 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:42,600 this and boom, boom, boom, right. 683 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,080 And, you know, went out with a friend the other night and guess 684 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:46,520 what? Like different parts of our 685 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,120 career, still just telling amazing stories. 686 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,280 And he, he knows overseeing 12 units, 3 states. 687 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:55,200 He was telling me a little bit about like his first tasting. 688 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,760 And these guys kind of like told him to like make this stuff. 689 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:00,040 And he's like, I don't think that that's right. 690 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:01,280 He doesn't really fit the concept. 691 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:04,400 But they were above him. And so he made, he made kind of 692 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,320 what they wanted him to make. And everybody was like, dude, 693 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,080 like fucking tasting, not good. Like it's bad. 694 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:12,920 And so he was telling the story, but we were just laughing and 695 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:14,680 laughing and laughing because he's, he's killing it. 696 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:19,280 He's ungodly talented and but it, you know, reminded me of 697 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,440 those those days or like this, this, you know, this many years 698 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:27,120 down the road and still like these moments make me the 699 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,800 happiest. And, and and that, you know, 700 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:35,000 obviously tells me like I'm I've done the right thing, I've made 701 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:36,600 the right decisions, I'm going down the right path. 702 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:41,320 I love what I do, you know, and I love spreading and the love 703 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,480 and talking about cuisine and food and leadership. 704 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,240 And, you know, it looks different for everybody. 705 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,480 There's a lot of different ways to get that mountaintop. 706 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:55,080 But the one thing that will always be the same is once you 707 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:57,360 get there, there's another mountain and there's another 708 00:33:57,360 --> 00:33:58,360 mountain. You got to keep climbing, you 709 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:03,040 got to keep going. There's no, you know, the saying 710 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,600 is for a reason. It only gets harder. 711 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,840 I mean, you have to continue to push and elevate and like kind 712 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,040 of you got to you got to get comfortable stepping outside 713 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,480 your comfort zone, you know, and that what I would say to cooks 714 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:18,080 is like, if you're uncomfortable doing something awesome, like 715 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,360 keep doing that thing as a cook, right? 716 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,000 It's important for you to get good at cooking steaks, at least 717 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:26,040 to be able to manage a station. You don't have to be the best 718 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:28,639 grow cook, but you better be able to go run the station and 719 00:34:28,639 --> 00:34:30,000 hold your own you. Need to understand. 720 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:31,080 Because somebody might be better than you. 721 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:32,280 There are people better than me, right? 722 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:34,400 That's fine. There's always going to be 723 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:36,440 somebody probably a little bit more swanier than you in the 724 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,560 kitchen. And if that matters to you and 725 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,120 you want to keep growing, then keep trying to go to better 726 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:43,280 restaurants until you become, you know, maybe one of the most 727 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:44,840 swan yay. But like you got to be able to 728 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:45,960 hold your own on all these stations. 729 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,840 You don't have to be the best. And I could say like in my 730 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:53,120 experience, probably wasn't always the best. 731 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:55,920 There's price at least one person that was better than me 732 00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:01,240 specifically, at least on one station, But I I pushed hard to 733 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:07,960 like to get there and it mattered to be like, you know, I 734 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:11,000 can hold my own when I. Used to have a large team and 735 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:13,080 everyone's a fucking gangster on my team. 736 00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:18,560 Like everyone had Michelin pedigree and, and, and I mean 737 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,200 dozens of them, like world's fifty best Michelin PED and they 738 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,160 were all fucking gangsters, every single one of them. 739 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:25,720 And we'd always used to sit around and shoot the shit. 740 00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:27,720 Like who do you think's better at this? 741 00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:28,680 Who do you think's better at that? 742 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:32,320 Like, and, and no one was ever one of those like, well, I 743 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:35,000 should be the best across all metrics 'cause some of them were 744 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:39,600 like, oh, he's the best at pasta, but he's the best at, you 745 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,960 know, cooking meat Or he's, he's really, he's really good at 746 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:44,680 creativity. But I wouldn't call him when the 747 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,120 line gets busy, you know, and you, and you start to realize 748 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,400 that when you have a, a diverse group of chefs, like they all 749 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,840 come with different skill sets and they all prop each other up. 750 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:59,800 Because I, I used to say one of my friends, I don't want to say 751 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:02,280 who, but I would go up to him and say, like they say, like 752 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:04,080 he's a really good chef. I said, no, no, no, he's a 753 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,200 really good cook. I'm a really good chef. 754 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,680 I would just bust his balls. But, but it's, it's one, it's 755 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,640 one of those things like there's so much that goes into it. 756 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,200 And in culinary, you could not be good in one kitchen and you 757 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:20,680 could really be good in a different one. 758 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:24,120 And and of course there's those certain chefs, they're like 759 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:26,960 sevens, eights across the board. Like I'm, I'm not the best at 760 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:28,680 anything, but I could do a lot of different things. 761 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,800 That's right. But you have to love the game. 762 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,480 You have to love learning and you have to love hard work. 763 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:38,720 Because the shocking part when you come into your kitchen is it 764 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:41,280 is hard work. And you do have to, you do have 765 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,200 to learn. You do have to learn how to 766 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:44,160 cook. You do have to learn how to 767 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:45,680 saute. You do have to learn how to show 768 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,560 up on time. You do have to learn how to, we 769 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:50,360 were talking about this earlier, make sure your fucking 770 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,960 transportation is reliable, whatever that is, if that's the 771 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,400 bus or that's the car or that's the friend or the Uber, 772 00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:56,760 whatever. But you got to be able to get to 773 00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,040 work on time. You have to be consistent. 774 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,920 And one of the things that I like to say about when it comes 775 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:07,080 to consistency is I'd rather you be consistently good or 776 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:09,120 consistently bad, one or the other. 777 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:12,000 Because when you're consistent, when when you're inconsistent, 778 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,320 sometimes you're really good and sometimes you're really bad. 779 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,440 It's hard for me to plan with. Yeah, you can't solve for that. 780 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:19,400 Yeah, I, I can't cuz like, hey, you're the best cook, but you 781 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,040 always call off on Fridays like I, I, I, well, I guess that 782 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:27,000 would be consistency, but you can't like, show me something. 783 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,680 I need to understand who you are fully and what I tell people 784 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:32,320 when you're consistent. Like if you suck, just be 785 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,480 consistently sucky because at least we know that you're the 786 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:37,840 the B team and you stay in this kitchen until you're ready A. 787 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:40,080 100% and we know, you know where to put that person. 788 00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:43,400 If, if, if there is a spot for that person, you, you, you can 789 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,760 find the spot. It's in most kitchens, right? 790 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,800 Like there's a lot of people that work and and get paid to do 791 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:53,800 this and they're not very good. And, and you know, back to the 792 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:57,680 team thing, right? Like, and as you, as you rise to 793 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:00,800 the ranks and you, you become, you know, exec sue or CDC or 794 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:07,000 exec chef like you, you realize that more than ever, the game is 795 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,400 a puzzle and it's putting the right people in the right places 796 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,640 and understanding people's skill sets. 797 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,400 And like this person's I can't have I can't have three creative 798 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,760 people in the in the kitchen. Like that is a, you know, it's a 799 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:26,080 trouble waiting to happen in it's the same with the bad cook. 800 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,400 It's like if you're consistently kind of average or not that 801 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:30,480 great. OK, well, maybe I have a spot 802 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:33,800 that like you could kind of cuz I cuz I need that right? 803 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:36,400 I need, I need that spot. I need that product made. 804 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:38,920 You know, maybe that's maybe that's washing dishes, right? 805 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:43,800 Or maybe that's being a comedy to four different stations and 806 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,400 you're like washing lettuce and you're just doing very minimal. 807 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:47,920 Maybe you're. Just covering people's days off 808 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,440 because you can't fully on the station. 100% and maybe like you 809 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,680 don't solve problems while you're on the station, but like 810 00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:55,800 you, you can, we can get their service and I know I'm going to 811 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,440 get a decent product and I don't have to worry so much about it. 812 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:00,240 And and maybe you like doing that, right? 813 00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,120 But yeah, you can, you can work with that. 814 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:05,920 You can't work with that. You can't work with this because 815 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:07,880 it's like, well, what could be or you're great and now you're 816 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:09,640 terrible. And it's like, OK, that's I just 817 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:13,160 don't know where to put you. How do you guide a young cook 818 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:17,760 that's looking to map out their career and what that looks like? 819 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:20,040 So they're they're getting into the industry now and they're 820 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:22,360 thinking about like, OK, where do you want to go? 821 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,800 How do you advise people to map out their career early on? 822 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:31,600 I think part of that, I think part of that depends on where, 823 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,480 you know, I can say for me like where, where am I right in, in 824 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:42,800 my example is that is like when we open 5570 in 22, that looked 825 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,320 a lot different in like what I would have said to somebody in 826 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:47,000 that position. I had like 3 cooks. 827 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:50,840 And so it would have been like, hey, like we're going to grow. 828 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:52,440 I just don't really know what that looks like yet. 829 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:57,640 And four years later, we've exploded. 830 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,080 And so I think, yeah, it depends on where you are as a chef and 831 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:03,400 what your operation looks like, as most chefs are running 832 00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:07,760 someone else's establishment. So, and if you do own your own 833 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:10,280 restaurant and you are the entrepreneur and you are the 834 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,400 business owner and you are also the chef, then like you have a 835 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:15,520 very good understanding of like, hey, we're going to open up. 836 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:19,320 Another concept or we're going to go to another city or not or 837 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,640 you know we're going to Providence to staying in LA and 838 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:24,320 we're going to start from here and we're going to try to get 839 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,280 through Mission Stars and so this is journey we're going to 840 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:28,400 take. So for me specifically it 841 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:32,880 depends on like where you know so again, we're trying to scale 842 00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,160 this company. We're about to open our second. 843 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:39,000 We will soon be signing a lease on our third and. 844 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,240 Did you find an exact shop yet? Still looking? 845 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:42,880 We're getting there, OK? We're getting there. 846 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:44,440 Yeah, we got some. We got some promise and 847 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,840 prospects. You got to build a whole team, 848 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:48,560 right? So if people are, if people are 849 00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:50,400 looking to come work for your work today. 850 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,960 Where should they come find me? Yeah, I mean. 851 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:57,000 For for the new for the new project. 852 00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:58,840 Yeah, I mean, DM me. DM me my Instagram. 853 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:00,760 Yeah, Jay Suckler. You need 2 chefs everything. 854 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:02,000 We will need everything. Yeah. 855 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:07,280 So I mean, I'm going to, you know, we want to be mid-july, we 856 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,720 want to have AEC kind of announced and then the training 857 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:13,000 process will start. And then really it's on that EC 858 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:17,400 and myself more on that you see than me to start building the 859 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:19,840 sub team. So it's the Exec zoo, CDC 860 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:23,560 banquet Chef, Zoo chef. Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to 861 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:25,080 cut you off. I just figured people are 862 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:27,080 listening, people are listening. You might need to. 863 00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:29,120 I might need to direct some people. 864 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:30,840 Your way. So with that specific question 865 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:36,440 directed towards me knowing our trajectory, yeah, I would ask 866 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,680 the person, you know, what is it you're what are you looking for 867 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:41,920 again? If, if our, if our values don't 868 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:46,000 align and you want to be working in a Mission Star restaurant? 869 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:49,640 Well, OK, well, maybe I maybe maybe you're willing to commit a 870 00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:53,960 year to what we're doing and I can teach you, you know, golly, 871 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,080 all the things that would make you ungodly successful in any 872 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:57,920 environment. Or maybe you're not willing to 873 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,200 because you're not, it's not exactly where you want to be yet 874 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,880 and you want to just get there now and then. 875 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:04,240 Like, OK, well, I don't have anything for you, right? 876 00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:07,320 So it's like when it's my stages and it's generally not a long 877 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,120 term thing. But the way you know, I talk to 878 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:13,080 stages is this is a two way street, right? 879 00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:14,920 Like I'm coming in to see you perform. 880 00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:19,120 But equally, equally as important, you're seeing the 881 00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:20,520 team and you're seeing what we're doing. 882 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:23,720 And if you don't feel like this is for you, that's also why we 883 00:42:23,720 --> 00:42:25,280 do this. And we do 4, we do 4 hour 884 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,960 stages, 3 to 4 hours. I don't, I don't, I'm not 885 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:30,200 looking to get a bunch of work out of you. 886 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,680 I want you to do one or two recipes and I want to see how 887 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:36,440 you move around the kitchen. I can tell obviously in about 5 888 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:40,240 minutes whether or not somebody is going to a fit in the kitchen 889 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:43,440 or be a good fit or if they just aren't going to be a good fit, 890 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:46,560 not culturally, but just getting the work done. 891 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:50,960 And, and so I really start there and then we kind of figure out, 892 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:52,280 yeah, what is it that you want to do? 893 00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:56,520 And then we can map that out as far as like, hey, we're growing, 894 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,160 this kitchen's growing this, this business is growing. 895 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:03,000 And so if you're willing to move, if you're willing to go 896 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:09,240 into other States and go train, you get to this point and we can 897 00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:11,240 kind of map that out for you. If if you were talking to 898 00:43:11,240 --> 00:43:13,040 someone that maybe wasn't working in your kitchen, they 899 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:17,840 were just a random culinary student reaching out for advice, 900 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:19,760 they weren't going to work for you. 901 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,120 They're just saying, hey, I'm starting my journey, where do I 902 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,280 begin? I would say, where do you want 903 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:27,560 the journey to end? What do you want to be work 904 00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:29,680 backwards? Yeah, I think that's the way. 905 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:30,880 I think the way is to work backwards. 906 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:33,680 And I do that with a lot of stuff nowadays is I think about 907 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:35,200 what do I want? What's the end product? 908 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:38,120 And we get to do that in business because it's like, 909 00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:42,040 well, if you're, you know, to be the best, what does that look 910 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:43,960 like? And then you have to say, well, 911 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:45,520 what is actually a table? Do I have the funds? 912 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:48,080 Do I have the resources? Or what do I need to do to then 913 00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:52,400 try to get that? And so, yeah, what I would ask, 914 00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:53,760 what is the end goal? What do you want to do? 915 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,600 And if you said, you know, I want to, and this is what most 916 00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:58,160 people say. I also taught culinary school 917 00:43:58,160 --> 00:43:59,600 for like almost a year. Did you? 918 00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:02,200 Yeah. Where at El Centro Community 919 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:03,200 College and that school. Yeah. 920 00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:05,320 Yeah. And so I did that. 921 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:07,080 You know what? Did you teach? 922 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:09,560 Basic, basic culinary fundamentals, yeah. 923 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:12,240 Tornay. No, I didn't not teach that I 924 00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:14,440 didn't teach. I couldn't do it like I still I 925 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:16,680 still can't tornay like. Did you flute a mushroom? 926 00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:19,240 I've never actually fluted a mushroom I. 927 00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:20,320 Can flute the shit out of mushrooms. 928 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:22,200 So like when it comes to some of those classical skills, I don't 929 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,160 have them. I've I've trained classically, 930 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:28,480 but like that classically, it just wasn't anything I was 931 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:29,960 strong at. So again, I never like really 932 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,280 focused my attention towards it. Yeah, but no, I can't. 933 00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:35,240 One of my first jobs we had fluted mushrooms on my station. 934 00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:38,880 I was like a 20 year old cook, whatever. 935 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:43,760 So I had to, and it was a busy restaurant, so I had to absolute 936 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:45,400 like, I don't know, 200 mushrooms a day. 937 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:46,360 Geez. Yeah. 938 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:47,920 So I I got good. At it, Yeah, you got a. 939 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:50,200 Quick. Yeah, I mean, and by the way, 940 00:44:50,720 --> 00:44:53,080 back then, they weren't all perfect, but it's like, good 941 00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:54,480 enough. Yeah, we're not gonna throw it 942 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:54,800 away. Yeah. 943 00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:57,240 And you're gonna. Glaze them probably and cover 944 00:44:57,240 --> 00:44:58,640 them in chives or something. Yeah, yeah. 945 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:02,120 I mean, back then it was like a lot of chopped parsley, right? 946 00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:03,560 Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were delicious. 947 00:45:03,560 --> 00:45:05,800 I love, I love butt. Butt mushrooms I think are 948 00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:07,240 underrated. Like they're fucking tasty. 949 00:45:07,240 --> 00:45:08,640 Man. Duck cells. 950 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:10,120 Great. I do sell, sorry. 951 00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:15,800 Salt, Mushroom, you know, maybe you put maybe some garlic, 952 00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:16,880 maybe. I don't think so. 953 00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:20,120 And you just like put that on a bechutan and you the cap up, 954 00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:20,560 right? Yeah. 955 00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:23,240 You've got to let the, the moisture and the juice soak into 956 00:45:23,240 --> 00:45:26,000 itself. And I mean that by itself is 957 00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:31,040 umami and deliciousness. And so you add like in whatever 958 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:33,000 if you were to add like some crispy chicken skin or that or 959 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,160 something like, are you? It doesn't at that point, it 960 00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:36,120 doesn't matter what you add to it. 961 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:38,120 It's gonna, it's even. It makes it that it takes it 962 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:41,400 over top, it's even better. 30 years in the kitchen, 7 books, 963 00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:45,320 200 podcast episodes, all distilled into a 5 minute daily 964 00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:48,280 leadership practice. It's called lead like a chef. 965 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:51,880 Most people get promoted, quit the industry within two years, 966 00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:55,200 not because they can't cook, but because no one taught them how 967 00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:57,480 to lead. I built an app that does Lead 968 00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:59,760 like a chef. Take the free 2 minute quiz that 969 00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:01,280 tells you exactly where you stand. 970 00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:05,160 Go to studio.com/andre. Link is at the show notes. 971 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:09,240 What I love about the industry so much is like it, it really is 972 00:46:09,240 --> 00:46:12,640 like, yes, you got to have the thing, you got to be intuitive 973 00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:14,480 in the kitchen, like you got to know it's for you first and 974 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:16,600 foremost. And if it is, all you have to do 975 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:18,120 is work your ass off. That is it. 976 00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:22,080 And pay attention. Yes, surround yourself with the 977 00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:24,880 right people, the right chefs and the right team and the right 978 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:29,160 try to try to be a successful restaurant right You don't want 979 00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:32,080 to work at. And you, you can learn anything 980 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:35,280 from any kitchen. And I learned any any time I was 981 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:36,800 in a new environment. Yesterday I did a dinner in 982 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,160 Houston. Guess what? 983 00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:39,840 Taking pictures of all this stuff like. 984 00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,120 Yeah, Yeah, you go. In my brains, always. 985 00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:44,200 And what am I seeing that's new? It's great to go to. 986 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:47,000 Operations, so you could see how they how they operate. 987 00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:49,840 One of the things that I thought this is where I was going with 988 00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:51,600 my Ratatouille comment. I don't know how I was going to 989 00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:55,840 segue into this because I lost my train of thought, but the 990 00:46:55,880 --> 00:47:00,440 network of chefs, there's a network effect that I, I think 991 00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:04,080 we, we know a lot of the same people. 992 00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:06,320 I mean, Junior's a good friend of both of ours, right? 993 00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:08,760 And, and there's so many, and that's just one, but we know so 994 00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:12,240 many other chefs that, you know, Matt McAllister, like there, 995 00:47:12,240 --> 00:47:14,800 there's, there's a lot of chefs that we cross paths with. 996 00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:18,120 There's a lot of chefs that will send you a text. 997 00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:20,280 We'll send me a text, we'll pick the phone, we'll have a long 998 00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:26,200 conversation with them. And I think years ago, I think 999 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:28,160 it was a little bit more guarded, like your chef's circle 1000 00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:30,120 was probably smaller. I think social media obviously 1001 00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:34,000 expanded your chef, your chef's circles, going to events like 1002 00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:36,280 food and wine festivals, food grazers and stuff like that. 1003 00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:38,880 And you get to meet people and you get to break bread with them 1004 00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:40,320 and you get to know them. You get to know who you don't 1005 00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:41,760 like. And like, I'll never party with 1006 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:46,400 them again. Maybe I'm that person to some 1007 00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:49,160 people too, right? But with that being said, I 1008 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:51,320 think it's important for, I mean, do you agree? 1009 00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,680 Like it's not just about the network in your kitchen, it's 1010 00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:56,680 about putting yourself out there, especially when you start 1011 00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:59,480 becoming a sous chef. Go to those food events, go with 1012 00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:01,920 your chef, start introducing yourself to people, and start 1013 00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:08,280 building your network. 100% it's something personally, right? 1014 00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:12,320 And again, it, it, it also, it's like if you have it, you have 1015 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:13,120 it. If you don't, you don't. 1016 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:16,360 And and that also blends into like your personality. 1017 00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:20,280 Yeah, right. Me personally, I, I think I 1018 00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:24,920 thrived in the kitchen because I also in a lot of ways was not 1019 00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:27,000 very confident. And at that point in my life, 1020 00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:28,640 definitely more of an introvert. Yeah. 1021 00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:34,600 I knew that kind of as I got a little bit older, but I knew 1022 00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:37,120 that like, at some point I needed to step outside that box 1023 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:38,520 and become a little more of an extrovert. 1024 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:43,840 And I'm, you know, in my 30s, you know, like when I'm 37, 1025 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,800 almost 37, but in my 30s, I knew I really need to start moving 1026 00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:50,800 that direction and start networking and meeting more 1027 00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:57,880 people because man, you just, it's like this, yeah, organic 1028 00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:01,960 effect where you, you have to put yourself out there and, you 1029 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:04,880 know, and on social media, like I'm not really big into a social 1030 00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:07,960 media thing. But what what I am getting 1031 00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:11,320 better at is just like connecting with people, saying 1032 00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:13,320 hello, having a conversation, being genuine. 1033 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:15,200 And that's something that's working for me. 1034 00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:17,520 Whereas for somebody else it might be like, dude, like you're 1035 00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:18,800 awesome at the social media thing. 1036 00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:22,120 Like you should keep doing that and and build your following. 1037 00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:26,320 But but, but what's also interesting is the reputation 1038 00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:28,440 that you have. So before you and I had ever met 1039 00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:34,560 years ago, years ago, and I mean, like almost 10 years ago, 1040 00:49:35,120 --> 00:49:37,120 someone had mentioned your name to me and said, oh, he's a 1041 00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:38,920 really good cook. And I remembered it like, 1042 00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:41,240 because your name is also unique, it's easy to remember, 1043 00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:43,200 right? And someone mentioned to me 1044 00:49:43,240 --> 00:49:44,440 like, oh, you should, you should look at him. 1045 00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:46,240 He's a really good cook. I was like, OK. 1046 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:49,000 And then it's like that name sticks in your head. 1047 00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:52,000 And then years later, Junior's talking about you to me. 1048 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:53,840 And, you know, and then, and then we meet and we've hit it 1049 00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:56,640 off. And I think we've had some 1050 00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:59,240 really great conversations since then. 1051 00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:04,360 But the opposite has also happened to me where someone 1052 00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:06,160 will say that person's a piece of shit. 1053 00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:09,080 I've never met them right? And it's and it sticks with me. 1054 00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:11,240 And then that one time that I do meet them. 1055 00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:12,480 Is a piece of shit. Well. 1056 00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:14,160 Sometimes they're not, but I don't even want to give them a 1057 00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:16,600 chance because it's it's already been, it's already been told to 1058 00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:19,840 me by someone that I respect. And you know, maybe someone 1059 00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:21,600 that's a mutual friend. And I don't know the back story. 1060 00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:22,960 They just said, oh, they don't like that person. 1061 00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:25,680 And sometimes, unfortunately, I'll be like, OK, I kind of want 1062 00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:27,720 to keep my distance from that person because I have heard 1063 00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:30,080 negative things that I never gave them a chance. 1064 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:32,120 Right. And shame on me for for doing 1065 00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:34,120 that. I try not to do that, but it is 1066 00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:37,600 a natural human reaction. When someone says something 1067 00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:40,080 positive, you remember them, but also when they say something 1068 00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:42,360 negative. And because of the industry 1069 00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:47,520 effect, if many people don't know you and only one person 1070 00:50:47,520 --> 00:50:49,840 says bad things about you, but no one else comes to back you 1071 00:50:49,840 --> 00:50:52,920 up, say no other. You need your network. 1072 00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:57,200 That that network, sorry, is a force multiplier. 1073 00:50:57,200 --> 00:51:02,200 And without getting into the gossip, but I'll give you a, a 1074 00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:05,720 very real example. I sent you something the other 1075 00:51:05,720 --> 00:51:07,560 day and I sent it to a couple of other people. 1076 00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:14,240 And I said, is this that? And you said yes, because that 1077 00:51:14,240 --> 00:51:17,360 person has that reputation without. 1078 00:51:17,360 --> 00:51:19,720 And, and I'm not trying to, to, to say who we're talking about 1079 00:51:19,720 --> 00:51:21,520 because I don't want to hurt their business or their 1080 00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:25,400 reputation, but people's reputations are definitely 1081 00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:27,080 preceding them. What do what? 1082 00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:29,840 I don't know the saying exactly, but it's like it takes you, you 1083 00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,960 know, a lifetime to build your reputation and it takes you, you 1084 00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:35,920 know, a week to ruin it, something along those lines, 1085 00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:41,720 right? You know, it's you only got so 1086 00:51:41,720 --> 00:51:43,960 many things in this life, right? You got what you can control. 1087 00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:47,960 And, you know, again, spec to like my upbringing, I was always 1088 00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:50,240 taught like you be a man of your word. 1089 00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:52,280 If you say you're going to do something, you you better 1090 00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:53,520 fucking do it. Yeah. 1091 00:51:56,840 --> 00:51:59,160 And those are things that I live by, right. 1092 00:51:59,160 --> 00:52:02,440 And again, like, I think I've just been very lucky. 1093 00:52:02,960 --> 00:52:07,160 I've been very blessed in a lot of ways in my life. 1094 00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:11,000 You know, a lot of things that I've done that like, I shouldn't 1095 00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:13,560 be sitting here today, shouldn't be sitting on this earth. 1096 00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:15,720 Yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, I think a lot 1097 00:52:15,720 --> 00:52:19,960 of I'm not, I'm not unique in this situation, but I, I am very 1098 00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:22,360 understanding of it. And, you know, I've been 1099 00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:25,080 fortunate as I get older to like, not put myself in those 1100 00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:29,320 positions anymore. But that was, yeah, always talk 1101 00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:32,320 to me at a young age, like just be a good person and, and, and 1102 00:52:32,320 --> 00:52:35,480 take care, you know, and you learn as a chef, you got to take 1103 00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:39,120 care of your people. Like you can't do this without 1104 00:52:39,120 --> 00:52:41,920 them. And, and these people that work 1105 00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:43,240 for you are going to have to show up. 1106 00:52:43,240 --> 00:52:46,840 They show up every day. They do this thing and they're, 1107 00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:50,760 they're grinding to get a paycheck. 1108 00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:54,640 And you, it is your job to be a great leader. 1109 00:52:54,640 --> 00:52:56,840 You have to truly care about your people and you can't. 1110 00:52:57,040 --> 00:52:58,800 There's, there's no, there's no halving it, right? 1111 00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:02,400 Like you, you have to be all in. And it's something we, we talk 1112 00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:07,920 about with my team like all the time, you know, like if this 1113 00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:10,560 person's asking for a day off, even if it's next week, if we 1114 00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:11,680 can make it happen, make it happen. 1115 00:53:11,920 --> 00:53:14,640 And sometimes caring about your team means taking that one 1116 00:53:14,640 --> 00:53:16,400 person out. That's bringing down your team, 1117 00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:18,720 which is uncomfortable. But we're. 1118 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:21,200 We're currently going through the same situation and we're 1119 00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:23,600 somebody has been with me since the beginning and it's time to 1120 00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:26,200 part ways. And the, the good part about 1121 00:53:26,200 --> 00:53:29,720 this story is we both see it. We both the both sides agree. 1122 00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,120 But I, you know, I was actually talking to him while here and, 1123 00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:37,080 you know, I told him like I thought, you know, to have 1124 00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:40,440 somebody who works with you for 3 1/2 four years plus, if you're 1125 00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:41,880 that kind of chef, you're doing something right. 1126 00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:45,320 Nine times out of 10, you're doing something right. 1127 00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:47,960 Somebody show up for that long to work for you, they go work 1128 00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:51,080 anywhere else. You know, you're taking care of 1129 00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:53,720 them, they're taking care of you and, and right in a lot of 1130 00:53:53,720 --> 00:54:00,880 different ways. But I thought, you know, for me, 1131 00:54:00,880 --> 00:54:02,920 that has always been like a sign of like I'm going in the right 1132 00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:04,520 direction. Like man, to have someone who 1133 00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:07,600 because before this job, like I really, I really wasn't a lot 1134 00:54:07,640 --> 00:54:10,680 around a place long enough, you know, three years, probably 1135 00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:14,000 three years kind of a Max before my first job when I was a kid. 1136 00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:17,200 And so I never really gave myself the opportunity to have 1137 00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:19,080 somebody work for me for five years because I was never in a 1138 00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:22,640 place for five years. And so this being really my, my, 1139 00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:26,720 my first long 10 year job, I would say, you know, when I was 1140 00:54:26,720 --> 00:54:28,920 young, you know, I did kind of culinary school year and a half 1141 00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:30,440 year and a half, right. The classics kind of bounce 1142 00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:32,880 around until you kind of get into like a management role and 1143 00:54:32,880 --> 00:54:35,960 you do three years. And then I try to about anyways. 1144 00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:39,320 But I learned today kind of through this conversation, like 1145 00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:45,280 it's equally or more important to let that person go if the 1146 00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:47,840 time is up, right? You're doing everybody 1147 00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:52,360 disservice from trying to keep them just to like, but to keep 1148 00:54:52,360 --> 00:54:54,480 the tenure long, right? When it's time for swine to go, 1149 00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:59,280 it's time for swine to go. And it ultimately, hopefully you 1150 00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:02,080 see it before they do. And you say, hey, man, like it's 1151 00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:03,920 time. Like I've done all I can do, 1152 00:55:04,200 --> 00:55:06,080 love you to death. I want to help you in your next 1153 00:55:06,080 --> 00:55:10,800 chapter, but it's time for you go a different direction. 1154 00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:14,240 So you're in a very interesting position, which by the way, I 1155 00:55:14,240 --> 00:55:16,880 ate it at your spot. Food was fantastic. 1156 00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:21,080 The, the space is crazy. It's, it's crazy. 1157 00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:25,880 Thank you for giving me a tour. It was really, really impressive 1158 00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:29,160 how complex and how unique what you're doing is. 1159 00:55:29,160 --> 00:55:31,440 And it's, I mean, I thought while I was walking through, I 1160 00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:32,800 was like, oh, this is a great business model. 1161 00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:35,600 What are you working on right now? 1162 00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:38,880 What, what is it that you're doing for yourself to develop 1163 00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:40,280 yourself now? What's exciting you? 1164 00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:46,880 Well, again, I think midpoint my life, I realized like these are 1165 00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:48,280 the things that I'm great at leadership. 1166 00:55:51,240 --> 00:55:53,200 I think being a great leader is where it started and learning 1167 00:55:53,200 --> 00:55:56,480 new tasks, right. And so I've taken that kind of 1168 00:55:56,480 --> 00:56:00,280 with me through my journey and, you know, with, with this 1169 00:56:00,280 --> 00:56:05,720 specific part of my career and, and, and kind of scaling this 1170 00:56:06,120 --> 00:56:09,760 private members club, it's focused on wine and food. 1171 00:56:11,560 --> 00:56:14,520 You know, I, I am now partnered with somebody who's in private 1172 00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:19,640 equity and, and going through this experience banking, like 1173 00:56:20,280 --> 00:56:23,680 banking and private equity is what my partner and CEO, Tommy 1174 00:56:23,680 --> 00:56:26,040 Shuey, That's what he, his previous life. 1175 00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:30,760 And so it's given me such a, a beautiful outlook on things that 1176 00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:33,120 I wish I probably would have known earlier in my future or 1177 00:56:33,120 --> 00:56:38,120 I'm sorry, earlier in my career is, you know, we talked about 1178 00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:39,800 being in the right room and surrounding yourself with the 1179 00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:42,120 right mentors. Yes. 1180 00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:47,520 But also like before it gets to, you know, before you get too far 1181 00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:50,800 down, the whole understanding and trying to find people that 1182 00:56:51,720 --> 00:56:54,320 are higher than that, the business owners, the people 1183 00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:58,040 running the business, How can you start getting closer to that 1184 00:56:58,040 --> 00:57:01,360 person to Start learning the other side of the business, 1185 00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:03,520 right? How the deals get put together, 1186 00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:07,680 how the leases get put together. You know, we bought, we bought 1187 00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:09,840 the property in Houston, right? We own that. 1188 00:57:10,200 --> 00:57:16,240 And like me being able to be part of understanding kind of 1189 00:57:16,240 --> 00:57:18,880 understanding because I don't have a, you know, a finance 1190 00:57:18,880 --> 00:57:21,880 background. So like, you know, I don't fully 1191 00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:25,720 understand all of it, right? But I, I grasp and I was, I've 1192 00:57:25,720 --> 00:57:28,680 been able to sit in the room and like be part of these 1193 00:57:28,680 --> 00:57:32,760 conversations that we are scaling this business that I 1194 00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:36,280 haven't in, in the, in the past. And so, you know, as much as I 1195 00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:40,320 love food, as much as I'm always going to be a chef, for me, 1196 00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:44,080 it's, it's, it's, it's switched a little bit to if we, if I'm 1197 00:57:44,080 --> 00:57:47,080 going to be the person at the top pushing this business 1198 00:57:47,080 --> 00:57:50,560 forward, I've got to be a business mindset first before 1199 00:57:50,560 --> 00:57:54,080 I'm a chef. And that switch is obviously 1200 00:57:54,080 --> 00:57:56,040 hard because I don't really believe it's a switch. 1201 00:57:56,040 --> 00:57:59,080 I think you have to wear both those hats all the time because 1202 00:57:59,080 --> 00:58:00,720 my job is to make sure my team's good. 1203 00:58:01,080 --> 00:58:04,120 And so like, I'm always going to look at it through first and 1204 00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:07,960 foremost the chef perspective, but I've had to learn to also 1205 00:58:07,960 --> 00:58:12,560 immediately then take that hat off and put the business hat on 1206 00:58:12,680 --> 00:58:15,640 and say, OK, what's best for the business? 1207 00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:17,480 And how do those two things work together? 1208 00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:19,320 Because that's now what I have to be teaching my team. 1209 00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:24,120 Do you spend more time in your own personal studies? 1210 00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:27,120 Do you spend more time in the business side or in the culinary 1211 00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:29,800 side? Half and half. 1212 00:58:29,920 --> 00:58:33,560 Half, yeah. Yeah, I spent a lot of time in 1213 00:58:33,560 --> 00:58:36,680 where I'm gonna be in a year. It'll probably be more in the 1214 00:58:36,680 --> 00:58:38,840 business. Are there any resources that you 1215 00:58:38,840 --> 00:58:41,440 currently use or books or anything like that, that you're 1216 00:58:41,440 --> 00:58:43,120 like, hey, this is a good resource for people that are 1217 00:58:43,120 --> 00:58:45,880 listening that they might also find beneficial? 1218 00:58:48,320 --> 00:58:50,520 I'm getting ready to start a book called The E Myth 1219 00:58:50,520 --> 00:58:54,280 Revisited, which is like a business, professional business 1220 00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:57,680 kind of scaling restaurant book and I haven't started yet. 1221 00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:00,360 I've heard it's great. So I'm getting to start that. 1222 00:59:01,560 --> 00:59:04,760 Before that I just finished, right, because I'm always going 1223 00:59:04,760 --> 00:59:07,520 to be this person. I finished the Wilga Dara book, 1224 00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:09,200 Unreasonable Hospitality. Great book. 1225 00:59:09,480 --> 00:59:11,040 It's fantastic, right? It's fantastic. 1226 00:59:11,040 --> 00:59:12,520 And again, like that's wearing both hats. 1227 00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:14,320 I usually go back and forth. I usually will read a business 1228 00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:16,360 book and I read a culinary kind of like leadership book. 1229 00:59:16,680 --> 00:59:18,600 It could just be a culinary, but it might be one of your books 1230 00:59:18,600 --> 00:59:21,400 just to keep refreshed. I'm writing a new book, by the 1231 00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:23,000 way. Let me know when I will send it. 1232 00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:25,720 Over so it's it's most likely when this episode's airing, 1233 00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:26,800 it'll be out. It's called the Sous Chef 1234 00:59:26,800 --> 00:59:29,480 Blueprint. And if I'm going to give it a 1235 00:59:29,480 --> 00:59:32,560 plug for listening, go get, it's the Sous chef blueprint. 1236 00:59:32,560 --> 00:59:36,920 And what I did with this book is I read a lot of books. 1237 00:59:36,920 --> 00:59:39,480 I mean, I went through a phase in my life where I probably read 1238 00:59:39,480 --> 00:59:43,440 about a book a week. I'm over educated in a sense. 1239 00:59:43,480 --> 00:59:46,360 I'm over read to the point where it's not necessarily good 1240 00:59:46,360 --> 00:59:47,360 because I don't remember everything. 1241 00:59:47,360 --> 00:59:51,440 That I've read right? But with this book, and I wanted 1242 00:59:51,440 --> 00:59:54,840 to correct a problem that I find in a lot of books, especially 1243 00:59:54,840 --> 00:59:57,040 that are like, I hate to say self help or business. 1244 00:59:57,320 --> 00:59:58,920 Like they tell you what to do, but they don't tell you how to 1245 00:59:58,920 --> 00:59:59,920 do it. Like they give you a lot of 1246 00:59:59,920 --> 01:00:03,000 ideas, but they're like vague and there's a lot of Gray 1247 01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:05,800 business advice. It's like, OK, but what do I do 1248 01:00:05,800 --> 01:00:07,040 with it now? I don't know where to start. 1249 01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:10,960 So in the book that I wrote at the end of each chapter, there's 1250 01:00:10,960 --> 01:00:13,800 do this now, execute this now. And there's bullet points on 1251 01:00:13,800 --> 01:00:16,680 there like, OK, do this, this, this, and it's in every single 1252 01:00:16,680 --> 01:00:19,480 chapter. And one of the things that, and, 1253 01:00:19,480 --> 01:00:21,400 and you and I have talked about this, you know, I, I fully live 1254 01:00:21,400 --> 01:00:24,880 in the matrix. Sometimes AI is so beneficial 1255 01:00:24,880 --> 01:00:28,680 when it comes to building spreadsheets, recipes, 1256 01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:31,040 converting and all, all sorts of other things. 1257 01:00:31,040 --> 01:00:34,280 Writing manuals. What I did was a lot of times 1258 01:00:34,280 --> 01:00:36,680 when I consult or when I'm helping other chefs, I just, you 1259 01:00:36,680 --> 01:00:38,320 know, I have my AI prompts that I use. 1260 01:00:38,560 --> 01:00:42,040 So I put some of my AI prompts that I use in the book too. 1261 01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:44,560 So like people would like, Hey, if you need a, if you needed to 1262 01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:49,080 generate recipes that are in grams with allergens, with 1263 01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:52,200 percentages, etcetera, etcetera, just copy and paste the prompt 1264 01:00:52,200 --> 01:00:53,480 and put your recipe and it'll convert it. 1265 01:00:53,480 --> 01:00:55,880 So I wanted to make sure I had tools in there that were useful. 1266 01:00:56,480 --> 01:00:58,280 That would be the next thing is AI. 1267 01:00:59,000 --> 01:01:01,960 You know, I'm currently working with my team to, you know, we 1268 01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:07,960 get we get BE OS and so we need now to take those BE OS and 1269 01:01:07,960 --> 01:01:11,720 input in the back end, like portion sizes and waist sizes. 1270 01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:15,080 But we're trying to work with, I mean, I'm sure this doesn't 1271 01:01:15,080 --> 01:01:16,600 exist. We just we're we're starting on 1272 01:01:16,600 --> 01:01:20,760 this rabbit hole now taking that BEO putting in AI and it is just 1273 01:01:20,760 --> 01:01:23,680 going to regenerate prep list how much you need to prep, what 1274 01:01:23,680 --> 01:01:25,560 you need to order, where you need to order from the 1275 01:01:25,560 --> 01:01:28,080 quantities. And so like that will take my my 1276 01:01:28,160 --> 01:01:30,800 banquet chef spends 2 hours every week. 1277 01:01:30,920 --> 01:01:32,640 More, does that depend on how complex the? 1278 01:01:32,640 --> 01:01:35,360 Yeah, just just going through like what needs to order? 1279 01:01:35,360 --> 01:01:38,480 When do we need to buy, who's it coming from, how and then 1280 01:01:38,480 --> 01:01:40,880 writing the prep list, right. And then and then the actual 1281 01:01:41,240 --> 01:01:43,760 organization of the day-to-day. So it's a you're basically. 1282 01:01:43,760 --> 01:01:48,600 Creating a banquet chef brain. 100% so he or she can focus on 1283 01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:53,840 surely the execution portion of it and not all the modern the 1284 01:01:53,840 --> 01:01:56,400 monotony of building up to. It, I, I think about this 1285 01:01:56,400 --> 01:01:59,400 sometime and this will be the, the last thing for my rants, but 1286 01:01:59,400 --> 01:02:02,000 I think about this sometimes it's like how different our 1287 01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:04,480 operations going to look when the chefs who are technically, 1288 01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:07,400 you know, the, the, the driving force of the culinary, they can 1289 01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:09,280 leave the office and spend more time in the kitchen. 1290 01:02:09,600 --> 01:02:11,360 How is that going to affect labor models? 1291 01:02:11,360 --> 01:02:14,320 How's that going to affect the flow of service? 1292 01:02:14,320 --> 01:02:16,840 How's that going to affect food quality when they're no longer 1293 01:02:17,080 --> 01:02:20,200 in the office for six hours out of their shift where they're now 1294 01:02:20,200 --> 01:02:24,760 like, oh, office work is an hour and that's five hours on the 1295 01:02:24,760 --> 01:02:26,240 floor? And especially in a time right 1296 01:02:26,240 --> 01:02:30,600 now where the labor is more than it's ever been, like we need to 1297 01:02:30,600 --> 01:02:32,560 be going that direction. We need to be taking those away 1298 01:02:32,560 --> 01:02:36,600 and, and right we, we push for right now like less meetings, 1299 01:02:36,600 --> 01:02:39,280 Like we, we're, we want to be a hands on company. 1300 01:02:39,280 --> 01:02:41,920 We don't want to be a, a building in all these meetings 1301 01:02:41,920 --> 01:02:44,040 and all, you know, it's like, yeah, you got to answer a lot of 1302 01:02:44,040 --> 01:02:47,040 emails. But like, I want my team in 1303 01:02:47,040 --> 01:02:50,360 there doing the thing, solving the problems, spending time in 1304 01:02:50,360 --> 01:02:53,560 the kitchen, doing what it is that is going to make us 1305 01:02:54,320 --> 01:02:56,960 flourish as the best private members club in the country. 1306 01:02:57,400 --> 01:03:00,480 Chef, when we start wrapping up, I typically have my my wrap up 1307 01:03:00,480 --> 01:03:03,280 question, so I have a few of them for you. 1308 01:03:03,280 --> 01:03:06,680 If you had a Mount Rushmore of four chefs that you think should 1309 01:03:06,680 --> 01:03:11,520 be on there, who should be on? Listen, I heard I was listening 1310 01:03:11,520 --> 01:03:13,600 to somebody's, I don't remember who might have been Kennedy. 1311 01:03:13,960 --> 01:03:16,840 I don't remember. I was like, yeah, those are some 1312 01:03:16,840 --> 01:03:18,760 good ones. You know who You know the the 1313 01:03:18,760 --> 01:03:20,000 twins. It was the twins that I was 1314 01:03:20,000 --> 01:03:24,160 listening to and I like theirs. I don't remember off the top of 1315 01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:29,880 my head, but for me, and again, some of these are repetition of 1316 01:03:29,880 --> 01:03:32,760 no, people said these. But personally for me in in in 1317 01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:41,920 my, my journeys, in my travels, Ducasse Albert Ardria, right, 1318 01:03:42,320 --> 01:03:46,720 Not for Ron, but Albert. I think he he truly, I mean, you 1319 01:03:46,720 --> 01:03:51,840 see what he's doing, like the guy is obese, right Enigma and 1320 01:03:51,840 --> 01:03:54,480 everything he's doing in Spain, like unreal. 1321 01:03:54,600 --> 01:03:59,400 So I think I think he's one that will forever be talked about 1322 01:03:59,400 --> 01:04:03,520 just like escapier, right? Like he's one of those cats 1323 01:04:05,240 --> 01:04:08,120 escapier right. Again, I grew up in the guy went 1324 01:04:08,120 --> 01:04:11,840 to French culinary school. I think escapier and there's 1325 01:04:11,840 --> 01:04:14,120 there's another one or two right in that same round. 1326 01:04:14,120 --> 01:04:19,160 But I think those set the standard for, for how, you know, 1327 01:04:19,160 --> 01:04:23,000 French cooking and, and the sauces and all the things and 1328 01:04:23,000 --> 01:04:25,240 then, right, we need to do kind of somebody modern. 1329 01:04:27,840 --> 01:04:32,880 It's a tough one, man. Give me a second. 1330 01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:37,320 I mean, there's a bunch of people going through my head and 1331 01:04:37,320 --> 01:04:41,320 then I like a lean to New York and there's somebody said David 1332 01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:42,520 Burke. He's not on the Mount Rushmore, 1333 01:04:42,520 --> 01:04:49,600 but David Burke's AG who's the 4th, You know, one of one of 1334 01:04:49,600 --> 01:04:55,240 those top guys, you know, TK Ballude repair. 1335 01:04:55,680 --> 01:04:58,080 John, George. John George, these guys are all 1336 01:04:58,080 --> 01:05:00,800 Mecca. If I can link all those into one 1337 01:05:00,800 --> 01:05:03,920 and put them in on the same head of the fourth round much more. 1338 01:05:03,920 --> 01:05:06,960 That's what I do because I think all those all those cats just 1339 01:05:06,960 --> 01:05:08,880 came at the right time and did some really cool stuff. 1340 01:05:08,880 --> 01:05:12,240 And all of them except TK are foreign. 1341 01:05:12,240 --> 01:05:16,560 And so like that was a special, you know, time in in our in our 1342 01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:19,760 air of cooking. What's the what's the tape in 1343 01:05:19,760 --> 01:05:21,400 your kitchen? Is it green tape or is it blue 1344 01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:25,360 tape? It's three M first of all, 1345 01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:28,520 right, it can be well, it's three M tape right, the brand 3M 1346 01:05:28,520 --> 01:05:31,920 right. It can't be is it is 3 It's 1347 01:05:31,920 --> 01:05:34,080 three M It's three M Scotch 3M right. 1348 01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:35,800 You can get green blue. We do blue. 1349 01:05:36,720 --> 01:05:42,040 I, I like, I say 3 M Scotch because if it, it's more 1350 01:05:42,040 --> 01:05:46,080 important that the tape is durable and not like, you know, 1351 01:05:46,080 --> 01:05:48,120 some tape you put on and it's like it's not thick. 1352 01:05:48,120 --> 01:05:51,080 So like you put it on and it like has like little bubbles in 1353 01:05:51,080 --> 01:05:52,040 it. It's like it's just not good 1354 01:05:52,040 --> 01:05:53,720 quality tape. So first and foremost, no matter 1355 01:05:53,720 --> 01:05:56,680 what color better be Scotch and it better be 3 M. 1356 01:05:57,040 --> 01:05:59,800 We use blue. I also love green. 1357 01:05:59,800 --> 01:06:01,320 I just, I've just been a blue guy. 1358 01:06:01,680 --> 01:06:03,840 What about salt? And black sharpie Only black 1359 01:06:03,840 --> 01:06:05,800 sharpies, no other. Colors I I don't. 1360 01:06:05,840 --> 01:06:08,280 Don't fucking don't come in the kitchen with a red Sharpie or 1361 01:06:08,280 --> 01:06:10,040 purple Sharpie. I had to kill that stuff. 1362 01:06:10,040 --> 01:06:11,240 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Black only. 1363 01:06:11,240 --> 01:06:14,400 No, no, no, no. Click Sharpies are fine. 1364 01:06:14,680 --> 01:06:17,200 No fine points like either click or traditional. 1365 01:06:17,200 --> 01:06:19,240 Sharpie, I'm against click Sharpies just because they annoy 1366 01:06:19,240 --> 01:06:21,080 me because there's always that one cook that's just standing 1367 01:06:21,080 --> 01:06:22,000 there. Click, click, click when I'm 1368 01:06:22,000 --> 01:06:22,760 trying to talk. Yeah. 1369 01:06:23,400 --> 01:06:26,480 We don't, we, we don't have like nobody. 1370 01:06:26,480 --> 01:06:30,640 We, we, we buy off brand Sharpies like, because, you 1371 01:06:30,640 --> 01:06:33,840 know, we're too nice and we provide Sharpies because, you 1372 01:06:33,840 --> 01:06:35,760 know, like people can have Sharpies and I just can't deal 1373 01:06:35,760 --> 01:06:37,400 with that. So we Amazon like the really 1374 01:06:37,400 --> 01:06:39,560 cheap ones and that's generally what everybody in the kitchen 1375 01:06:39,560 --> 01:06:39,960 uses. What? 1376 01:06:40,000 --> 01:06:43,600 What about your all-purpose salt? 1377 01:06:43,680 --> 01:06:45,160 Oh, Diamond. Diamond Kosher. 1378 01:06:45,200 --> 01:06:46,360 Yeah, Yeah. Diamond Crystal. 1379 01:06:46,360 --> 01:06:47,480 Yeah. What about? 1380 01:06:48,120 --> 01:06:49,800 What about finishing acid? What do you use? 1381 01:06:50,800 --> 01:06:56,440 It depends on the dish, but you know, I'm you know, because of 1382 01:06:56,440 --> 01:06:59,400 what we do and we try to work with local stuff as much as we 1383 01:06:59,400 --> 01:07:02,840 can and we do and we do like do make some vinegars and stuff, 1384 01:07:02,840 --> 01:07:04,840 but like it's not really the forefront of what we do. 1385 01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:07,600 Hopefully as we grow this brand, we get some creative people that 1386 01:07:07,600 --> 01:07:10,680 can do some fun stuff like that. Like we're all about that. 1387 01:07:10,680 --> 01:07:13,160 But right, you right people, right place, right time, right 1388 01:07:13,160 --> 01:07:15,520 position. I'm too busy to be like trying 1389 01:07:15,520 --> 01:07:17,360 to ferment strawberry tops to make vinegar. 1390 01:07:18,680 --> 01:07:22,920 And so if we have some kind of like sometimes we like marinate 1391 01:07:22,920 --> 01:07:25,560 and macerate vinegars, like so we'll take white distilled and 1392 01:07:25,560 --> 01:07:27,200 we'll put a bunch of Peaches in it like Peach scrap. 1393 01:07:27,200 --> 01:07:29,280 So like that's how we would do like a house vinegar. 1394 01:07:29,280 --> 01:07:31,960 So to answer your question, something like that that goes 1395 01:07:31,960 --> 01:07:33,600 with a dish. So if we're doing tomatoes and 1396 01:07:33,920 --> 01:07:36,680 you know, just say just tomatoes and we have a Peach vinegar, 1397 01:07:36,680 --> 01:07:37,800 maybe there's not Peaches in there. 1398 01:07:38,000 --> 01:07:39,800 Like that makes sense for me to finish that dish with. 1399 01:07:39,800 --> 01:07:47,760 And if not that, Daniels Sherry 2 that I love, or lemon or lime. 1400 01:07:48,280 --> 01:07:51,760 Awesome, where can people find you if they want to follow you 1401 01:07:51,760 --> 01:07:54,640 on Instagram if they want to reach out for a job? 1402 01:07:55,280 --> 01:07:59,520 Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm based in Dallas and 5570, you know, 1403 01:07:59,600 --> 01:08:02,840 website you can you can kind of e-mail or find or I'm Jay 1404 01:08:02,840 --> 01:08:06,200 Sutcliffe on Instagram. Josh Suckcliffe, LinkedIn. 1405 01:08:06,200 --> 01:08:08,160 It is kind of big now in the chef world. 1406 01:08:08,160 --> 01:08:09,680 So I'm on LinkedIn a lot. Yeah. 1407 01:08:09,760 --> 01:08:13,640 And yeah, that's it. Awesome brother, I'm glad you 1408 01:08:13,640 --> 01:08:14,800 came. I appreciate you man. 1409 01:08:14,800 --> 01:08:16,399 Yeah, yeah, this was fun. Yeah, Nice seeing you. 1410 01:08:16,399 --> 01:08:18,319 Cheers. All right, that's the show. 1411 01:08:18,319 --> 01:08:20,840 If you liked it, make sure you leave five stars, nothing less 1412 01:08:20,840 --> 01:08:23,279 than five stars. If you want more chefs PSA, go 1413 01:08:23,279 --> 01:08:26,000 to chefspsa.com. Get yourself some books, get 1414 01:08:26,000 --> 01:08:28,640 yourself some merch, including Culinary leadership fundamentals 1415 01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:30,399 and the Line Cook Survival manual. 1416 01:08:30,399 --> 01:08:32,760 If you want early access to episodes, you can get them on 1417 01:08:32,760 --> 01:08:35,479 Spotify and sub stack by becoming a paid member. 1418 01:08:35,479 --> 01:08:37,520 The link is in the notes. We'll see you next week. 1419 01:08:37,680 --> 01:08:40,600 Hit the porno music. No small drink in the kitchen? 1420 01:08:40,760 --> 01:08:42,560 Mix it. Drop the chef dollars. 1421 01:08:42,680 --> 01:08:45,680 No fiction stirring up the beats he enough to say.