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Hello chefs, This is Chefs PSA 
Podcast. 

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I'm your host Andre and Terra. 
On today's episode, we're going 

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to talk about universal laws 
through a chef's lens. 

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Stay tuned. 
Now before we get started, 

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here's a brief update. 
I just completed my new book Bad

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Cooks Everywhere. 
It's going to be out June 8th on

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paperback. 
So if you want it, which I know 

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you want it, go get it. 
It's good. 

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It's fiction. 
For those of you that are 

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unaware you haven't been 
following along, it's a 

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fictional narrative about a 
culinary school student going 

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into kitchens and what that is 
like. 

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I mean, it's not a true story, 
but it's your true story. 

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It's every chef's true story. 
All the characters in there are 

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going to remind you of someone, 
maybe you, maybe your boss, 

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maybe your friend. 
Anyway, you get the point. 

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You want to go get it? 
Bad Cooks Everywhere out June 

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8th. 
It's going to be available on 

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Amazon. 
Now for those of you that are 

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premium subscribers to my sub 
stack, you get early access to 

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the e-book before anyone else. 
So if you're a premium 

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subscriber on my sub stack, 
which I'll link in the show 

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notes, you could go subscribe 
now and get access to the book 

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now. 
So some instead of there. 

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There's also a few podcast 
episodes that are exclusive to 

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buy sub stack premium 
subscribers, as well as other 

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free ebooks and classes and 
things like that. 

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So it's definitely worth it For 
$10 a month. 

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I would pay $10 a month. 
I'd I'd probably pay more, but 

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it's only $10 a month. 
Anyway, we digress. 

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We watch for the show. 
You know what to do. 

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If you listen on Spotify, make 
sure you leave five stars, 

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nothing less than five stars. 
It's five star podcast. 

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If you're watching on YouTube, 
hit the like and subscribe 

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button. 
I appreciate it. 

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For those of you that are 
following along, this is the new

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format. 
We're going to go one solo 

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episode, one guest centric 
episode. 

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So this is my solo episode with 
you. 

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And today's episode is about 
universal laws. 

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So what are universal laws? 
Universal laws are typically 

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laws that are inherently true. 
They're not always true. 

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There's always an exception to 
the rule and these universal 

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laws are acceptable across 
multiple situations. 

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In this case, we're taking some 
of the most common universal 

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laws. 
Maybe you'll learn something. 

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And how do they apply to a 
culinary or leadership setting 

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in the kitchen? 
You could think of this podcast 

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as a companion episode to 
another podcast that I did 

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earlier called The Mental 
Blocks, The Mental Blocks, which

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is Chef's PFA episode 26. 
So think of this as a companion 

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to that. 
You should go back and listen to

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that one if you enjoy this one. 
We're going to take some of 

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these universal laws and we're 
going to apply them to what 

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you're doing and we're going to 
learn. 

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We're going to learn how to 
think strategically. 

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This is the advantage that you 
get from listening to chef's PSA

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is that I'm always thinking how 
you can be the exception to the 

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rule. 
And one of the biggest things 

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that I noticed in a lot of 
successful chefs, as well as 

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myself and my career, is that 
the chefs that think differently

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are usually the ones that are 
the most successful. 

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When you think like everyone 
else, you end up like everyone 

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else. 
And what are those little things

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that give a slight advantage to 
other chefs? 

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It's usually in how they think 
and how they approach 

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situations. 
And I'm not just talking about 

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food. 
Sometimes I'm talking about 

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management, leadership, 
marketing, all the things that 

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go into being a chef. 
They all play a part in making 

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sure that you're successful. 
So today, let's start with the 

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very first law that we're going 
to explain, Murphy's Law. 

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Everyone knows Murphy's Law. 
Anything that can go wrong will 

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go wrong. 
How does that apply to the 

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kitchen? 
Well, as a chef, you have to 

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constantly be thinking about 
what can go wrong in every 

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potential situation. 
If you're doing a catering, did 

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you count all the plates? 
Did you count all the gloves? 

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Did you count all the proteins? 
Did you schedule enough people? 

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Did you anticipate that this 
person may call off? 

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You always have to have a backup
plan. 

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I was talking to a friend the 
other day and I told him to make

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sure that he had his bases 
covered for a certain situation 

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and he said I'm pretty sure that
situation won't happen. 

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I said we'll cover your bases 
anyway because you don't want to

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be in a situation where it does 
happen. 

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And then you think, oh, I should
have spent 5 minutes planning, 

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right? 
That's something that a lot of 

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chefs do is we think 
everything's going to go well. 

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So we don't think about all the 
things that could potentially go

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wrong. 
When I was a chef, I used to sit

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all my chefs in the room with me
and I'll think about every 

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possible scenario from every 
potential angle. 

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I would go through everything in
my mind and I would think of 

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what could go wrong in this 
situation, What where are my 

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blind spots? 
And as my other chefs would come

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into the office, we'd sit around
and say, did you think of this? 

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Did you think of that? 
What if this, what if that? 

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And it's like looking at the 
chess board. 

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You want to make sure that you 
think of all the potential moves

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and what could be the potential 
outcome of those moves. 

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Sometimes the move looks good 
and then you do it and the 

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outcome is bad. 
So thinking about every possible

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outcome with Murphy's Law in 
this case, you want to make sure

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that you have a mitigation plan 
for whatever could potentially 

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happen. 
The next one is Parkinson's Law.

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Work expands to fill the time 
available for completion. 

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What does that mean? 
It means that however long you 

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give someone to do something is 
how long it's going to take them

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to do it. 
Putting timelines on things will

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help you become more efficient. 
So I'm going to give you an 

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example. 
If you write a prep list that 

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has 20 items on it and someone 
has 8 hours to do that prep 

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list, they'll get it done. 
If you write a prep list with 

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half of the amount and they have
8 hours to do it, they'll still 

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get it done in eight hours. 
It's a really amazing thing. 

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For those of you that use lists 
and to do lists, it's amazing 

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when you write everything on 
your To Do List how you could 

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accomplish it. 
Whether that's one thing or 20 

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things, it always manages to get
done. 

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If you go back and you listen to
the last episode I did with 

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Aaron Bluedorn, we were talking 
about how when he was on the 

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chef's table, how he only had an
hour to get the food up, and it 

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was a lot of food to prepare in 
one hour. 

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And I asked him the question. 
I said, you know, were you ever 

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surprised at how much you were 
able to do in one hour? 

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And he says, yeah, it blew my 
mind, which was reinforcing the 

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idea of how people underestimate
how much work they could do in 

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an allotted time frame that 
they're working with. 

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That's Parkinson's Law, time 
management skills, putting 

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deadlines on things. 
When I was a chef, I used to 

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write prep lists for people that
were just a little bit more than

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I knew they could handle, and 
they always got it done. 

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If you want to improve your 
speed in your kitchen, write 

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longer prep lists. 
If you're a cook and you want to

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improve your own speed, give 
yourself a longer prep list and 

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see how much more you could 
accomplish because for some 

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reason it always gets done. 
The next universal law that 

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we're going to talk about is the
Pareto principle, otherwise 

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known as the 8020 rule. 
And what that means is usually 

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80% of the outcomes are affected
by 20% of the input or 20% of 

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the 'cause you think about that 
as a, as a chef, about 80% of 

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the work gets done by 20% of the
employees or 80% of the revenue 

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comes from about 20% of the menu
items. 

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So a lot of times when I would 
go in and someone wanted me to 

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improve the menu, I would focus 
on the, the workhorses of the 

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menu and say if we're getting 
bad scores, you know, from Yelp 

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or OpenTable or comments, you 
don't need to focus on 

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everything on the menu. 
Focus on the items that are 

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selling because that's what's 
causing the most amount of 

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feedback. 
The 20% is usually affecting the

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80%, so focus on the most 
important 20% and you'll make 

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big impact on the other 80%. 
Your food cost might be driven 

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by 20% of the items that you're 
buying, not the other 80%. 

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Sometimes if you're an executive
chef and you're tasked with 

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lowering food cost and you pull 
up a spreadsheet with all the 

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items that you're buying and you
start looking at everything, the

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bottom items, the salt and how 
much you're spending on bread 

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and how much you're spending on 
this, that and the other, when 

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if you just look at the top 20% 
of the items, that's where 

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you're going to make the biggest
amount of impact. 

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So don't worry about the bottom 
80%. 

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Focus on the top 20%. 
Pareto Principle 8020 rule The 

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next one is the Peter Principle.
Specifically in a hierarchy 

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situation, employees tend to 
rise to the level of 

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incompetence. 
And what that means is that 

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people usually get promoted to 
the point where they become 

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incompetent, then they stop 
getting promoted. 

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So sometimes you get stuck in a 
position and you don't move 

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further up, and it's usually 
because you've been promoted 

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quickly to the point where you 
may have skipped over some 

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things. 
There may have been some 

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learning opportunities that you 
missed. 

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And then you reach that position
and then you're stagnant for 

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many years until a new injection
of growth and learning comes in.

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And this is a dangerous 
situation for a lot of chefs 

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because I noticed a lot of times
we're really eager to get to the

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position and to the title. 
So maybe you want to get to the 

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executive chef or the sous chef 
position. 

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And so you take the job that's 
going to give you the title, but

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you don't grow as much there. 
And so you remain stagnant or 

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you get promoted too quick and 
you weren't fully prepared to go

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into that job. 
So you're stagnant while you're 

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learning the job, while you're 
in it, and you may be stuck 

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there for quite some time. 
And a lot of times people that 

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may be promoted beyond their 
capabilities, it leads to 

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inefficiencies in the kitchen, 
into the operation. 

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They start causing more problems
because they don't fully know 

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what they're doing. 
They haven't fully grown in the 

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position. 
So how do you correct that? 

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One is to make sure that you're 
very honest with yourself, that 

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you have a solid training plan 
in place for the people that 

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you're promoting, to make sure 
that you're not putting someone 

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in a position before they're 
ready, that you have continuing 

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education opportunities for 
people to learn. 

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If it's self driven learning, 
make sure that you as the chef 

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are using all the resources 
available to you. 

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Social media, YouTube, so on and
so forth. 

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This podcast, other podcast that
are not as good as this one, but

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this one's pretty good. 
Anyway, we digress. 

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You get the point. 
Peter Principle. 

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The next one is the law of 
diminishing returns. 

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Now, Thomas Keller talks about 
this in his French Laundry 

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cookbook where he talks about 
the portion size and that just 

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making something bigger after 
several bites, diminishing 

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returns on the flavor. 
But there's also diminishing 

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returns in other aspects of the 
of the kitchen. 

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There's diminishing returns when
you put too many cooks on the 

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line, they start bumping into 
each other. 

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So let's just say you have a 
full rail on the board and you 

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have 3 cooks on the line. 4 
would make it better. 

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Five might make it worse, six 
will make it even worse. 

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So there's diminishing returns 
by adding more people to assist.

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They start getting in each 
other's way. 

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Diminishing returns by adding 
more cooks to the situation. 

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Diminishing returns When you're 
creating a dish, putting more 

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doesn't necessarily make it 
better. 

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And as chefs, we fall into this 
category a lot. 

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You think, oh, it just needs one
more thing. 

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Let's put one more garnish. 
Let's put one more step and you 

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keep adding to a specific dish, 
but you're but the more you add,

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you actually subtract from the 
overall dish. 

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Less is more sometimes. 
That's the law of diminishing 

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returns. 
It applies in many different 

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aspects of the kitchen. 
The next one is Gilbert's law. 

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Every solution leads to a new 
problem in a kitchen. 

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If you're in a leadership 
position, you start solving 

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problems constantly. 
You become a problem solver, 

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whack a mole management, as they
say. 

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One thing pops up, you knock it 
down, you go to the next. 

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But what you start to discover 
is sometimes when you solve 

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problems, this is especially 
true when you take over a new 

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place, is that you think you see
the problem and you've solved 

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it, only to discover that that 
problem was created by three 

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other problems. 
So you solve those 3 problems 

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only to find out that there was 
eight more problems creating the

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three. 
And the further down you go, the

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more problems you find. 
The more you dig, the more you 

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get. 
So when you're placed in the 

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position of leadership, you have
to understand that what you see 

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on the surface is just that. 
It's just the surface level 

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problems, they're typically 
being created by many layers 

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below that. 
So I often tell chefs that work 

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for me, this is when you start 
digging for problems. 

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You've got to be prepared for 
whatever else you're going to 

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uncover, right? 
You might start digging and you 

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might find a graveyard of 
skeletons. 

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So be prepared when you start 
solving problems, there's going 

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to be more problems that you 
find when you start solving 

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them. 
The next one is Wilson's Law, 

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and Wilson's Law is basically 
when you find a solution that 

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works, someone wants to change 
it. 

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This one's so true in kitchens, 
right? 

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The system works, everything's 
running smooth. 

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New manager comes in, new chef, 
new sous chef, new GM, whatever 

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00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:30,720
new ownership, they're like, 
this is not working, let's 

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00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:32,120
change it. 
I liked it better at my other 

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00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:34,440
place and they throw a monkey 
wrench in the system and it 

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causes chaos and it doesn't 
necessarily work better. 

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It actually creates more work 
and more dysfunction. 

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That old expression, that's not 
how we did it at my last job, 

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can sometimes be the catalyst 
for invoking Wilson's Law. 

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You quickly want to implement 
change to the system that's 

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already working and functioning 
and then you start to realize 

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later on that maybe just because
it worked at the last place 

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doesn't mean it works at this 
place. 

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I was talking with the chef 
about this the other day is the 

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way I cook in one kitchen isn't 
necessarily the same way I would

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cook in another kitchen because 
your skill level adapts to the 

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circumstances. 
You have a kitchen with all the 

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toys and all the gadgets and 
everything functioning at a high

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functioning team. 
You could cook at a pretty high 

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level. 
You go into another kitchen 

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where the stove is broken and 
the walk in doesn't work and you

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didn't get a delivery and you're
working with entry level cooks 

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in a very busy restaurant. 
Your style of food is going to 

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change. 
It's not a cookbook answer. 

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Not everything works universally
across kitchens. 

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I would advise that you have 
some sort of negotiation process

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or some sort of vetting process 
before you implement change. 

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My advice to new executive 
chefs, typically when they take 

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over a place is you have 30 
days, don't change anything. 

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Write everything down so you 
don't forget, because after some

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00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:44,880
time it becomes wallpaper. 
But if you write down what you 

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want to change and you don't 
change it, you can go back and 

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slowly, strategically start 
implementing that change. 

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00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,760
After 30 days, you usually 
understand the system. 

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And then you might go back and 
look at your list and say, thank

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00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:00,760
God I didn't change that. 
Now I understand why that is the

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way it is, because a lot of 
times we're quick to want to 

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implement change because we 
think we have a better solution,

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but we don't fully understand 
the problem. 

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The last one is Falklands law. 
When it's not necessary to 

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change, it's necessary to not 
change. 

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00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:15,680
Constant change can be 
disruptive. 

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It makes people want to quit. 
Usually. 

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00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,120
That's why there's high turnover
when there's transition and 

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leadership or there's transition
and staff, because the amount of

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change that's going on, you're 
getting new leaders. 

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Those new leaders are bringing 
in new systems. 

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Everyone has new ideas. 
And this kind of ties into the 

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00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,600
last law that we talked about is
sometimes you don't need to 

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00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:33,440
change it. 
You don't need to change it just

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00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,280
for the sake of changing it 
because for the team around you,

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00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:39,560
they need to get rhythm and 
repetition and what they're 

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00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:43,320
currently doing and constantly 
introducing chaos leads to 

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00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,480
things not being consistent, it 
leads to frustration, it leads 

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00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,240
to mistakes. 
Yes it does lead to growth 

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00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:50,640
because you're learning new 
things. 

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00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,120
But change for the sake of 
change alone sometimes isn't a 

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00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,280
smart decision. 
You have to be strategic, think 

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00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:56,920
things through before you 
implement change. 

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00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,440
Sometimes stability is good. 
When I usually take over an 

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00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,000
operation, like I said, the 1st 
30 days I understand. 

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00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,960
I write everything down and then
as I start implementing change, 

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00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:10,880
I want to do so rapidly, make 
sure it sticks to the point 

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00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,920
where we get to stability. 
And then once stability is 

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00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,720
established, then I want to 
minimize the amount of changes 

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00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:18,680
in the kitchen. 
We have discussions before we 

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00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:20,680
change anything because I'm not 
saying that I have all the right

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00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:22,800
ideas. 
But what I am saying is before 

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00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:24,880
we change the idea, we need to 
make sure that everyone 

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00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,800
understands, everyone's on 
board, and it's not changed just

324
00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,280
for the sake of change. 
It causes dissension, it causes 

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00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,960
confusion, and in the end, it's 
going to cause more work for 

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00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:34,680
you. 
But anyway, that's the last one 

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00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:36,760
for today. 
So I'm hoping that you picked up

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00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,680
some new understanding on some 
of these universal laws and how 

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00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:41,680
you could apply them to your 
daily life in the kitchen and 

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00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,320
how you could think more 
strategically and what you're 

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00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:44,680
doing. 
Think about the chess board. 

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00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,000
What's the best possible move in
the current situation? 

333
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,040
Sometimes the best possible move
might not be a great move, and 

334
00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:52,520
sometimes the best possible move
is to do nothing. 

335
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,960
Lao Tzu has a quote. 
Do nothing and leave nothing 

336
00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:56,800
undone. 
Anyway, go read the Dao De Jane 

337
00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,440
if you want to support the show,
you know what to do. 

338
00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,000
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339
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,920
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345
00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,080
notes. 
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347
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,480
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