Entitlement Or Evolution - How restaurant culture has changed and why it matters

We dig into whether the “entitled generation” narrative actually fits restaurant life or if we’re watching the industry evolve in real time. We break down what should change in kitchen culture, what can’t change in service, and how leaders can earn trust by teaching the why instead of barking orders. 
• entitlement versus evolution through a restaurant lens 
• how the old kitchen culture built burnout and resentment 
• why modern expectations around respect and mental health show up at hiring 
• the impact of chef reality TV on how people imagine kitchens 
• what never changes: consistency, work ethic, demanding hours, grit 
• what can change: systems, equipment, empathy, days off, training style 
• personal responsibility when time off turns into self sabotage 
• leadership advice: explain the why, tell the story, teach the science 
• growth advice: set paths, goals, and clear expectations 
• young cook fundamentals: show up early, move with speed, respect the kitchen

Welcome to the show! Burnt Hands Perspective

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Listen up here. The restaurant industry is grueling and unpredictable. Just like this, Joe. From front of the house to the back of the house, and all in the We will turn up the heat, you turn up the volume. I'm Chef Antonio Carijuana. Welcome to the Tell All Podcast, the Burnt Hands Perspective. Alright. This is a good one. This is a good talking point. Yeah, good talking point. Burnt Hands Perspective. Coming back at you. From the kitchen to the grill. To your face. In the grill. In the grill. In your grill. From the grill to your grill.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

To your grill. Alright. So entitlement or evolution.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Alright.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Today's topic.

Entitlement Talk In Restaurant Hiring

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Entitlement or evolution. That's that's a good one. So yeah, let's go. Let's start with it. Um everybody talks about it right now. Everybody, and I don't know if it's just the restaurant industry, that's where I'm at, and everything. I'm sure it goes everywhere, but everyone's talking about right now the new generation's entitlement. Everyone's entitlement. Everyone wants this, that, and the other. They're so entitled. They don't want to grind, they don't want to work, nobody wants to work. And we're gonna relate only to the restaurant business now because that's where we're at, and that's what the show's about. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

So with that being said, every other industry, I mean, everybody says it.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Like we all want respect before they don't.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

So we're gonna kinda, yeah, we're gonna dive into this one. This will be interesting. Um, so let's talk about it in regards to restaurants, because you're the one who sees it first and foremost more than anyone else.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Yeah, so it's really bad in the restaurant scene, really, really bad. And I don't know where it comes from. I don't know how to fucking explain it. However, it just doesn't make sense. So I gotta say it, it can't be just a restaurant, it's gotta be everywhere. Because kids aren't just coming to the restaurant to say I need all this stuff. Yeah, it is. You know, it's not even kids anymore. We're talking about people in their 30s. Someone in their 40s. It's not even kids. Okay, they act like kids. So people in their 30s, it's kind of the new thing, right? I think anyone from 40 up and up is either already done, burnt out, or on their way to retirement at that point. But um, so yeah, I mean, uh there is some, there is a huge level of entitlement, so it seems.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Then again, here's the kit here's a kicker. Is it? Yeah, this is what I'm thinking about as I grow and as I get older and wiser, right? Or whatever you want to call it. Uh I've been thinking about it, and it and it's is is it actually entitlement?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

So is it entitlement or is it evolution of the industry in totality?

Old School Kitchen Brutality Explained

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah. I think that it's I honestly feel that now that I'm looking at it, it can't be just the industry because it would be uh it would be all it would be across the board. It would every industry would fail. I mean, I I think every industry is failing. We're not just the only ones getting this. It's gotta be everywhere, right? So I think it's it's evolution of the industry. I think it's um I think that's what's going on here. And and this, let's just face it here, okay? The industry back in the day was brutal. We didn't have a fucking choice. Long hours, low pay, screaming chefs, burnout, 35 years old, you're fucking done, your feet hurt, your back hurts, you want out, you can't get out, you're stuck, so now you're miserable, you're grumpy, you're pissed off, right? Drinking after work a lot, shut your brain off. Drugs, partying, rock and roll. That was the thing back then, not only in the industry, but it was just the thing. Fast cars, rock and roll, you know what I mean, all that shit. Rock, whatever it is you're the era, the decade.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

I mean, every decade had its, you know, 80s, raw, 90s.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

So that right, that flowed into the kitchen.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

It did.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Flowed into the kitchen, flowed onto the dining floor.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Bread the mindset of who was in the kitchen, who could get those jobs at the time.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

So now it's a different thing. Before, the question was, how much ass am I gonna get? Do I eat for free? Do we get you know, things like that. They were minor little things. Now, the first thing they ask, you know, back that back in the day, we'd go check for jobs. We want to know what type of food we were cooking, uh, what style of uh, you know, what style of technique can we use? Uh can can I start here and work my way up? You know, those are the questions we asked.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

What day do we get paid? Things like that. Now, how many hours? Uh, you know, uh the the questions are totally different. How many, how many hours are gonna be? Is there room to grow here? Um, what's the culture like in the kitchen? That's a big question I get.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I was gonna ask because you interview, I mean, you don't you don't do the hands-on interviewing as much, but you interview anyone and going into your kitchen. So, what are the biggest?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

I mean, the biggest question we get really is what's the what's the atmosphere in the kitchen or what's the culture like? And I'm like, if if somebody's asking that question, you don't even know the answer to it. How do you explain? How do you not know the culture? How do you not know the culture of any kitchen? Yeah, it's the same.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Do they think that like they don't want the aggressive culture of the past? Like they they don't want that, they've never had it.

Culture Myths And Modern Kitchen Perks

SPEAKER_00 5:25

That's the fucking problem. They've never experienced it. They've never even experienced people keep telling them you don't want that lifestyle. You know, if you watch, if you go on Instagram a hundred fucking times a day, and 90 times of those times, you're talking about you're seeing reels. If you're if your algorithms are filled with chef stuff and things like mine, you're gonna see all the stuff. But the culture, no one needs to be talked to that way. You don't need to, but who the fuck is being talked to that way? Who? They've not they're not even old enough to experience that culture, yet alone boycott it, right? So we're evolving out of that culture. That culture hasn't been around for decades. I don't even know where it comes from because I was in that culture when we were younger, but those guys are assholes and they're all dead now. That we're talking about years ago, decades ago, decades ago, decades, yeah. This whole thing of the kitchen is a horrible place, it's a fucking nightmare, it's disgusting, it's dirty, it's my you know, people don't care, they're they're rude, they're crass. No, it's yes, somewhat they are. However, it's not like that anymore. Yeah, chefs yelling at you, working all these crazy hours, not getting a break, not getting staff meals. It's all bullshit. Now the trend is to have a staff meal. Now the trend is the the um the family dinner sit-down thing, the nice chef's shoes that weren't available back in the day. All the things that they're bitching about now just didn't exist back then. They're bitching about things now that that they heard used to be a nightmare. We didn't even have chef shoes back in the day. You had to have a pair of fucking European clogs that was really hard to get a hold of. You're working in tennis shoes, man. Yeah, pretty much. Um there was no way around that. The things that we had that they take for granted so much now didn't even exist back then that made everyone miserable. So evolution. We're evolving, I think, is what's going on. In the industry in general, I think the industry is evolving. I don't think it's so much that the kids that are coming in now, or the young people that are coming in now, I don't think they're so damn entitled. I just think everything's evolving as people. There's a higher expectation, there's more technology, there's more support, there's more um understanding of feelings and emotions and empathy. That that's just life has evolved evolution.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Do you think that TV shows have hurt or helped in that way for like kitchen culture? Like all these shows you see coming online about, you know, either chefs or any of the reality shows. Do you think that's helped or hurt?

SPEAKER_00 7:47

I'm I'm mixed on it. I think that chef, I think the chef reality TV stuff is really good because it brings Chef and Culinary Worlds to the forefront. Yeah. Whereas before it was just get behind the shut line and show your fuck up. You know what I mean? Now it's something that's kind of cool. You can watch it, it's exciting. It brings some sort of heroism to the show, right? It brings to our culture. So I give it prompts for that. Um, does it create a facade? Yes, it does, because it's scripted, no matter what. There's there's always a basket of things that are always going to be perfect. You're gonna fuck it up if you're a fuck up or not, regardless. But there's a lot of things on there that don't exist. The yelling, the judges yelling at the at the uh contestants. That's all brought back into the kitchen again where it doesn't exist anymore. They're using that, you know. Gordon Ramsey's a phenomenal chef. He's rewarded some, he's one of the most rewarded chefs in the in the fucking world. He's earned them. When he was part, when he came up, him and Marco Pierre White and the people he worked under, amongst many others, he's just one example. They were yelling, screaming, pissed off, but they were in there for 40 hours a day.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Every day, every day, 40 hours a day, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

So all that shit going on was absolutely happening back then. It doesn't happen anymore. Gordon is doing on TV, he's not even doing it much anymore. He's doing chef kids. Yeah, kids with chef shows. They're doing Christmas shows.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

He has the new Netflix, the documentary, and he actually talks about opening those five restaurants at one time. And he actually said that I actually had that's why that question came to my mind is he had said something about being on TV, like how had they asked him kind of a similar question. Do you think your reality shows have kind of like overplay whatever he said? In some sense, yes, but the process is still the process. So if you burn something or you drop something or you're cooking something, it's still the same process. So you're still dealing, like you said, the same fucking issues. It's just gonna be a little bit quieter than it used to be.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

The issues don't change. I always say that the heat of the moment doesn't change. A burnt steak pisses you off, a drop ticket, a uh a not you know, a broken sauce, all these things piss you off the same fucking way. So, how do you go about slowing it down? I guess evolution is allowing people to slow down. They're not so grumpy, they're not so pissy about it. It's not such a big deal anymore. You know, a lot of those questions I ask you about what they ask now. How are my hours going to be? What are my days off? How many days do I get off a week? How's the kitchen culture? You know, the old part of me is like, you know what? Fuck you. Right? Get your knife, shut the fuck up, go cook, shut up. It's just just go work. Just go go. That's that's where my brain goes instantly, right? Okay. But then now, as I'm getting older, I ask myself, are they wrong? Is is are are the are these people wrong for being concerned about what the fuck their life is going to be.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

About their actual quality of life.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Exactly. So just we didn't care. Just because, well, it's not that we didn't care, we didn't have an option. We didn't have any children. But I have an option now. Yeah. I'm not gonna have a quality, shitty quality of life now. No, you know, so I I can't blame them for having a one. You know, we just didn't have an option. They have an option now.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Good way to look at it. I mean, it's a different perspective of it, yeah, for sure.

Reality TV And The Yelling Myth

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Right. So there's a lot going on. I mean, we're seeing a lot of different things. It's just, it's uh, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Well, nobody asked us how our mental health was doing. They didn't ask if you were, you know, depressed that day or how much Xanax you're on. Like nobody had that. So they are wiser. Would you say I yeah, would you say they're wiser now because of, I mean, again, technology, personal, I don't know what you would call it, reflection, I don't know, introspective viewpoints on themselves or culture. I don't know. It that's all part of evolution. We are getting more cognizant as a society.

What Never Changes In Service

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yeah, of course. Yeah, man. I mean, there's no doubt about it. And it shows all the way down from the, you know, it it the food is gentler. The food is less aggressive, the food is less is more plated. What do you think? How how so? It's a lot more delicate. So plating now has changed. Whereas before, back in the day, when everyone was mad, grumpy this, a lot more laden than sauces, thick, heavy, more aggressive plating, a lot more food, a lot more piling, a lot more stacking back then, a lot more um haste was done in plating and um feeding the masses and just getting it out. That was that was the big thing back then. Melted cheeses, uh, a lot of room for error you can disguise with a lot of aggression. So it was just aggressive, right? The cooking back then was as aggressive as the chefs and the kitchen crew were. Okay. Now, unless you were in a fine dining scenario, which was a different scenario, um, the the French have really uh back in the day, really were the ones who take their time and really kind of made the difference in plating. And you can see that, you know, where a guy would normally say, I'm paying all that for this little bit. Yes, you are. So now the negative spacing on the plating, microgreens, tweezers, um sauces, demis, you're doing your smears, all that thing, the way you're dolloping stuff and and all that, that that is now a product of less aggression. Okay, more time, more thought process, more uh stimul. You're being more stimulated while you're plating.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

So there's definitely an evolution there as well, because it's happening on even the minor levels. You can go to some bars right now and they're plating things more discreetly and nicely, and in, you know, generally where it would just be a sandwich and pile of fries on a plate, right? Now they're putting their fries in a little tin can, you know what I'm saying? Everything's a little different.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

No, that's actually, I mean, that that is a good way to put it. I know you put in here kind of like this thing of like how the industry has evolved in general. So you put the like the industry used to eat its own. Yeah. So it was way more cutthroat, not collaborative.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

It was more cutthroat because we could be. We had a lot more people. So we can just tell someone, get the fuck out of here. They could have a minor little mishap. They could have just spilt water, they could have done something, or they could have been late for two days in a month. And you tell them, just get the fuck out of here, because the next person would just come in and you'd abuse the shit out of them, and then they would go. And who the strongest would survive, right? And and and once they survived, and once they got into that thing, they're the ones who would get the raises. It would be the click, the little good old boy network inside of the kitchen. And everybody else would just come and go because there was people coming and going. Now, people aren't coming and going so much in this industry, right? It's so it's harder. So now you have to be a lot more empathetic. You've got to be a lot more understanding in life, you know?

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Yeah, no, I think so. And so you had on that, like what absolutely cannot change. So if we are evolving and people are becoming more uh emotional or um expectations are higher in the sense of mental health and things like that. So there are some hardline rules in the industry that will never fucking change. And it comes to service quality, like how you're expediting product, what's going on. So, what can't change? What are things that cannot change in the industry, regardless of how your emotions are?

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Quality, consistency, consistency is the biggest thing that can't change. Hard work ethic cannot change. Um, demanding hours are always gonna be there. You can't change it because food doesn't stop, preparation doesn't stop. There's no way to do that differently unless you you have four different people on a shift prepping the same thing. You know, I'll cut it, you peel it, you dice it, it's not gonna work that way. So the the things that can't change, there's still always going to be a level of grit that needs to be in the industry. In the cooking industry, there's always a level of grit and and um determination. You have to wake up, you have to, it's gonna hurt, your feet are gonna hurt, stuff's not gonna change. Standing up all day is not gonna change. Um, burning your hands is not gonna change. There's no way that's gonna change, it's gonna continue on, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Yeah, so things that can change though is how you go about them, our preparation and readiness, our equipment, our uniforms, how you're how you're doing things or systemizing to make things more efficient. We get smarter. I mean, again, time you get smarter and wiser over the time.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, right. Not wearing people out, giving people days off, all that stuff can change.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I mean, not working seven days a week from you know 10 a.m. until one in the morning, and which is what a lot of people think the industry still is.

Days Off And Personal Responsibility

SPEAKER_00 15:56

One thing I notice it's not changing if you're ready for this one. I'm so ready. I can give people more days off in my kitchen, but I still can't, and it won't change what the fuck they're doing on those days off. Okay? They still get the days off, and it's not changing. They're still destroying themselves, they're still getting fucked up all weekend, they're still showing up with the same hangover. The only difference is now they had two to three days off a week, so now they're just coming in the other days more fucked up and useless. So I'm getting less out of them by giving them more. Because even if they have a days off to rest, they just fuck themselves up harder.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Oh my god. Most of that.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

That's true. So it's just I kind of get, you know, it almost sounds hypocritical that I'm saying, you know, is it evolving in a good way? Yes, but in the same way, they're still the same.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Like idle hands or the devil's playground.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Exactly, exactly. They want to be, they want to be left to fuck to their devise, their demise, and and but they want more time to do it. So I can control how many days I give you off, but I can't control what the fuck you're doing on your day off. So you're still coming back miserable, out of shape, busted up, hung over. That's not changing, right? So they want you to change how you treat them, but they don't want to change how they're treating themselves or what they're doing in the reality.

How Leaders Teach The Why

SPEAKER_01 17:07

I I agree with that. Nope, that's it's a personal responsibility. So, okay, let's let's go to the advice for owners and older chefs that are still in it and are really still trying to hang on to some of these things. So if you're like leading younger cooks right now, like what's the why behind some of the things you're trying to teach them? Like you can't just say anymore, like because I said so. Like you can't just that that whole that whole energy right there.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

That mindset is done.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

That mindset is done. Okay, I'm a chef, I'm aggressive, I like to do what I'm doing, I like to get my point across, and I have a hard time sometimes holding my tongue, but nowhere's near what I used to be. Yeah. Right? But right now, you have to understand if you're gonna be a chef, a leader, a restaurateur, an owner, and you really want to be successful, and if you even want to come close to winning any awards or anything like that, you need a team. And if you're gonna lead the younger cooks right now, the first thing you have to understand is this you can tell somebody what to do a million fucking times, but if you're not telling them why, you're you're losing. Right now, kids are they're inquisitive, they want to know why. Okay, they want to know why, and they're not arguing, they just have a little more opinion. And they want to know why. Teach them why you're telling them to do something instead of just telling them to do it because you said so. The story behind it. Tell them the story, the method. What are they gonna learn? The more they learn from you, the more they're gonna trust you, the more they're gonna rely on you, the more they're gonna respect you. So get that out of your head. If you're gonna tell your staff all the time, do it, do it, do it because it's the fucking job, well, you're not gonna get anything out of them. You know?

unknown 18:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Be a little more, uh, teach them why a little more often, you know. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Um I think I like that. I mean, you can't teach passion from pressure.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Like they have to have a reason to be passionate about the food. And like you said, the passion is what yields the end result on the plate. If you want aggressive food and you're angry, the food comes out angry. If you want good food that's that's loving and caring, it has to be that way delivered. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

If you tell them, explain it to explain them to if if you if your sauce is breaking and you fix it for them and tell them not to do it again, tell them why. Don't just tell them how to fix it. Tell them why it broke.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Tell them why it broke. If you don't know, then don't yell at them for fucking not doing it. Just fix it the way you know how to fix it. If you don't know the science behind it, don't yell at them. If you know the science behind it, then fucking tell them why. Tell them why teach them why, because if they know why it broke, they have a better chance of it not breaking again. Okay. Not just how to fix it. The only reason you know how to fix it is because someone understood how it broke. You see what I'm saying? You only learned how to fix it. You didn't understand why. You see what I'm saying? So if you can understand why, then teach that. Okay. If you can understand why lemon juice in something may not be as effective in this application as lemon zest, explain the science of why. Don't just tell them, oh, it's fucking juice, dah dah dah. You know, tell them why.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

You're not gonna get what you're not gonna get the response you want by any of it.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

And if you have non-negotiable standards, explain why. Tell them why it became non-negotiable. Don't just say your idea sucks or just say nope, I don't want to hear it. Tell them why. I've tried that before. We've done that in the past. This is what happens, this is why it can't work here, this is why it's not negotiable because it already failed and we don't fail twice. We don't things like that. Explain it to them.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Take the moment, you know what I mean? Yeah, um, give people a better path, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Um creating opportunities for them or you know, give them a path, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Give them a goal path, set them goals, okay, right? Give them a path to go down. Right now we want to go from here. I want you in a month and a half to be my next person on this wine dinner, but right now you need to focus on this. So get to that path. Okay. Get to that goal, then move to this goal and give them goals. Instead of they want to start here, and one day they want to be the kitchen manager. Give them a goal to say, all right, you can be the shift, this, you can do that, you can be garbage, you can move. Give them paths.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Expectations. And I guess, and and setting expectations is huge. A lot of people just expect people to do it. If you don't clearly lay out, hey, this is the expectations of this, that's your fault as a leader, owner, whoever, whoever it is, that you didn't give them that. They can't, they can't know what you expect out of them if you're not communicating that.

Paths Goals And Clear Expectations

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Correct, right. You have to give them an idea. And every time you give them a path and a goal and they hit it, they feel accomplished. And if they feel accomplished, they feel valid. And then they feel like they're part of the team. So for all you people out there who just tell them people, yeah, I'll put you there next month, you you'll you will. They'll put someone, they'll go somewhere next month.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Okay, well, let's shift it to advice for young, young cooks coming in right now, as far as you know, evolution of the industry, what they should be expecting, like, or the things that are gonna stay the same. Like, I mean, regardless of what you think, I mean, you still have to be fast at your job. You can't just stand there like a freaking sloth. Like, I mean, that's just not gonna pass.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

The age-old stuff still exists today. It's never gonna go away. I don't care who the fuck you are, you're not gonna change these certain facts. Showing up on time or early matters. Showing up early matters. You are not gonna, I don't care who you are, or how old you are, or what little fucking craze comes along next, you're never going to beat that system. Show up early or on time to me is five minutes early. Just show up early. Yeah, that is gonna be the biggest thing that's gonna put you above everybody every time. Because when it comes to evals and who's gonna go, that's always going to be a factor, no matter what. Yeah, even if you're a fuck up and you show up early, you're still gonna be on top. I'm telling you. Because the best person there could show up 15 minutes every day, and when it comes to budget, Cuts they're gonna make sense out of this, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, um uh gotcha on this one.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

This is like a lot of uh shelling at everybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

So so you know, respect the kitchens. Uh let's respect the kitchen for what you entered. You're entering a kitchen, you're entering a job. When you go in there, and this happens a lot with the young generation, they want to tell you that they should give you ideas, or maybe you should do this, or maybe I could be on your special card. They don't have a fucking clue what they're talking about. Respect the kitchen you're coming into. Don't sit there and tear apart what it is that's going on here. If this place has been open for five years and we're one of the most successful restaurants around, maybe you should just respect the fact that you came here, learn something. Learn something, you know, before you have all these big ideas. Respect it. And the biggest thing that you gotta remember is consistency matters. You can consistently fuck up, it's gonna matter because you'll get fired, or you can consistently do great and be consistent with the product and you'll grow. So consistency matters. That's that's just right underneath showing up on time. You gotta consistently do the work, you gotta consistently don't get pissed off one day and next day you're half-ass in it. Just consistently show up on time and do the work. Yeah. And you're going to get places. Then you have a voice.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Exactly. And also the thing that I see a lot, and this is both behind the bar and back of house, doesn't really matter, is um levels of performance or speed. Because we always had you had gears, like you had your slow gear, have you know, when there was like five, ten people. You but I I don't see as many people that can that have multiple gears anymore. Like I don't see people who can sit there and just slang and actually get in the weeds and perform well because they stay at the same fucking 35 mile an hour speed like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Because this is this is a good point. Because what happens is they they've came into a kitchen that has been so altered now to that can satisfy everybody that everyone has such a little precision job to do now, because heaven forbid they cross-trained or did something that's not their job. Yeah, so now what happens is if you have this little prep list to do today, and you know you have two hours to do it, and it's only a 40-minute prep list, it's gonna take you now two hours to do it. You're just gonna do it slower. You're gonna because that's all you have to do. So be the person, the guy or the girl that goes in there, knocks it out, does this ones, this ones, and this ones. Then the owner or chef's gonna look at you and say, dude, I don't need this guy anymore. I'd rather give you a percentage of what I was paying that clown more. More. Get rid of that person, you can make more money, and you can advance. Yeah. Nobody wants to advance. They all want to be comfortable where there are, but they want the they want the respect of being able to be to advance for free. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

But also during service. Like, I mean, there's you have to shift gears. Like, and there are people that still refuse to shift gears. They sit there and they just walk around, and then you've got the rest of the team. Again, behind the bar or behind the kitchen, that are carrying the weight because they're the ones ringing$1,500,$2,000 more than you, and still have to split their fucking money with you. That was what I mean. That was my biggest front-of-the-house stuff, yeah. Like, that was my biggest oh my god, because I could outring everybody, and then I have to split my seven, eight hundred dollars I made now goes down to five, four, or five hundred because your ass sat in the corner all night organizing bottles and serving two people. And that that drives me crazy more than anything else. And I I wish there was some way to differentiate that behind the like I want to give someone else more money. Like you busted your ass tonight.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

I want to, as a consumer, give you more fucking money. Exactly. So that that's the biggest key is the big key takeaway to that is for the young chefs or cooks coming into the industry, uh, young restaurateurs, bartenders, whatever it may be, it's all kind of the same heat, right? You you just come in there, your speed matters, your consistency matters, and showing up on time matters. Yeah, those are the ground fundamentals that will never change. And as long as you can do that and understand that, there's happy mediums to be met. If you're not doing that, you're not in the you're not in the fight.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

You're not in a fight.

Advice For Young Cooks On Grit

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Well, I like it. Okay, let's jump to rapid fire questions because I want to do these, because you haven't done these. Um, you have rapid fire, so you have to answer them as quickly as possible. Oh, yeah, okay. Okay, are you ready? Yeah. Okay, so we're talking about evolution. So these are, I'm sure your answers have changed over time as well. So we're gonna see what they are now. Maybe we'll do this again in a year and see if the answers have changed. Yep. All right, you ready? All right, worst thing to send to a table: overcooked steak, cold food, or a broken sauce.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

They're all horrible. They're all nightmares. Overcooked steak, that could have happened along the way of resting. That there's there's some you can't see inside the steak unless you're using a thermometer, and even then you can't tell where it went along the way. That's a cold food, totally unacceptable. That's a matter of timing. That's your at that's your pass and your expo. And sometimes you can't control that because someone else fucked it up. A broken sauce, complete technique. If you're sending out a broken sauce and plating it and you allow it, you're a fucking retard. And I don't like it. Fuck it. If you don't like that word, I don't give a shit. You're you're fucked up, okay? Okay. So I'm bringing back all the old school words.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

All the old school words.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

If you send out a broken sauce, I think to me that shows a lot about your character. Whereas the other things could happen. Without a chance. Broken sauce is a complete choice. You're sending out a broken sauce, you're a jerk off. We're going with broken choice.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Okay, all right, got it. All right, one thing every young cook needs to hear.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

One thing. Do more. Do more. Okay. Do more. What you think you may be doing may not be enough. Just because you think you can do it, or I'm doing my best, your best may not be enough. So if someone tells you to do more, they're probably right. Just do more.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Okay. All right. One thing older chefs need to let go of.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

The past. The past. They need to let go of the past and how they did things all the time. They need to let go of back in the day how we did it. It's never gonna work. Okay. Because it's we're in the middle now. Okay, we went from the old school to the new school, you have to be in the middle. So if they don't let go of the past, they're done.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

All right. The hardest station in the kitchen to work.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Oh fuck. Consistently with the most pressure, with the proteins, a grill. I would say the grill.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Okay, that's a good one. What breaks faster, a sauce or a cook?

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Oh, a sauce.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Because a shitty cook can break a sauce.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Okay. What's worse? Brunch or Valentine's Day?

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Actually, I'm gonna reverse that. It is the cook because a shitty cook can break a sauce. I think a sauce has more integrity than some cooks. Okay, fair. Brunch all day long. Fuck brunch.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Hey, brunch, okay. One front-of-the-house habit that drives chefs insane.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Lurking. Oh, just hovering. Lurking for their ticket. Lurk, lurking for their plate.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Okay. Lurking, yep. Go away. It's a like.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Lurking for their table.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Okay. It's not gonna make it happen any faster.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

No, get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Got it. Okay. Screw one kitchen habit that drives servers insane.

Rapid Fire Kitchen Truths

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Flip the script. Uh, I could probably tell you from being on both sides of the house when you ask for something and they uh instantly just yell no. Can I get this? No, fuck no, and they don't give you an answer. Knowing they'll probably do it anyway, but they just tell you nope, just to be a dick because they don't want to hear it and they're pissy.

unknown 29:37

Okay, got it.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Is the industry getting better or softer?

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Um the industry itself is not getting softer. I think it's getting harder. I think the people in the industry are expecting a more soft, cushioned environment that doesn't exist. So it's making it harder for the industry. So is it getting better? Yeah. I think so. I think it's getting better.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

All right. Would you let your kids work in restaurants?

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Mine did. Mine still does. 100%. I think it's the best training you can ever have. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I would I grew up in a restaurant. Yeah, we we grew up in it. I wouldn't have had my jobs. Like I if I wouldn't have met people on the bar, I would have never gone into TV.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

So that I would, I would 100% the connections you make in the restaurant industry are second to none, and they can open doors that no one else can have.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

You're gonna learn something.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

You're gonna learn something from somebody. You're gonna learn something.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

You may learn about yourself for all you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Or just yeah, learn something.

Evolution Wins And Final Takeaway

SPEAKER_00 30:38

But the thing is, you know, you're dealing with, like you said, you're dealing with all kinds of different people on all different levels at all different times, and that's the biggest thing to do. When you're socializing in life, you have to deal with different social uh upbringings. And that's that's a good introduction to it. So the bottom line of this whole thing is is it uh as we opened it up, is it uh evolution or or what entitlement. So you know, let's close on that. So I I think that I think it is evolution more so than is entitlement. People are talking about everyone being entitled, but I think it's honestly that the older people are not understanding the evolution of the cycle of life, and and that's what it is. And I think evolution is responsible for the entitlement. So if entitlement is part of the evolution, then that's what it is, but it still revolves around evolution, and we need to evolve and we need to do better, and we need to understand the evolution and work with it, or else it's not gonna work, period. You know what I mean? So to have a good kitchen crew, a good staff, a good chef, a good cook, you need to evolve with what's going on around you, or else you're gonna fail because you're gonna go nightmare crazy.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Evolve or die.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Evolve or die.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

There we go.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

All right, evolve or evolve. All right, on that note. Cheers. Cheers, ciao for now.