Discover the Surprising Efforts Chefs Make to Guarantee Your Perfect Dining Experience! PS: It’s more than you think!
I’ve been working in the gastronomy industry for 10 years now and ran 5 restaurant kitchens as head chef. In celebration of International CHEF’S DAY, I want to shine some light on what a chef does for you, the customer, to ensure a good eating experience, from top to bottom. Spoiler alert: it’s probably more than you think.
We create DISHES & MENUS, carefully taking into consideration everything from
where to SHOP for the best ingredients,
select seasonal and fair-priced ingredients to create affordable dishes
how to COMBINE ingredients into a tasty and nutritious MEAL
…so we don’t have to
We do PREP WORK and COOK every morning, afternoon and evening, meaning they
come up with and implement fast and efficient ways to multitask so everything ARRIVES FRESH and HOT at the TABLE
work 6+ hours WITHOUT a minute’s BREAK (literally, not exagerating) to accomodate all orders at rush hours
work sometimes in kitchens with no WINDOWS, no natural light, and in very hot environments, with temperatures up to 40 DEGREES in the summer, for min. 8h per day
work in very LOUD environments where in order to communicate, you need to SHOUT and sometimes, after years of exposure, there might be hearing loss
work 8+ hours STANDING, LIFT very heavy pans (+5kg) and walk around basically running
work in a HIGH RISK environment where INJURIES are very prevalent: cuts, burns, bruises, sprained or broken bones (I had torn an ankle a few years ago in the kitchen and last year I DISLOCATED my knee while serving lunch)
carry, store, wash, peel and cut KILOGRAMS or DOZENS of pieces of produce everyday
…so you don’t have to
We CLEAN UP everything after cooking and serving the food
… so you don’t have to
Through all the stress and mayhem during rush hours in the kitchen, through all the sweat, stress and pressure of everyday service, when a customer says “THANK YOU , THE FOOD WAS DELICIOS” I feel an immense sense of joy and gratitude, I feel seen and I feel like my work is VALUABLE and MADE A DIFFERENCE .
So if you want to do a good deed or make someone’s day, if you enjoyed the food let them now, and say “thank you chef”.