130 - Fantasy VS Reality: The Truth of Being a Chef

Nov 10, 2023

Hey, I am so excited that you all are here. Today we're going to be talking about the truth about being a chef. We're going to discuss and go deep dive into the fantasy and the reality of what's going on. My name is Nick Brown, and I am the founder of cooking physics. And I am exceptionally excited about talking about this, because this is going to help you as a chef as a cook as a person who is thinking about coming into the industry, just realize the difference between what is the fantasy of what is going on, and the reality of what really goes on within the kitchen. Now, to put this first and foremost, I am not saying that working in this industry is bad, don't go into it. No, this industry is so much fun. But you have to go into it realizing just like every other industry, that what you see on TV, or what they talk about all this glamour and and romanticization. And you know the celebrity status of chefs, that is possible. But it's not the typical reality of what is going to happen. So we're going to go over a couple of the things that are going to just going to be like that and grind of working in a kitchen. And then I'm going to talk to you a little bit about steps that you can take to make sure that that grind does not grind you down into the ground, that you just go into it knowing that it's going to be difficult, go into it, knowing that it's going to be hard going into it knowing that you're not going to like some aspects of this industry. But you can overcome those you can make steps to basically get yourself up and excited and keep that passion of working in the culinary field. So getting into it, the first thing to talk about is it's not your TV personality. First of all, the great thing is, is that the Gordon Ramsay that that feeling of just yelling, Alec has stuff that is fake, that is no longer in the kitchen. There may be some chefs who still have a little bit of that tendency, but for the most part that has been completely obliterated. Yes, there is high expectations. Yes, there is high stress levels. And yes, there is yelling going on in the kitchen. But it's nowhere like it used like that is why do you think all of those chefs get so flustered when he's yelling at them like that? Because that's not the reality. He is doing that to try and get them to be completely out of their mind stressed out so that it creates good TV. Okay, so that's the good, that's the great part about it. Okay. So let's talk about what really happens within the kitchen. or so. First of all, the, what people enjoy about working in the kitchen is like, Oh, you're so creative, you get to do so many things. That is true. You do have your specials. But the thing is, is that menus, what you realize that once you get into the business, as menus need to kind of stay the same over time. And you can make minor adjustments. If you go in and you make 100% change, it becomes very difficult for people to understand what you are as a restaurant owner of what your restaurant is about. If you make a complete swipe and new menu all together, it makes very difficult for people to really go to your restaurant and say like, I really liked this dish, I want to go back to that dish. That's why they come to your restaurant. So it's a lot of repetitive movements. It's a lot of the same thing. Yes, they're the specials. Yes, you can make it a little bit of adjustments that go on and that's where your creative juices are. Get that outlet, but just realize that it's not quite as glamorous as as sometimes people think it out to be. The other thing is is a good thing about that is if you're constantly constantly constantly trying to create and cry and create it there's a lot of puts a lot of pressure on you. So realizing that it removes some pressure it is does get a little monotonous. The next thing is that that absolute, exquisite plating where chefs are taking those, you know, you see those, those shows where the chefs are taking that, you know, five minutes on one plate. You gotta be kidding me. You've got 30 seconds to put that plate together. Yes, it does need to be exquisite. Yes, it needs to be absolutely precise. But you've got 30 seconds, that's it, maybe a minute, because you need to be cranking those things, those things out. So be able to take your time as much as they do on that, sorry, it's not going to happen on a day to day basis. Now, the core may ingredients and all that kind of stuff. Guess what, most places, I would say 95% of the locations that you go to, they all get the majority of their food from the same vendors. The same stuff comes for the cheapo McDonald's. Not quite okay. But the mom and pop stores as those fine dining restaurants. Some of the main ingredients will be some of those finer ingredients that they expecially source. But the the run of the mill, the staples are all the same thing, your berries are going to come from the same location. So don't explain the difference is, is the the experience that happens in the fine dining versus the mom and pop. But the ingredients, they're pretty much the same. You can go to the grocery store and get the same ingredients, as far as the staples are concerned. Now, thinking about getting into those culinary schools, oh, if I get into that prestigious culinary school, I will immediately get into being this chef. That is a bunch of BS. Going to those prestigious schools will give you a leg up. I highly suggest that you take advantage of those schools, because they will help you progress. I have another episode that talks about the going to school versus on the job training. It's really depending on what you're wanting to do. Both of them work very well. The high paying jobs, I'm sorry that it takes a long time before you can get to that high paying job. If you think about it, if you start out, you're starting out at minimum wage, okay? There's a big upheaval going on right now. But when I say minimum wage, I'm thinking about the $15, where everybody's talking about let's put $15 minimum wage, that's where you're kind of where you start out as you go to school, you may start out at 17 $18 an hour, maybe, okay, maybe you'll skip the, you know, getting into there seeing these celebrity chefs who have these hundreds of 1000s of millions of dollars, guess what they worked hard to get there. They put in a lot of hours, they learned very diligently and focused very clearly on what they needed to do to get to that position. And it took a long time hours, it took a lot of effort. It's possible. But don't think that just because you go into there, you're going to open up this restaurant and everybody's going to come in and it's going to be the most amazing thing. And you'll be able to give food away to all your friends. If you do that. You'll be out of business within a month. Okay? Just having that restaurant, that prestige of having that restaurant as well, is great. But you've got to understand the business side of things. You got to work for it. You got to make sure that all your profit margins are in there. It's a lot of hard work. It's a lot of bookkeeping. Okay. That artistic expression that comes, oh, that is amazing, right? spending all that time artistic, and, you know, presentation. And then you've got this passion. And you've got this dish. And this is what this dish means. And then the guest sits there and they look at it and they like that is absolutely beautiful. And then they taste it like that is just bland. You've got to make sure that your artistic impression in personalization, expression comes out into the actual flavor of the food as well. Just because you're doing all of this stuff doesn't mean that it's going to taste good. So get that artistic expression in there. But make sure the flavor is there as well. Because people remember the flavor more than the picture. They're purchasing. They want to eat. They want to be able to eat it. Yes, there's some people who say, Oh, I can't eat it. It looks so good. I just want to take a picture. It looks like art. Yes, but they still paid for it and they want to eat so if they go in there and they start eating into that doesn't taste good. I'm sorry, they're not going to be back. I don't care how beautiful your dishes look. The fact that another part is is that you think you see these things where it's like, you're with your family, and you're with your friends and the restaurant, and this is big party, and everybody's coming to see you, because you're the chef. I guess what, that doesn't happen very often, maybe once a year, if you're able to be successful in your business enough to be able to allow your friends and family to come all in one big thing and serve them food and be this nice benefit thing, that's great. But the majority of the time, you're missing those events, you're not going to the family gatherings, you're not going out with the friends, because they're all going on the nights and the weekends, the times that you're going to be working. So you need to understand that you may feel like being able to become a chef, you're going to be able to travel the world and taste the food and use that as a business expense. Yeah, if your business is working really, really well. The majority of the time, what you're going to be stuck doing is you're going to have very little vacation time, because the needs of the business are still high up and priority. You can't just leave the business and expect it to run. Unless you have done the work. Again, I'm trying to explain this to you like it's hard work, you gotta work into it. It's it's demanding work, you're going to miss out on many, many opportunities with family and friends and vacation. But if you can make it work, if you find the things that help you grow and develop, if you've get the systems into place, if you learn the interpersonal skills and the leadership skills needed to run the restaurant, the way the restaurants were meant to be, yes, yes, you will begin to have that time. But before you get there, it's going to be a lot of hard work, it's gonna be a lot of grind, it's going to be a lot of grit that is needed to use. Okay, the fact that you're able to some people talk about being able to experiment with so many beautiful things. Well, the problem with that is those those exquisite items, and I think they cost money. And it's great if you want to experiment with them, but you need to make sure that you are able to put those into a dish and be able to put that into a special so that you can recuperate the costs of that research of that development. Okay. So when you get those things, you need to make sure that you are paying attention to the books, that you're not just going out and spending all this money on, on experimenting and research and development without actually making sure that something is put out so that you can sell to the guests and the guests will enjoy. Some people think that as soon as you graduate school, you're going to be the executive chef. Again, I touched on this a little bit earlier, it's not going to happen, you may be able to pass the dishwasher stage. If you've worked through culinary school, in the industry, you've worked in restaurants, as you're going to culinary school, you'll probably be able to pass the prep cook stage, maybe even the salad stage, maybe most likely, you're going to start right at the near the bottom, and you work your way up. If you can do it, it's going to be difficult, it's going to be tough, it's going to be rewarding, as long as you make sure that you maintain the the harmony that is between work and life and your passion. I mean, people see these stylish chef coats and everything like that. And they're like, those are so great. I'm gonna tell you, when I first started out, food everywhere, chocolate everywhere, flour everywhere, sauces, butter, fats, oils, just everything just all on the shirt because you are learning. It's a messy, messy work. As you learn as you progress, you will realize and figure out how to keep yourself clean, how to clean as you go, how to maintain control of everything that's going on, so that you don't spill done. Don't get everything on your shirt. But at the beginning, it's going to happen. No, it's going to happen but know that you can get past that. Okay? The fact that you think that, like everybody wants to sit there and take a picture and you as a chef want to take a picture. I can't tell you how many times I've created a special And I've done all these kinds of things, I've created this special, and I've put it out for the servers to try. And then we start pumping it out. And we're pumping it out and it's selling like crazy. And then it gets to the end of the night, and I realized I never took a picture. I never saved what that was plate was the opportunity for breaks. And for you know, meals is very small, what you'll find is the two best places for chefs, if the chef is tired, you find them in two places, one there in the walk in there in the walk and cooling down. Okay, the other one is in some corner sitting on a milk crate, or over a garbage can scarfing down food, because you only got three to five minutes to eat that food, and then get back to work. Understanding these kinds of things, understanding that this life is difficult. But it can also be very, very rewarding. Okay. So I promised that I would tell you about steps that you can take to make sure that these things don't overcome you. They don't have to prevent you from having success, successful career, a Do Not steps that you can take to avoid the burnout that can come from working in this industry. I have created a book of six, six rules, chess style rules that I have learned over my years. And these rules will explain to you what steps you can take to make sure that you are as successful as you possibly can be. Also, I'm offering a group coaching, where you can get together with other chefs and we will go over every single week, one of these rules, we will talk about them, we will go deep into each one of them. And then we'll be able to do some coaching you and me individually a little bit. But mostly it's going to be in the group session, you'll be able to get with other chefs that are also like minded, who are also striving to become the very best that they can be. And with that group coaching, that is going to help you accelerate your career, you will be able to be among other people who have that ambition, who have that drive. Those chefs who have learned how to put these into place, and to really grow and develop. So if you want to know how either pull up my book, I'll put it in the comments below later after this thing. Or go get yourself signed up for this group coaching is a monthly subscription, where every single week I'll go in some of the benefits of this is you will have that community of chefs, you will have miniature miniature workshops within other shit that you will be able to talk with other chefs, we will go over every single one of these rules. I will record these videos, I will record the coaching that I do. So that you can go back to it later. I know that our lives are very difficult. They're crazy, not very often are you ever going to be able to make it to the actual live showing, I understand that. But I'm going to put those lessons out there so that you can see them so that you can grow. So you can develop, I will dive deep in each one of these things, you can go back and watch all of them as much as you want. So those are some of the things that I am offering to you to make sure that you stay successful that you are you have a happy career, successful career, that it is a long career in this industry, that you will be able to overcome the exhaustion that happens to so many chefs. I will see you there. Thank you so very much for coming to this video. And or coming to this training, sorry. And listening to me. This is a really great, this is a passion of mine to help other chefs become the best they can be. So go on, get into that coaching, get my book, and I will see you next week. Next week. It's coming up on Thanksgiving. In two more in three more weeks. We got Thanksgiving. So next week, I'm going to talk about what it means and what it's like to have Thanksgiving at work. So if you're looking into this industry, understand that you're probably going to be working Thanksgiving especially if you work in hotels like I do. Because everybody likes to go out Thanksgiving. They don't want to do it in their own home that don't want to have to deal with cleaning up the dishes that we get to do that they're willing to pay us to do that. So what is Thanksgiving look like at work? I will see you next week and and have a great and wonderful week