Slow down. Take time to smell the onions.
Sage advice for any career
FOMO (fear of missing out) has never led me down the path to success.
Sure, I admit that in the early days of my professional life, I was driven to climb the career ladder and eager to get to the next rung as fast as possible. God forbid that next amazing position would open up and it wouldn’t come my way. Hindsight has taught me that slow and steady really does win the race. While I began this learning in my previous life as part of the tech world, I’ve come to realize that a kitchen is one of the best places to see the benefits of the “long term commitment”.
Values like loyalty and tenacity are falling by the wayside in many professions, but desperately so in restaurant kitchens. Despite what reality TV shows like “Master Chef” or “Top Chef” lead us to believe, there is no express lane to success.
As the founder of a professional cooking school in San Francisco (an “overnight success” that was 15 years in the making), I’m frequently talking to aspiring cooks who think that if they score that clutch kitchen stage or spend a few months as a prep cook they’ll quickly be promoted to sous chef and beyond. But at a recent StarChefs panel on How to Make it in the Restaurant Business, the advice from some of San Francisco’s best chefs was considerably less sexy: hard work, repetition, and paying your dues. Words of wisdom no matter what your professional path might be.
Donald Fisher was 41 when he started the Gap. Julia Child made her tv debut at 51. Stan Lee didn’t create his first comic title until he was 38. To say they were paying their dues in the meantime would be putting it mildly.
Even in a city like San Francisco where the shortage of cooks is well documented, what I hear hiring managers say time and again is that the number one trait they’re looking for in an employee is commitment.
Repetition, rather than rushing to jump from one hot new restaurant to the next, is one of the secrets to getting ahead. “You can’t really understand the way a restaurant works until you’ve worked there for at least one year” was the piece of advice given to Chef Ian Palazzola of Mourad when he was coming up, and one he passes on today. Doing the same task again and again, in the same kitchen, builds a muscle memory, not to mention serious efficiencies that are critical in the success of any cook.
Yoni Levy, Chef at Outerlands concurs. His piece of advice to anyone wanting to get into the business? “Slow it down. See as much as you can see. Don’t rush to get to the top. I was a line cook for seven years before I got my first management position.” Working in a variety of dining operations (from bars to fine-dining) before running his own turned out to be enormously helpful. “It helped me decide what kind of chef I wanted to be.”
Whether it’s picking cases of herbs at a fine-dining restaurant or wrapping 300 lamb gyros at a sandwich shop, those who really want to rise up in this business should be prepared to check their egos at the door, and observe, listen, ask good questions, and follow instructions. Consider no task too big or t0o small.
One of my favorite quotes is one I hear repeated often by Chef Nicole Plue, who runs the pastry program at San Francisco Cooking School:
“You have two ears and one mouth; respect the ratio.”
Learning how to listen is one of the fastest ways to soak up all the knowledge a restaurant can offer.
For those who stick around, take it upon themselves to learn the business from the bottom up, build a habit of being curious, and demonstrate a willingness to work hard at anything thrown their way, the rewards can truly be great. Is there really any career where this doesn’t apply? I find myself hard pressed to find one.
My advice? Slow down, and take time to smell the onions.
Have you experienced the slow road to success? If so, I would love to hear your story in the comments field below. Read more kitchen wisdom by subscribing to the @sfcooking publication here.
