Kitchen Music

[ChefHogan]

Thanks Mike. A good nick is hard to find. I can be mean but I like to call it organized focus. It tends to lead to better ends...

Originally posted by mike
Oh Hogan your so mean, hensforth ye shall be named "Hulk".

[soussweets]

yes,,,, delightfully wierd. thanks again for that one mike. chefhogan, i understand your opinion about a hard days work for an honest dollar earned, but in my experience music is an outlet for ones creativity and hunger for mental stimulation. sure, durring a busy and confusing function or rush there is no place for blaring music you can't hear over,,, but i don't believe there has been many days in any of my kitchens where music wasn't at least quietly playing in the background. im not about to pull fourteen hour shifts mindlessly repeating rote culinary activites without some form of outside stimuli. durring the morning it is always the local urban radio talk show and oldies(all of my day crew are three times my age) but when noon comes its time for some good ol motivating rock,rap,country,classical,jazz,blues or whatever else your crew needs to keep going. it is one thing to demand hard work,,, it is another to deprive people of basic motivational activities. you can't have a happy well oiled crew day in and day out without letting them enjoy themselves once in a while. my personal look on music in the kitchen comes down to this---- music is food for the soul, and without a soulfully cooked meal you end up with a rather bland plate.

[mike]

Hey Hogan, what did you expect from an Englishman, we are all a little odd.

Can I come & do some shifts at your gaff, but only if I can bring my deathmetal cds !!!!!!

heehee

pip pip

[mike]

Soussweets, how wonderfully poetic, I guess your French half is possibly related to Baudelaire & your Scots to Robert Burns.

Personally im digging flight of the Valkyries in my kitchen, this has to be played very loud whilst wearing a tea cloth on ones head & doing a frantic knife ballet. But be careful to salt the floors first, my last commis had a terrible accident, we now call him Jane.

[star]

call me anything you whant ...but when it come down to the bottem line the custemer come first

so I'm the kitchen police
hay i kind of like that

so you telling me if you staff keep messing up the ticket ...
because the music is too loud that you going to just pat them on the head and tell them...

OOOOOOOOO it oka we DONT need there business
or there money so we can pay the bill's and PAY you to!

and yes i do rember what it like to be young ...
i love my music and i love it loud

[Peachcreek]

I can see Hogan and Star on my line at lunchtime, with a dozen or two tickets, people piling in the door, Tom Waits blaring "Earth Died Screaming"....And loud music isn't used as an excuse for any screw-ups. The restaurant is so loud you just about have to yell anyway....
My staff thinks its entertainment, I think of it like gun-training horses....

[ChefHogan]

Been there, done that. The beauty of being a Chef is that you can run the kitchen as you see fit. I choose NO music, after work they can do what they like. When the staff steps into MY kitchen they do it MY way or its the highway. I am usually too busy in a kitchen to listen to the music if played anyways. If you got time to listen to music, you obviously do not have much to do? A couple dozen tickets is not that bad. I am used to 500 seat restaurants with more that 100 tickets up for a period of 6 hours straight.

Originally posted by Peachcreek
I can see Hogan and Star on my line at lunchtime, with a dozen or two tickets, people piling in the door, Tom Waits blaring "Earth Died Screaming"....And loud music isn't used as an excuse for any screw-ups. The restaurant is so loud you just about have to yell anyway....
My staff thinks its entertainment, I think of it like gun-training horses....

[soussweets]

" If you got time to listen to music, you obviously do not have much to do? " to quote hulk hogan. this may very well depend on your perverbial ability to walk and chew gum at the same time-- between my restaurant and 35.000 square feet of banquet space we average 4-6 million a year just in f and b. all with the help of my trusty cd player and a very small staff.

[chefboy2160]

Hulk , your to busy to listen to music ? Come on dude we are chefs who's job is to be able to multi task . It does not matter the size of the joint you happen to be operating . Ive worked the big multi outlet hotel casinos as well as the mom and pop restaurants . Busy is busy and a lunch rush anywhere should keep you hopping . I have found in my career that kitchens with music flow much better than kitchens without . The ones without music are normaly run by people who live for that control thing and realy do not trust there employees very much . There can be no music played because I cannot trust you to do your job ? treat employees like children and they will act like children , treat them like adults and youd be suprised how many can realy act as adults and do there jobs well . Is this the way to build a good foodservice team ? I think not ! As far as my kitchens have always went and always will be is to work and listen to music at the same time . This gives the staff a better attitude which improves an employees perception of there job which in turn leads to better retention , less call - ins , and improved job performance . Oh and by the way , I do a better job when I listen to music also . To my power happy friends all I can say is
" LISTEN TO MUSIC , REPENT , AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED "
Later people , Doug.......................................:

[ChefHogan]

To each there own. Every kitchen I worked in Europe doing my apprenticeship there was NEVER music, then when I came to Canada and worked at The Granite Club there was never any music, just busy bodies working hard. However I do believe in having a few beers while working the line, its all in how I was trained. So in short if music makes you work better than more power to you. Myself I have NO time in the kitchen to listen to music.

[cape chef]

Soltner and Girardet played classical during prep, so did Point.

The idea of 'My way or the high way" dosen't really get anything accomplised in multi-ethnical kitchens.Nor does a dime a dozen apply because of the lack of qualified help.

One of my Sous Chefs brings in music everyday to play on our CD,(only during prep)I find it elevates the motivation in the kitchen.After all...cooking is like dancing,rhythm is a key to getting in the groove on the line or during your mis en place.I hate the robot/metronome concept of a kitchen.

Let the arts flow,it's what we do.(everything in moderation of course)

[ChefHogan]

Like I said, to each their own, as long as the work is done and the customer gets the best possible food for their dollar, thats whats important...

[soussweets]

hey there hulk,,,,, we might not share the same insight on kitchen music,,,,,, but ill sure share those beers with you later

[ChefHogan]

Requsition a 12 is my favorite expression to the bar!

Got to have a TUBORG or two! ;-)

[Gilbo]

In one way, I agree with the hulk. My kitchen, my rules!
In my kitchen, there is always music. Different things for different times.
When I make gumbo...Buckwheat Zydeco, Beausoleil, etc.
if I'm doing fajitas... Mariachi or Norteno
Italian means Verde or Vivaldi
Wolfgang Amadeus is good for a number of things.
When the house is in the weeds, there is just one solution...
TED NUGENT being played at "shut up and keep moving!" volume.
After the rush, some nice mellow jazz from the piblic radio station.
I once worked for a Holiday Inn. No music except for Muzak piped in to every space, bathroom included. I finally took a hammer to the speakers in my office! I hate oatmeal music! No edge! No soul! But, to each, their own.