This was going to be the topic of my next blog post. I own a restaurant that seats 75. Our kitchen is small, our staff is small, our budget is small. Occasionally I have culinary school graduates apply with me and the first thing I tell them is to be prepared to feel inadequate. In small kitchens, independently owned and minimally staffed, the work load is huge. All kitchens are different, chefs have different expectations, equipment is different, focuses are different. Bright eyed, motivated, inexperienced would be chefs are usually stunned at the pace of a full service kitchen and I'm told disheartened at the feeling of helplessness when in the midst of a good lunch rush.
My cooks come in between eight and ten In the morning to prepare for our eleven o'clock lunch service. We prep pastas, sauces, tenderize meats, refresh ingredients, make hot rolls, start soups, quiches etc. by the time everything is ready, it's time to send out the first order. Sometimes this is all done in conjunction with preparing for a party or catering. Because there is no way to predict what quantity of what items the masses will gravitate towards, it's common to run out of an ingredient or two. That's when our newest cooks face lightens up! It's there turn to shine, they pull out their own knife, get everything set up, have a little damp paper towel under their cutting board, grab a pot to throw the vegetable trimmings in and begin to neatly and uniformly cut lovely little julienned carrots. Then crash! One of the other cooks has already managed to do all of that and produce five separate piles of vegetables, washed the cutting board and is back on the line.
As soon as lunch service is over, clean up happens, then prep starts for dinner, dinner happens, then clean up. We are out around ten pm. There is very little down time, it's very physical. Our kitchen has one dishwasher, two cooks, a baker and me. I'm always optimistic if our potential hire has fun, didn't take criticism personally and wants to come back. As the chef, I work from about seven am to ten pm when we are open to the public and have a more flexible work schedule on my "days off". I want my cooks to work hard, work fast, do it my way, every time, be reliable and not complain about their eight hour shift. I want them to love it. Hope that helps, again, every kitchen is different.