[eds77k5]

havent been around much lately, glad to see you are all here and doing well, i am still doing the 60 plus hours a week and fighting the corporate thing, keep a light on for me and keep up the good work at CT

 

[chrose]

Eds consider the light on and burning brightly, just don't burn yourself out!
See ya when you get back.

 

[leo r.]

So that`s what you`re up to!!
You are certainly not forgotten,my culinary friend. Just remember,there`s a thin line between being dedicated and being indoctrinated!!!!
Be careful,your health should be more important than your bosses profits,Leo.

 

[jim berman]

I've been wondering.... Good to see you are well. When you get time, fill us in... share some insight.
-Jim

 

[eds77k5]

insight? well, it is always a money issue here, watch your labor cost, watch your food cost, watch your budget ad infinitum, or ad nauseam, depending on which end you are on. the hours, you really do get used to them. what i try to instill in all my crew is that it is all about the food, we do the best with what we have to work with. i have been sitting on a new dinner menu for about 4 months now, waiting for approval so it can be put into the computer and menus made up, again, no money for that. duck? yuck, you cant put that on the menu, lol, these people drive me crazy.

 

[eds77k5]

Jim, after reading my reply, i thought that maybe a lot had been left unsaid. i read the post on hotel cooks, some good points were made. working for a, lets say, full service, medium sized hotel that is publicly owned. the stockholders must be appeased. the top management wants good numbers, from the kitchen standpoint i must look at who we are serving, our clientel, will they buy upscale? do they just want a cheap meal with good service? who are the people that come here? another thing with a big corporation is that everything is contracted, i have have to buy 80% of my product from a contracted vendor. thats where the fun begins, 20% of the time they are out of what i need, 10% of the time they bring the wrong product, 20% of the time i have to send back the garbage they bring, and another50% of the time they dont even have what i want. i use a local meat company, i use a local produce vendor, i use sysco sometimes and most of the time i dont meet their 80%, but my numbers are good so i havent been slapped down yet. In January the company lost money(every year January is a bad month) so they put a hiring freeze on, i lost a cook and a prep cook, the skeleton crew is down to bare bones, lol. there are bright moments, we have some fun and most of the time the guests are happy. i recieved a nice letter, some flowers and a bottle of pinot noir from one group that had their conference here, that was nice. i hope all this makes sense and that i didnt ramble on, i have to go to work now.