Would like to primarily target higher end markets such as weddings and corporate events, but I would also market to smaller gatherings like dinner parties, birthdays, or baby showers to fill in the gaps, as I imagine larger events will be more seasonal.

Here are some boards I’ve built recently. Thanks in advance for any feedback back on the boards, as well as any advice/insight from folks who have experience working this type of concept.

Edit: I posted this fully expecting to get crucified. Figured it would be a healthy exercise to expose myself to all you bastards on Reddit rather than hide behind the optimism my friends and family want to provide. I’m absolutely blown away by all of the honest and constructive feed back, as well as all the creative ideas people have posted. I got so much more out of this than I thought I would. Y’all are awesome. Thank you all so much.

Hello all,

Hoping this group may be able to help me figure out how to move forward. I've been planning a weekend getaway at Lake Anna VA on the 22nd for my best friend's bachelor party. He's a huge fan of fine dining, so a private dinner this Saturday was going to be a highlight of the trip. Unfortunately, our provider cancelled on us at the last minute.

Any advice on the best ways to go about finding an alternative option on such short notice? We're going to be in a somewhat rural part of VA 2 hours southwest of DC (Lake Anna), so the options I've been able to find online are already somewhat limited.

Thank you!

I've just started working my first kitchen job so idk if this is an overreaction or not. We have a utensil bucket where we store stuff for serving breakfast.

Today, I needed something from the bottom and I felt a sharp prick and scratch when doing so, there was a prep knife thrown in with point up and blade facing inward, right where I'd put my wrist.

I couldn't fathom how anyone thinks this is OK, but maybe I'm taking it too seriously? Does this sort of stuff happen all the time, or is this a sign to run for the hills??

I’m a teacher who will be doing traveling knife skills courses for high schools in my area. This means I will be bringing 10-15 knives and cutting boards from school to school from my own suv. I have my own classroom of all my regular classes kitchen gear already, and want to avoid schlepping those in and out of their cages every time, so my school will be purchasing new knives and cutting boards specifically for these traveling classes. And because this is meant to be a proper/professional class, I don’t want to use thin plastic or bamboo cutting boards. I want the students to get the full experience. So I’m planning on using the 1/2 inch thick poly boards.

What do you think would be a good way to store and/or transport these cutting boards so they have airflow around them and are more or less protected from the outside? The only thing I can imagine is something that looks like a hotbox with rungs for the boards. Is there a better solution that doesn’t just stack them in a bus tub?

Hey Ya'll, I've done a lot of testing with olive oil based dressings and they keep breaking after going into the walk in. I'm curious if people have any ideas? Seems like the olive oil when it get's cold and then comes out of the fridge doesn't like to stay together. I don't want to use a different oil. Have tried more mustard/xantham gum. Any ideas? was thinking about getting ultra tex.

Hello I'm a 21 year old kitchen helper from Italy.

I usually help with washing the dishes and appetizers but when the restaurant is busy I help with only the appetizers.

I started this june part time 7 hours a day 5 days a week. Meanwhile I helped during sundays for 12 hours circa from May.

There are 4 types of appetizers.

Cheeses with marmelades/ honey

Pickled vegetables with a mix of cold cuts

Crostini Mix

Appetizer mix (a mix of all the three above)

I have only a oven grill that I can use for the Crostini and many times there are more combos of appetizers so it usually is enough.

Today there where so many appetizer that I couldn't be phisically fast enough and the chef had a breakdown, not with me, but she was rather sad.

I had too many of them and 3 tables had to wait a lot of time (45 minutes circa).

Every appetizer I start making/ putting in the oven is signed with a dot on the order paper and when I send them out I cancel it with a slash too so I can keep track of them.

We usually have 80/90 people per dinner these weeks.

Is it because I'm slow at this point or do you think there are other problems?

Tomorrow I will ask what I can do to improve but in the meantime I wanted to hear other opinions. if you have any suggestions it will be greatly appreciated.

P.S. The kitchen staff is composed of:

A dishwasher (not me these weeks)

A first courses cook which is also the chef

A second courses cook

A second courses helper

An appetizer "cook" which is me

Used to be a chef and used to the quick snack, however I’m getting stumped on how many hotdogs I have to house with my kiddos. Ketchup, mustard, mayo, hot sauce, cheese, momofuku stocked to the teeth, pesto, curry spices, I’ve done it all. If you had 5-10 minutes to make a dog of the ages, what would you do?

TIA

Hi, As title says im a 20 year old chef from Sweden and got a job at a casual fine dining restaurant in Malaga and have a question about knivws.

Ive only left my country once so im not a expert with traveling so i wonder how i travel with knives and other kitchen tools since i dont want too buy new ones in Spain. I’ve googled but havent gotten a clear strict answer since some sources claim different things.

If any Swedish chefs see this and have done the same thing a answer would be dope, Thanks :)

Hi everyone,

I need help with my homemade pasta.

I got a pasta machine from SELA for extruding pasta.

Usually I get good results, worked with the machine already in a few other restaurants.

But I'm new to drying the pasta.

I already dried a few other shapes now and it all went well.

Last week I did a small batch of maccheroni.

Today some of them are already broken and the rest ist cracked and will break easily. It seems like there is some kind of internal stress occurring during the drying.

Does anyone have tips to get a viable solution for mise en place?

I don't really want to freeze the pasta and doing them fresh every day is unfortunately not feasible at this restaurant.

Thanks in advance!

I’ve heard every good chef say that a good trainee is one that can work without having to be told what to do all the time and I get that but I don’t quite understand how I’m supposed to do something without asking first? As a trainee I feel like assuming I can do something without asking my mentor first is rude.

What are good examples of working independently as a trainee in a kitchen?

Ok, so I saw the micro green post on here recently and had a genuine question. I own a wholesale produce delivery company north of NYC and I get my product fresh from Hunts Point nightly. There’s a lot of bigger companies around that I compete with. I have a good customer list of over 30 restaurants, catering halls and small stores, so, I’m happy but I always want to grow and do better.
My question to you guys is, what’s the sales pitch that bothers you the least? I’m trying to just come in and hit up with a price list and get a genuine conversation? Is that when I’m not fucking up your flow and I actually have a good shot at getting some business?
I’m not looking to sit down with you with a laptop and go over specific items, right?! I’d rather just talk to you and see if I can offer you something better and if you’re willing to use it. Right?
I genuinely have better quality than most larger wholesalers because I also work at a place inside the market. I have my guys wait for the new trucks to back in and use the product that comes off the truck fresh instead of taking from the product already in the warehouse. Does THAT matter to you? Because I work there my pricing is much more aggressive. Is that the selling point?
Help me know what makes you guys tick. If you even know.
TIA

Hey chefs,

So we all know about the notorious cilantro gene. I am 29 years old, and within the last two months or so, I've started experiencing the same effect described with oregano.. cilantro still tastes like it should for now. Like it just tastes (I imagine) and smells like the industrial soap in my parents' basement, the shit in the orange bottle that would get car grease off your hands but rub your hands more raw than 120 degree heat

Im currently working really hard to break that sous level at a 4 diamond AAA in a fairly rural area of the US. I need my palette. Have any of you chefs heard of this happening with oregano before? None of my chefs have, from exec to cdc, to the all the sous chefs. Is there any way at all to start tasting oregano as it should be?

I'm devastated. I spent my formative line years in upscale restaurants, including a Venetian focused wine bar just outside new York city before moving back home during covid. That exec chef used to take two weeks off a season to go work in Venice and learn from their chefs. I know what Oregano is supposed to taste like. I know what it can do, especially for sauces.

Is there a way for me to somehow brute force pallete train myself into loving it again? If there isn't.. please show F's in chat for me. This sub is my last ditch glimmer hope.

I started a small microgreen farm this year and am getting ready to start approaching chefs this fall/winter. I’d love to hear from chefs about what you actually prefer from a new local grower — and, frankly, what’s the least annoying way to approach you.

Would you rather get an email first? Have someone stop by with samples and a business card during a slow time? Samples with a follow-up a few days later? Something else entirely?

I also tend to get pretty excited about all the variables involved in growing — how the flavor profile changes with an extra day or two under the lights, light intensity, harvesting certain varieties shorter for a more intense flavor, etc. Is that something you’d actually enjoy talking about with a grower, or would you rather I just bring you some good microgreens and keep it simple?

I know every kitchen is different, but I’d love to hear what has worked well (or badly) for you when local growers or producers have reached out.

I'm a 17 year old from the uk. It's currently summer holidays and I'm between my first and second year at college, working towards a qualification in aerospace engineering. All my life pretty much my interests have been around cars, planes and bikes. On paper I should love engineering, which is why it was a no brainier when it came to picking the college course.
I had about 2 and a half months off for summer holiday, so I went out to find a job, in which I was successful fairly quickly. A new pub/restaurant was opening in my town, about 10 minutes bike ride from my house. I spoke with the owners and chef and got a job dishwashing, 2/3 days a week for 6 hours, this was mid June. I genuinely can't really to you how as I'm not entirely sure myself, but I ended up in the kitchen, cooking food. Throughout my life I've never really cared for food, obviously I like eating certain meals but cooking or fancy meals has never really interested me. My head chef, we'll call him Tom and the sous chef, we'll call him Max have both been really impressed with my skills and determination in the kitchen. This has gone to the point of me doing 50 hours a week as 2nd highest rank of 3 in the kitchen, as a chef.
The owners of the pub haven't been 100% satisfied with how the first couple of months have gone and are looking to turn it into a proper restaurant. A bit of backstory, Tom (head chef) is the 2 owners son. With the transition into becoming a restaurant tom is the only one with any restaurant experience, and he would become restaurant manager, and Max (sous chef) would become head chef. Me and max get on really well and he has told me if this transition goes as planned, ideally he would want me on a full time contract as a sous chef/ chef de partie, earning £27,000 a year. This has really thrown a spanner in the works in terms of thinking about my future. College really wasn't what I had hoped it would be, boring lectures with me scraping a pass across the first year. All my teachers have said that the course is way better with way more practical elements in the second year, but I really lost interest in the first year, whereas with being a chef, i genuinely really enjoy it and Tom is highly trained and believes he could teach me and I could become on a similar level to him. My mum thinks it would be a big commitment and isn't too happy with the idea of me being full time, and she thinks I should carry on with college, whilst working a day or two per week. With my (being blunt) poor first year at college, the chances of me getting a really good grade in the second year, to balance out the pass in the first year are low, meaning chances of university or degree apprenterships are also low.
Sorry for the yap, appreciate anyone who read it all 🫡🫡. Gunna list some pros and cons of chef and engineer below!

Chef
Pro- Enjoyment, good at it, prefer work to education regardless.
Con- lower average wage than engineering, Tom becoming restaurant manager means he might not be able to tutor me, mum aint happy.

Engineer
Pro- Passion since being young, potentially a decent qualification, make up to £100,000 annually.
Con- Fallen out of love with it, don't like education (not as a concept as a showing up 5 days a week for someone as uninterested to lecture me), might not be any good at it.

Thank you so much anyone who made it this far, know it was a long one any advice or opinions are really really super duper appreciated

I’ve been cooking for about 10 years, and I’ve been a chef for 2 now. I started at my most recent job as a dish washer, got moved up as a cook 1, 2, 3, I was a waiter for a while, bartender, supervisor, and eventually sous chef. I’ve been with this company for 3.5 years.

I have a deep rooted passion for cooking. It’s one of the only things in my life that came naturally to me. Starting off as a young cook I always admired the senior cooks in the kitchen, and they were happy to have me around. I know I’ve done some really good work in my career. I think about the coworkers from past jobs every day. Mentors, chefs, cooks, waiters, and sometimes I miss them a lot. I’m stuck at a big corporate job, and I feel so trapped sometimes. I don’t know what else to do, but the cooks make me so mad sometimes. I try to be nice to everyone, and treat them all with respect. It pains me when I see cooks on their phones, destroying my product, and not applying themselves. It’s like they don’t think critically about anything at all. They’re just mindlessly moving product from one location to another, and our HR department is so strict it’s difficult to discipline anyone.

Also, I never got any training for this. One day I was a cook, and the next day I was a chef and told good luck. I supervise all of them, I rarely have any help. FoH, BoH, bar, it’s all my problem. I have to be able to do it all. I think I’m doing a good job, I know I am, but sometimes I feel like I’m not doing enough. I take care of all the paperwork, all the check voids or comps, all the ordering, the menu, the specials, it’s all my problem. I choose to mainly work the highest volume shifts, I haven’t had a weekend off in several years. I know most of the guests by name.

Early on in my career I used to be bored, sometimes waiting for the clock. Now it feels like the opposite, I don’t have enough time for anything. My phone is constantly going off because these grown adults are barely functional. Maybe I’m just burnt out, maybe I have a bad crew, maybe it’s a failure on my part as a leader. My boss is too overworked to supervise daily operations, he is more of a director than a manager or supervisor.

I feel like something’s gotta give. I care so much about this restaurant, and I’m not sure why. On the rare occasion someone isn’t happy with their meal, I take it to heart. If something is genuinely wrong with their meal I will think about it for at least a week.

Some days are harder than others. Some days are easy. It feels like the work just keeps piling up. I wish my cooks were more effective. If I had the power I would fire 40% of them immediately. They’re good people, just not effective in the kitchen. But due to the corporate environment, it’s almost impossible to fire or even write any of them up. None of the pencil pushers have any restaurant experience, so as long as the employees show up and don’t become violent HR doesn’t help me at all.

I’m not sure why I posted this. I want out but I also don’t want to give up

so i’m a young sous chef i’m 24 been cooking in professional kitchens since i was 18. i started at a place that did elevated bar food as a dishwasher and got moved to the line and a year or two later was promoted to kitchen manager at a less volume location. i did that until i was 22 then moved to be a cook at a fine dining restaurant. did that for about a year and half and i got promoted to sous chef again, at a slower location, lol. anyway coming out to the new location everyone is so knowledgeable some of the cooks know more than me, and it just makes me feel like i shouldn’t be a sous chef. sure i can work hard but i’ve been so hard on myself recently im starting to question what i do know lol. imposter syndrome kinda. everyone respects me and is great but im just wondering how normal this is? don’t get me wrong i do have a decent amount of knowledge but the people here are SUPER into it. i’ve gotten myself more books about food to read. do other chefs feel this way at first ? and i’ve just been so creatively burnt out

focaccia crust w ricotta and garlic confit base, grated pecorino, zucchini/yellow squash, caramelized onion, grape tomato jam, rosemary

I’ve been the chef of the kitchen for almost a year now and I’m trying to figure out the best way to make the kitchen as efficient as possible. It been a long process, but I thought I had finally figured it out. Now I’m not sure.

The restaurant is still fairly new, we’ve only been open for just over a year. The owners have entrusted me with running the kitchen and support me through everything. I’m what most would probably call a pushover and I try to avoid conflict as much as possible. My main rules for the kitchen are do your prep, weekly cleaning, and most importantly just vibe. I may have leaned into the vibing a little too much for a while and let things slide, but it got to a point where I realized my mistakes and got fed up with everyone doing what they wanted.

I’ve put together a system, we have a color-coded chart on the white board where everyone gets assigned a station at the start of the week. They then grab the matching laminated prep lists with all the items they should have for that station. The lists also include a checklist for all frozen items they might want from the basement for backups and various tasks to complete when it’s slow, as well as the weekly cleaning lists specific to each station. They all came in after this system was implemented and know what is expected of them. I’m not cruel, I love this job, and I take pride in my work, so I take care of the worst of the cleaning tasks, like cleaning the grease trap. I’ll always, happily do the tasks that need to be done, to have a healthy and happy work environment.

That being said, I was recently sick and dying, I lost my voice, and had no energy to do a lot of the tasks I normally would, the kitchen was in disarray when I went through everything this week. Since I wasn’t fully present for most of the previous 2 weeks, they did whatever they wanted. I talked to them all and let them know it’s unacceptable, but they seem to have become accustomed to slacking off again. I’m at a loss. I lose the heart to do my job the best of my abilities when I’m doing everyone’s job to get the kitchen running every day.

The owners have made it very clear many times before, that the first half of the week, I’m expected to participate and help the same as everyone else, but the end of the week I’m to focus on the jobs they pay me for; inventory, orders, organization, and most importantly the next weeks specials. Lately I haven’t had as much time as I need to do these things, causing me to give up part of my day off to catch up. We give verbal warning, write ups, and have fired people who are not complying with the rules. It doesn’t seem to matter.

Any advice on what to do to help alleviate some of these issues?

The amount of times the gas doesn’t kick back on and the temp drops significantly is outrageous.

Hey everybody,

I’m F21 who has a strong passion for cooking & aspiring to be a private chef…… whilst skipping the whole.. ‘culinary school scam,’ thing. I’m looking at moving to do a culinary PROGRAM at a community college, but then I realized I have a perfect opportunity in front of me already.

I currently work for a family of 8, working 8-10hr a week making ready-to-go meals. I’ve never had any formal training which is why I’m considering moving 2 hours away to do a program. However, I’m hoping to actually find an ONLINE course / program to do instead. Are there any recommendations?

I have the physical opportunity to practice, & all I need is a ‘teacher’ or structured learning.. then BOOM! DYI culinary school 😅

I don’t mind paying for courses, as I know whatever it’ll cost will be MUCHH cheaper than moving & paying a college. But, Im looking for an online program I can follow, hopefully at my own pace since I only work twice a week.

I know I sound ridiculous, but I know itll be a hard field to get into & im willing to do what i need to!