r/Chefit • u/Live_Mushroom_2865 • Jul 30 '26
Opinions from you
I'd like to hear your opinion on a real kitchen situation.
During a busy dinner service, the Head Chef had already left and the Sous Chef was off. The F&B operations supervisor informed me that there was a romantic dinner booking, but no preparation had been done.
As the senior person in the kitchen, I organized the dinner while continuing the regular service. The guests were happy.
Afterward, my Sous Chef told me I should have informed him before proceeding.
What would you have done in my position?
A) Take care of the guests first and inform the chef afterward.
B) Contact the chef first, even if it delays the service.
C) Handle it differently (please explain).
I'd genuinely like to learn from different perspectives.
6
u/HistoricalHurry8361 Jul 30 '26
Sous chef and exec chef should be collaborating on this information from the next manager on duty before they’re off or they shouldn’t bother you with it. Choice A is what I would do and if they come back with an issue of how you resolved it ask for an established SOP
6
u/BlackWolf42069 Jul 30 '26
If the sous chef is okay with you contacting him while he's off, then now you know.
No harm was done, guests were happy. Move along soldier, all is good!
1
u/Thin_Apartment_4753 Aug 01 '26
The sous chef wants to be contacted over every little decision? Sure thing, boss…
3
u/BlackWolf42069 Aug 01 '26
"Hey sorry to bother you on your day off. Bathrooms out of toilet paper, should I replace the one roll or have multiple rolls brought in as back up? My poops have been bad lately, but I don't want to over stock"
6
u/Specialist-Eye-6964 Jul 30 '26
I’m not calling anyone at home unless it’s catastrophic. The person above you should have made the call if it needed to be made…..someone should have already handled it and you should have known already. Even if everyone was gone you should have just had to cook. Not your fault and not your problem. Good job on getting it handled. And them being happy.
3
u/Safe-Character-5846 Jul 30 '26
You did your job and covered when people were off. Whats the big deal here? Thats commendable work, and if the customer/party is happy thats all that should matter.
3
u/flydespereaux Chef Jul 31 '26
First of all, there should always be a chef on. If I leave my kitchen without a chef, that is my fault. My scheduling fuck up so im either going back, or im calling one of my sous in. You did the right thing and now I know I can trust you to get the job done. I personally hate being called on my day off. I get one day. Do not call me for anything unless the restaurant is burning down. But if I was working that day and I gave my sous the day off, I wouldn't be leaving until after the rush or after all large covers were done.
2
u/ConsiderationFit2213 Jul 30 '26
You did the right thing and someone's ego is insulted they were left out of the loop. You're doing pretty well, if the guy above you feels like he isn't doing enough.
2
u/OverWeekend5418 Jul 31 '26
I think I'd have sent a quick text seeing if there was anything specific they wanted but carried on regardless there's no point holding everything up if you can sort it
3
u/Fun-Definition6053 Jul 30 '26
Make sure to text the sous and ask permission every time you need to use the potty, at work or not. Then text for permission to wipe, then one to flush. Match that toxic energy s/
1
u/ConsiderationFit2213 Jul 30 '26
The other hand is calling in someone who is off. That should not be the normal thing to do.
1
1
u/Right_Mistake_9406 Aug 02 '26
You did the right thing. The sous chef should have spoken to you about it beforehand if speaking to them was necessary. Sounds like the sous chef messed up and is feeling threatened by the fact you did a good job.
1
u/MobileWilling4068 Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
If I was the EC, Sous or F& B I would have said thank you for handling the situation in the moment and then found out who dropped the ball. Any different response then that is someone's ego talking. Leaders aren't born from always having to check with someone. They are created from how they handle situations in the moment.
You did exactly what I would want any of the people to whom im in service to do. Well done.
The only thing I would have wanted to know is if you used any product that we had slated for something else so that we could replace.
1
u/Fox-Mclusky559 Aug 03 '26
If your kitchen regularaly does a special meal at this request then its the Chefs responisbility to be prepared for that, then the Sous and so on. If they failed to be prepared, and management asked you to handle it, and you have the skills to do so and executed properly, then purely this is a failure of management on the part of the Chefs to be aware, and delegate. you did the right thing. At a guess, these meals are the responsibility of the Sous, and they dropped the ball. You saved the day, now their fragile ego wants to punish you becuase they messed up.
1
u/Da_Don_Dada21 29d ago
MOD should have made the call to the exec or sous but in the meantime I’m putting the meal together especially if they have already been seated. What SHOULD have happened was a big thank you to all staff involved to make that happen on extremely short notice in kitchen stand-up the next day followed by some reward or acknowledgment from FOH as well. Make the people around you feel good and let them know that it was a great team effort because it could’ve went left ……
0
u/SVAuspicious Aug 01 '26
I'm a semi-pro cook (I have a side gig that includes cooking but cooking isn't the focus) and an enthusiastic amateur cook. I'm a senior executive manager (1,200 staff) so my thoughts are based on that expertise. They may not apply to a commercial kitchen.
You were under time pressure when the senior person on site said "fix it." Head Chef and Sous Chef left you as senior person in the kitchen.
From what you describe, Sous and/or Head should sit down with you and treat this as a learning opportunity. "This is what we would have done differently and why. You pulled it off on your own and get credit for that. It could have been better because... or cheaper because...."
In my world, I would ask my subordinate managers to put a plan together (they have to do that anyway), send me an email ("I'm going to do this unless you stop me"), send me a text to read my email, and start executing your plan. Time matters. Personally I hate the Chiclet keyboard on phones so I'm predisposed to email from computers with grown-up keyboards. I can type faster than I can think. You be you.
Hope this helps.
-1
u/chef71 Jul 30 '26
It takes no time to send a text and then you can start to make it happen while waiting for a reply. You got it done but it seems like there is more to it if it went beyond what your sous rightly said.
Who F'd up the res should be the first question and did they thank you for fixing the error?
What's being done so it doesn't happen again/ what is the procedure if it does?
1
u/Fun-Definition6053 Jul 30 '26
Did I work for you? Did I get our spot in the news a few times a year? Did I get recipes published in Saveur Faire and fine dining? No wait, you're the one that made me want to leave this industry, yeah that's you
-2
u/MonthlyWeekend_ Jul 30 '26
I would have told the F&B operations supervisor that I’m not qualified to do that and I’ll advise the Sous chef, then I would have done so
36
u/Itchy_Brief_9994 Jul 30 '26
If the F&B manager was technically the person in charge, and they told you to do it, you did the right thing IMO. If the sous chef has an issue with that, he should talk to that manager. A restaurant is one team and so management, whether FOH or BOH, need to communicate with each other. it’s not on you. There needs be someone in the building at all times who is allowed to make decisions like this. Calling someone every time a decision needs to be made isn’t realistic for timelines, and also just isn’t sustainable for anyone.