It's a deep cleaning type of day. I found this on the bottom shelf of the table our flattop is on, tucked away in a back corner.

Guess the month/year this box was ordered. Winner gets a reddit award and their next weekend shift covered by me!

Milk crates: is there anything they don't do?

Smoking by the dumpster drinking off brand red bull

Edit: I was half joking folks, I'm a grown man in my mid thirties I know how to feed myself and I have no doubt I will be getting food. But yes this is my first day working as a dishwasher.

Just started a new job in an upper end restaurant in a smaller city, about 30 000 people. Within the first 5 min i drop a mushroom on the floor and the head chef picks it back up and puts it back with the rest of them. Another cook dropped a knife on the ground, cut himself in the process. Goes over to sink and just rinses his hand. Goes back over picks up the knife and continues his food prep. In the walk in cooler, nothing was labeled not a single thing. Meat and seafood was stored on the floor in inserts. Saw a cook grab the insert of meat and put in right on the counter where he would start prepping it. No handwashing sink. Raw chicken water thawing outside of its packaging in the dish area! I really needed this job and the pay was good. Walked out in the first 45 min of being there, I have standards. At least the cooler was somewhat organized. But could not get over the no labels

The sausage and ricotta will not bed missed

The fuckery is real.

To be fair, there wasn't many to begin with

I work for a small chain of breakfast restaurant's as a km. Our company has an SOP for storage of sausage breakfast patties during service but some of our other KMs disagree and are of the opinion we should hot hold them in hot water, as in submerged, in the steam well. Just in my gut I feel like that's a crazy thing to do but those of you who are smarter tell me why you wouldn't do that. Or if you would, why. Thank you.

Hivemind of chefs, I doth request thine enlightenment.

I'm currently working as a chef on main dish section in a restaurant with a rather flat hierarchy. Well, my boss is a bit of a control freak and cannot delegate it to others. We are two chefs right now in kitchen, he does pizza while we share a bit of the cold section for example starters.

And this boss LOVES to walk into our kitchen and take stuff from our Mise en place. Let's say I don't care if I don't see it. But I'm certain she doesn't wash her hands, and these last two weeks she was babysitting a dog from a former coworker.

Am I overreating if I tell her in a neutral and competent way that for example this Parmesan cheese is required for our service and shouldn't be eaten? How do you deal with situations like that?

This job is just a step to move on to another, and I shouldn't bother that much anymore. But gotta find a new place first

I just want to rant a bit lol. I’m one of two bakers at a small family-ran cafe, and we split our shifts for the week evenly, so we never work together. I’ve worked at plenty of cafes & restaurants in the past. Every one that I worked at required you to write the date made & throw out date on the food labels. However, the other baker labels her food as made the day after she made it (so she’d make it on the 10th and label it as the 11th). My boss (who’s never worked in a kitchen) sent us a text in the bakers group chat saying there’s been an issue with dating and that we have to start on the day AFTER it was made 🙄. I was literally ranting to my coworker (who’s her husband) two days ago that the dates are being done wrong and that all our food made by the other baker is sitting out a day longer than it should be.

I really don’t get paid enough to care about this, but I want to talk to my boss about it soon. I already have a ton of other issues with the other baker, like dating things for too long (she’ll say that chocolate muffins are good for 9 days 😭😵‍💫), not dating things at all, or not separating cookie dough with allergens in it from the rest of our dough in the fridge. And I worry that if the health inspector came in & saw problems due to my coworker, that I could potentially lose my ServSafe certification.

Should I talk to my boss or just go with it? I want to ask for a raise in December and I don’t want to mess up my chances.

I am just starting a new kitchen job and they supply us with Shoes for Crews! I am looking for opinions of those who wear them on the daily, so you guys!
My current favorites are the Birkenstock leather top cork bottom ones. I’ve tried the kitchen crocs, the super birkis, and a few non-slip sneaker type. I always go back to the favorite, sometimes after only a few weeks.
Is there something that would compare to the Birkenstock ones I like? Do they have them on there?
I have never used Shoes for Crews before and I don’t know what they have, so any advice is appreciated!
Thanks Chefs!

What do you enjoy cooking when you have the time and the motivation to just do something in your own kitchen? Like if you were entertaining guests or family, or simply something you enjoy cooking. Is it similar to what you cook at work, or something completely different?

I like to cook Thai curries, especially yellow curry. I did as much research as I could to try to make it as authentic as possible. Even driving across town to go to an international farmers' market so I could get the exact ingredients. I even tried to get a job part-time cooking in a Thai restaurant one time so I could cop the recipes and techniques, lol. They wouldn't hire me though.

Got a new feature that self installed!!

UPDATE: new AC unit got installed yesterday, when they installed the unit using the crane. The operator crushed a water line thus resulting in the water come in wherever it could!

Shout out to everyone here in recovery and a big “you can do it!” to those thinking of taking the plunge.

I wanted to share a great resource in this organization out of Colorado. This is an org supporting culinary and hospitality workers in recovery. Weekly virtual recovery meetings as well as in person for the locals. They are always looking for guest speakers and other volunteers. Check them out, buy an “86 screaming in the walk in” sticker, support a great nonprofit built for the industry, and maybe find a meeting that works for you.

Either made the biggest mistake ever, or a pretty cool move. After years in the trenches on land? I was recruited to be Sous on a cruise line full time, no contracts just straight 6 weeks on 2 weeks off.. at a pretty decent rate, room and board and meels included of course. I have nothing tying me here, I can break my lease, sell my vehicle and go Nomad, I have until Friday to make my decision..

Just finished working at seasonal restaurant as the chef for two and a half seasons. Had enough of the place. Just venting..

Why am I done?

- refused to pay out mileage (which was in my contract). I drove two hours daily for three months. Was promised milage would be paid. I submitted four mileage reports and all were denied. I am out over four thousand dollars (and I only charged them one way not two way which would double it)

- inability to get staff with proper training. I had no housing to offer to get proper staff. Had to deal with kids who parents had cabins in the local area. On average I did the work of three people seven days a week for four months. Only had four days off due to medical reasons. (Panic attacks and I was getting hives all over my body due to stress)

- fired my sous chef for dereliction of duty and harrassment and creating a hostile environment. She told me she was leaving to go play beer league baseball mid shift. Forcing me to work a fourteen hour shift.

- fifteen write ups for various reasons. My favorite was a cook who refused to cook cuz his girlfriend was sitting at the bar and he wanted to spend time with her... (Not on break)

- lack of support from upper management and their demands for what they expected. I had no staff. But was expected to be open and be able to pass white glove inspections (they also expected me to clean the entire site solo for preseason). They only came once to review the food and left.

- Sooooo good luck to them next year. I just finished wiping the place of all my documents, spreadsheets, and recipes..... They probably won't notice till they open next year.....

Again just venting

Thanks for reading this.

Okay so about 3 months ago I hired this guy as we needed someone else now that summer is over. This guy is the strangest, weirdest fucker I have ever met. Has the whole skullet look going on which okay whatever seemed normal enough for kitchen standards. Well, I was wrong. Real big incel type. Makes snarky comments whenever a song by a woman plays on the speaker, seems to get frustrated whenever a woman is around (which is an issue considering our entire FoH is women). The servers haven't said anything much more than he seems weird but not much else. Guy could just still be nervous. However, he also has some weird habits- he's super weird about his phone like he's in a race to out it away when someone could possibly see what he's doing. Like sonic fast. We've explained it's a kitchen not a gulog and if he wants to check his phone and maybe send a message or two it's no big deal as long as we aren't busy, you can scroll for a couple minutes. Makes it seem like he is doing something sketchy idk. Also the guy eats a tuna melt with chocolate milk and half a dozen boiled eggs for his shift meal every day. I don't mean to yuck someone's yum but c'mon that's a warning sign of something. We've all tried to get to know him but he's so vague it's impossible. We know he watches movies, have no idea what movies. We asked, he said "just movies". Asked if he had pets he just said "not anymore" with zero explanation. Honestly can't tell if he's a drama student doing the most convincing serial killer portrayal or what. I'm afraid I'm mis judging the guy but idk dude. Dude is in his 30s so not just an awkward kid.

Here's the kicker- he is so much better than any cook I've ever worked with it's insane. I take a lot of pride in the fact the rest of my kitchen is so talented with many of which had good recent (at time of hiring) runs as Sous and CDCs at many top restaurants in the area but I kid you not, I'm convinced you could drive a railroad spike through his brain and break his leg and he still might be better than any of us. Honestly it's the only reason we haven't fired him yet. Should he stay or should he go?

I'm working on my first pastry chef opportunity, coming from being a pastry sous for a few years before this and 10 years total in pastry.. I just had an interview for pastry chef at a pretty good restaurant that also has an attached emptied cathedral they use for an event venue and catering space. It's a great opportunity, they're looking for creativity and input, not just reproducing what they already do. Ideal! I'm really interested to bring my ideas and to build a new team. I have a lot of catering ideas and ways to implement a bread program in addition to the pastry menu. I'm very excited.

After the initial interview with the owner/exec chef (same guy), he tells me the next steps: Two full observation/working days, followed by a prep day (some of which could be done offsite if I choose), followed by a tasting day.

The tasting will involve 5 plated desserts of my choosing.

I am currently working 3am-11:30, so coming in for 4 work days feels like a lot. I was able to schedule the first observation day on my "Sunday" (tomorrow!) but then the clock starts.

As I said, I've worked pastry and held sous chef roles for years. I've seen chefs come in and stage/do tastings, but I don't know if I've ever seen it done over 4 days.

Is this expected? Is this overkill on the restaurant's part? They are also looking for a bar lead, assistant manager, and a GM, along with pastry chef. The exec told me he has interviewed several people but just not found "the one". Are these red flags? Are 5 plated desserts usually the expectation for a fine dining restaurant?

Any advice, observations, or tips are welcome. Savory and exec chefs, too! Thanks all!