Reposted from Chefit... Have you ever taken on a disgusting kitchen renovation project? Opened a new kitchen from the ground up? Worked with an owner with 0 kitchen knowledge? Had only a week to make the shit work? I would like to know your tricks. Any of them.
Basically, I took a job as the kitchen manager of a new bar and grill opening up. The place they got was terribley neglected by the previous owners and I am astonished that they didn't kill anyone with their food or beer (or jagged floors, mildew ice machine, mini walkin nightmare, flattop from hell, concept of "why clean when you can use paint?!", mickey mouse ass cooler repair, keg lids used as insulation, refrigerator rust party, the list is endless)... but yeah...The new owner of the place is young, but quite competent, with extensive FOH management and bartending experience and has assisted in opening multiple other establishments in the past. Financials in order. Rennovation and repair plan is set. Concept is there. No red flags...
What I didn't know was that nothing in the kitchen was going to be worked on/tested/looked at before I started. They had a cleaning crew come in and scrape 10 years worth of filth off but failed to look at the internals of any of the equipment... So, here I am... I am experienced. I can cook, train, manage, write and cost a menu, do ordering and inventory and all the things that I was hired for. I know the right, the wrong and the only way to get the shit done. Unfortunately I am not an engineer, electrician, hvac specialist, mechanic or magician.
No accounts set up. No additional kitchen hires. No storage equipment. No clean equipment. No one with culinary or even remote BOH experience currently on board. Expected soft open 4 days.
Anyway, I gotta make it happen, right? This is totally what I wanted, right??? RIGHT?? (sorry, I haven't slept much since I started...)
How did you survive a restaurant open? Any advice for maximizing storage efficiency within a very small kitchen? Or on effectively and constructively communicating the physical impossibility of meeting an open date? Helpful hints for working with large distribution reps and not getting fucked? How much vodka is considered "too much vodka"? Anyone want a job in LA? Please advise.
TL;DR hired to help build a menu for a kitchen that isn't intact with a staff that isn't hired using equipment that doesn't work/exist and ordering from accounts that are not established yet expected to pull it off.
Submitted July 22, 2017 at 05:03PM by MacheAdo http://ift.tt/2tQ1SOY KitchenConfidential
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