Want to Become a Better Leader? Take Cooking Classes.
In Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain details his lifelong love affair with food. Framing the book as a multiple-course meal, he shares moments which inspired him to pursue a career as a chef. This started with trying vichyssoise on a family vacation as a fourth grader, solidified by trying his first raw oyster later on that trip. Not only did he enroll at the Culinary Institute of America, he also savored the fringe benefits of kitchen culture, which some might call less than scrupulous. This could include hookups with waitresses, messing with customers' dishes, and horribly foul language. In the midst of his eventual maturation into a head chef, he dealt with drug addiction, countless restaurant closures, flubbing the chance at a possible steakhouse job because he misheard a key question, and intense work schedules. For our amusement, he also included a contrast of his restaurant experience to Scott Bryan's. Bryan's restaurant, Veritas, runs like clockwork, without any of the drama Bourdain has been acclimated to.
In addition to the personal tips he offers at the end of the book for anyone wanting to be a chef, here are a few of my takeaways:
Hold your own. If you want to survive kitchen work, you need to continually rise to the occasion. If you don't, your boss replaces you with someone hungrier. Pulling your weight includes earning credibility with your work ethic and problem-solving abilities. Coworkers test you simply to see how you respond. You lose respect if you don't push back. Ironically, employees interpret friendliness and civility as a lack of intimacy. In fact, they even might wonder if they'll be fired soon.
Build your network. Bourdain's career path involved a period where he repeatedly jumped from one sinking ship to another, earning a paycheck from restaurants he knew would fail until their wheels came off. Then he would move on to another doomed setup, repeating the cycle. The blessing of his frequent job transitions, however, was figuring out whom he worked well with from each gig, recruiting them each time he landed new opportunities. Two pivotal chefs he heavily relied on were Stephen, who also served as his spy and do-it-all fix-it man, and Dmitri, whom he knew from his first job. Conversely, past teammates would reach out to him whenever they needed help at their respective restaurants. However, none of the relationships would be possible without the credibility Bourdain established by holding his own early on.
Respect the game. The path to a owning and running a successful restaurant has no favorites. Starting with deep pockets guarantees nothing. Bourdain mentions plenty of people who get starry-eyed about running a restaurant. Their idea starts after enough compliments from friends about their food during dinner parties. Later, they get buried in debt when the aspiring owners don't learn how to hire competent help, manage inventory, or handle the rush of night and weekend activity. Worse, the friends who talk them into this path expect freebies whenever they visit, then wash their hands of the situation when the restaurant fails.
Use margin wisely. This goes in hand with managing relationships well. Allowing night porters to skim some food while they handle dreadful duties during sleeping hours is a smart write-off. If the smells from fish fillets you're searing as a line chef tempt you to take one for yourself, you're always better off requesting one rather than trying to quietly pilfer it. That said, you don't want to ask too often, either. Same goes for drinks with bartenders or tips on cash receipts. Be sure to give more than you take. Ceding a few freebies to your crew is wise. Compromising your integrity for favors from underhanded vendors will sink your business.
At one point in my career path, I worked for a string of companies, each stint folding within two years of my start date with them. My struggle felt like nothing after reading about Bourdain's. With each page turn, I found myself amused or amazed by what he wrote, including tips on cooking like a pro and the man he referred to as "Bigfoot." Bigfoot showed Bourdain how to successfully run a restaurant and be an effective leader. After Bourdain's suicide in 2018, I became all the more grateful to the glimpse of his life shared with us through his book.
