Morning. A cook comes to listen, organize, and prepare.
The cook will wash, chop, taste, sweat, sear, boil, simmer, and taste. The cook will butcher, season, grind, stuff, roast, braise, taste, cool, and store.
Night. Again the cook will listen, organize, and prepare.
The cook will set up, smoke, warm, taste, listen, and call back. The cook will saute, grill, fry, hustle, sweat, season, taste, toss, plate, clean, and help.
Late. Finally the cook will store, clean, and rest.
Morning. A chef will listen, organize, and prepare.
The chef will explain, instruct, demonstrate, educate, check, taste, double-check, help, and coach. The chef must reflect, project, schedule, cost, research, plan, discipline, document, and communicate.
Night. Again a chef will listen, organize, and prepare.
And again the chef will explain, instruct, demonstrate, educate, check, taste, double-check, help, and coach.
Late. The chef will reflect, organize, list, order, and encourage.
The chef is a cook.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The Control Freak In Me (Part 1)
I admit it: I've got a little control freak in me. Most chefs do. My control freak's name is Bill.
Bill works me hard - he cracks the whip when he needs to. For the first three months as Chef at The Haven, I worked six long days each week. Bill told me I should work all seven days to make sure everything was perfect, but I ignored him. After working six 12-14 hour days with no breaks, I needed to rest on the 7th day. Physically, that 7th day was crucial recuperation. Mentally, it was wasn't enough. Each day off, while I sat on my couch, completely wiped, Bill would constantly ask me, "Are my customers getting great food in my absence?" I did not yet have confidence in my staff to uphold my standards and instructions in my absence, and Bill agreed. I would get texts and phone calls from the cooks on my day off, pestering me with questions. I would never get the mental rest I needed, and it just drained me more and more each week.
I grew tired, but I learned to listen to Bill, to embrace him, and to reason with him. If Bill had it his way, The Haven would be closed when I had a day off. But this was one decision (of many decisions) that was not his to make - he didn't own the place - and I told him as much. "Well," Bill responds, "then you're just going to have to own your own place, so we can make all the decisions ourselves." I agree. "That way, if we want to be closed one or two days a week we can do that!" I caution in reply, "Sure, but slow down Bill - we can only do that if it makes sense financially."
TO BE CONTINUED
P.S. I do not have a multiple personality disorder, I just want my writing to be entertaining to read...
Bill works me hard - he cracks the whip when he needs to. For the first three months as Chef at The Haven, I worked six long days each week. Bill told me I should work all seven days to make sure everything was perfect, but I ignored him. After working six 12-14 hour days with no breaks, I needed to rest on the 7th day. Physically, that 7th day was crucial recuperation. Mentally, it was wasn't enough. Each day off, while I sat on my couch, completely wiped, Bill would constantly ask me, "Are my customers getting great food in my absence?" I did not yet have confidence in my staff to uphold my standards and instructions in my absence, and Bill agreed. I would get texts and phone calls from the cooks on my day off, pestering me with questions. I would never get the mental rest I needed, and it just drained me more and more each week.
I grew tired, but I learned to listen to Bill, to embrace him, and to reason with him. If Bill had it his way, The Haven would be closed when I had a day off. But this was one decision (of many decisions) that was not his to make - he didn't own the place - and I told him as much. "Well," Bill responds, "then you're just going to have to own your own place, so we can make all the decisions ourselves." I agree. "That way, if we want to be closed one or two days a week we can do that!" I caution in reply, "Sure, but slow down Bill - we can only do that if it makes sense financially."
TO BE CONTINUED
P.S. I do not have a multiple personality disorder, I just want my writing to be entertaining to read...
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Social Media and the Small Restaurant
Okay, let's just say I'm behind on the times. I've been so busy honing my craft in the kitchen over the past eight years that I just haven't paid due attention to the social media explosion. In this age, it is important for a small restaurant owner to use social media regularly and effectively. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can be useful tools for business networking and for free, targeted marketing.
Facebook is where it's at these days, so I recently updated my dormant personal Facebook page and expanded my friends list. Aside from using it for personal use, I can spread word of my blog and ask poll questions to gauge my restaurant ideas.
LinkedIn is a useful tool for networking, and it's a site that I am currently learning how to use. Since I'm opening my first restaurant, I will need a good network of people for advice, tips, and feedback, and LinkedIn will help with that.
Twitter is a good, quick way to spread news fast. Lots of food bloggers use Twitter, and it's always useful to keep them in the loop, especially in the few weeks before the restaurant opens. Also, I can have my tweets also post to both LinkedIn and to Facebook, so if I write a new blog post, I can tweet it to all three sites with one post.
A month before Linea opens, I will create a Facebook page for it. The Linea Facebook page will feed regulars information about upcoming events, promotions, menu changes, and specials. Using a combination of Linea's Facebook page and @ChefWax, I will upload pictures, videos, and do regular status updates and tweets to keep followers in the loop in a manner that is not monotonous or boring, but entertaining. Followers = Regulars, and having a good regular customer base and keeping them well informed and excited will be key to Linea's success.
Hopefully, through blogging and effective use of social media, there will be some buzz about Linea well before the doors are open.
Facebook is where it's at these days, so I recently updated my dormant personal Facebook page and expanded my friends list. Aside from using it for personal use, I can spread word of my blog and ask poll questions to gauge my restaurant ideas.
LinkedIn is a useful tool for networking, and it's a site that I am currently learning how to use. Since I'm opening my first restaurant, I will need a good network of people for advice, tips, and feedback, and LinkedIn will help with that.
Twitter is a good, quick way to spread news fast. Lots of food bloggers use Twitter, and it's always useful to keep them in the loop, especially in the few weeks before the restaurant opens. Also, I can have my tweets also post to both LinkedIn and to Facebook, so if I write a new blog post, I can tweet it to all three sites with one post.
A month before Linea opens, I will create a Facebook page for it. The Linea Facebook page will feed regulars information about upcoming events, promotions, menu changes, and specials. Using a combination of Linea's Facebook page and @ChefWax, I will upload pictures, videos, and do regular status updates and tweets to keep followers in the loop in a manner that is not monotonous or boring, but entertaining. Followers = Regulars, and having a good regular customer base and keeping them well informed and excited will be key to Linea's success.
Hopefully, through blogging and effective use of social media, there will be some buzz about Linea well before the doors are open.
Friday, September 16, 2011
The Plan
Here is my outline of the many tasks and subtasks I must complete before Opening Day at Linea.
There's a lot to do! Please let me know what I am forgetting...
THE PLAN:
There's a lot to do! Please let me know what I am forgetting...
THE PLAN:
- Networking
- Need assistance/advice from other owners and restaurant professionals throughout the process
- LinkedIn - DONE!
- Contact spreadsheet - names, phone #s, emails
- Business Plan (STARTED, ongoing)
- Obtain a good restaurant business plan rubric DONE!
- Contact SCORE, schedule weekly business plan assistance sessions
- Complete all areas of business plan that are not dependent on location
- Do market analysis for each potential location
- Finalize business plan after a location is found (before lease is signed)
- Find/Secure Capital
- Private investors
- Throw dinner parties and invite potential small private investors
- Apply for government stimulus $$ for small businesses (SOON)
- Apply for SBA loan (SOON)
- Apply for bank loan (hopeless?)
- Look at spaces for Linea (start soon)
- Bring spreadsheet and take notes so I can compare physical location, square footage, rent, street visibility, foot traffic, ect.
- Look at leases/meet landlords of spaces with actual potential
- Have the following in place well before doors open (preferably before lease is signed):
- Employee policies
- Employee manual
- New employee package (tax forms, manual, ect.)
- Reservation policy
- Bookkeeping program/process
- Master To Do List
- Job descriptions
- Prepared job posts
- Staff scheduling process, rubric
- Meeting schedule
- Marketing schedule/plan
- Restaurant contact spreadsheet
- Linea Website
- Linea Facebook Page
- Add to this list
- Go to Italy for a month (if not more)
- Sign a Conditional Lease on a space
- Find builder
- Go through licensing process (help! - order of tasks, tricks, advice, ect)
- Secure a conditional beer and wine license from town hall
- Get Linea approval from town's residential bureau
- Get Linea approval from town's business bureau
- Get whatever licenses I need
- Initial visits from Fire, Health, Building inspectors - dictates design
- Design restaurant with builder
- Dining room
- Kitchen
- Bathrooms
- Storage
- Start buildout
- Begin Hiring process
- Have new hires help with buildout
- Get equipment
- Restaurant auctions are fun!
- Train staff
- Inspections
- Get occupancy
- Fire
- Health
- Building
- Initial marketing for opening - local newspaper advertisement, social media blitz
- Three Friends and Family dinners
- First night - 20-30 guests spread out (donations only)
- Second night - Restaurant mostly full, all night (donations only)
- Third night - Full with a line (free food!)
- Close for a day or two, fix issues found in F&F dinners
- OPEN THE DOORS!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A View of Linea
I thought it would be helpful to share my vision of Linea with the readers.
Linea will be a small, lively, unique 30-40 seat Italian neighborhood restaurant. I am hoping to find a space with plenty of street visibility, foot traffic, and storefront windows in one of the following locations:
Jamaica Plain (Centre Street or Hyde Square)
Somerville (Davis or Union Square)
Brookline (Coolidge Corner or Washington Square)
or Cambridge (Central or Inman Square)
The storefront will be a key to Linea's popularity. Every afternoon, I will make fresh pasta in the storefront windows on top of a long window table. Streetwalkers will see me making pasta from the sidewalk. I will hang the long sheets of pasta to dry right in the windows on long wooden dowels. Those who walk by and appear curious will be invited in - any extra pasta portions leftover from the previous night's dinner will be available for retail sale in a small display case.
We'll want to provide excellent food and service right off the bat. If we do that, the restaurant will make good first impressions with the neighborhood folk, and good reviews will follow. Linea will not take reservations. With a good location, good reviews, and limited seats, there will be a line of customers waiting outside shortly after we open.
The line will serve as a pre-dinner meeting place, where neighborhood folk will have a chance to chat amongst each other while they wait. Occasionally, a server will walk outside and pass little nibbles of delicious complementary finger food to encourage people to stay in line. Linea will have a nice awning to keep people dry in light to moderate rain, and there will be one or two park benches for people to sit down.
In the event of a very rainy night or other bad weather, we will run a "Rainy Day Special" (such as a free soup or 10% off) which we will market live that day on Twitter and Facebook. We will take reservations for the cold winter months (Dec-Mar), as people will not want to risk waiting in line in the cold.
The menu will be simple, highly seasonal, and will change weekly. Everything will be made from scratch in house. I will shop in the mornings at farmers markets and take pictures of all the beautiful stuff I buy. As I come up with new menu items based these ingredients, I will post them (and the pictures) on Twitter and Facebook. Social media will play a key role in marketing for Linea.
The restaurant will have a very open kitchen, and possibly a 6 or 8 seat high-top chef's table right in front of the line. This will promote interaction between the diners and staff, and the whole restaurant will be lively.
There will be no paper menus. The dining room will be painted with blackboard paint, and the food and drink menus will be nicely drawn on the walls in large print. We will hire local artists (or art students) to do chalk art around the weekly menu, the theme being the ingredients used and the season.
The meal will start with warm focaccia with good olive oil, and optionally fresh ricotta or lardo to eat with their bread. The menu will be authentic Italian, not exactly sure which region (if any in particular) quite yet:
Salads, Soup(s), Cured Meats
5 pastas (2 vegetarian)
3 entrees (one meat, one fish, one poultry)
Sides
All dishes will be available in half/whole sized portions (app/entree). Sharing will be encouraged.
The wine selection will also be small (also written on blackboard). We will have exclusively Italian wines, and two wine lists. One list will be customer and staff favorites, which will all available year-round. The second list will be a selection of rotating rare and interesting short-production bottles.
There will be no dessert. At the end of the meal when the check is presented, each diner will get a small plastic bag with a little complementary sweet of some kind (e.g. choc truffle, meringue cookie). Stapled to the bag will be a business card for the restaurant, with promotional information or a coupon for next visit attached.
Instead of conventional dessert, there will be a small gelato counter right inside the door, with interesting flavors of homemade gelato and sorbetto available to go. Diners will see the gelato on the way in (it might be visible from outside too), and will surely want a scoop after dinner on the way out. During the day time, the gelato will be for sale to the general public.
Linea will have a very small, tight-knit, enthusiastic staff. There will be two cooks in the kitchen, two servers in the dining room, and a swing person who will float back and forth. All will all be very knowledgeable about the food, much more than the average restaurant. How?
All the employees will be both cooks and servers. Since the menu will change weekly, the two cooks and two servers will swap weekly as well.
I can go on all day about the little details, but I hope this gives you a sufficient mental picture of what I am trying to create.
-Chef Wax
(End note: I fully realize that I may not be able to open a restaurant with all of the characteristics described above, this is merely what I am aiming and hoping for.)
Next blog post: what I said I would write end the end of last one
Linea will be a small, lively, unique 30-40 seat Italian neighborhood restaurant. I am hoping to find a space with plenty of street visibility, foot traffic, and storefront windows in one of the following locations:
Jamaica Plain (Centre Street or Hyde Square)
Somerville (Davis or Union Square)
Brookline (Coolidge Corner or Washington Square)
or Cambridge (Central or Inman Square)
The storefront will be a key to Linea's popularity. Every afternoon, I will make fresh pasta in the storefront windows on top of a long window table. Streetwalkers will see me making pasta from the sidewalk. I will hang the long sheets of pasta to dry right in the windows on long wooden dowels. Those who walk by and appear curious will be invited in - any extra pasta portions leftover from the previous night's dinner will be available for retail sale in a small display case.
We'll want to provide excellent food and service right off the bat. If we do that, the restaurant will make good first impressions with the neighborhood folk, and good reviews will follow. Linea will not take reservations. With a good location, good reviews, and limited seats, there will be a line of customers waiting outside shortly after we open.
The line will serve as a pre-dinner meeting place, where neighborhood folk will have a chance to chat amongst each other while they wait. Occasionally, a server will walk outside and pass little nibbles of delicious complementary finger food to encourage people to stay in line. Linea will have a nice awning to keep people dry in light to moderate rain, and there will be one or two park benches for people to sit down.
In the event of a very rainy night or other bad weather, we will run a "Rainy Day Special" (such as a free soup or 10% off) which we will market live that day on Twitter and Facebook. We will take reservations for the cold winter months (Dec-Mar), as people will not want to risk waiting in line in the cold.
The menu will be simple, highly seasonal, and will change weekly. Everything will be made from scratch in house. I will shop in the mornings at farmers markets and take pictures of all the beautiful stuff I buy. As I come up with new menu items based these ingredients, I will post them (and the pictures) on Twitter and Facebook. Social media will play a key role in marketing for Linea.
The restaurant will have a very open kitchen, and possibly a 6 or 8 seat high-top chef's table right in front of the line. This will promote interaction between the diners and staff, and the whole restaurant will be lively.
There will be no paper menus. The dining room will be painted with blackboard paint, and the food and drink menus will be nicely drawn on the walls in large print. We will hire local artists (or art students) to do chalk art around the weekly menu, the theme being the ingredients used and the season.
The meal will start with warm focaccia with good olive oil, and optionally fresh ricotta or lardo to eat with their bread. The menu will be authentic Italian, not exactly sure which region (if any in particular) quite yet:
Salads, Soup(s), Cured Meats
5 pastas (2 vegetarian)
3 entrees (one meat, one fish, one poultry)
Sides
All dishes will be available in half/whole sized portions (app/entree). Sharing will be encouraged.
The wine selection will also be small (also written on blackboard). We will have exclusively Italian wines, and two wine lists. One list will be customer and staff favorites, which will all available year-round. The second list will be a selection of rotating rare and interesting short-production bottles.
There will be no dessert. At the end of the meal when the check is presented, each diner will get a small plastic bag with a little complementary sweet of some kind (e.g. choc truffle, meringue cookie). Stapled to the bag will be a business card for the restaurant, with promotional information or a coupon for next visit attached.
Instead of conventional dessert, there will be a small gelato counter right inside the door, with interesting flavors of homemade gelato and sorbetto available to go. Diners will see the gelato on the way in (it might be visible from outside too), and will surely want a scoop after dinner on the way out. During the day time, the gelato will be for sale to the general public.
Linea will have a very small, tight-knit, enthusiastic staff. There will be two cooks in the kitchen, two servers in the dining room, and a swing person who will float back and forth. All will all be very knowledgeable about the food, much more than the average restaurant. How?
All the employees will be both cooks and servers. Since the menu will change weekly, the two cooks and two servers will swap weekly as well.
I can go on all day about the little details, but I hope this gives you a sufficient mental picture of what I am trying to create.
-Chef Wax
(End note: I fully realize that I may not be able to open a restaurant with all of the characteristics described above, this is merely what I am aiming and hoping for.)
Next blog post: what I said I would write end the end of last one
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
First Post - New Blog!
I am a bit overdue for creating this blog. I have put so much thought into my own restaurant and I desperately need to get my ideas on paper.
This blog is for the following people:
- It is for me, first and foremost. Even if nobody reads this blog, it is absolutely crucial that I write my ideas down on a daily basis.
-It is for Lily, my fiance, so I can have a second outlet for my thoughts so she doesn't get overwhelmed with my one track mind.
- It is for anyone interested in working on this project with me. Or even thinking about the possibility of helping me open a place. Whether it be hopeful staff members or potential investors, I want to keep everyone in the loop, and this is how I will do it.
- It is for my friends and family, who want to keep track of what I am up to and what stage in the process I'm at, and to make sure I still have my sanity.
- It is for future patrons of my restaurant. I want a place that will be more than just a restaurant - I want customers to be involved in the place. I want them to care about the restaurant, I hope they'll want to know what's going on. A restaurant shouldn't just be a place to eat - it should be a gathering place where there is an exchange of ideas amongst patrons and staff. I don't have the brick and mortar yet, so let's start here.
- It is for anyone interested in opening their own restaurant some day. In the next 6-18 months (my current estimated time frame for doors open), I will be going through a lot in preparation of that first friends and family dinner. From the business plan, to looking at spaces, to licensing issues, to securing investment capital, to inspections, and everything in between, there is a lot of stuff I do not know about at all. I will learn a lot on my own and from the people that help me, and in documenting this process I hope that anyone who reads this will be more knowledgeable going into ownership than I am today.
Lastly, this blog is important, and I need to post daily because I need to stay focused. I have a lot of work to do in the upcoming months and I'd be lying if I said that I can do it all with self-motivation alone. Honestly, I need some support and feedback to push me along. So I hope you read, I hope you enjoy this blog, I hope you follow along, and I hope you add to the discussion
-Ben
Next Blog: Phase map (below blog title?), General To Do List in order from now until open
This blog is for the following people:
- It is for me, first and foremost. Even if nobody reads this blog, it is absolutely crucial that I write my ideas down on a daily basis.
-It is for Lily, my fiance, so I can have a second outlet for my thoughts so she doesn't get overwhelmed with my one track mind.
- It is for anyone interested in working on this project with me. Or even thinking about the possibility of helping me open a place. Whether it be hopeful staff members or potential investors, I want to keep everyone in the loop, and this is how I will do it.
- It is for my friends and family, who want to keep track of what I am up to and what stage in the process I'm at, and to make sure I still have my sanity.
- It is for future patrons of my restaurant. I want a place that will be more than just a restaurant - I want customers to be involved in the place. I want them to care about the restaurant, I hope they'll want to know what's going on. A restaurant shouldn't just be a place to eat - it should be a gathering place where there is an exchange of ideas amongst patrons and staff. I don't have the brick and mortar yet, so let's start here.
- It is for anyone interested in opening their own restaurant some day. In the next 6-18 months (my current estimated time frame for doors open), I will be going through a lot in preparation of that first friends and family dinner. From the business plan, to looking at spaces, to licensing issues, to securing investment capital, to inspections, and everything in between, there is a lot of stuff I do not know about at all. I will learn a lot on my own and from the people that help me, and in documenting this process I hope that anyone who reads this will be more knowledgeable going into ownership than I am today.
Lastly, this blog is important, and I need to post daily because I need to stay focused. I have a lot of work to do in the upcoming months and I'd be lying if I said that I can do it all with self-motivation alone. Honestly, I need some support and feedback to push me along. So I hope you read, I hope you enjoy this blog, I hope you follow along, and I hope you add to the discussion
-Ben
Next Blog: Phase map (below blog title?), General To Do List in order from now until open
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