I have a few problems with an email this line cook sent me the other day:

“I decided that I want to give myself like 8-10 years, give or take, just to learn; so I have no obligations to any particular restaurant, no responsibility for other cooks, just nothing but time to grow.”

Notice how this person worded their goals with arbitrary words like “learn” and “growth”, and even labeling responsibility for others in a “negative” way…as if any of us just get to peacefully go into a completely spotless and quiet kitchen and “just create” whilst simultaneously getting paid profitable amounts of money, without having to earn new revenue through media appearances, collaborations, or secondary streams like catering or private events.

I’d pose this question to that individual: Pick an arbitrary chunk of time in that 8-10 year span - what would you learn between year 5 and year 6 that you don’t currently have access to?

Why can’t you learn those things sooner?

Don’t get me wrong, for certain roles, there are actual limitations that exist.

“I want to become the butcher in order to run the charcuterie program and improve my fish fabrication skills, and there’s only one butcher on staff and they won’t be leaving for another 2 years.”

“I don’t quite have a handle on expediting, and that’s the chef-de-cuisine’s role and she won’t be leaving for at least 3 years.”

How do we solve this problem?

In my experience, I had 2 specific chapters of my “learnings”: Foundations and Flourishes.

Foundations

Your Foundations are the basic principles. The time-tested skills that are basically your ticket-to-ride in order to function as a valuable member of the team in a professional kitchen.

These skills transcend cuisine type, restaurant size, or even operational complexity.

• Being able to manage a list of tasks

• Time management for client/customer related deadlines (we open at 10am, the catering order is getting picked up at 4pm, the guests for the PDR arrive at 6:30pm)

• Sanitation, hygiene & cleaning as you go

• Following instructions to replicate someone else’s idea (either from a recipe or shadowing their process)

• Hand-eye coordination in fabrication & preparation (dicing onions, piping macarons, layering sliced meat on parchment paper, peeling carrots)

The list goes on - we even cover several of these in Total Station Domination.

When I have folks that are intimidated to start in their first kitchen, most fears stem from feeling that they lack development in those Foundations.

The other common fear is that they’ll be asked questions about ingredients/techniques they aren’t familiar with. I’d say those usually fall in the Flourishes camp.

Flourishes

These skills are specific to an individual, restaurant group, or dish preparation.

• Grilling over open fire (Saison)

• Cooking & seasoning sushi rice to perfection

• Making barley koji (noma)

• Glazing vegetables in butter emulsion (Per Se)

• Cooking bread in a tandoor oven (Junoon)

Being over-indexed on either can lead to extreme frustrations as a professional.

If you’ve got too many Foundations, but not enough Flourishes, you feel like you have nothing that makes you unique. You'll get bored at work, fall into monotony, and crave an environment that will push you outside of that comfort zone.

If you’ve got too many Flourishes, but not a stable set of Foundations, you’ll struggle to adapt to new environments and task lists…but maybe you’re REALLY fast at making milk skins or making celery root sheets. You'll have a cool-sounding resumé, but you can't really be trusted with complexity yet.

How long to stay

The key is to know what stage you’re in, and what the place you’re working at has the capacity to teach you. Your current restaurant might help you build 60% of your Foundations, and 7% of your Flourishes. Your next place might add 25% more to your Foundations and 30% of Flourishes. Do any of us ever reach 100%? Probably not - but you can definitely tell the difference between someone who's at 81% vs 3%…

I did a combination of 12+ stages, and 4 extended working positions at restaurants over 8+ years to feel like I had both reasonably developed. And once that happened, I was greeted with the realization that I had lessons to learn as an owner.

Can all of this learning happen at one place? Absolutely.

Can it happen across 16 different spots, too? I’m living proof of it.

Tenure isn’t bad. I acknowledge that I can be pretty skill-obsessed and progress-focused sometimes, but there are also incredible lifestyle advantages that come with tenure.

Not everyone wants environmental & team changes to happen every 2 years. Plus, the ability to know exactly what you’re walking into for 4 years straight can allow for great routine development.

On top of that, your commute is predictable, you know where everything is in dry storage, and doing your taxes is easier.

You can also push for a raise and even non-monetary compensation like less working hours so you can have a hobby outside of work or spend more time with your family (see: the popularity of the 4-day workweek that we’ve covered on the podcast).

I’ll remind you: Grant Achatz spend a few weeks at elBulli, but fused that experience and inspiration with what he learned at The French Laundry to open Alinea. No one gives him flack for how long he spent at elBulli, they applaud him for what he did with it. He built his Foundations, and then added Flourishes.

In Summary

Embarking on a culinary journey requires a balance between mastering foundational skills and embracing unique flourishes that set you apart.

As you navigate through various kitchen environments, remember that every experience contributes to your growth, whether you're honing basic techniques or exploring innovative culinary expressions.

Stay committed to your personal and professional development, and let each stage of your career enrich your repertoire, preparing you for the dynamic world of the hospitality industry.

If you want a program on how to develop your culinary foundations, check out Total Station Domination as an alternative to culinary school!