Need Help Managing our Executive Chef

Backstory:  My business partner and I are nearly 3 years into a very involved (read "complicated") and fun restaurant project that seems to be pretty unique to the industry.  We have two restaurant concepts housed in one historic building in an urban setting.  The plus side is that there are a lot of economies of scale we can share between concepts, the challenge is that this is WAYYYYY bigger than we had originally planned for when we took the leap into the biz.  The challenge I am posting today involves our Executive Chef.
 
Our concepts are a fun and funky casual dining bistro (130 seat inside & 110 on the patio) and a finer dining concept focusing on local and regional ingredients (American/French style) and it seats 100 inside and 50 on its patio.  We also are building up a reputation and business model for special events in-house and off site catering.  Thus we feel we need help managing the kitchen side of the business.
 
Our current EC has been with us for a little over a year and has experienced our CRAZY busy summer months and our tumbleweeds-slow winter months.  Now that the season has definitely changed (and you can see that in our revenue), we reminded our chef that it is now time to cut payroll and go into our "winter mode."
 
We have gotten a ton of push back and flack for this as she sees this as an increase in her personal workload etc.  We experienced the same kind of behavior from our first EC and ended up having to fire him so that we could keep the business afloat in the winter.
 
NOW THE QUESTION:  What is the best way to take an extremely talented chef and make them into a business savvy kitchen manager?
 
Our experience has been that our chefs have zero inclination and skill to actually manage a team of people.  She is great at food cost, menu development, etc.  We need to get her to understand how to delegate, follow up, supervise, train, and lead her team rather than trying to do everything herself.
 
My gut tells me she need a mentor that she can respect and learn from.  She does not see us, as owners, in that light because we do not have professional kitchen training.  We are well versed in running a business, however this does not seem to register as something she deems important to her area of responsibility.
 
HELP PLEASE!!  I really don't want to have to fire another great chef.

Every Chef/EC has to react to the owners needs, you hired her, she takes care of your needs and wants. The Chef is also in charge and S/B in control of labor cost control. I would meet with the Chef, talk about labor cost control and what labor is needed in the kitchen during the off season. The Chef/EC will FIGHT this all the way, they shouldn't but they will. The Chef will control the cost, its part of her job. If she doesn't care about the profitability of the restaurant, she is of no value. This is cut and dry, cut labor or your gone, this is a business not a play ground....................Chef Bill..............P.S. Thats the problem with the EC title, they don't want to get their hands dirty any more.

  Tie the budgets to her income, as in a Bonus Program!  Set financial goals for her and base her salary on HER achieving those goals (or not).  People tend to pay attention when the dollars come from THEIR pockets and not yours.  Profitability is a basic skill set that all KM's, Chefs should have ( at least the ability to hit realistic goals).  How was her performance in her previous job?  NO offense meant but did you do your due diligence when you hired her?  If you do fire her then double check the next EC's past performance in financials and set your expectations on their performance from the start.

This said it all for me "She does not see us, as owners, in that light because we do not have professional kitchen training."
 
Why do so many people think like this now a days? Sounds like you will need to start looking for a new EC. I know I would not put up with this attitude, as I have seen the destruction it can wrought. 
 
 
 
 

All of the above is good advice.
 
As an alternative, maybe broaden your marketing efforts (pull from a larger region, push a special dish, contact those that dropped a business card, try something new) to help make the winter a little months a little more enjoyable for both of you.

One thing to do, work on the catering. Find some shops and or businesses in your area, approach them and see if you can bring lunches to the workers once a week. Have your EC make up a limited menu, if she has time, and make it affordable and to the liking of the clientele you wish to serve. Most people would like to spend around $7 to $9 and normally only have 30 minutes for lunch. Maybe you can build up enough business over the winter months to keep everyone happy.

Maybe this EC has no stomach for a "hire and fire" shop. Sounds like she didn't sign on for a seasonal summer restaurant stand. You might as well fire her now.

David_NYC


Maybe this EC has no stomach for a "hire and fire" shop. Sounds like she didn't sign on for a seasonal summer restaurant stand. You might as well fire her now.

 
Good point, as I wonder why their business is suddenly down? Mine is actually picking up, when by all rights it should be slowing down as I work out of a trailer in a parking lot and am overpriced for the area, but not really, but I am. Good food sells.
 
Mike

Fire her....Lots of good chef's out of work right now. Once the bs starts it never ends. Lick your wounds and move on...Russ

Not knowing the entire story, but we used to own a trucking company, and like Russ said, it never ends once it starts. It would take us roughly 10 hires to find a match that would work, at a cost of roughly $10,000 a week when the truck was down, you do the math, we had 5 trucks and 6 trailers and did specialized hauling for the Big 3 before they imploded.
 
Mike

Where did the OP go I bet she never returns...Russ

She may be back, but who knows. I still wonder why her business is down though?

Special Thanks to everyone for all their great information.  Let me add some light to some of your questions.
 
RE:  Seasonal Drop Off of Business
Currently our community views our restaurants as great places to come when the weather is nice and you can take advantage of our outdoor dining.  We get consistently positive reviews on food & service for both concepts, however, when the weather turns bad, our guests tend to stay home more.  This is observed by restaurants city wide, we just have huge swings.  For example, our business in June, July, August runs $200K to $250K and we will come in closer to $100K for October.  That is a huge drop off in just a few weeks.
 
RE:  My other questions
I guess my experience thus far leads me to believe that most Chefs who get all the proper Chef training, don't seem to know a lot about running a business or a team of people.  These skills seem to be left out in most professional training programs.  The same can be said for many other professions (there are a lot of doctors that can't manage their own practices for example).  Do any of you know of any good programs that I can look to for recruiting or training our existing staff?
 
I feel like my biz partner and I have reached the same conclusion as most of you--she probably needs to go.
 
She came from her previous position with glowing accolades and she did address some serious issues regarding our food costs, so she gets it to some degree.  I guess that is why it is so frustrating that she doesn't get the personnel side of things.  One idea my partner and I have considered is to "demote/reposition" her to another title where she is just in charge of food cost and menu development, then hire another manager for payroll--they could handle it for FOH & BOH maybe?  She would obviously have a lower payrate to accommodate another member of the team.  What do you guys think of this idea??
 
As far as trying to drive revenue, I TOTALLY agree with you all on that side as well.  We have some great ideas and time to implement them so we are all cautiously optimistic that this winter will not be as dramatic as the last two.
 
Thanks again for all the feedback

I feel for you, as Clinton would say... But it sounds like that is what you are dealing with as it is tough to hire, or even find a person that understands this simple fact, you are there to make a profit and the managers, EC, need to be on the same page, as you are not there for THEM. Maybe if you cut her into the profit model, giver her a salary and a cut of the kitchen profits, not the bar side if you have one. Maybe that will get her motivated and thinking like one of us evil capitalist pigs.
 
Mike

If she has gone through this cycle of paycuts in the previous two seasons then she should be expecting this. If this is her first season of having a paycut then she rightfully feels that she is getting the short end of the stick. Bottom line as business owners you need to either hire a seasonal chef and learn enough about the kitchen to get through the slow times or put aside revenue to carry your employee expense during the off season. My previous career was as a estimator for a construction company. The winters were always the slow time of the year but never the less I expected to be paid the same. What you don't want is for word to get out that you cannot afford a full time chef. Otherwise every year you will be training a new chef.

see, alot of people don't understand the restaurant side of this. There are two different people in the restaurant world. The owners which funded the place & the chef. The chef is the most influential & important person just about in the whole operation. A good chef cares about what is going on around them. They are the ones who build the clientle. The customers come for the service & the food. The chef runs the kitchen, and pretty much does the ordering and makes sure everything is smooth sailing.
 
If you are cutting back on staff, maybe you can up the salary by a few hundred if possible to compensate for the extra work load. However bear in mind that the chef already has alot on their plate to begin with. Potentially having to sub out some of the work to an understudy or someone. That is a possible new role to bring into the kitchen with the approval of the chef. Since there will be extra workload. an understudy or " intern " looking to break into the restaurant scene would JUMP at the opportunity to study under a successful chef. I know I would.  That would humble & be an honor to most any chef I know.
 
I see alot of people popping up with mobile kitchens having never before done this type of work and offering advice on possible solutions. It makes me grin & smile at the amount of experience they have learned & earned in such a short time. Kudos to them.

*** also be very careful as to cutting salary or decreasing salary due to seasonal work. You might be hearing from the Labor board as in Maryland that is one quick way to get sued not only by the person whos salary you cut, but also by the EEOC.
 
A good chef will pack that house every day to avoid any loss of income too.

Ive been in & out of the food industry all my life. I've worked in banks, mortgage shops, car dealerships, and rotated back into food as it is a highly stressed environment.  Ive seen businesses, restaurants, etc self destruct from the inside out due to having too many chiefs & not enough Indians. To demote someone b/c they don't want to take a paycut & switch positions is rather a slap in the face. IMHO.  I would let her do her thing and part of owning a business is to weather the slow season and take the hit, Its very hard finding good help. 

THE WILD DOG


see, alot of people don't understand the restaurant side of this. There are two different people in the restaurant world. The owners which funded the place & the chef. The chef is the most influential & important person just about in the whole operation. A good chef cares about what is going on around them. They are the ones who build the clientle. The customers come for the service & the food. The chef runs the kitchen, and pretty much does the ordering and makes sure everything is smooth sailing.

If you are cutting back on staff, maybe you can up the salary by a few hundred if possible to compensate for the extra work load. However bear in mind that the chef already has alot on their plate to begin with. Potentially having to sub out some of the work to an understudy or someone. That is a possible new role to bring into the kitchen with the approval of the chef. Since there will be extra workload. an understudy or " intern " looking to break into the restaurant scene would JUMP at the opportunity to study under a successful chef. I know I would.  That would humble & be an honor to most any chef I know.

I see alot of people popping up with mobile kitchens having never before done this type of work and offering advice on possible solutions. It makes me grin & smile at the amount of experience they have learned & earned in such a short time. Kudos to them.

 
I'll take your last comment as a compliment (the trailer guy), as I cannot imagine what this EC and owner are going through as I think this thread through. I have owned a trucking company, a takeout, and now work out of a trailer, and all were/are overwhelming at times. I personally think that if I were doing the numbers that the op is speaking of, that I would add an incentive related to the quarterly profits, the more profits, the more the EC would make. As a business owner myself, if I had to give up an extra 5% (pick you number) to make an extra 20% or 30% (again, pick your number), I would personally consider it a win win just to have the desired harmony. Just saying.

as you should Mike. I'm a trailer guy too. I tend to stay away from the snarky comment postings. It just derails the topic & frustrates everyone.

you need a chef that worked there way up the ranks plus schooling now people go to for profit schools  which rip you off and tell
you you are a master chef . if you start washing dishes then prep then cook .like when you had to apprentice for years.then go to a
good school like cia or j&w non profit they teach biz classes. also have a budget tied to bunuses mounthly so the chef knows whats
up if the chef cant staff or budget you need a new one.the chef is not just the head cook they run the whole boh operation.saving
money every where staffing,purchasing.energy.plus come up with ways to increase biz.like cooking classes ,wine dinners,game dinners.
theam nights,etc if they arent on the team get one who is.   and tell them up front how it works and what the budget is and the goals that are to be meet.the chef is a biz executive
not just the food person

See there are 3 kinds of people in our world. Book smart people who lack common sense. ( its a proven statistic) street smart people who aren't that smart book wise, but could survive in just about any situation & always make money.  Then there is the one with both. Me personally. I would prefer to hire someone with experience rather than a college education that says they completed a course on " How to do it "  The cert is a great thing to have but unless you have experience, it's like having that shiny new sportscar everyone wants but no gas to go anywhere.

A manager is only as good as the people they hire. And you must hire people that are better than you. You also cant expect people to be something they are not or don't have the tools to do it. Turning your head or demanding that they perform a task wont change it. If they are a great Chef and the patrons love the food then try to find someone else to fill there voids. I run a very large service company. My staff is the reason I am successfull. I am the weakest link in most areas. I will never be able to type with all fingers or balance the books. I am very good at finding talent and utilizing it. The same thing would apply to a restaurant and the chef. If the Chef is talented and I mean really talented see if there is a way to support them with someone else. Hire an assistant, a retired Executive Chef only looking for partime work might bridge the gap and streamline the process. If the food is great you should be able to fix the other stuff. Great Food is the tough part. Put yourself in the shoes of the Chef and try to determine what is needed to succeed. Sit down with her and ask how she would like to be helped. Make her part of the decision. She knows her shortcomings and weaknesses. Never try to make someone something they are not. You must know your limitations and the limitations of your People. Sometimes you have to push the great ones pretty far to find it. Great help is very hard to find and it is even tougher to keep it....Russ

THE WILD DOG


See there are 3 kinds of people in our world. Book smart people who lack common sense. ( its a proven statistic) street smart people who aren't that smart book wise, but could survive in just about any situation & always make money.  Then there is the one with both. Me personally. I would prefer to hire someone with experience rather than a college education that says they completed a course on " How to do it "  The cert is a great thing to have but unless you have experience, it's like having that shiny new sportscar everyone wants but no gas to go anywhere.

 
Well said and very true. Give me a maverick that worked his way up the ranks or the guy that just has the natural talent. I heard a story on the radio the other day, Boeing, a tool and die guy, he could not read or write but could build anything you threw in front of him, he WAS the go to guy when everyone else was stumped. He worked there for thirty some years before he retired and his secret was never discovered by management. He more than earned his bacon, and like you said in so many words, a piece of paper is just that, a piece of paper. One needs some simple understanding of the job at hand, and a passion to complete the mission. My Navy Corpsman side... Oooh Rah! The Marine side...
 
Mike
 

I would agree, most Chefs lack the skills on managing employees. They lack the skill of hiring and firing and most of the time are to hot headed when firing the kitchen staff. I put my Chefs on incentives for Sanitation 100% Quality performance review done by my client. Food cost and labor cost incentive and sales goals incentive. I want the Chef not only cooking good food, but always thinking of how they can improve the menu, keep costs in line and not have to much labor around when its not needed. I want them managing the kitchen, WHO knows the kitchen better then them ??????????? I tell my Chefs, if you want more money, earn it. The incentives should be a food cost and labor cost agreed on and put into a contract. I also give all my employee a Christmas Bonus, just because I'm a nice freaking guy.........Bill

It is a team sport, owners, management and employees, and there will be injuries. But, the bottom line is to keep the franchise intact and complete the mission, which is to stay profitable. The true odyssey is to find the right individuals to make it all work, which is much easier said than done. Been there and done that, and failed but learning. Business is not easy, and this new bunch that we have to deal with in the work force is truly beyond belief as they now look at the outfit paying their bills as the enemy, and I will leave it at that.
 
Mike

Indy, I am a firm believer that all permanent employees should have their income tied, to some degree, to the bottom line. This makes operating at a profit a team effort. I have first hand seen my profits increase after my permanent employees started watching the bottom line. A surprising thing to me was how differently they treated the temporary employees. They wanted all players on their team to preform at their best. Why?... because it made a difference in how much money went home in their pockets.
 
Finding a way to increase your off season profits would, for sure, be a good thing to work on. But... many business have peak times when they need more help. The Christmas holidays are good example for many retailers. An easy saloution is to hire your peek season employees on a temporary basis. They know they are temporary and so does management. Everyone is happy when peak season is over that way.
 
Ownership, in any new business, always has a learning curve. My advice, keep that good EC and let her know your ideas of how peak, and off seasons, will be addressed in the future. And make her as interested in the bottom line as you are. It takes everyone to make a successful team.
 
Hope this helps and keep us posted.
Joe

the retired ex chef is a good idea check with the acf look for old school chefs they know whats up. one who worked there way up through the ranks
that is what you need  a degree from a good school is just the cherry on top. also if you can find a chef that had his own place they would understand bottom line management and not think they are a prima donna artist who is to good to wash dishes,prep etc. the chef should do anything that needs to be done at any time all the time. a doller saved is thee dollers in sales so every penny counts. most new chefs dont know what work is that if you have to work 60 or 70 hrs or from thanksgiving to new years with no days off you do whats
got to be done for the biz. thats why you are called the chef . its you money so you dont whant to be friends there are no friends in biz

I must say that this Forum is absolutely GREAT.  I've read lots of great suggestions and, frankly, affirmations of what my instincts are telling anyway.
 
SOOOO, I have a new question:
 
What kinds of incentive programs have worked for your groups re: payroll and cost management?
 
I have many years in the restaurant biz, but they were more corporate, so there was no room for creativity--you just did what came from home office.  My other background in in retail management and I was VERY motivated by our incentive programs there.  Now that I am an owner, the situation I want to avoid in an incentive for payroll compliance is this--when I was a manager in retail, and you got to the end of the month/quarter and you knew that you were close to your goal, you would cut your payroll to less than bare bones so you'd get your incentive.  Managers win, customers lose because it would kill execution for those last few days.
 
Does anyone out there have a program they are currently using that avoids this debacle?  Also, I assume everyone ties their incentive programs to PROFITS and not necessarily revenue.
 
Thanks again--
 
PS I love the retired chef idea.  Thanks for that.  Do you think that we'll have to manage some "territory" issue with our current EC?  Chefs can be notoriously territorial--like labor and delivery nurses!!

a good chef welcomes any skilled help a chef who has some thing to fear or hide will not. if i can have the help of a master chef it would be welcom .inferior chefs  think they know it all and it would not work. the ec is still the boss but should use all the good help he can get
the older chefs have done it befor and have nothing to prove .they just   want to work in the biz its in your blood and hard to give up completly. the kitchen has a chain of comand like the military an  older part time chef would be like a 30 yr sargent but still under the capt.