Some thoughts on longevity for independent restaurants: Everyone knows how hard longevity is in the restaurant industry; most of us understand that the statistical average life of a restaurant is unnaturally short due to the number of restaurants that fold in their first few years. The ones that make it past four or five years […]
During my first year of college I worked at a corporate steak and seafood restaurant at the Maine Mall. It was a dead end job, but they had a great Christmas party. For summer I hit up a brother of a friend from my home town, Lynn Pressey, who was and still is the Executive […]
There has always been some tension between culinary grads and those who have learned solely from chefs in the field. I have worked side by side with cooks and chefs from both sides and I do believe there are benefits to some good professional instruction. I also believe professional instruction is not necessary in order […]
When I left Al the Greek I got a job at a really well known place. It was called The Silent Woman and its sign had a medieval looking pub scene which prominently featured a kind of busty waitress with no head serving some jolly men — I always thought it a Henry VIII reference. […]
The worst thing you can do in business is to fall in love with your own ideas. This is an issue for all of us who are self-employed, but it’s especially common in the restaurant business. It has happened to me more than once. Often it has led me down a road of narrowing options. […]
Al was a Greek chef. I worked for him a couple of years after Dave, but still early in my career. After the music camp, I had worked at a couple of family style restaurants. One was a pancake house. They had a great breakfast; three of us could slam out 1000 meals on any […]
