Hospitality Folks

When a chef is “in the weeds", it means they are falling behind. It happens all the time: a colleague calls out sick and kitchens are usually so short staffed that the rest of the team needs to pick up the slack. Chef Franklin’s approach to breaking through is to just ‘keep moving’. “I’ve never had to look for a job, people just kept teaching me things and opportunities opened up. One time I was cooking at 3 different restaurants. I just want to cook excellent food and keep learning.”

Diego in the foreground is making the universal signal for “I need help" meant to communicate with colleagues from across the restaurant. Diego left a finance job in Mexico City to learn English in the USA. His first job was a busser at a 24-hour diner and five years later he became a manager of a restaurant. “I wish the day had 28 hours. I wish I could grow 8 arms from my body. My cousin asked, ‘your English is pretty good now, what if you went back to finance?’ It never occurred to me to go back. Hospitality chose me.”

“I grew up in a big multicultural family: dad is Chinese-Peruvian, mom is Japanese-Peruvian, cousins married into different cultures: Indian, Cuban, Dominican, Nicaraguans, and I watched everyone in the family cook different cuisines.” As a child Irene was “inquieta”, someone who couldn’t stay still. Her love for food and desire to explore other cultures lead her to culinary school and eventually some of the most demanding kitchens in Miami and Chicago.

On a rainy day at an art fair at Plumber’s Union Hall, it seemed like none of the vendors sold a thing, among them was David T Kim who brought several hundred-pound boxes of his ceramics. Ten minutes until closing, vendors began to pack up their booths. David decided to stay. A man loomed about and walked close enough for David to approach. "What's up, I'm David! These are the ceramics I make. They're microwave & dishwasher safe." The man replied, "Sweet! You got 24 of these dishes on you?" This was Chef Michael Carlson of Michelin-starred restaurant, Schwa, David's first restaurant commission. Since then David makes wares for 40 restaurants in the Chicago area and he still sells at art fairs where you can bring home his handmade creations.

What drew Billy to restaurants were the dedicated and intelligent people who wouldn’t fit in other industries. “It’s a merit-based field where anyone can try, same as pool. It's hard work under high pressure conditions.” Among the hundreds of managerial tasks Billy was overseeing each day, he still made time to be a confidant to his colleagues. “A good service team needs a willingness to cooperate and help each other night after night. There’s no shortcuts, no faking it. Honesty is a quality that I really value.”

Fine dining restaurants tend to be “boys clubs” and there are even less women in positions of leadership. “I wore my first suit working at a fine dining restaurant. I learned to be disciplined, how to be detail-oriented, aced my wine training and learned how to be a leader. When I greet a table, it’s important to introduce myself as their captain, the liaison between the guests and the staff.”

With food costs and operating costs going up, David hopes his fear doesn't come true: that dining out will only be for special occasions (except for the wealthy). "I hope restaurant patrons don't take restaurants for granted. Restaurants and bars are among the few social spaces we have left that haven't been taken over by Starbucks."