The Culinary Conundrum

Christopher Kline, Sr. Manager of Food Service Culinary, Tyson Foods

This is my second attempt at writing an op-ed piece about the current culinary situation. My first attempt needed a re-write after I asked a friend, and fellow Chef, to read it back to me. Their facial reactions spoke volumes. I let this task simmer for a day and then re-read the piece. It wasn’t completely terrible, but I realized I was singing the same collective song and dance we’ve all been hearing in the news about inflation, labor shortages, and supply shortages. It made me sound like a corporate and media mouthpiece, not a once-BAMF cook/chef.  I had long-winded versions of future predictions. My calculus was impressive. But, like a sauce pot to the skull, it hit me that, as I have crisscrossed the country, I need to be true to what I see and hear and to simply tell it as I’ve seen it.  I am the Voice of the Operator. 

So, what do I share with my fellow chefs who continue to fight the restaurant struggles post-covid? Do I need to remind them that their careers, their families, and their staffs depend on them?  

Surely not they know that, and that weight is heavy enough without going any deeper into it here. But even though a restaurant’s profit margin is rarely in the double digits (a concept that would shock the general public), and even though we’re still fighting the aftermath of a battle that started more than two-and-a-half years ago, I exhort them to keep moving, driving, pushing and crawling forward. The battle for our livelihoods continues, and everyone in this industry needs each other more now than ever. What fellow chefs ask me is, “What do we do now?” It's a question I hear often. My answer? It’s time to put our egos on the back burner. We need to exercise flexibility in how we train staff and examine skill sets and then apply new training techniques to advance the learning process. We need to look at our pantries differently, place inventory limits and analyze every ingredient in the kitchen. We also need to ask ourselves questions like:

“We need to exercise flexibility in how we train staff and examine skill sets and then apply new training techniques to advance the learning process.”

• Which ingredients are most versatile?
• Are there ingredients that can be cooked by less skilled cooks?
• Are Sous Vide or fully cooked options available and do they meet our standards?

Not so good – Here’s some uncomfortable news. It may get tougher before we feel a sense of recovery. Again, we need to support each other and think outside the box.

And here is GOOD news! We are a special group of artisans, a special breed. Who else would sign up for a job that requires 60 to 100 hours weekly? Like the last few Cheerios® cereal in the bowl, chefs and other food service-related staff need to stick together. Remember, this is not a forever situation, and we need to make adjustments to survive.

Tecumseh, a Shawnee warrior chief, once said, “A single twig will break, but the bundle of twigs is strong.”

Keep in mind these important aspects of food, which can be easy to forget when you’re in the trenches and “the weeds”:

• Food builds connections and brings people together
• It makes people smile
• When made with love, food always tastes better

Make people happy. It is truly what we are really all looking for – to be HAPPY. It starts with the people standing right next to you: your staff and loved ones. I’ll leave everyone with this little tidbit of wisdom. It is what my great-grandmother taught me about life and food: “Hoc est omnia cacas cras.” It is Latin, and you will need to translate it for the correct verbiage (which will make you smile, guaranteed) it is loosely translated = stop taking ourselves so seriously, to slow down enough to enjoy the small things. Things that seem insurmountable one day, are nothing the next.