I feel like some of the tension in this season would have been mitigated if someone, ANYONE had sat Carmie down and explained "We are not the French Laundry. We do not have an (effectively) unlimited budget and an (effectively) endless workforce of hyper dedicated employees. We may get there someday but we need to start with what we have. We can get good reviews and stabilize our finances while still serving high quality and exceptional food without trying to be something we are not."
On tipping: I am of the mind that the business should be able to pay their staff a living wage without tips. Raise prices 20% if you have to. Personally I worked at a café where we did that to our menu and then stopped taking tips and it was a massive improvement. Wages and sales went up, and I would say approx 90% of guests were happy with the change.
In a perfect world this would be great but I guarantee a large portion of servers would straight up leave if they didn’t make a tipped income and get a different job. A “living wage” doesn’t actually mean anything and if you’re a server at even a slightly upscale restaurant (or just work at a restaurant with high volume) it makes much more sense to work somewhere with the potential of making $25-$40 or even more per hour as opposed to always making a fixed rate of I don’t know, $20 (for example). I’m a server and I would nope the fuck out of I made a solid $20 an hour instead of having the chance to make $300-$500 in one night. Another problem is restaurants already have a lot of trouble just keeping the lights on (no thanks to the government extorting business just to exist) so if they all had to suddenly pay a large percentage more in wages most of them would just run with a lighter staff in order to still make a profit which means you’re just pricing people out of the job they want. This is simple economics really.
in honesty, i dont think a business can typically anticipate cost of living, especially during inflation. i am very concerned of hyper concentrated ownership systems as well
The problem with the tipping question is there is not one correct answer. I've been working in kitchens my whole adult life. The type of restraunt directly affects how the tipping (should) work. High end places I understand the service charge to pay each employee a liveable wage. Chains and local places live off of tips and many servers that I've worked with thrive off of tips on a busy Friday and Saturday and make more in 2 days than I make in a week. Where I'm at now we compromise and cooks get a percentage tip based on how busy it is. The more food we put out, the bigger tip the servers pay the cooks. I dunno. There's no one right answer it's circumstantial.
On tipping: The business should pay their staff a living wage before tips, always. However, I have always recieved a share of tips working back of house. I personally feel that tips should be split equally between the entire hourly staff. There's no reason that a server should be taking home as much annually as a cook if they're only working half the hours. The positions are comparable effort. There's a restaurant in New York that doesn't differentiate between front and back of house. Everyone serves, everyone cooks, and it's just better.
These breakdowns have been enormously helpful in understanding particulars of the show. Thanks for focusing early on the contract--Sydney neglecting it was such a bothersome issue for me in this season.
I love your videos Justin. You are so talented. Not just in the kitchen, but your editing of the videos, it's so well done and noticed. Well done brother!
I recently went to a restaurant in LA that had a "No Tipping" policy and it threw me off. I'm sure they have it worked out, but it was such a strange feeling to see it! Great video, Justin!
Leaving tipping out of it because as a European, the American tipping culture isn't something for me to give input on, the $175 price for a 9 course menu is, in my opinion, super cheap. There is a 1 star restaurant close to where I live where the 6 course tasting menu starts at €165 and becomes €235 when adding the wine pairing to the menu. So having a 9 course menu by a restaurant that is aiming for a star, led by a world renowned chef costing $175 which equates to ±€160 is amazingly cheap. (Even with tipping, which I guess is by default like 20% or something? The price would be 210 dollars, so about 190 euro. A steal.)
Tripping: I’ve only received tips in the BOH when the restaurants a buy out or it was so busy and we’ve been weeded out for 2 plus hours the owners will throw a few extra bucks on the following payday
21:18 “Come to me, I will still give you the preferential pricing” Suddenly I’m imaging a scene at the Farmer’s Market where a vendor is racist and doesn’t believe Tina has a corporate account. Obviously she has to tell Carmen why she doesn’t have all the stuff, and eventually Richie goes out to the market with her to set the record straight It’s an easy plot, but I’d love to see it
If you ever get to Chciago again head to Roister Best meal ever had!! We had the 10 course tasting meal while listneing to pink floyd best " fine dining" experience eve!!
I've had good & bad experiences. Obviously in an ideal scenario, the lawyer is providing good council regardless of who they're helping, but there ends up being all sorts of issues when there's a conflict of interest. I've also gotten value from acknowledging the difference between having a lawyer do the work to draw up the contract vs look at an already existing contract. The former is typically very involved, takes time, etc. The latter is quicker and can often call out issues that need to be addressed and then they can just advise you on the language that the contract needs to be updated with (and is often surprisingly affordable...TBH I've also asked friend's lawyers to look at things and they've been gracious enough to just do it in exchange for dinner from me). Some lawyers also look it at this "pro bono" work as effectively lead nurturing for their business via reciprocity. Said differently: if they help you with this first contract, when it comes time for you to need a dedicated lawyer for your business, you'll work with them.
Were you ever in orbit of Anita Lo? She removed tipping at Annisa in 2016 about a year before the restaurant closed for I believe financial reasons. I think she was ahead of her time. It's always been a point of contention (e.g. Reservoir Dogs' opening scene), but I think the anti-social Square tip screen, tip creep (12%, no 15%, no 20%, now 20% but also we have a 4% surcharge for healthcare on top of sales tax), and the disproportionate amount of food and service inflation relative to overall inflation have made a growing number of people sour at the idea / wake up to the fact that it's weird that one subsection of the service industry gets a bonus for performing the minimum required responsibilities of their job. Anyway, I gravitate toward places that don't allow tipping. For me, higher cost or lower quality is preferable to constantly computing 1.3x (now approaching 1.35x) listed prices in my head and feeling ripped off, or the guilt associated with not providing a tip. Also I'm realistically just eating out less.
I feel like some of the tension in this season would have been mitigated if someone, ANYONE had sat Carmie down and explained "We are not the French Laundry. We do not have an (effectively) unlimited budget and an (effectively) endless workforce of hyper dedicated employees. We may get there someday but we need to start with what we have. We can get good reviews and stabilize our finances while still serving high quality and exceptional food without trying to be something we are not."
+1 on this, you right
Yes! I wanted this so desperately
@@justinkhanna
Hey chef question.... what is the best chef knife roll/bag to buy for a professional chef in 2024/2025 in your opinion ?
On tipping: I am of the mind that the business should be able to pay their staff a living wage without tips. Raise prices 20% if you have to. Personally I worked at a café where we did that to our menu and then stopped taking tips and it was a massive improvement. Wages and sales went up, and I would say approx 90% of guests were happy with the change.
In a perfect world this would be great but I guarantee a large portion of servers would straight up leave if they didn’t make a tipped income and get a different job. A “living wage” doesn’t actually mean anything and if you’re a server at even a slightly upscale restaurant (or just work at a restaurant with high volume) it makes much more sense to work somewhere with the potential of making $25-$40 or even more per hour as opposed to always making a fixed rate of I don’t know, $20 (for example). I’m a server and I would nope the fuck out of I made a solid $20 an hour instead of having the chance to make $300-$500 in one night. Another problem is restaurants already have a lot of trouble just keeping the lights on (no thanks to the government extorting business just to exist) so if they all had to suddenly pay a large percentage more in wages most of them would just run with a lighter staff in order to still make a profit which means you’re just pricing people out of the job they want. This is simple economics really.
in honesty, i dont think a business can typically anticipate cost of living, especially during inflation. i am very concerned of hyper concentrated ownership systems as well
LOUDER
The problem with the tipping question is there is not one correct answer. I've been working in kitchens my whole adult life. The type of restraunt directly affects how the tipping (should) work. High end places I understand the service charge to pay each employee a liveable wage. Chains and local places live off of tips and many servers that I've worked with thrive off of tips on a busy Friday and Saturday and make more in 2 days than I make in a week. Where I'm at now we compromise and cooks get a percentage tip based on how busy it is. The more food we put out, the bigger tip the servers pay the cooks. I dunno. There's no one right answer it's circumstantial.
QAqA
On tipping: The business should pay their staff a living wage before tips, always. However, I have always recieved a share of tips working back of house. I personally feel that tips should be split equally between the entire hourly staff. There's no reason that a server should be taking home as much annually as a cook if they're only working half the hours. The positions are comparable effort. There's a restaurant in New York that doesn't differentiate between front and back of house. Everyone serves, everyone cooks, and it's just better.
This whole season 3 series of yours will make me want to start working in kitchens lol
If you're here in the comments, make sure you 👍the video if you haven't already! Thanks for watching, folks 🙏
These breakdowns have been enormously helpful in understanding particulars of the show. Thanks for focusing early on the contract--Sydney neglecting it was such a bothersome issue for me in this season.
Love every single breakdown you do!
I love your videos Justin. You are so talented. Not just in the kitchen, but your editing of the videos, it's so well done and noticed. Well done brother!
I cost every single ingredient, very TEDIOUS, but when a new menu rolls out, im confident in the #s will work out.
I recently went to a restaurant in LA that had a "No Tipping" policy and it threw me off.
I'm sure they have it worked out, but it was such a strange feeling to see it!
Great video, Justin!
Been waiting for your review of the rest of the season!!
More to come!
Is it too late to start a culinary school at 22?
No way - I went to school with plenty of folks who were 30+
If I can help in any way, email me or DM me on IG 🙌
I just started at 50, so def not too late
first. love you dude! greetings from germany
Wo in Deutschland ?
Wo in Deutschland?
Grateful to have you watching chef! 👊
These videos make me love working in kitchens. Great work as always!
Why I Don't Say "Heard" (and what to try instead): th-cam.com/video/vZGXDqrfsdA/w-d-xo.html
Leaving tipping out of it because as a European, the American tipping culture isn't something for me to give input on, the $175 price for a 9 course menu is, in my opinion, super cheap.
There is a 1 star restaurant close to where I live where the 6 course tasting menu starts at €165 and becomes €235 when adding the wine pairing to the menu.
So having a 9 course menu by a restaurant that is aiming for a star, led by a world renowned chef costing $175 which equates to ±€160 is amazingly cheap.
(Even with tipping, which I guess is by default like 20% or something? The price would be 210 dollars, so about 190 euro. A steal.)
That michelin manifesto really speaks to me, achieve the dream
Tripping: I’ve only received tips in the BOH when the restaurants a buy out or it was so busy and we’ve been weeded out for 2 plus hours the owners will throw a few extra bucks on the following payday
FINALLY
21:18 “Come to me, I will still give you the preferential pricing”
Suddenly I’m imaging a scene at the Farmer’s Market where a vendor is racist and doesn’t believe Tina has a corporate account. Obviously she has to tell Carmen why she doesn’t have all the stuff, and eventually Richie goes out to the market with her to set the record straight
It’s an easy plot, but I’d love to see it
Finally!
Check my episode 1 breakdown: th-cam.com/video/gns6_4pnv-k/w-d-xo.html
If you ever get to Chciago again head to Roister
Best meal ever had!! We had the 10 course tasting meal while listneing to pink floyd best " fine dining" experience eve!!
Ummm... Episode 1 link. This is episode 3. Where's episode 2?
th-cam.com/video/S1ijcSeXpBw/w-d-xo.html
This is episode 2
Gotcha. Sometimes you list season first, but other times episode first. Sleep deprivation got me on this one. Waiting for the next drop!
Is it true that TK was an intense leader how and why do you think he changed the way he teaches people through out the year!!
Re: Sydney's lawyer - how do you feel about them suggesting she use who is effectively their lawyer? (Pete,they said)
I've had good & bad experiences. Obviously in an ideal scenario, the lawyer is providing good council regardless of who they're helping, but there ends up being all sorts of issues when there's a conflict of interest. I've also gotten value from acknowledging the difference between having a lawyer do the work to draw up the contract vs look at an already existing contract. The former is typically very involved, takes time, etc. The latter is quicker and can often call out issues that need to be addressed and then they can just advise you on the language that the contract needs to be updated with (and is often surprisingly affordable...TBH I've also asked friend's lawyers to look at things and they've been gracious enough to just do it in exchange for dinner from me). Some lawyers also look it at this "pro bono" work as effectively lead nurturing for their business via reciprocity. Said differently: if they help you with this first contract, when it comes time for you to need a dedicated lawyer for your business, you'll work with them.
Were you ever in orbit of Anita Lo? She removed tipping at Annisa in 2016 about a year before the restaurant closed for I believe financial reasons. I think she was ahead of her time. It's always been a point of contention (e.g. Reservoir Dogs' opening scene), but I think the anti-social Square tip screen, tip creep (12%, no 15%, no 20%, now 20% but also we have a 4% surcharge for healthcare on top of sales tax), and the disproportionate amount of food and service inflation relative to overall inflation have made a growing number of people sour at the idea / wake up to the fact that it's weird that one subsection of the service industry gets a bonus for performing the minimum required responsibilities of their job.
Anyway, I gravitate toward places that don't allow tipping. For me, higher cost or lower quality is preferable to constantly computing 1.3x (now approaching 1.35x) listed prices in my head and feeling ripped off, or the guilt associated with not providing a tip. Also I'm realistically just eating out less.
Funnily Tolkien invented the languages first. His love of language is why he wrote fiction, so he could have a world to put it into
Food/chefs with Tolkien love 🤝 This channel
bad video. Rambling from point to point. I only criticize thus for i face the same wall. Say something worth saying or shut up.
What would you like to see discussed in the next video?