Good Chef Manager

Behind every successful restaurant is a good chef manager. Quality food may not be enough to sustain a thriving food establishment. Management of the kitchen is essential to producing an operation that delivers consistently excellent food in a timely manner to customers. A good chef manager understands the components needed for success. This includes catering to the customer, managing the team responsible for specific areas of the kitchen, sharing knowledge with staff, bringing together various teams within the restaurant and maintaining high safety and sanitary standards. 

1. • Know your customers and what sells well at your restaurant. Allow flexibility and creativity with your menu, and change it based on what customers prefer. Try out specials and new items, and allow flexibility when customers have special requests or ask for items not on the menu. Cater to your customers and maintain a consistent, high-quality of food served.
     
   • Implement and organize food stations with capable staff who understand timing and how a food line operates. Recognize when someone cannot keep up with the pace and make changes to keep the line running smoothly. Offer support and step in when areas are not producing food in a timely manner or when it does not meet quality standards. Determine which staff member does well in a particular station. For example, a new or slow cook may be best at a salad or appetizer station, while an experienced sous chef should be responsible for menu specials.
     
   • Share your knowledge with your staff, including your food knowledge, cooking skills and recipes. Ensure both kitchen and wait staff are fully trained on menu items, timing and how to deliver orders to the kitchen. Eliminate confusion by closely managing the process, which entails the wait staff providing an order to the kitchen, the kitchen cooking the order and the wait staff then delivering the finished product to the customer.
     
   • Meet regularly with your team. Occasionally, include front-of-house management and wait staff in your team meetings. A good chef manager understands that all of the areas of the restaurant must work together, as team players, to contribute toward a successful restaurant. If management and wait staff are on the same page as the kitchen, food will be served quickly, and operations will run smoothly. Chef managers recognize that teamwork is critical to the overall success of the establishment.
     
   • Maintain safety and sanitary standards in your kitchen. Be prepared for a Department of Health inspection at any time. Set standards in your kitchen to comply with safety regulations and conduct internal inspections to ensure your staff comply with these standards. Check food, food cases and freezer temperatures several times daily to regulate proper safe food temperatures.
     

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Coffee Shop Bakery

A coffee shop bakery can be a local hotspot at all hours of the day. Business professionals wanting a good cup of coffee and a relaxed atmosphere will fill the seats in the morning and afternoon hours to talk business -- or escape from the office. At night, these shops can be the destination for young urbanites wanting to meet up with friends. You can open your own coffee shop bakery with a creative theme and a well-conceived business plan.

1. • Write your business plan. Think critically to answer basic questions about your coffee shop bakery. Items needing immediate decisions are acquisition of capital items, operating budget, positions to be filled, menu and advertising needs. These items will give you an accurate assessment of how much money you will need each month to pay the bills.
     
   • Contact prospective investors, if you need financial assistance. Show your business plan to your close friends, business partners or lending institutions to demonstrate you are prepared to execute the idea and be successful. Ensure any commitment is put into writing for legal protection.
     
   • Negotiate a lease or purchase agreement for the location you want. This space should be large enough to handle the business aspects of your plan; for example, the kitchen will need to be large enough to accommodate ovens, stand mixers, coffee grinders, freezers, and work spaces. Also, consider whether the customer area will be large enough for the number of people you expect to serve.
     
   • Contact your local health department to arrange for a food service license and inspection. Acquire a copy of any local health regulations to keep on hand in the coffee shop, and ask whether the department will offer food-safety training for your employees prior to your grand opening.
     
   • Acquire capital items, hire employees and finalize issues related to design, marketing and menu. Purchase plates, cups, wall hangings and other items to support your theme, and work with a sign maker or graphic designer on your logo.
     
   • Invite friends and business partners to a test night just prior to opening. This will allow you to examine how the business operates and make necessary adjustments before your real opening.
     

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Restaurant Job Goals

Working with fire and knives in a fast-paced environment may seem like enough excitement for a beginning prep cook fresh from culinary school, but veteran restaurant workers often have other aspirations. Although the job titles and responsibilities differ, setting job goals is as important to restaurant staff as it is to office workers. Knowing whether you're aiming for chef de cuisine or for the business side of the venture can help you set your sights. 

1. Executive Chef

   • Not all restaurants have an executive chef, but corporate restaurants, cruise ships, hotels and restaurant chains typically have one or many executive chefs. Executive chefs may spend little time in a particular restaurant, instead traveling to oversee multiple locales. Celebrity chefs generally hold this title, earning their position after decades of work to build a family of restaurants. Executive chefs are responsible for determining the overall direction of a number of restaurants, hiring managers and creating menus. This restaurant role pays well, but places heavy responsibility on the executive chef. Some executive chefs may miss the opportunity to spend more time in the kitchen.
     

   Head Chef

   • The head chef is the ruler of a restaurant that has no executive chef. Responsible for everything from managerial decisions to creating the menu to preparing the food to devising attractive plating styles, a head chef's job requires a broad array of skills. Restaurant workers rarely reach the goal of becoming a head chef without years of kitchen experience and often at least a year of front-of-house experience as a waiter or maitre d'hotel. While some head chefs may eventually decide to become executive chefs, others prefer to remain more integrated with the kitchen. Sous chefs and line cooks who aspire to become head chefs should focus on perfecting their cooking techniques, developing their managerial skills, understanding food costs versus plate prices and keeping abreast of culinary trends.
     

   Sous Chef

   • If the head chef is the ruler of the restaurant, the sous chef is that ruler's trusted general. Responsible for managing the kitchen on a daily basis and maintaining quality control, a sous chef takes charge of the hands-on preparation and service of the food. Aspiring chefs whose passion is food itself, not the restaurant around it, may prefer to remain sous chefs so they can be a vital part of the hustle of kitchen life without having to concern themselves with hiring and firing staff or dealing with food costs.
     

   Manager

   • Like any business, restaurants need managers. The chefs and line cooks supply the creative talent, while the staff in the front of the house -- the waiters, bartenders and hosts -- provide the welcoming service that keeps patrons coming back. Managers forge a link between the front of the house and the back of the house as well as handling the day-to-day office work of paying bills and keeping records. Managers also hire and fire restaurant staff, provide customer service, and fill in when the restaurant is shorthanded. Prospective restaurant managers must pay attention to details, be highly organized, enjoy variety at work and feel comfortable dealing with a broad spectrum of personalities.
     

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