Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / Taking Over a Hostile Kitchen | Chef's PSA Podcast Ep. 121

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Taking Over a Hostile Kitchen | Chef's PSA Podcast Ep. 121 · Chef's PSA Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello chefs. This is Chef's PSA podcast.
• 0:02
  I'm your host Andre Natara. On today's episode, we're going
• 0:04
  to talk about Hofthal takeovers in the culinary world.
• 0:08
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  If so, stop what you're doing and go subscribe to that anyway.
• 2:14
  So today's episode is hostile Culinary Takeovers.
• 2:17
  Let me explain what a hostile takeover in the culinary world
• 2:20
  is, or the restaurant world. It's usually when you're coming
• 2:23
  in as a new chef and you're taking over a kitchen, where
• 2:26
  you're taking over a restaurant or group, but it's sudden and
• 2:30
  it's not very welcome. It could mean that the previous
• 2:33
  chef got fired and you're coming in now.
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  It could mean that your group just purchased that group and
• 2:40
  there was a an acquisition of some sort.
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  Or it could be that you're just hired as the new chef and the
• 2:45
  team's been doing a certain way and they're not very welcoming
• 2:47
  of you, but you have to implement change right away.
• 2:50
  This is the hostile takeover. It's walking into a kitchen when
• 2:53
  you're not very welcome. If you've been a chef for a
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  while, you'll know that this is pretty common.
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  It happens all the time. A restaurant group is going to
• 2:59
  buy another restaurant group. They're going to keep the same
• 3:01
  staff. A chef's going to be let go at a
• 3:03
  restaurant. They're going to bring in a new
• 3:05
  chef. Very common.
• 3:07
  Dealing with it, though, requires a little bit of
• 3:10
  planning and strategy to make sure that you do it well and
• 3:14
  that you don't end up causing more harm.
• 3:16
  I've had to do this a couple of times in my career where I've
• 3:19
  taken over as a chef, where the chef that I was taking over for
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  was beloved. They were all very loyal to this
• 3:25
  chef that I was taking over for. And it can be difficult because
• 3:28
  you're trying to implement new standards, new strategies, new
• 3:31
  ways of running the kitchen. And of course you're always
• 3:33
  going to think your way is better, but they're going to
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  hold on to the past. I've also been in positions
• 3:39
  where I've taken over with a larger group.
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  And in this particular case, we were taking over a hotel chain.
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  You were taking over from 1H chain and they were
• 3:48
  transitioning the flag to this new hotel group.
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  And I had to go in as a sous chef and be the acting executive
• 3:54
  chef. What was really difficult about
• 3:56
  that situation was not only did they fire the previous chef, but
• 4:01
  they brought me in who was this young gun hotshot sous chef that
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  was going to change the world and make everything better while
• 4:09
  they were searching for an executive chef.
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  So not only did all the culinary staff not like me, I had to get
• 4:16
  them to drink the kool-aid. And the transition happened
• 4:18
  overnight from one day to the next.
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  So one day you're doing business with one company, the next day
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  you're doing business with another company.
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  And it needs to feel like it's seamless, right?
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  But it's not because I'm trying to implement standards from the
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  company that's coming in, noticing all the bad habits.
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  And it's a tough situation to be in.
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  I recall the vice president of the company walking through the
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  kitchen and seeing someone mixing a salad without gloves.
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  It was like day one or day 2. And they pulled me off to the
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  side and they say, Andre, fire that one.
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  It's like, that was the sous chef.
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  That was the sous chef of the place that we were taking over
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  and the VP walks in. It just says fire that one.
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  They're not wearing gloves. That's not up to our standards.
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  And it puts me in a tough spot because I know it's already
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  difficult. You're already not welcome.
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  You're already trying to get through the day-to-day
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  operation, and I'm having to let go of someone based on a whim
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  because of VP. Their pet peeve happened to be
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  exposed in that moment. One of the things that you
• 5:21
  really have to look out for is going to be the team that's
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  being very resistant to change. They're not going to want to
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  change because you say so. Anything that you do to
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  implement change is not only disrespectful to the previous
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  chef that was there, but it also challenges the way that they've
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  been doing things. And no one likes to be raw.
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  But what you're basically saying is do it my way because the old
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  way that you've been doing it for God knows how long is wrong.
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  It's the incorrect way. I want you to do it this way.
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  You're going to meet a lot of resistance.
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  You're going to want to question things.
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  You're going to say things that are going to insult the previous
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  regime. The current team that's there is
• 5:55
  loyal to the previous regime. You may think they're loyal to
• 5:58
  you, but they're not. They've spent X amount of years
• 6:01
  working under the previous chef or working with the previous
• 6:04
  company. And here you come in basically
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  shitting all over everything, telling them how your way is
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  better. And it may not be right.
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  They're going to be resistant to change.
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  You're going to implement something, You're going to walk
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  away. You're going to come back.
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  It's going to be right back to the way it was before.
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  You're going to think you fixed the problem only to realize that
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  all the work you put into something has completely
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  regressed. The second you took a day off,
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  you're going to start to notice little bits of sabotage going on
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  in the kitchen. I could tell you that in one
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  particular place that I had taken over.
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  Never in my career had I seen this before and never had they
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  ever seen it in that restaurant that I had taken over.
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  General manager comes back, has a salad and pulls out a rusty
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  nail from the salad and says the guest found a rusty nail in the
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  salad and it was huge. Like it was obvious that it was
• 6:56
  in there. And of course when you ask who
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  who did this, oh, I don't know, but I don't know how that
• 7:00
  happened. No one knows what happened.
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  Never happened before the 2nd. I get there and they don't like
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  me. Who?
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  Which by the way, I was a little bit naive thinking that they did
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  like me. I'm like, oh, I got them one
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  over. They love me.
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  They did it. They're putting Rusty the Hells
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  in the salad trying to get me fired.
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  Cooks that have been there forever coming up she's and
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  saying, I've seen 100 chefs come and go just like you.
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  You won't last. They don't want you there.
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  You're not welcome, but you have to implement effective change.
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  Then there's that one person in the kitchen that's coming up and
• 7:32
  say, hey chef, can I talk to you for a minute?
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  And they pull you into the office and they tell you, oh,
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  this one you got to watch out for.
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  This one's stealing. He should really watch out for
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  those two. They always do this that and the
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  other, they want to rat every single person in the kitchen
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  out. That's the one that you actually
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  have to watch out for. The person that comes to you on
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  day one trying to get all their enemies fired because they're
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  looking at it as an opportunity to get in good with the new chef
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  because most likely they weren't in good with the previous
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  regime. Take the information with a
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  grain of salt. It's probably true, but they're
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  only giving you one side of the story.
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  They are also probably partaking and all the bad behavior as
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  well. They just don't want to tell you
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  their side. So you got to be very cautious
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  of these people who immediately buddy up to you and want to give
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  you all the information, right? Take the information but be
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  cautious. Another thing that you have to
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  watch out for is where is the old chef or the old company?
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  Where did they wind up? Where did they go?
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  Did they open up a restaurant down the block?
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  Did they move out of town? They're going to take your
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  people, I promise you. They're going to call up the
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  cooks that work in that kitchen, the sous chefs, and you're going
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  to ask them, do you plan on leaving?
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  Do you plan on going with the chef?
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  Oh, no, no, no, no. I want to stay here.
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  I didn't like them tell you whatever you want to hear.
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  They got to keep their job. It's still uncertain where
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  they're going to end up. So they're going to tell you to
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  your face that they're not leaving, but on the back end,
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  they're interviewing and they're trying to go with the old chef
• 9:01
  to the new place, right? And then one day you're going to
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  walk in and they're going to say, sorry, chef, I'm leaving.
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  I thought you told me you weren't going to leave.
• 9:08
  No, no, sorry. More money.
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  Whatever the case may be, little by little you'll start to see an
• 9:15
  exodus from your kitchen. They're not loyal to you.
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  Don't be fooled early on knowing that the old chef is going to
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  most likely take a couple of your employees.
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  You need to be prepared. You need to start stacking your
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  kitchen up with some of your loyalists because you need
• 9:30
  people that know your system that you're going to implement,
• 9:32
  right? The more people that get it, the
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  quicker you'll be able to get to your destination.
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  But it's like starting from scratch.
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  You don't know how many bad habits you're going to break.
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  You don't know where all the bodies are buried, all the
• 9:43
  skeletons in the closet. You'll solve one problem only to
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  realize that there was two more behind that one causing it.
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  You'll drive yourself crazy trying to solve everything right
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  away. You have to look out for
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  sabotage. You have to look out for people
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  leaving you high and dry with notice, without notice.
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  Then sometimes there's the chef who left, who still likes to
• 10:02
  play puppet master for the staff that's there behind the scenes
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  making moves. They're still calling,
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  contradicting the advice that you're giving them or the
• 10:11
  direction that you want to take the restaurant now, right?
• 10:14
  You're meeting resistance. I'll tell you, taking over a
• 10:16
  place, especially coming in after a chef that everyone
• 10:20
  loved, is very difficult. It's not fun at all.
• 10:24
  I've been in situations where you've worked a few months with
• 10:26
  people and you're like, you know what?
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  I think they're starting to like me.
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  I think they finally respect me as much as the previous person.
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  And you feel like you've built this camaraderie with this team.
• 10:37
  They're your SU chef. They're your exact SU or some of
• 10:40
  your line coaches. You're like, you know what?
• 10:41
  I have their loyalty. And then they hit you with, oh,
• 10:44
  I'm quitting. I'm going to go to the other
• 10:45
  place. I'm going to go work with them.
• 10:47
  They finally landed on their feet.
• 10:48
  Happens every time. And you're shocked by it because
• 10:51
  you're like, I thought I was the homie now, right?
• 10:55
  Nope. Not only are they leaving, but
• 10:56
  they're also taking all the new things that you taught them and
• 10:59
  showing them to the chef, right? All your recipes, all your
• 11:01
  standards, everything that you put into the kitchen to make it
• 11:05
  more efficient. They're not leaving with that
• 11:07
  and giving it to the old chef or the new chef.
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  Anyway, we digress. You know what I meant?
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  So what do you do if you're in a situation like this?
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  If you go into a situation where you're taking over in a hostile
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  situation, the first thing that you need to do.
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  But if you can afford this, right, if you could truly afford
• 11:24
  to do this, I would re interview everyone for their position
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  again, Just say, hey, it's a new company, it's a new restaurant,
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  it's a new direction. We want to re interview
• 11:34
  everyone. If you have the opportunity to
• 11:36
  do that and everywhere, you might not have the opportunity
• 11:39
  to do that depending on where you live, rules, laws,
• 11:41
  companies. But if you can do that, if you
• 11:45
  could bring in your team, that would even be better.
• 11:48
  It's a little bit safer. You at least know what you're
• 11:50
  getting when you re interview the people.
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  Find out. Treat it just like a real job
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  interview. Make them cook a little bit, see
• 11:57
  their skills, talk to them. Make sure that you think that
• 11:59
  they're going to be a good part of your kitchen culture, right?
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  If they are a good fit, just because they worked under the
• 12:05
  previous regime doesn't mean that they're going to be a bad
• 12:07
  fit for you, right? So re interview them and make
• 12:09
  sure that you are rebuilding the team.
• 12:11
  It's OK to tell some of them, you know what, this is just not
• 12:15
  going to be a good fit moving forward.
• 12:17
  If you can't interview them again, then you need to make
• 12:22
  your hiring and firing decisions quickly.
• 12:25
  Bring as many people on as you can, assuming that you're able
• 12:28
  to, that are loyal to you and that know your standards and the
• 12:32
  people that you feel are going to buck the system the most.
• 12:35
  Get rid of them quickly. And this is something that you
• 12:38
  know, it's, it's a hot take, but this is the truth.
• 12:41
  It's very difficult to fire people after 5 or 6 months of
• 12:44
  working with them. It's much easier to fire them
• 12:46
  the first couple of days, right? And I hate to sound cold
• 12:49
  blooded, but the truth of the matter is when you don't know
• 12:54
  someone, the only thing you're really judging them on is their
• 12:57
  performance. Are they a good fit for your
• 12:59
  kitchen or not? Look, the fact of the matter is,
• 13:02
  is if they're not going to be a good fit for your team, it's
• 13:04
  really important that you recognize that early.
• 13:07
  Because the longer you wait, the more they will start to poison
• 13:11
  your kitchen. They will start to influence the
• 13:13
  others and they will also set the standard as to what
• 13:16
  acceptable behavior is. Because if you don't address it
• 13:21
  as the new chef, then the rest of the team is going to see it
• 13:24
  and say, OK, then that's what we could all get away with.
• 13:26
  Because if you can't hold one person accountable, that means
• 13:28
  you can't hold multiple people accountable.
• 13:31
  So you have to address the issues early on.
• 13:34
  The next thing you want to do is you want to start implementing a
• 13:36
  culture and structure and also explain why.
• 13:40
  Why are you doing certain things a certain way?
• 13:42
  Why does this need to get change?
• 13:43
  Why do you like to do things this way versus that way?
• 13:47
  The more that they understand, the more likely they will be to
• 13:50
  be on board with you. And here's some golden advice.
• 13:54
  Don't trash the previous regime. Don't say nothing bad about the
• 13:58
  former chef. You don't know who they're close
• 14:00
  to. There's nothing worse than you
• 14:03
  talking poorly about the former chef.
• 14:06
  And they have family members that still work there because,
• 14:08
  you know, you know how the restaurant industry is, right?
• 14:12
  Just don't do it. There's nothing good that will
• 14:15
  come out of you speaking badly about them, as tempting as it
• 14:19
  is, because I know we all like to talk crap, don't do it.
• 14:22
  There's nothing good that's going to come out of it.
• 14:24
  Work on developing what you want to do in the kitchen versus
• 14:27
  trying to destroy their reputation.
• 14:30
  That's the way to do it. Anyway, we digress.
• 14:32
  What were we talking about? The best thing that you could do
• 14:34
  with this situation. And after time, if you
• 14:37
  successfully turn this place around, you have new standards,
• 14:41
  a new way of doing things. Things are moving in a positive
• 14:44
  direction. That's something to be proud of,
• 14:45
  right? That's the direction that you
• 14:48
  want to go. You don't want to make things
• 14:49
  worse. And trust me, you may think
• 14:51
  you're making things better, but sometimes you may be making it
• 14:53
  worse. Don't just change things for the
• 14:55
  sake of change. Understand them because there
• 14:58
  might be a very good reason why things are done a certain way.
• 15:00
  You just don't fully understand it yet.
• 15:02
  Don't forget to talk to your mentors.
• 15:04
  Find a support network. You're going to need a blow off
• 15:07
  steam, and it's important that you blow it off outside of the
• 15:10
  job versus blowing up at your employees when you're frustrated
• 15:13
  with them. So some key points.
• 15:15
  Again, look out for sabotage. Be weary of the people that are
• 15:20
  a little too friendly with you. Be careful what you say about
• 15:23
  the previous regime. Implement your change as quick
• 15:26
  as possible. If you could get some of your
• 15:28
  people in there, do that. Seek to understand before you
• 15:32
  change because there might be a very good reason why things were
• 15:34
  done a certain way. You might learn something.
• 15:36
  I know we don't know everything and you never know.
• 15:40
  I've been in situations where you go in and initially it's a
• 15:43
  hostile takeover and then they become friends for life.
• 15:46
  So it always starts out difficulty, but I promise you,
• 15:49
  things do get better. Anyway, you know what to do.
• 15:52
  Go to my new YouTube page, Chef's PSA Bytes if you want
• 15:55
  early access, like I said earlier, to exclusive podcasts
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  Hey, there's a new hoodie. Sucker.
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  Free kitchens, beautiful and nice.
• 16:12
  Make sure you leave five stars. Nothing less than five stars.
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  We'll see you next week. We'll be back with Rogelio
• 16:18
  Garcia from Napa Valley, Michelin star chef from Oro.
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  We'll see you next week at the Porno Music, yo.
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  close classes in sex.