“Professional Chef – A New Career”
Page 3 Let’s talk about becoming a professional in any trade. This
starts with a code of professional ethics. These are rules and standards
governing the conduct of the members of any profession. This starts with the moral
choices made by the individual professional in the daily operations of
business. Every day a professional Chef must take the position seriously and
direct the staff to do the same. Teamwork – The importance of teamwork must be applied every
day throughout your career. Think of teamwork like a football team, every
player must do their part for the team to advance. The most important person on
the team is the team itself. Without one of the players, let’s say a dishwasher,
the whole team is affected. Treat everyone, as you would like to be treated and
instill teamwork in your staff everyday. With experience, you will be able to
walk into a restaurant and see if they have a winning team. Sanitation & Personal Hygiene – These two subjects will
require more in depth details. The customers expect healthy and wholesome foods
and the law requires it. It is up to the Chef to have a thorough understanding
of how to operate a kitchen safely to reduce the risk of food borne illness.
The most important factor to remember is proper hand washing. This begins when
entering the building and should be instilled into your staff - wash you hands after every task!
Foodservice workers should never work when they are sick or feeling ill to
prevent customers and other staff from getting sick. We will review many more
sanitation topics soon. Good Service should be the standard not the exception! It
begins with providing good food, properly and safely cooked, well seasoned and
presented in a pleasing style. A Chefs job is making sure the customer is happy
and will return to your establishment. Judgment – Every day a professional cook must consider their
actions at work in every possible situation. This requires not only good judgment
but also quick reactions as things start to get busy. It will take you a
lifetime of experience to perfect your judgment in every situation. Lets take
for example cooking “Veal Oscar”. It is a traditional dish made with veal
cutlet, asparagus, hollandaise and crabmeat. There are many variations but the
most important thing is preparing an excellent Veal Oscar that the customer
will devour and return for more. You must use judgment in purchasing the meat, preparation
steps, sautéing the meat, cooking the asparagus and of course making a great
hollandaise then assembling it all into a masterpiece. I have made this dish
over 2000 times! Using my judgment, I can prepare this dish fit for a king.
Once you have prepared it a thousand times then you too will be able to prepare
it for the king! Always remember, there is a lot to learn in every position! If
our restaurant were serving Veal Oscar on the menu today, it would be one dish
out of a hundred that you would need to master. Responsibility, it should always start at the top. Every
Chef should set a good example for their staff to follow. Be responsible for
your actions and help to train others to do the same. Employees must make the
guests feel welcome to be dining in the establishment and that only happens
when everyone on the team is responsible. Every staff member should feel they
are part of the team to help increase productivity. This will help reduce
absenteeism and increase productivity. Eventually the word will travel and
guests and employees will feel welcome to return to your foodservice operation. Looking the part of a professional Chef requires you to
dress appropriately. The Chef uniform helps to inspire history, romance and
curiosity from all who see you. If you are well presented then so is your
foodservice operation. Customers do not want to see anyone in a kitchen who is not
properly dressed for their role. Every Chef and Foodservice Professional that we know avoids
dining at those places! A well-dressed Chef and restaurant staff usually means
better sanitation standards and great food! Presentation is everything! 
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