WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.060 We have an important announcement to make. We 00:00:02.060 --> 00:00:06.280 became part of HRN, the only podcast network 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:09.140 dedicated to food beverage in the culinary world. 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:13.160 They found us. They saw the things we were doing 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:15.560 and they reached out and said, hey, do you want 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.579 to be part of this? And yeah. Did you know about 00:00:18.579 --> 00:00:21.640 them, Phil? about HRN? No, I did not. But like 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:23.440 after they approached us, I looked into them. 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:25.280 It seems to be like a really cool community of 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:27.679 people, you know, involved with hospitality and 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:29.760 restaurants. So, yeah, super happy to be a part 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.859 of it. Yeah, for me, it was the same. Like and 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:35.500 then suddenly I started talking mainly with my 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:37.780 friends in America that work in the hospitality 00:00:37.780 --> 00:00:41.159 world and they all knew it. And when I saw their 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:45.109 Instagram account. like hundreds of common contacts. 00:00:45.369 --> 00:00:49.030 So they seem to be very legit, like a nice organization 00:00:49.030 --> 00:00:51.570 to be part of. And if you're worried that we're 00:00:51.570 --> 00:00:54.789 going to be corrupted by the big man, the capitalist 00:00:54.789 --> 00:00:57.030 world, you know, don't have to worry. We're going 00:00:57.030 --> 00:00:59.490 to stay exactly the same. Nothing is going to 00:00:59.490 --> 00:01:02.689 get censored. Nothing's going to change. We'll 00:01:02.689 --> 00:01:04.489 do exactly the same content as we have done. 00:01:04.989 --> 00:01:07.549 Yeah, I guess that's it. You're listening to 00:01:07.549 --> 00:01:17.069 Heritage Radio Network. Hi, everyone. Welcome 00:01:17.069 --> 00:01:19.829 to Pot Luck Food Talks. We're here in San Sebastian 00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:23.609 just finishing our road trip. Well, it was not 00:01:23.609 --> 00:01:25.890 a road trip. Yeah, a little bit of a road trip. 00:01:26.090 --> 00:01:30.750 Okay, yeah. Yeah, we visited how many? About 00:01:30.750 --> 00:01:32.890 eight restaurants? Was it that many? No, six. 00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:36.469 Six? Yeah, but still in like three days. Yeah, 00:01:36.549 --> 00:01:39.390 not bad at all. I can't eat anymore. No, I'm... 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:43.379 It was some of the like most amazing food, but 00:01:43.379 --> 00:01:48.319 also I have slowly lost the joy of eating. The 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:51.780 joy of life. I think I'll pass for a week after 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:54.739 this. Yeah. What are we going to talk about? 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.680 Let's talk about restaurant openings. Okay, cool. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:01:59.840 So restaurant openings. Restaurant openings. 00:01:59.859 --> 00:02:01.560 How many restaurants have you opened from the 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:04.599 beginning? Like quite a few actually, which is 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:07.799 a bit of a coincidence and I feel was very fortunate. 00:02:08.769 --> 00:02:11.050 that I've been part of a lot of opening processes, 00:02:11.349 --> 00:02:13.210 which just kind of happened, right? I didn't 00:02:13.210 --> 00:02:15.389 particularly plan that. But you learn a lot in 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:18.629 a restaurant opening. You start to rethink certain 00:02:18.629 --> 00:02:20.469 things. Because if you're in a restaurant, especially 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:21.990 if you start cooking and you're in a restaurant, 00:02:22.210 --> 00:02:24.710 the kitchen is built, there's a system, there's 00:02:24.710 --> 00:02:27.669 rituals, everyday processes, and there's somebody 00:02:27.669 --> 00:02:29.610 who gives you the things that you have to prepare 00:02:29.610 --> 00:02:31.310 and cook, right? Somebody tells you exactly what 00:02:31.310 --> 00:02:33.479 to do. Hey, we need these and these. You know, 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.219 Bruno asked, we need this and this sauce, etc. 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:37.139 This is what you put here, this is what you put 00:02:37.139 --> 00:02:39.840 there. If you are part of the process of planning 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:42.539 a kitchen, even just a kitchen, from scratch, 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:45.280 you know, they're like, hey, we have this space 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:48.120 here, we have 100 square meters, right? How do 00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:49.719 you start? Where do you start? And that's really, 00:02:49.780 --> 00:02:51.000 really interesting. You learn a lot of stuff. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.319 Have you seen this movie, The Founder? I have 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:56.199 not. But do you know which one it is? I don't 00:02:56.199 --> 00:02:58.479 think so. It's with Michael Keaton and it's about 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:01.560 the founder of McDonald's. Oh, I heard about 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:03.300 that. It's supposed to be really good. it's a 00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:06.159 really good movie especially for for people that 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:08.960 are in the process of uh opening a new restaurant 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:12.219 there is this scene where they draw on a basketball 00:03:12.219 --> 00:03:15.639 field with the real sizes like the layout of 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:19.280 the of the kitchen with with chuck yeah so they 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:21.699 were the whole they draw the whole layout and 00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:23.659 they start like rehearsing like okay if i go 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:27.680 here and the just to see the the workflows and 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:29.800 the spaces and how it works i think that's a 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:32.120 pretty good exercise i know they did the same 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:36.000 with Dos Palillos in Barcelona. I remember seeing 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.099 back in the days a picture where they prototype 00:03:39.099 --> 00:03:42.740 the kitchen with just carton boxes, like the 00:03:42.740 --> 00:03:46.159 whole bar in real size so they could step in 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.280 and this again like in a basketball field or 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.800 something like a basketball court just to see 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:54.659 how much space they have, the altitudes of everything. 00:03:54.939 --> 00:03:56.740 You know, like I think it's very important to 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:59.199 actually do that. Yeah. It's not enough. Well, 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:01.199 I mean, if it's going to be your restaurant. 00:04:02.100 --> 00:04:04.199 If it's going to be your baby, you know, like 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:06.379 to do that because you're going to live there. 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:09.240 You're going to spend lots of hours there. 100%. 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:11.580 And when things are set in stone, like set in 00:04:11.580 --> 00:04:13.780 stone usually, it's like very hard to change 00:04:13.780 --> 00:04:15.900 something once all the surfaces are in there, 00:04:16.139 --> 00:04:19.459 etc. And the plumbing has to be put in, you know, 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:20.639 and you're kind of like, hey, I'm going to put 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:22.699 a sink here. It's like, ah, you can't just change 00:04:22.699 --> 00:04:25.379 that afterwards because you have special plumbing 00:04:25.379 --> 00:04:27.319 that goes right there. That thing is kind of 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:29.339 like what they did in the bear also, where he's 00:04:29.339 --> 00:04:31.139 like, you know, there's a little bit comical. 00:04:31.339 --> 00:04:33.540 because he's like, oh, I have to be able to finish 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:35.860 a dish in like, what was it, like 10 seconds 00:04:35.860 --> 00:04:39.379 or something. He's like, and he goes over there, 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:41.740 and it's like, okay, it's not like that. No, 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.079 no, no. But, I mean, the idea is there. I've 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:46.800 definitely done that. We've definitely done that, 00:04:46.860 --> 00:04:49.480 for example, when we opened Lorea. We had the 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:52.500 space of the kitchen, and we marked out all the 00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:56.660 stuff with tape on the floor. Yeah, also to see 00:04:56.660 --> 00:04:59.459 the space because you make a drawing and then 00:04:59.459 --> 00:05:02.279 you see the spaces that are left. If it's like 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:05.019 a comfortable workflow also, if an edge is sticking 00:05:05.019 --> 00:05:07.399 out too much and stuff. And actually, when I 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:09.459 came back to Berlin to open this like farm restaurant, 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:11.639 we did exactly the same thing. We went into like 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:15.120 an empty meeting hall and we took the blueprint 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:17.660 and we measured everything out and we taped it 00:05:17.660 --> 00:05:21.480 all off. And we put tables that kind of fit there. 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:23.899 We kind of try to sketch it off to see if it 00:05:23.899 --> 00:05:26.000 would make sense or not. That's pretty cool. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:29.459 I've worked in restaurant openings, but in some 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:31.480 cases I've come where the kitchen is already 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:34.019 built because I wasn't the head chef in that 00:05:34.019 --> 00:05:36.319 case. And in many cases I've also experienced 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:39.399 being in a restaurant where I feel like, who 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:41.860 was the idiot who designed this kitchen? Yeah, 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:45.019 totally. That's pretty much the case in most 00:05:45.019 --> 00:05:48.279 cases. Unfortunately, that's so weird. Yeah, 00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:51.860 you know Who thought about this? You know, I 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:54.779 always have to think about the case of palillos 00:05:54.779 --> 00:05:59.240 Berlin. Mm -hmm where the Walls were this metal 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.680 that had to be perfectly polished and you have 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:04.259 it had to be polished like twice a day And it 00:06:04.259 --> 00:06:07.639 took like two hours from workers to do that every 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:10.970 day. So two hours polishing walls for nothing 00:06:10.970 --> 00:06:13.449 for nothing like taking two hours away from your 00:06:13.449 --> 00:06:17.310 workers just to to have like a metal wall which 00:06:17.310 --> 00:06:19.569 nobody cares about you know like absolutely and 00:06:19.569 --> 00:06:22.350 from a restauranteur's point of view that's wasted 00:06:22.350 --> 00:06:24.689 money yeah and that's the thing that like a lot 00:06:24.689 --> 00:06:27.689 of yeah psychological energy like so many things 00:06:27.689 --> 00:06:30.490 that are wasted with that absolutely and i can 00:06:30.490 --> 00:06:33.300 imagine this designer You know, these are the 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:35.819 kind of architects that then appear in magazines 00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:38.800 talking about sustainability and eco -design 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.300 and this and that. Yeah, it's really easy to 00:06:41.300 --> 00:06:44.120 talk about sustainability when it's about, you 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:46.759 know, I don't know, using the stalks of broccoli. 00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:50.139 But when you talk about efficiency and, you know, 00:06:50.180 --> 00:06:53.019 saving time and conserving energy of the people 00:06:53.019 --> 00:06:54.560 that work there, that is part of sustainability 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:56.860 as well. Like, that is actually one of the major 00:06:56.860 --> 00:06:59.160 parts of the permaculture concept. It's not just 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:01.790 about, oh, let's have plants that... We don't 00:07:01.790 --> 00:07:03.610 have to rip out, we don't have to turn over the 00:07:03.610 --> 00:07:06.889 soil. It's like, how do we design the space where 00:07:06.889 --> 00:07:10.129 we need the least amount of effort to have the 00:07:10.129 --> 00:07:12.600 maximum result? Kind of like judo, you know. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.279 And it's super, super easy. And that's why I 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:17.379 feel like you notice when people are talking 00:07:17.379 --> 00:07:19.740 about sustainability from a trendy point of view. 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:21.439 Because they're like, oh, yeah, look, I'm using 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:23.779 the cauliflower leaves. Amazing, you know. But 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:25.000 then it's kind of like, yeah, but your chef's 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.920 work 14 hours a day, you know. Yeah. So shut 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.720 the fuck up, you know. That's the case. I would 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:33.879 say in most of these places that have like this 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:36.800 green star from Michelin Guide. I would say most 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:40.069 of those places have this kind of. psychological 00:07:40.069 --> 00:07:43.730 burden for the workers and mistreatment for the 00:07:43.730 --> 00:07:45.769 workers yes all these kind of things and they 00:07:45.769 --> 00:07:48.810 have like a sustainability award yeah it's so 00:07:48.810 --> 00:07:51.410 phony it's so so funny it's so superficial also 00:07:51.410 --> 00:07:54.230 and it's like cool what you say about the metal 00:07:54.230 --> 00:07:55.870 because that's something that i learned when 00:07:55.870 --> 00:07:58.889 i was in dubai is that you need to have things 00:07:58.889 --> 00:08:02.550 in mind keep things in mind um in a with a functionality 00:08:02.550 --> 00:08:05.610 and with a durability so you saw it there in 00:08:05.610 --> 00:08:08.220 the They designed this restaurant beautifully, 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:11.040 right? They got this Italian design firm in and 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.660 they got the like beautiful colored marble for 00:08:13.660 --> 00:08:16.160 the floor. They have this like amazing textured, 00:08:16.339 --> 00:08:19.740 detailed, colorful textiles for the chairs and 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:21.680 like beautiful wood for the tables. Everything's 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:25.300 super nice. Fast forward two years later, right? 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:28.379 You could basically redo the restaurant because... 00:08:28.939 --> 00:08:31.399 You have to design a chair with... It has to 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:33.039 be beautiful, of course, you know, especially 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:34.799 a restaurant that caliber. It has to be super, 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:37.100 super beautiful and has to be luxurious. But 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:40.360 there's 100 to 300 people walking through that 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:42.720 restaurant every day. And every single day, you're 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.299 open seven days a week, a hand is going to touch 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:46.700 this part of the chair. It's going to pull it 00:08:46.700 --> 00:08:48.759 back over the floor. It's going to pull it back 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:50.840 to the table. People with their, like, watches 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:52.700 and their, like, diamond rings are going to hit 00:08:52.700 --> 00:08:55.200 against the table. And if you have only designed 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.419 everything to look good but not be durable, then 00:08:57.419 --> 00:09:01.110 you're... have to invest twice the amount of 00:09:01.110 --> 00:09:04.009 money that you already spent millions on in the 00:09:04.009 --> 00:09:06.029 beginning for the beautiful stuff. And yet again, 00:09:06.090 --> 00:09:08.429 that's again like a very, very, very common case. 00:09:08.649 --> 00:09:11.429 Like that kind of design and that kind of thing 00:09:11.429 --> 00:09:15.529 that things are not meant to last just to look 00:09:15.529 --> 00:09:18.049 good. Another example I can think of, of course 00:09:18.049 --> 00:09:20.190 you have to clean and of course you have to clean 00:09:20.190 --> 00:09:24.929 the floor every time. but then there's this case 00:09:24.929 --> 00:09:27.509 where the whoever the kitchen architect comes 00:09:27.509 --> 00:09:30.269 or the owner or someone who has nothing to do 00:09:30.269 --> 00:09:31.889 with the kitchen operation and says ah let's 00:09:31.889 --> 00:09:34.990 make white floors so it looks cleaner well that 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:38.370 doesn't mean that doesn't mean it looks cleaner 00:09:38.370 --> 00:09:40.710 that means you will have to clean it every 30 00:09:40.710 --> 00:09:45.019 seconds And not you who have this great idea. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:47.299 The people that are going to work there. Because 00:09:47.299 --> 00:09:48.940 of course you have to clean, but you don't have 00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:52.340 to clean every 30 seconds. 100%. And it's kind 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:55.519 of like a domino effect. It's sort of like, well, 00:09:55.580 --> 00:09:58.259 it's not you who has to clean it, but it's like 00:09:58.259 --> 00:10:01.139 your workers. And what you don't see is this 00:10:01.139 --> 00:10:03.220 ripple effect, almost like a butterfly effect, 00:10:03.379 --> 00:10:05.919 right? Where they have to stop what they're doing. 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:08.019 They have to quickly do this. It disrupts the 00:10:08.019 --> 00:10:11.450 flow, which means... The quality decreases, which 00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:13.669 at the end of the day impacts the product that 00:10:13.669 --> 00:10:15.730 you're putting out to the guests, right? If you're 00:10:15.730 --> 00:10:18.230 really focused on having the best quality that 00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:21.570 you can to build your brand, to, you know, position 00:10:21.570 --> 00:10:23.710 yourself in the market as like something that 00:10:23.710 --> 00:10:25.289 people want to go to, you want your product to 00:10:25.289 --> 00:10:27.090 be as good as possible, obviously. But these 00:10:27.090 --> 00:10:29.610 things, they affect that massively. If your oven 00:10:29.610 --> 00:10:32.389 only works 50 % of the time or your plancher 00:10:32.389 --> 00:10:34.509 turns off every 30 seconds by itself because 00:10:34.509 --> 00:10:37.090 of like a short circuit or whatever, people are 00:10:37.090 --> 00:10:38.940 going to wait longer. Your chefs are going to 00:10:38.940 --> 00:10:40.980 be stressed out. It's not an organic workflow 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:43.559 and your product, ergo, is going to be worse. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:45.679 And it's kind of like, how can you not think 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:47.879 of these things? Because in the end of the day, 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:49.559 if you're opening a restaurant, you're the owner 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:51.159 and you're the guy who makes the big decisions. 00:10:51.220 --> 00:10:54.460 That's what you want. Another thing that I've 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:56.580 recently learned about restaurant design is that 00:10:56.580 --> 00:10:58.899 the kitchen that I'm currently in, which I'm 00:10:58.899 --> 00:11:01.320 about to leave again, on the surface, I don't 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:02.779 know, have you ever seen the kitchen at Chateauriel? 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:06.419 It's a very nicely designed kitchen. It's very 00:11:06.419 --> 00:11:10.659 open. beautiful, like, green tiles on the walls 00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:14.860 and very light. You know, everything's stainless 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:17.000 steel, sort of center island that goes into the 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.659 wall. Looks very nice. And everybody that comes 00:11:19.659 --> 00:11:20.940 into the kitchen is like, oh, it's such a nice 00:11:20.940 --> 00:11:23.840 kitchen because it's not, like, in a white -tiled 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.940 room with, like, just stainless steel, no windows 00:11:25.940 --> 00:11:27.740 and stuff. And it's like, yeah, that's true. 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:30.980 It is nice. And I do 100 % believe that you have 00:11:30.980 --> 00:11:33.700 to design spaces to be pleasant and beautiful 00:11:33.700 --> 00:11:36.320 to be in for everybody to work better i don't 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:37.919 think that you can cook nice food if you're in 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:40.899 a cellar in the like i do think it makes a big 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:43.820 difference if you can see some sunlight but what 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:45.940 people don't see is the functionality of it so 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:48.279 whoever designed that kitchen i know who designed 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:50.519 the kitchen but that person did not necessarily 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:53.539 understand restaurants very well so what they 00:11:53.539 --> 00:11:56.139 decided to do is they made the plan apart from 00:11:56.139 --> 00:11:58.220 that the plan is super weird there's like two 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:01.720 ovens underneath the like you know, like old 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:04.019 -school French gas ovens underneath the Garde 00:12:04.019 --> 00:12:06.740 Magée. But there's no oven near the grill or 00:12:06.740 --> 00:12:08.320 the fish section, you know, stuff like that. 00:12:08.419 --> 00:12:13.600 It's bonkers. Everything they put in, they then... 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.259 sort of sealed off cleanly with stainless steel 00:12:17.259 --> 00:12:19.639 so that everything is like completely built into 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:21.919 the counters, right? That means that you have 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.340 a surface on the table with a hole where the 00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:26.379 fryer is in, right? It looks very clean, very 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:28.960 smooth with the frying basket. So, okay, what 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:33.080 happens, right? Your heat sensor from the fryer 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.879 breaks. The guy tries to go in, looks at it, 00:12:35.940 --> 00:12:37.519 and he's like, ah, because the sensor broke, 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:39.200 like the cable kind of burned through a little 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:41.200 bit. We would have to exchange the whole cable. 00:12:41.460 --> 00:12:43.419 Not a big deal, but how the fuck do we get the 00:12:43.419 --> 00:12:47.200 fryer out of here? It's completely welded into 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:48.980 the surface. We would have to cut the entire 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:51.379 block open and get this thing out. Same with 00:12:51.379 --> 00:12:54.159 the dishwasher area. They've kind of like, they 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.179 put a dishwashing machine in, you know, like 00:12:56.179 --> 00:13:00.580 a hood plate cleaner. And then on the outside... 00:13:01.109 --> 00:13:03.210 You have the sink, and then they put a metal 00:13:03.210 --> 00:13:05.909 plate over the sink, around the dishwasher, onto 00:13:05.909 --> 00:13:08.950 the side, so it's all clean. It's good for cleaning, 00:13:09.070 --> 00:13:11.830 right? But there's a problem with the dishwasher. 00:13:11.870 --> 00:13:13.950 They have to go to the back cables. What are 00:13:13.950 --> 00:13:15.570 they going to do? Are they going to flex open 00:13:15.570 --> 00:13:17.429 this entire thing and pull it out, and then what? 00:13:18.090 --> 00:13:20.250 And I was like, man, everything has to be like 00:13:20.250 --> 00:13:22.909 a Lego block. Everything has to be replaceable. 00:13:23.009 --> 00:13:26.370 If you have a restaurant that is operating five 00:13:26.370 --> 00:13:28.190 days a week, six days a week, seven days a week, 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:30.840 you know two services two three services a day 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:33.399 maybe things are going to get used and things 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:34.820 are going to get broken that's just something 00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:36.600 that you have to keep in mind and you have to 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.480 keep maintaining the engine for the car to drive 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:43.059 right if you can't take one block out without 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:46.460 damaging all the other stuff to replace it then 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:48.659 that's a big problem and that also keeping in 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:50.379 mind you always have to have a replacement you 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:53.490 can't just have one thermomix one package yet 00:13:53.490 --> 00:13:55.809 you always have to have a replacement item so 00:13:55.809 --> 00:13:57.590 that when there's a problem you can just take 00:13:57.590 --> 00:14:00.649 it out replace it get the other one fixed right 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:03.350 if both break you're kind of but then you can 00:14:03.350 --> 00:14:05.970 look for you know plan c but so you always have 00:14:05.970 --> 00:14:09.009 a like a plan b an emergency solution because 00:14:09.009 --> 00:14:10.629 the worst thing that can happen is that like 00:14:10.629 --> 00:14:13.179 some like one of your equipment breaks And you're 00:14:13.179 --> 00:14:14.860 fucked. And then what? You send it in. It takes 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:16.480 two weeks to repair. What do you do in the meantime? 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:17.899 You're going to close the restaurant. You're 00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:20.000 going to take the things off your menu that you 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.799 need this machine for. No, that's nuts. And that 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:26.019 is something that for somebody who's like not 00:14:26.019 --> 00:14:28.799 stood in the kitchen for like a long period of 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:30.720 time and had to deal with these sorts of things. 00:14:30.820 --> 00:14:33.379 Call the plumber. Call the electrician. You know, 00:14:33.419 --> 00:14:35.399 call the maintenance guy. This is something that 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:37.899 you constantly have to deal with. A huge mistake. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.940 Yeah, also something I've seen many, many times 00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:43.700 is these decisions about how to build a kitchen 00:14:43.700 --> 00:14:47.000 are taken by, let's say, the owner, the architect 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.799 that works with the, you know, like these kitchen 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:53.340 architects that build kitchens. And they have 00:14:53.340 --> 00:14:57.679 like this, you know, system where they get stuff 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:00.620 done and execute them. But they don't necessarily, 00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:04.759 well, they're for sure not chefs. They're looking 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:07.740 for things to look good. you know and also to 00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:09.960 sell their products you know like all their stuff 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:12.620 and i think that i can think of is building the 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:16.419 the air extraction that is something like you 00:15:16.419 --> 00:15:19.419 know if you're like an independent restaurateur 00:15:19.419 --> 00:15:22.120 that wants to open a restaurant and you say okay 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:24.500 i'll get a loan i'll open my own little restaurant 00:15:24.500 --> 00:15:26.720 by myself most of the time this is something 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.779 people don't think about but both the air extractor 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:34.120 and the fat trap for that trap yes you know that 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:37.330 both are like in many cases more expensive than 00:15:37.330 --> 00:15:39.350 the whole kitchen. And it's something nobody 00:15:39.350 --> 00:15:40.909 thinks about because you don't think about these 00:15:40.909 --> 00:15:42.590 kind of things. But it's one of the most important 00:15:42.590 --> 00:15:46.470 things. My kitchen at the moment has an extraction 00:15:46.470 --> 00:15:49.490 that does not work properly. And it's been an 00:15:49.490 --> 00:15:52.289 ongoing discussion with the kitchen designer 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:54.590 and builder. There's a company that builds kitchens, 00:15:54.710 --> 00:15:57.570 gastro kitchens. And the extraction has not worked 00:15:57.570 --> 00:15:59.490 from day one that I started working there. As 00:15:59.490 --> 00:16:01.610 in like you have a grill, you put one steak on 00:16:01.610 --> 00:16:03.730 it, it starts smoking, right? The kitchen is 00:16:03.730 --> 00:16:06.100 filling of smoke. You can imagine how it is if 00:16:06.100 --> 00:16:08.220 you have a busy service or you do an event for 00:16:08.220 --> 00:16:11.759 150 people. This is, again, such a ripple effect. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:14.879 It affects everything. How pissed off is your 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:17.919 team after a week of working in a smoky kitchen? 00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:20.980 Then it's kind of like, what do you do? The extraction 00:16:20.980 --> 00:16:22.279 is not getting fixed. Are you going to change 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:24.759 the menu so you don't have smoky things? Are 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:26.159 you not going to use the grill? What the fuck 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:28.740 is that? That's not what you should be focused 00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:30.720 on. You should be focused on what technique do 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:32.559 I use for the best result that I want to send 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:34.750 out into the dining room. not what technique 00:16:34.750 --> 00:16:36.950 can i use so my chefs don't get pissed off yeah 00:16:36.950 --> 00:16:39.549 so the reason these things happen like this uh 00:16:39.549 --> 00:16:42.350 there's a very clear reason you have like let's 00:16:42.350 --> 00:16:46.850 say three months to open you have to get all 00:16:46.850 --> 00:16:50.159 these things all in three months And then you 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.039 need to open to start making money. So you don't 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:54.759 have so much time to plan or everything. It depends 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:56.379 on the project, of course. It depends, yeah. 00:16:56.620 --> 00:17:00.620 Yeah, but that's like a realistic time. Sometimes 00:17:00.620 --> 00:17:02.379 you have six months and sometimes you have one 00:17:02.379 --> 00:17:05.460 year if it's like a big hotel chain or whatever. 00:17:05.619 --> 00:17:08.660 But these are not like super long times to plan 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:11.019 and test and this kind of thing. Yeah, that's 00:17:11.019 --> 00:17:15.329 another good point. Like without a fail, what 00:17:15.329 --> 00:17:17.609 I've seen in openings is that like, okay, take 00:17:17.609 --> 00:17:19.650 the time, talk to everybody, the owners, the 00:17:19.650 --> 00:17:22.730 architects, the designers, the suppliers, et 00:17:22.730 --> 00:17:25.190 cetera, et cetera. Take all of that into account, 00:17:25.369 --> 00:17:28.130 calculate realistically what it's going to take 00:17:28.130 --> 00:17:30.890 time -wise and then add three months on top of 00:17:30.890 --> 00:17:32.890 that. Yeah, because it always takes. It always 00:17:32.890 --> 00:17:34.529 takes longer and you always get fucked over. 00:17:34.710 --> 00:17:36.430 You think it's like your supplier is going to 00:17:36.430 --> 00:17:38.730 tell you, hey, the fryer is going to come then 00:17:38.730 --> 00:17:42.890 and then for sure. Tops two weeks more. What 00:17:42.890 --> 00:17:48.569 about menu design, concept design for the culinary 00:17:48.569 --> 00:17:56.170 offer? Yeah, that's very particular, right? I 00:17:56.170 --> 00:17:58.690 think you do have to have a certain concept and 00:17:58.690 --> 00:18:01.170 menu in mind for you to design the kitchen well. 00:18:01.569 --> 00:18:04.349 Because you need to know which section is going 00:18:04.349 --> 00:18:06.730 to be the busiest, right? Is it going to be the 00:18:06.730 --> 00:18:09.150 grill? Do you need a big grill? Is a small grill 00:18:09.150 --> 00:18:10.769 enough? Are you just going to grill the main 00:18:10.769 --> 00:18:13.250 course, maybe a couple of vegetables for the 00:18:13.250 --> 00:18:16.250 starters? Do you need a big tempura fryer? Do 00:18:16.250 --> 00:18:18.769 you want a big, large counter for cold dishes? 00:18:19.230 --> 00:18:21.769 Where you can maybe have two people on a nice, 00:18:21.829 --> 00:18:24.369 beautiful, big counter cutting raw fish and making 00:18:24.369 --> 00:18:28.609 crudos and cool salads and whatnot. So what's 00:18:28.609 --> 00:18:30.880 your focus? I think you do have to have that 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:33.740 very, very clear before you start. Because otherwise 00:18:33.740 --> 00:18:35.220 you're going to encounter, of course, there's 00:18:35.220 --> 00:18:37.279 a lot of things that you can change in the get 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:39.279 -go. But you should be as clear as possible. 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:42.599 Yeah, I mean, I think you should have a direction. 00:18:43.940 --> 00:18:48.940 But I think, again, a point that is very underestimated 00:18:48.940 --> 00:18:52.420 is how location determines what you should... 00:18:52.589 --> 00:18:55.309 or shouldn't do 100 i mean of course if if you 00:18:55.309 --> 00:18:57.690 make a a restaurant in the middle of the countryside 00:18:57.690 --> 00:19:00.049 and you want it to be like a high -end thing 00:19:00.049 --> 00:19:04.750 i guess that like in that context even in that 00:19:04.750 --> 00:19:07.130 context you have to do something that that makes 00:19:07.130 --> 00:19:10.529 sense with the location and and the kind of audience 00:19:10.529 --> 00:19:13.509 you're talking to you know like if it's in a 00:19:13.509 --> 00:19:16.049 city one neighborhood will be very different 00:19:16.049 --> 00:19:17.829 from a different neighborhood and you have to 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:19.690 take into consideration the people that surrounds 00:19:20.730 --> 00:19:23.349 the restaurant physically. You know, like you 00:19:23.349 --> 00:19:25.789 can't do something like, for example, super luxurious 00:19:25.789 --> 00:19:30.430 in a super non -luxurious location, right? Or 00:19:30.430 --> 00:19:33.259 the other way around, you know? Yeah, unless 00:19:33.259 --> 00:19:35.519 there's like a niche thing for it. Unless you 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:39.220 specifically want that vibe and you can back 00:19:39.220 --> 00:19:41.279 it up with the marketing and the draw that you 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:44.079 say like, hey, I'm going to go to a really shitty 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:46.240 abandoned warehouse and I'm going to make it 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:49.599 like, you know this place 893 by Duke in Berlin? 00:19:49.819 --> 00:19:52.779 It's like, you probably know Xander, right? It's 00:19:52.779 --> 00:19:55.039 like this really, outside it's just graffitis. 00:19:56.329 --> 00:19:58.170 cannot see it looks like an abandoned house inside 00:19:58.170 --> 00:20:00.150 it's like a super upscale Japanese restaurant 00:20:00.150 --> 00:20:02.490 with like green marble and stuff like that it's 00:20:02.490 --> 00:20:05.569 very cool and that's the vibe right and there's 00:20:05.569 --> 00:20:07.450 like a doorbell you know blah blah blah it's 00:20:07.450 --> 00:20:10.069 just like a little neon sign above the door if 00:20:10.069 --> 00:20:11.990 that's but you know that's from somebody who 00:20:11.990 --> 00:20:14.190 has done restaurants for a really long time and 00:20:14.190 --> 00:20:16.150 he can straight away fill that place and have 00:20:16.150 --> 00:20:18.500 word of mouth you know So, yeah, you need to 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:20.460 be really, really realistic. It's cool to think 00:20:20.460 --> 00:20:22.359 like, hey, I'm going to open this thing. I'm 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:23.980 going to go to the ghetto and open this high 00:20:23.980 --> 00:20:25.839 -end omakase place because that's cool. It's 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:28.880 grungy. It's industrial. Yeah, but you also have 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:31.740 to think. It also depends on the concept because, 00:20:31.940 --> 00:20:35.240 of course, if you're making like a 12 -seat sushi 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:38.140 bar, right, like where you're going to charge, 00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:42.329 I don't know, 150, 200 euros per person. and 00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:44.069 you're going to have little staff, just two, 00:20:44.150 --> 00:20:46.009 three people working because that's what you 00:20:46.009 --> 00:20:48.470 need for such an operation. That's a thing. So 00:20:48.470 --> 00:20:52.390 in that case, you probably will have people going 00:20:52.390 --> 00:20:55.190 to wherever you are in a specific city to have 00:20:55.190 --> 00:20:57.369 that experience. But if you have like a more, 00:20:57.430 --> 00:21:01.089 let's say a bistro, like a more mid -level concept, 00:21:01.269 --> 00:21:04.809 you have to think about where am I placing this? 00:21:04.849 --> 00:21:08.190 Is there a subway station here? Is there like 00:21:08.190 --> 00:21:14.069 a big office building near? Yes. Is that audience 00:21:14.069 --> 00:21:17.490 that works there my public? Will they come to 00:21:17.490 --> 00:21:20.509 my restaurant for lunch or dinner? Will I make 00:21:20.509 --> 00:21:23.250 100 people events or weddings or, you know, like 00:21:23.250 --> 00:21:26.609 this kind of operations as well? Because all 00:21:26.609 --> 00:21:29.450 of these things determine and change, again, 00:21:29.529 --> 00:21:31.769 stuff like that you probably haven't thought 00:21:31.769 --> 00:21:35.779 of, like how big... should your dishwasher station 00:21:35.779 --> 00:21:37.859 be. 100%, yeah. You know, like, if you're going 00:21:37.859 --> 00:21:40.740 to make events, it should be double as big, and 00:21:40.740 --> 00:21:43.960 you should get, like, a machine double as expensive 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:46.200 as the one you're thinking of, because those 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:48.400 are the things that you think, ah, I can get, 00:21:48.420 --> 00:21:51.720 like, a cheap dishwasher machine, and that will 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:54.460 do the work. Yeah, it's the same, no? Yeah. And 00:21:54.460 --> 00:21:56.319 it's like running the whole day as well, you 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:57.940 know? And it's just like, it needs to... like 00:21:57.940 --> 00:21:59.960 these dishwasher machines, they have power. They 00:21:59.960 --> 00:22:03.160 need to blast. And it's kind of like, yeah, I 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:04.539 totally agree with you. You have to think about 00:22:04.539 --> 00:22:06.339 all these things and you have to think of the 00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:09.460 workflow also. What I've seen is a lot of people 00:22:09.460 --> 00:22:11.319 also, what they really forget is kind of like, 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:12.559 you look at your blueprints and you're kind of 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:13.859 like, okay, I have this and this much space. 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:16.660 It's like, all right, cool. Hold your horses 00:22:16.660 --> 00:22:18.759 and stop imagining your fancy horseback grill 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:21.759 and whatever. Take 20, 30 % of that space away, 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:24.720 straight away for dishwash area and back of house. 00:22:24.900 --> 00:22:29.059 You need to think where, Are the, like, where 00:22:29.059 --> 00:22:31.660 are people going to enter? Do people have an 00:22:31.660 --> 00:22:33.980 exit? And it's kind of like if they need to have 00:22:33.980 --> 00:22:36.980 like a, if they have like a no exit thing where 00:22:36.980 --> 00:22:39.940 they need to go in, say, for example, go past 00:22:39.940 --> 00:22:42.160 the kitchen and to the back of house area, you 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:45.180 know, the back office, walk down a hallway to 00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:47.859 the dishwasher area, leave the dishes, walk that 00:22:47.859 --> 00:22:49.859 entire way back through the restaurant again, 00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:53.240 just to be back on the floor. That's not okay. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:58.160 My front of house guys where I am right now, 00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:01.440 they walk up to 50 ,000 steps every day. That's 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:03.380 insane because the restaurant is designed really, 00:23:03.420 --> 00:23:06.319 really poorly. It's like very outside of a building 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:09.240 block. So if you're in the kitchen and you want 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:10.759 to get to the very end of the restaurant, you 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:12.480 have to walk to one corner of the building, to 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:14.259 the next corner, to the next corner in a U -shape. 00:23:14.579 --> 00:23:17.680 Yeah, or you also see stairs. Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:23:18.220 --> 00:23:20.380 That's heavy. When you have to walk stairs up 00:23:20.380 --> 00:23:24.250 or down. whatever for sometimes yeah kitchen 00:23:24.250 --> 00:23:26.690 in a basement where the service has to go serves 00:23:26.690 --> 00:23:29.109 ups and down all the time that's nuts yeah you 00:23:29.109 --> 00:23:31.130 know like yeah that's really really crazy yeah 00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:33.190 and it's kind of like it's so important that 00:23:33.190 --> 00:23:36.190 you get somebody in that hike knows what it is 00:23:36.190 --> 00:23:38.490 like you know like what you said earlier like 00:23:38.490 --> 00:23:41.069 why why is it always owners that like they have 00:23:41.069 --> 00:23:42.890 this great idea it's kind of like did you ever 00:23:42.890 --> 00:23:47.650 spend like weeks standing on a dishwasher and 00:23:47.650 --> 00:23:50.569 like washing dishes in a busy service we've both 00:23:50.569 --> 00:23:52.710 seen like good dishwashers and bad dishwashers 00:23:52.710 --> 00:23:57.609 a good kp is worth you know a lot of money i 00:23:57.609 --> 00:24:00.049 respect their work a lot because a good kp organizes 00:24:00.049 --> 00:24:02.269 themselves amazingly you know dirty plates come 00:24:02.269 --> 00:24:04.109 in all the time it's like stacking them organizing 00:24:04.109 --> 00:24:06.150 them so that you can fill the crates properly 00:24:06.150 --> 00:24:09.130 stacks them super efficiently it has like a flow 00:24:09.130 --> 00:24:12.630 system it's a constant flow of organizing things 00:24:13.150 --> 00:24:15.950 cleaning things and then sorting things out right 00:24:15.950 --> 00:24:18.670 and if you don't understand that process you 00:24:18.670 --> 00:24:21.509 should not be involved in planning of that area 00:24:21.509 --> 00:24:23.089 so there are two more things we haven't talked 00:24:23.089 --> 00:24:26.410 about one of them is utensils like buying utensils 00:24:26.410 --> 00:24:29.109 because that's also like a huge mess like you 00:24:29.109 --> 00:24:31.529 know like huge mess yeah if you you haven't done 00:24:31.529 --> 00:24:35.190 that never uh it's very difficult to do it from 00:24:35.190 --> 00:24:37.569 scratch you know like okay i will need trays 00:24:37.569 --> 00:24:41.369 and whatever spatulas and pots and this and that 00:24:41.869 --> 00:24:47.509 up to the very last coffee teaspoon and ashtrays 00:24:47.509 --> 00:24:51.190 you know like it's a super long list of you need 00:24:51.190 --> 00:24:54.150 for the moment of the opening for sure you will 00:24:54.150 --> 00:24:56.970 forget some stuff that then you have to buy you 00:24:56.970 --> 00:25:00.490 know i don't know like a like a specific size 00:25:00.490 --> 00:25:02.890 of whisk that was not considered but that you 00:25:02.890 --> 00:25:05.609 need for something after the opening you know 00:25:05.609 --> 00:25:08.799 that kind of things will happen And it's very, 00:25:08.900 --> 00:25:12.160 again, very easy to underestimate how expensive 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:15.299 trays can be. Oh, yeah. And how many you need. 00:25:15.500 --> 00:25:20.359 Exactly. How many you need. Or, again, topperwares. 00:25:20.460 --> 00:25:23.400 So important to have enough topperwares. These 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:26.680 are the kind of things that, again, owners, you 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:29.559 buy 300 topperwares and after two months you 00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:31.460 say you need 200 more. And they're like, but 00:25:31.460 --> 00:25:34.319 why? How is it possible? Yeah, exactly. But the 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:37.980 thing is... Tupperware is a thing that I believe 00:25:37.980 --> 00:25:41.240 you will use as many as you have. Basically. 00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:43.579 Yeah, because the more Tupperware you have, the 00:25:43.579 --> 00:25:47.980 more prep room you have. And if you have 20 more, 00:25:48.140 --> 00:25:49.579 you're sort of like, hey, let's make that pickle 00:25:49.579 --> 00:25:53.099 that we use, but let's make it for the next two 00:25:53.099 --> 00:25:55.440 weeks. And then you fill a couple up, label them 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:57.180 nicely, you have them there. Amazing. Mise en 00:25:57.180 --> 00:26:00.359 place. Yeah. and suppliers is the other thing 00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:03.519 yeah that's again it has a lot to do with with 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:07.839 the location you're going to open and in a broader 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:11.200 sense like the the city or the the place you 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:14.759 are yeah how to get the right suppliers right 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:18.599 prices how to negotiate everything uh how to 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:21.259 get everything delivered to your place how to 00:26:21.259 --> 00:26:24.339 organize that that's again like a like a very 00:26:24.990 --> 00:26:27.329 big issue that requires planning absolutely because 00:26:27.329 --> 00:26:30.069 you need to plan your your your weak flow after 00:26:30.069 --> 00:26:32.809 it also it's kind of like well what fish supply 00:26:32.809 --> 00:26:34.890 are you using when are they supplying you know 00:26:34.890 --> 00:26:37.950 when's the best time for them to supply um so 00:26:37.950 --> 00:26:40.170 if you have a fish production day for example 00:26:40.170 --> 00:26:42.349 my fish supplier i specifically only work with 00:26:42.349 --> 00:26:45.390 one who does sustainable fish from sustainable 00:26:45.390 --> 00:26:50.150 fishing practices and they only deliver on wednesdays 00:26:50.150 --> 00:26:52.089 and fridays so my fish days are wednesdays and 00:26:52.089 --> 00:26:55.230 fridays and the whole hot section fish butchery 00:26:55.230 --> 00:26:57.589 is planned around wednesday and friday that we 00:26:57.589 --> 00:26:59.430 know we're not going to do any sauces we're not 00:26:59.430 --> 00:27:01.269 going to do any big jobs we're not going to do 00:27:01.269 --> 00:27:03.210 any meat prep on wednesdays and fridays because 00:27:03.210 --> 00:27:05.690 all the fish comes in and we need to spend hours 00:27:05.690 --> 00:27:10.549 prepping that fish yeah also a tricky thing is 00:27:10.549 --> 00:27:14.349 that suppliers will i mean you will talk to a 00:27:14.349 --> 00:27:17.160 salesman person And they will guarantee you that 00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:20.519 they have the best produce, that there is a Michelin 00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:23.200 star chef somewhere that works with them, blah, 00:27:23.299 --> 00:27:24.640 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you get 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:29.000 crappy produce. And that happens again and again 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:33.059 and again. So you have to also actually do a 00:27:33.059 --> 00:27:36.380 lot of tastings, go to the source, talk with 00:27:36.380 --> 00:27:39.859 people, see the produce yourself, and do the 00:27:39.859 --> 00:27:43.980 test kitchen tests to see if the dishes actually 00:27:43.980 --> 00:27:48.309 work. yes absolutely organize uh not only a soft 00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:51.950 opening but also i don't know the the term in 00:27:51.950 --> 00:27:54.109 english and spanish is marcha blanca like white 00:27:54.109 --> 00:27:57.690 march march plank i don't know that is a i don't 00:27:57.690 --> 00:28:01.250 know starting the operation one week or 10 days 00:28:01.250 --> 00:28:05.119 ahead with the whole team Just to start cooking, 00:28:05.339 --> 00:28:08.980 start doing prep, doing test services, all these 00:28:08.980 --> 00:28:10.759 kind of things before the opening. Absolutely, 00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:12.700 because you have a certain amount of experience 00:28:12.700 --> 00:28:15.160 and there's only so and so much that you can 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:17.579 plan in your head. But once you see it in action, 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:20.440 a lot of other things become clear. The crucial 00:28:20.440 --> 00:28:22.839 mistake to just be like, all right, cool, I think 00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:24.680 this is going to work, let's open. Because you 00:28:24.680 --> 00:28:26.460 can really damage yourself in the beginning if 00:28:26.460 --> 00:28:30.619 you're open to the public. There's another huge... 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:34.779 topic around this which is staff planning oh 00:28:34.779 --> 00:28:38.180 yeah you have your kitchen you already had all 00:28:38.180 --> 00:28:41.099 these great ideas that you're going to build 00:28:41.099 --> 00:28:44.740 it this or that way and then you're thinking 00:28:44.740 --> 00:28:47.940 yeah and here i will have the grill person and 00:28:47.940 --> 00:28:51.059 you're thinking probably an operation with 15 00:28:51.059 --> 00:28:54.079 chefs 15 waiters and then you see that you have 00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:58.539 budget just for 10 of that yeah and that that 00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:02.400 means you show your whole idea should be redesigned 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:05.400 and rethought like the size of the kitchen the 00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:10.059 i mean the working hours i remember uh in restaurant 00:29:10.059 --> 00:29:12.720 openings like having already the blueprint of 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:15.259 the kitchen and putting like you know like playing 00:29:15.259 --> 00:29:18.869 risk like putting the the figures This would 00:29:18.869 --> 00:29:21.210 be a chef here. This would be a chef here. I 00:29:21.210 --> 00:29:24.029 would need this or this as minimum staff for 00:29:24.029 --> 00:29:27.230 the operation to run. How many shifts? For example, 00:29:27.410 --> 00:29:30.569 yesterday we were at Nauru and for me it's really 00:29:30.569 --> 00:29:32.630 crazy. You saw how many people were in that kitchen. 00:29:32.710 --> 00:29:35.650 It was actually nuts. Like I, you know, like 00:29:35.650 --> 00:29:39.630 now like having also a different view on, you 00:29:39.630 --> 00:29:42.269 know, staffing and organization and stuff. I 00:29:42.269 --> 00:29:44.890 was like, what the fuck is going on? It's like 00:29:44.890 --> 00:29:46.750 twice as many chefs as I have in my kitchen, 00:29:46.869 --> 00:29:51.630 even if I'm doing like 80 covers a night. But 00:29:51.630 --> 00:29:53.349 also what I told you, that they open seven days 00:29:53.349 --> 00:29:55.190 a week, three services a day, and nobody works 00:29:55.190 --> 00:29:56.910 more than eight hours. Yeah, that's really good. 00:29:57.210 --> 00:29:59.170 You know, but I mean, that's really good, but 00:29:59.170 --> 00:30:01.609 that's really difficult. It costs you more money. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:05.460 No, no, no, but it's also difficult even to put 00:30:05.460 --> 00:30:08.579 that on an Excel sheet, you know, to actually... 00:30:08.579 --> 00:30:11.220 Yeah, that's true. ...organize that, you know, 00:30:11.299 --> 00:30:16.440 and the shift changes and the day ofs and all, 00:30:16.539 --> 00:30:19.140 you know, like... Yeah, scheduling is a lot of 00:30:19.140 --> 00:30:21.599 work. Yeah, it's not something that is for granted. 00:30:21.660 --> 00:30:24.079 It's something that requires organization and 00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:27.200 management and how to... actually accomplish 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:29.700 that. Yeah, people underestimate it. Like I've 00:30:29.700 --> 00:30:31.440 seen a lot of people being sort of like, you 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:33.980 know, like being decent at cooking and then like 00:30:33.980 --> 00:30:36.000 kind of stepping up to a role and then suddenly 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:40.180 they should take on responsibilities that are 00:30:40.180 --> 00:30:42.740 more in the line of like a high level sous chef 00:30:42.740 --> 00:30:45.539 or a head chef, in my opinion, right? I had a 00:30:45.539 --> 00:30:47.500 conversation the other day with, well, it's already 00:30:47.500 --> 00:30:50.740 a few months ago, with somebody. who had this 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:53.119 question in his head, like, can I do, like, can 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:55.480 I step up? I made them a list with responsibilities 00:30:55.480 --> 00:30:59.200 that I would want a sous chef to have, you know? 00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:01.319 And it's a fucking list like this long, you know? 00:31:01.400 --> 00:31:03.359 It's like, and it doesn't mean that you can take 00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:05.599 yourself out of the kitchen. It doesn't mean, 00:31:05.640 --> 00:31:07.200 all right, I'm going to go to the office, bye, 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:08.880 good luck. No, you have to fucking be there. 00:31:08.900 --> 00:31:10.500 You have to cook. You have to motivate people. 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.440 You have to quality control. But at the same 00:31:12.440 --> 00:31:14.220 time, you have to do scheduling. You have to 00:31:14.220 --> 00:31:15.819 do vacation planning. You have to do performance 00:31:15.819 --> 00:31:17.599 reviews. You have to do maintenance. You have 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:20.099 to do all this shit. You have to do food costing. 00:31:20.500 --> 00:31:25.240 Babysitter, psychologist. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, 00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:29.059 exactly. And it's a lot of work. Another thing 00:31:29.059 --> 00:31:32.680 that people really underestimate is tableware. 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:38.180 dishes I have seen so many places and also I 00:31:38.180 --> 00:31:40.779 right now in a place where I look at the plates 00:31:40.779 --> 00:31:43.940 that I've bought and I'm like you've wasted no 00:31:43.940 --> 00:31:46.880 kidding about 4 ,000 euros because you've bought 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:50.089 in a bunch of shit that's hideous and that nobody 00:31:50.089 --> 00:31:53.329 needs, that is not functional, that's just now 00:31:53.329 --> 00:31:56.329 sitting there. We could have used those 4 ,000 00:31:56.329 --> 00:31:58.309 euros for something else, to buy nice plates, 00:31:58.430 --> 00:32:00.450 for example, because you can buy a nice table 00:32:00.450 --> 00:32:03.569 where that doesn't rip you out an arm. But again, 00:32:03.650 --> 00:32:07.990 it's kind of like, what do I want to plate? What 00:32:07.990 --> 00:32:10.630 plates do I need for that? I like having a variety 00:32:10.630 --> 00:32:13.029 of plates. I like that. I like the Japanese approach 00:32:13.029 --> 00:32:15.829 of different plates, mix and match and stuff. 00:32:16.349 --> 00:32:17.950 And you don't need to go super crazy with it, 00:32:18.009 --> 00:32:21.789 but if you have 200 plates that are just sitting 00:32:21.789 --> 00:32:25.130 in a cupboard that you're not using, then it's 00:32:25.130 --> 00:32:27.849 kind of like, who put in this order? Somebody 00:32:27.849 --> 00:32:29.470 that didn't know what was happening, obviously. 00:32:30.089 --> 00:32:33.930 Yeah, and I mean, I think the wrap -up of this 00:32:33.930 --> 00:32:36.630 whole conversation is that the chef should be 00:32:36.630 --> 00:32:38.470 involved in the process from the very beginning. 00:32:39.079 --> 00:32:42.200 And many decisions have to go through the chef, 00:32:42.259 --> 00:32:44.960 you know, the one that is going to actually be 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:47.240 in the operation and execute most of the things. 00:32:47.539 --> 00:32:50.119 100%, yeah, 100%. And, like, you know, Michael 00:32:50.119 --> 00:32:56.400 always told me chefs make the best, like, restaurant 00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:58.319 managers, like, the restaurant owners, because 00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:00.619 they understand all the processes. They understand 00:33:00.619 --> 00:33:03.210 what a dishwasher needs, because... A lot of 00:33:03.210 --> 00:33:05.069 chefs that I know, like myself included, like 00:33:05.069 --> 00:33:07.009 I've spent a lot of time in a dishwash area, 00:33:07.269 --> 00:33:08.890 you know, and I've spent many services cleaning 00:33:08.890 --> 00:33:11.549 dishes. And, you know, from the plates to the 00:33:11.549 --> 00:33:15.130 flow, etc. And like what actually also the organizational 00:33:15.130 --> 00:33:17.130 point of view, what things actually take to get 00:33:17.130 --> 00:33:19.269 done. You can only really have a chef. Obviously, 00:33:19.309 --> 00:33:21.049 if you have a really good restaurant manager 00:33:21.049 --> 00:33:24.309 or really good, you know, restaurant owner who 00:33:24.309 --> 00:33:25.829 comes from the business, there's a lot of things 00:33:25.829 --> 00:33:28.150 that he'll understand. But there's certain things 00:33:28.150 --> 00:33:30.690 that only a chef will really understand for sure. 00:33:34.789 --> 00:33:37.309 That's it for this week's episode of Potluck 00:33:37.309 --> 00:33:39.710 Food Talks. If you like what we're doing, make 00:33:39.710 --> 00:33:41.970 sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never 00:33:41.970 --> 00:33:44.609 miss an episode. You can also find us on Instagram 00:33:44.609 --> 00:33:48.109 and TikTok as Potluck Food Talks. The show airs 00:33:48.109 --> 00:33:48.569 every Monday.