Your Waiter Tonight... Will Be the Chef
Grab a stool and belly up to a new brand of upscale dining, where closeness to the cook comes with your meal as routinely as bread. Although counter seating, open kitchens, and chef’s tables are not new to the scene, Momofuku Ko and a few other restaurants are reaching for a new level of intimacy. The chefs are not only cooking and plating the food, but also serving it, taking coats, recommending wine and confirming reservations.
Posted Mar 12, 2008
Jim Cowie
Responses to this thread:
Jim Cowie:
really interesting side note about the structure of incentives within a restaurant staff -- chefs don't get a shot at sharing in the upside of great experience (tips) unless they interact with customers. the chef works for $10/hour, and the waiter out front walks out the door with $425 in cash in his pocket.
Jim Cowie:
now, the waiter is also making less than minimum wage, because he's tipped. so he's taking on some risk/reward exposure. why is the human-facing part incented differently from the back-room making-stuff-happen part?
Shimon:
Jim: Ideally, the chef is part-owner of the restaurant. So they should care about everything!
todd:
shimon: yeahbut, the chef is almost never really part-owner. chefs also don't make $10/hr but sous-chefs do and chefs only make about $20/hr. so no bueno.
james:
Sadly, I never got to work in a restaurant, but a few friends of mine were chefs at one point in their lives, and I remember them telling me that the wait staff shared their tips with the cooks. As in they tip the chefs to make sure they get their food quickly, and thereby get bigger tips in return. Though this may not be standard procedure.
