Catering and Candle
Friday, December 1
Today was all about starting a catering business and all the details involved from how to start a business, creating a menu, getting clients, setting prices and costing, working with suppliers, finding kitchen rental space and costs involved with that, invoicing, etc. A lot of students go on to do catering and/or private chefing it seems and they get very interesting and unique jobs. In our most recent newsletter, there was an article by a private chef who went on a US and Canadian road tour (50 cities) with a collection of punk rock bands such as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and I don't know the other names so please excuse my lack of knowledge of the punk rock scene (but if I just had more time...). He was hired as the vegetarian/vegan chef for the two-month tour and one of several chefs that had to cook out of a trailer that was transformed into a kitchen. It was not an elaborate kitchen, very difficult to work out of, and he had to start cooking at 6:30 am every day for over 20o people and worked for 14 hours every day. He said, believe it or not, in the punk rock world there were about 70 vegans and 150 vegetarians, mostly band members and some crew.
So, our catering teacher Cheryl used to own a restaurant and catering company called Dish (www.dish165.com) that did over $2.5 million revenue a year on catering and had clients such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bette Midler, and Calvin Klein. She recently decided to end her relationship with her business partner and start on a new career path, which includes teaching and taking a break. I will work with her on a Friday Night Dinner in a few weeks and am looking forward to it. She was a graduate of the school about 20 years ago and now at 42 she wants to move into a more intellectual and less physical career, the opposite of me.
It was so warm in the streets today, in the early 20s, and it was strange to have all the Christmas decorations, selling of Christmas trees on the sidewalks, and Christmas fairs, while some people were walking around in shorts and t-shirts. The weather has been unseasonably warm this week and we hear that snow is on it's way early next week, so from sandals to boots in a few days perhaps and it's probably going to be announced as a "Canadian" coldfront to blame. I was not complaining as I walked through Christmas fairs that have now popped up in Union Square and Grand Central Terminal. It was nice to have a break as I was working at Candle 79 last night.
So how does the internship turn or the knife chop you may wonder? It was an interesting shift last night as I always feel like a sore thumb going into the kitchen and being among the highly efficent young hispanic chefs and assistants who are only speaking in Spanish. But it was very busy with the restaurant full, meaning 85 covers at one sitting and more walk-ins so over 100 during the short dinner crunch, and there was no one to assist the cold station chef. So, I did my best to try to be helpful as the cold station chef gathered his chits with endless and sometimes complex salads and cold plates he had to make under pressure. While there are main ingredients prepped in the cold station, no salads are made in advance and have to be made on the spot with some ingredients made only made a la minute, in particular involving the chopping of fruits and vegetables into small julienne (1/8 x 2) slices or the chiffonading or shredding of greens into thin or small pieces at lightning speed. Or, there are a variety of cold dishes such as the gourmet maki roll with jicama and carrot spread instead of rice and the centre has a variety of marinated vegetables. This is served with a salad and other items on the plate. Very beautiful but labour intensive, and has to be just done right. I've seen him throw out a maki roll if it wasn't perfect (I would volunteer to eat it of course but didn't think the timing was right to ask him at that moment). He is also responsible for prepping, and preparing some and plating all desserts. So, I started reading the chits as they came out of the machine and helped prep and plate desserts where I could, asking for his approval once plated or asking him or the head chef for guidance if I needed it. For the most part, they were ok with my help but when I asked questions of the cold chef he would usually do it himself as he thought it was easier and faster I'm sure. They are super busy, under pressure, they did not ask for me, and I'm probably seen as extra work sometimes. I guess that's why you have to be super keen and passionate, and youth helps too, to be in the kitchen and stay in there for long hours, making not much money, and not getting much respect or attention. They are nice and polite enough to me but that's about all they can offer and all I know I can expect starting out in the kitchen. I would like to I think (and have to to carry on) that I was useful in preparing some of the dessert plates for guests and helping him refill his cold station with ingredients he needed, and I learned a lot. So, while I am always hestitant to go in as it's difficult not to get a warm and welcoming approach when I enter the kitchen, I have to say that I continue to be impressed by the taste, quality and plating of the food, the incredible speed, ease and calmness of the chefs, and they rarely seem to complain, though I wouldn't really know without understanding Spanish. There were only two chefs (one cold station and one hot station) and one assistant last night and they were able to serve probably over 100 plus people in about an intensive two hour period or less. This is incredible considering that the two hot station people have to work in a space no bigger than 10 x 3 ft probably and very hot with stoves, grills, deep fryers, heating lamp, and a small area for plating. This is bigger than the cold station that has less than half of that to prepare his stuff. Overall, the entire working kitchen is small, no bigger than say 20 ft x 30 ft and this includes the dishwashing station with dishwasher, dessert and take out area, convection ovens, etc. This seems normal in a lot of restaurants.
When I went outside to the dining room one, of the waitresses asked me how the kitchen was as it was an incredibly busy night and unexpected. I said it was hard to tell as they are all such pros in the kitchen and quite calm, and she agreed. By the way, the waiters and waitresses very rarely enter the kitchen. There are amazing runners that move in and out of the kitchen, with plated food going out and dirty plates coming in, and they are the liaison between the waiters/waitresses and clients, and the kitchen, asking questions of the kitchen staff of what's in certain things or if special needs can be met, ironing out problems, all in Spanish of course. I have great respect for the work they do and the waiters/waitresses although excellent (and English and good looking of course) they get all the credit and I'm sure a bigger part of the tips. This is no different from any restaurant I've seen in NYC. When Dave and I ate at Candle 79 for the first time, we had an amazing waitress because she was so warm, knowledgeable, effective and had passion for the food. I spoke to her last night and found out that her father is a chef and she was brought up with a lot of organic and natural foods, and is vegetarian. Apparently many of the gourmet and higher end restaurants in town have very experienced waiters/waitresses on their staff, some that are even chefs, so they are very experienced with the food and can speak to clients about it. They say that New Yorkers can be some of the most difficult and picky restaurant clients and they can be with so much competition for their stomachs and wallets. Knowing this, at top restaurants in town such as Per Se, they even train the waiters/waitresses for about a month at their training institute as they are very picky about service staff. Well, I guess if you're paying for a tasting dinner at Per Se at around $250 US per person and lasting a few hours to experience, you want only the best people presenting this food and working with clients. With the normal tip rate being 20% or over in NY, you can just imagine the kind of tips service staff can make in the city if they are good and work at high-end restaurants.
I finished the night being pleased that I could get more experience than just peeling and chopping,which is fine with me and I expect to do every shift, so guess I'll be back again...
Today was all about starting a catering business and all the details involved from how to start a business, creating a menu, getting clients, setting prices and costing, working with suppliers, finding kitchen rental space and costs involved with that, invoicing, etc. A lot of students go on to do catering and/or private chefing it seems and they get very interesting and unique jobs. In our most recent newsletter, there was an article by a private chef who went on a US and Canadian road tour (50 cities) with a collection of punk rock bands such as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and I don't know the other names so please excuse my lack of knowledge of the punk rock scene (but if I just had more time...). He was hired as the vegetarian/vegan chef for the two-month tour and one of several chefs that had to cook out of a trailer that was transformed into a kitchen. It was not an elaborate kitchen, very difficult to work out of, and he had to start cooking at 6:30 am every day for over 20o people and worked for 14 hours every day. He said, believe it or not, in the punk rock world there were about 70 vegans and 150 vegetarians, mostly band members and some crew.
So, our catering teacher Cheryl used to own a restaurant and catering company called Dish (www.dish165.com) that did over $2.5 million revenue a year on catering and had clients such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bette Midler, and Calvin Klein. She recently decided to end her relationship with her business partner and start on a new career path, which includes teaching and taking a break. I will work with her on a Friday Night Dinner in a few weeks and am looking forward to it. She was a graduate of the school about 20 years ago and now at 42 she wants to move into a more intellectual and less physical career, the opposite of me.
It was so warm in the streets today, in the early 20s, and it was strange to have all the Christmas decorations, selling of Christmas trees on the sidewalks, and Christmas fairs, while some people were walking around in shorts and t-shirts. The weather has been unseasonably warm this week and we hear that snow is on it's way early next week, so from sandals to boots in a few days perhaps and it's probably going to be announced as a "Canadian" coldfront to blame. I was not complaining as I walked through Christmas fairs that have now popped up in Union Square and Grand Central Terminal. It was nice to have a break as I was working at Candle 79 last night.
So how does the internship turn or the knife chop you may wonder? It was an interesting shift last night as I always feel like a sore thumb going into the kitchen and being among the highly efficent young hispanic chefs and assistants who are only speaking in Spanish. But it was very busy with the restaurant full, meaning 85 covers at one sitting and more walk-ins so over 100 during the short dinner crunch, and there was no one to assist the cold station chef. So, I did my best to try to be helpful as the cold station chef gathered his chits with endless and sometimes complex salads and cold plates he had to make under pressure. While there are main ingredients prepped in the cold station, no salads are made in advance and have to be made on the spot with some ingredients made only made a la minute, in particular involving the chopping of fruits and vegetables into small julienne (1/8 x 2) slices or the chiffonading or shredding of greens into thin or small pieces at lightning speed. Or, there are a variety of cold dishes such as the gourmet maki roll with jicama and carrot spread instead of rice and the centre has a variety of marinated vegetables. This is served with a salad and other items on the plate. Very beautiful but labour intensive, and has to be just done right. I've seen him throw out a maki roll if it wasn't perfect (I would volunteer to eat it of course but didn't think the timing was right to ask him at that moment). He is also responsible for prepping, and preparing some and plating all desserts. So, I started reading the chits as they came out of the machine and helped prep and plate desserts where I could, asking for his approval once plated or asking him or the head chef for guidance if I needed it. For the most part, they were ok with my help but when I asked questions of the cold chef he would usually do it himself as he thought it was easier and faster I'm sure. They are super busy, under pressure, they did not ask for me, and I'm probably seen as extra work sometimes. I guess that's why you have to be super keen and passionate, and youth helps too, to be in the kitchen and stay in there for long hours, making not much money, and not getting much respect or attention. They are nice and polite enough to me but that's about all they can offer and all I know I can expect starting out in the kitchen. I would like to I think (and have to to carry on) that I was useful in preparing some of the dessert plates for guests and helping him refill his cold station with ingredients he needed, and I learned a lot. So, while I am always hestitant to go in as it's difficult not to get a warm and welcoming approach when I enter the kitchen, I have to say that I continue to be impressed by the taste, quality and plating of the food, the incredible speed, ease and calmness of the chefs, and they rarely seem to complain, though I wouldn't really know without understanding Spanish. There were only two chefs (one cold station and one hot station) and one assistant last night and they were able to serve probably over 100 plus people in about an intensive two hour period or less. This is incredible considering that the two hot station people have to work in a space no bigger than 10 x 3 ft probably and very hot with stoves, grills, deep fryers, heating lamp, and a small area for plating. This is bigger than the cold station that has less than half of that to prepare his stuff. Overall, the entire working kitchen is small, no bigger than say 20 ft x 30 ft and this includes the dishwashing station with dishwasher, dessert and take out area, convection ovens, etc. This seems normal in a lot of restaurants.
When I went outside to the dining room one, of the waitresses asked me how the kitchen was as it was an incredibly busy night and unexpected. I said it was hard to tell as they are all such pros in the kitchen and quite calm, and she agreed. By the way, the waiters and waitresses very rarely enter the kitchen. There are amazing runners that move in and out of the kitchen, with plated food going out and dirty plates coming in, and they are the liaison between the waiters/waitresses and clients, and the kitchen, asking questions of the kitchen staff of what's in certain things or if special needs can be met, ironing out problems, all in Spanish of course. I have great respect for the work they do and the waiters/waitresses although excellent (and English and good looking of course) they get all the credit and I'm sure a bigger part of the tips. This is no different from any restaurant I've seen in NYC. When Dave and I ate at Candle 79 for the first time, we had an amazing waitress because she was so warm, knowledgeable, effective and had passion for the food. I spoke to her last night and found out that her father is a chef and she was brought up with a lot of organic and natural foods, and is vegetarian. Apparently many of the gourmet and higher end restaurants in town have very experienced waiters/waitresses on their staff, some that are even chefs, so they are very experienced with the food and can speak to clients about it. They say that New Yorkers can be some of the most difficult and picky restaurant clients and they can be with so much competition for their stomachs and wallets. Knowing this, at top restaurants in town such as Per Se, they even train the waiters/waitresses for about a month at their training institute as they are very picky about service staff. Well, I guess if you're paying for a tasting dinner at Per Se at around $250 US per person and lasting a few hours to experience, you want only the best people presenting this food and working with clients. With the normal tip rate being 20% or over in NY, you can just imagine the kind of tips service staff can make in the city if they are good and work at high-end restaurants.
I finished the night being pleased that I could get more experience than just peeling and chopping,which is fine with me and I expect to do every shift, so guess I'll be back again...
posted by Caroline at 9:10 PM
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