TIME TELLS ALL

Chefs and coaches teach how to plan ahead and work smarter // By Howard Riell

Will Rogers’ classic rationale for investing in real estate, “They ain’t makin’ any more,” applies just as well to time. Chefs can’t afford to waste it, so they’d better learn to manage it.

“Time is the most precious asset we can ever attain, more than anything you can earn, buy or dream of,” says ACF Culinary Team USA Captain Chef Dan Holtgrave, CEC (left), executive chef of the Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis. “The question is: How are you going to spend it? It really doesn’t matter where you are in your career; time is the most valuable asset we have.”

ACF Chef Les Eckert, CEPC, CCE, AAC, MBA (right), director of culinary for the Great Lakes Culinary Institute in Traverse City, Michigan, agrees. “Chefs deal with a lot of last-minute requests and unexpected changes, including staff call-outs,” she says. “Knowing what tasks can be moved around on the priority list helps with fitting in the lastminute pressures of an ever-changing list of responsibilities.”

Intentional Time Management

Chef Eckert is convinced that the worst time management problem comes from staff being stretched too thin and not keeping an updated calendar. “This will lead to anxiety and a reduced quality of work and [less] desire to remain in your job,” she says.

Alexis Haselberger, a San Franciscobased coach and consultant, helps clients learn to use their time “intentionally.” This means separating the planning from the doing. “Spend a few minutes planning your prep and making a timeline before you get started,” she says, “and you'll work more quickly and be less stressed.”

Haselberger also feels that “the ‘Here's something that really worked well for me’ strategy works best because you're not demanding other folks do something your way. You're just showing them an opinion. People like a choice. And people like to be efficient. If you give them a choice that helps them to be more efficient, they'll likely take it.”

WORK AHEAD, WORK SMARTER

Business owners need to anticipate their needs far earlier now, according to ACF Chef Claire Stewart , associate professor, New York City College of Technology at the City University of

New York in Brooklyn. “A manager needs to project how much of an item they will need and how soon can they acquire it,” she says. “A savvy chef will also have a plan b and plan c. If I was waiting on a piece of kitchen equipment, I would have a plan for what to do in case it does not come. How else can I prepare this item? Can I change the menu or change its preparation? Preparing for the worst is always the best.”

Current trends also play a role. Due to ongoing supply chain challenges caused in part by the pandemic, Chef Eckert says, “you now have to think about research and ordering of products much earlier than normal, which means thinking further out in event prep and time management for that event.”

Chef Holtgrave’s advice for working ahead also revolves around staying organized. “Each night, my sous chefs build out a daily plan of work for the next day that the staff then adds to their plans,” he says. “File the outline of the list into your computer and update as needed, and teach your staff how to prioritize the workload.” This level of organization leads to better time management and “will ultimately give you more time for yourself and your family. With two young children and my wife at home, it is a priority that I be there for them because I want to teach my children the same thing. Work hard, help one another and teach them to be better than you.”

Teaching Time Management

Chef Eckert believes that — now more than ever — time management tactics should be taught during training and built into policies and procedures for supervisors and other higher-ups. In addition, she feels that every chef needs to understand exactly what time management is, how to do it, what tools are available “and which tool is the right fit for each person.” Her advice? “Have a daily, weekly, monthly plan, and make the plan visual,” she says. “As chefs, we are multitasking all day, and we need to have a visual plan that helps us forecast our time.”

Becca Rich (above), founder and CEO of The Holistic Time Coach in Annapolis, Maryland, suggests that leading by example to create a kitchen culture that emphasizes healthy “human-centric” time management is the best way to teach it.

“This looks like prioritizing each individual's health and recognizing that doing so is critical to their productivity and success in their role,” says Rich. “From this place, many of the unique and individual time management strategies needed to improve the organization often become clear. Also, ask the chefs and their staffs what is positively and negatively impacting each individual's time management and the team as a whole, and make those adjustments.”

In addition to using training manuals, people can incorporate time management strategies into written policies, says ACF Chef Jason Fridrich, CEC, CCE, Ed.D., MBA, associate lecturer of foodservice and lodging management at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. “The chef will decide what tasks each member of a team will do and in what order. Besides being a leader, the chef is also a teacher.”

Early in his career, Chef Fridrich recounts, “I was a sous chef at an Italian restaurant. The chef I worked for had us refill all of our pots for pasta and other starches at the end of the shift while we were cleaning the kitchen. At the time it seemed to be silly, but over time I realized that when I opened the kitchen the next day all I had to do was turn on each burner. As I gathered my mise en place for my first tasks of the day, the water came to a boil and cooked all of the pasta and other items. This probably saved 30 minutes every morning. It also cleared the stove for other tasks.”

Indeed, carefully managing time frees harried chefs for a variety of activities they might otherwise have to forego — including having more fun with their art.

4 Tips for Better Kitchen Time

According to ACF Culinary Team USA Captain Chef Dan Holtgrave, CEC, executive chef of the Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, getting started on the road to better time management can be accomplished in four basic steps.

1. Stay organized by building a timeline/personal prep list. “As chefs, we all wear many hats in the day-to-day operations, and it can be challenging to keep it all together. For me, running the kitchen at Old Warson Country Club, along with being the captain of the U.S. culinary team, takes a strong daily/ weekly plan of work and sometimes monthly. For team practices, I have an eight-day prep list leading up to the time of travel. I prep stocks a month in advance and freeze them in portioned flat sheets that fit into my Cambro to use as ice packs. The week of practice I start mise-ing dry ingredients first, then the more perishable items the day before I leave. I do my best to pass these practices down to my staff and stress the importance of organization. Competing is a great way to learn how to better organize yourself and those around you.”

2. Stay informed. “Most of the time we know what events are coming up, so expect your staff to know the same. Reading the BEO the day before is too late; we must know weeks in advance of what’s coming up so we can properly plan for the event. Once you read the BEO, you’ve already started the planning process in your head. This can also help you keep your purveyors informed in advance. We all struggle with the current supply chain, and I don’t think that will change in the near future. This brings me to the next point.”

3. Be adaptable. “A chef has always had to be versatile in his/her work, but now more than ever, this holds true — whether it is supply issues, staff shortages, pop-up parties or, more importantly, something personal at home. So we throw in the towel when things don’t go our way? No. We acknowledge, embrace and adapt to the current situation. And in many instances, we end up teaching ourselves and our staff new techniques by navigating through the problems that arise. In return, that will make our personal stock go up.”

4. Networking. “Something we all have lost touch with is face-to-face networking, talking to other chefs. Go to a chapter meeting and see what they are doing to save time, along with physical and mental energy. There is something about seeing your peers and sharing your ups and downs with them that is very uplifting. That is something you cannot get from any social media platform. More times than not, you’ll see that you are not alone. We all face the same issues, whether you are in a large operation or a small 20-seat restaurant. Throw the ideas out there, and you’ll be surprised what answers you will get to help you navigate through your day-to-day operations.”