The sous chef who yelled at me for wasting 30 seconds changed how I prep

I was working a Friday dinner rush in a busy kitchen in Portland, and my new station setup was a little slow. The sous chef, this guy named Dave, grabbed my arm and said 'you just lost us 30 seconds on that garnish.' At first I thought he was being a jerk, but he showed me how I was reaching across myself for the microgreens instead of having them in front. I rearranged my whole station that night based on his advice, and my ticket times dropped by almost 15 percent. We served 240 covers that night, and his little tweak made the difference between smooth service and chaos. Has anyone else had a chef or coworker correct something tiny that totally changed your workflow?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley_schmidt19d ago

Oh boy, the "wasting seconds" thing really sticks with you. I still remember a line cook screaming at me for pulling the tongs out of the wrong bin on the cold station. I felt like a total moron because I had been doing it that way for six months and never realized I was adding an extra reach around the corner. Now I set up my station like a little map in my head, and I swear I can grab a clamshell of greens with my eyes closed. It's funny how the smallest change can make you feel like you finally learned how to use your own hands.

josephbutler21d ago

Haha yeah the "you just lost us 30 seconds" thing hits close to home. I once had a pastry chef yell at me for "wasting 4 seconds" because I was using the wrong measuring cup for flour. I mean I literally stood there like "bro it's flour" but she was right because my croissants kept coming out dense. Now I keep a little plastic tub of flour right next to my scale and I swear it shaved like ten minutes off my morning prep. It's funny how something that feels like a nitpick can actually be a huge time saver. Honestly I still feel stupid about it sometimes like I'm a cartoon character who can't reach for a bowl.