Stephen Forman

Then, I moved to health care, which motivated me to be very conscious about the food that people eat, cooking food that was healthy and tasty. Everything was monitored and consumption measured, it gave me a heavier mindset to focus on my day to day. However, I was missing some of the joy and innovation behind cooking.

I’ve been able to implement a lot of good philosophy and develop my sous chefs to become leaders, not just hard-working cooks. I started to mentor them, teaching them how to look at a kitchen from a higher standpoint.

executive chef to sous chef, sous chef to supervisor, supervisor to hourly employees, so that there is consistent development and everyone can trust each other.

Of course, they have to be able to identify products and know techniques. But what’s your first step when a server messes up an order or when a client is impatient? What’s your relationship with the server? How do you recover from being upset and frustrated? I also want to look at how candidates think about their career. What do you want to get out of that?

I like to challenge candidates by asking them to think further. How effective someone is around people is also extremely key. Can they tolerate others’ strengths and weaknesses? How do they compensate for that? We all have strengths and weaknesses, so we have to build one another up and be proud of what we possess. If one person is on a task, and you know that it’s not one of their best quality, don’t just do it for them, but help them through it so that they can develop stronger skills.

They themselves take personal time with their supervisors. You have to show your team that there is mobility and upward growth.

I can’t make a thousand plates every day, I need a team that is inspired and devoted.

I read journals, or sometimes, I’ll even go back to reading my old culinary textbooks. I also like to visit other ball parks and see what they do.