Executive club chefs can work up to 12 hours or more a day, often standing or on the move all the time. Whether it's pots and pans, carrying heavy bags of food, or saving deliveries, being a chef involves a lot of heavy work. Modern chefs face many challenges, such as high levels of competition, a well-informed customer base, and high staff turnover, to name just a few. We will discuss these issues and others in more detail.
As an experienced chef, I have faced many challenges throughout my career. Here are 5 challenges that I face and how I try to overcome them. Chefs usually think only of kitchen equipment. Kitchen staff members can be considered a team (“us”) allied against reception staff (“them”).
Kitchen staff from other shifts, management and other components of the operation can also be considered “them”. This isn't productive in a well-functioning restaurant. Staff may believe that if only “they were more understanding, worked harder, or knew what it's really like,” we could do the best job. Of course, this same thinking prevails in other groups, except the other way around.
While this is an advantage for chefs who move on, it's a big challenge for the head chef trying to manage a busy kitchen.
