Chef Chatter
Chef Chatter: 86 the attitude when it comes to your Millennial-aged workers
The founding chef of Hot Indian in Minnesota discusses how chefs have a responsibility to transform the typical back-of-house culture, which has a fiery, aggressive reputation, into a more inclusive supportive workplace.
March 5, 2019
By Janene Holig, founding chef of Hot Indian
Gone are the days of throwing and breaking dishes in an angry huff because the parm isn't fluffy enough to stand 3 feet over the peak of the pappardelle. The next generation of culinary leaders is leaving the cussing and shouting out of the kitchen to cultivate and inspire a new kind of culinary workforce. Throughout my training, I've had the good fortune to have been lead by strong empowering chefs. Throughout my culinary degree, at The Art Institute, our instructors deviated from the vast kitchen cultures they had been affected by and seemed to have had a collective stance on how to train the next generation of kitchen warriors. We were trained to empower, coach, communicate and compromise with our teams. I sought out the same leadership from employers once out of school. I was shaped and able to articulate what I could provide and what I needed from my workplace and only accepted positions where I felt those needs were honored.
After a long stretch of doubles, my team and I sat down for a "shifty" and started discussing why we do this job. Why do we show up when it's truly grueling and unappreciated? What makes all this worth it? Anyone who can say to themselves "because it's who I am and where I fit" is a bonafide chef! We do it to feed our creative appetite and our need to please and satisfy others. We create and share things with others for the purpose of pure delight. So with all that passion and pride in our craft why are some kitchens still a negative cauldron of hazing? How long will we celebritize bad behavior in this industry by binging on cooking shows that demoralize the participants in the industry?
The chatter at every stovetop is about the Millennial workforce being needy, demanding, and having different priorities. It's about damn time! Our kitchens and teams are run with positive reinforcements, praise, opportunity, communication and coaching. I personally skirt this generation so I was eager to create a stable supportive work environment. This profession is evolving into a lucrative vocation where you can be cultivated and groomed not only to perform on the line but to thrive and grow in other areas of culinary management. After all, we all know that is what the executive position transitions into.
Give your team the space and safe place to discuss their needs and concerns about their workload and listen to ideas they may have on the concept and their individual development. By listening you may solve an immediate issue, create a new/better/faster procedure or gain insight into the project that you may overlook from a distance. If you don't care about their goals, both personal and professional, how else can we expect them to care about ours or the companies? We have an incredible opportunity to change the back-of-house culture from its fiery, aggressive reputation to a more inclusive supportive workplace.
We as leaders hold great weight with our teams. Listening to and managing our expectations of individuals will ultimately help us hear what needs to be heard to create a healthy transparent environment where people feel important to the overall mission of the company. Do the work yourself to identify your leadership philosophy and how you want to communicate your vision and how you will engage those that bring your ideas to life!
Janene Holig is the founding chef of Hot Indian. What started as a food truck has grown into a popular and expanding fast casual. The menu boasts "Indian food, Simplified" and that is what it delivers. Her knowledge of global cuisine stems from traveling and cooking in restaurants around the world as well as a Bachelor degree in Culinary Management. Her goal is to learn, teach, and inspire Indian cooking. Holig and her dishes have gotten some notoriety around the Twin Cities and beyond including a 2013 Charlie Award for "Best Food Truck 2014 "Iron Fork" champion duo; 2015 "Best Food Truck" City Pages; 2015 Top Chef by Foodservice News; 2018 Featured "Chopped" Chef.
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