• FAIL Blog
  • Employee
  • Workplace
  • Horrible Bosses
  • Neighbors
  • HOA
  • Family Drama
  • Parenting
  • Customer Service
  • Entitled People

  • Links
  • About Us
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Security
  • DMCA Policy
    • search email community favorite this article chev-right latest posts article list comments tags video article login twitter facebook menu pinterest whatsapp

    Chef reprimanded by boss for not having enough stock for his sister’s party, chef's team follows orders to overprepare food in bulk in the future, causing huge food waste and costs, boss reverts "à la carte" orders: ''Consequences were catastrophic'

    They say the boss always knows best, but surely those working on the 'ground' know better?

    If you want to climb to the top of the career ladder and stay there, you have to start from the very first step. The best career advice I've ever received is that if you want to run a successful company, you have to understand every component of each role the industry you're working in has to offer. If you want to own a luxury clothing brand, first you have to know what it's like to fold the clothes. If you want to own a chain of Michelin-starred restaurants, you have to know what it's like to mop the kitchen floors, and if you dream of making partner at your city's most successful law firm, you have to know what it's like to spend hours shredding paper. Because maintaining a successful company isn't about instant gratification or the first sign of a big paycheck rolling in, it's about fully understanding each employee who works for you and the importance their roles provide. That is the true value of experience. 

    How can anyone with a higher 'title' expect their employees to trust them when they don't even always know what they're talking about? If they haven't been on the ground, living their experience, then surely their employees would have a better understanding of how best to do their jobs than they do?

    Author image for Emma Saven Emma Saven
    Add us on Google
    Advertisement

    • A small restaurant's kitchen has implemented a waste-conscious system in which they prepare rarely ordered items fresh or in limited batches, a method approved by their boss. However, problems start to arise when the boss's sister hosts a 15-person event at the restaurant, and each person orders a baked potato for their side dish. Now, I know you're asking yourselves, how much trouble could a baked potato really cause? 

      A lot, apparently. The thing is, the potatoes weren't stocked in large quantities, and thus, there weren't enough for every guest…This struck a nerve in the boss, leading him to aggressively accuse the staff of being unprepared and ‘embarrassing’ him in front of family. In response, the kitchen followed his demand to be ready to prepare everything in bulk from now on…Ultimately leading to a few unwanted surprises, and we're not talking about a neglected bone in the fish dish…

       

       

    • Boss shouting at his kitchen staff while they prepare food
      via gettyimages

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

    • Advertisement

    • You want us to have everything ready for a la carte? Fine, enjoy the thousands in losses

      I'm a chef and I work in a restaorant with a diverse menu, there s only 3 of US.
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • Me and 2 helpers on shift ( 3 on the other shift) it s a lot of work but we have our systems, due to the menu being diverse we usually prefere to do some things on the spot if an order comes in, for example, tomato salsa which is just cubed tomatos with olive oil, basil, and condiments, since its used in only 2 dishes we prefere to do it on the spot so its as fresh as possible, it defenetly adds to our work load and maybe the order takes an extra 2-3 minutes to come out but its better then havin
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • We also do small portions for things we know don't get asked for so often but we can't make them on the spot like sauces which need time to cool down and thicken.
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • Advertisement
    • Our boss knows about all of this and of course he preferes this system since almost nothing goes bad and ends up being thrown away.
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • The issue we had a few weeks ago is this: My boss's sister had a reservation for about 15 people and EVERY SINGLE ONE of these girls wanted baked potatoes as a side dish for their main, we did not have 15 portions of baked potatoes on hand since it's something that doesn't get asked for often and we only baked about 6-7 portions that morning since they take about 45min- 1h to be done, this wasn't a problem in the past but our boss got in our faces screaming at us that we weren't ready, we embarr
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • Advertisement
    • Women laughing during a girl's night dinner
      via gettysignature

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

    • We followed through, for the next 2.5 months we prepared for EVERYTHING, 20 portions of baked potato per day that we throw out in maximum 2 days?
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • Advertisement
    • Done. Salsas made in advance for 10+ portions? Done. Soups? Done. We also communicated the bosses order to the other shift and they started doing the same.
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • We prepared everything in bulk, nothing we could. run out of. The consequences were catastrofical for the business, everything went up in costs significantly from the materials we used to utility bills.
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • When it came close to the ending of the year and the big inventory came, our boss finally noticed how much money he lost for his tantrum.
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • Advertisement
    • We simply played stupid and told him we did exactly as he told us to.
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • Brubcha Did anything change in the new year?
      via Brubcha
    • OP Careful-Solid-8242 Oh yes, long story short a whole meeting happend with the entire staff and we explained how much work it is to have everything ready at all times. Short staffed and high demand, a whole menu re-work will be made to also avoid the "well it s 86 the kitchen doesn't have it " problem. which i HOPE would take some load off of our shoulders, but from how I know the boss (he has absolutely no clue what it means to do our jobs) I'm not expecting much of a change in load. But we pr
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • Advertisement
    • Waiter talking to two chefs in the kitchen about the day's menu
      via gettysignature

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

    • nyrB2 hang on though - you said "Our boss knows about all of this and of course he preferes this system since almost nothing goes bad and ends up being thrown away." so why did you need a meeting to explain to him something he already knew?
      via nyrB2
    • OP Careful-Solid-8242 We explained how hard it is to have everything ready all at once, not the system we had initially with things done on the spot, or only small portions pre-made, he wants to avoid not having something prepared for the costumer and we want to avoid having to double or triple our work load how we did in thoese 2.5 months out of spite, so that s why a menu re-work will take place. Also the meeting wasn't necessarily for that reason, it was a usual "new year meeting " we just us
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • Advertisement
    • miner2361 What is the age of the boss? I see a lot of this type of lack of reasoning from younger management, in their thirties. Quick to blame without giving a solution.
      via miner2361
    • OP Careful-Solid-8242 Yes. He is in his earlg thirty s, as I stated in another comment, he also has no ideea what it means to do our job.
      via Careful-Solid-8242
    • KnickKnockers I love the collective pettiness by all kitchen staff - team work making the dream work. Well done all.
      via KnickKnockers
    • Advertisement
    • night_noche Knowing the restaurant industry, it seems like your boss was out of his depth. If he knew he had a wild card he wanted to impress, he should have prepared by ordering pre- prep ahead of his special party and all this mess he created would have been averted. Glad that the losses hit him due to his own ineptitude.
      via night_noche
    • tubbyx7 It's almost like experience on the front line matters
      via tubbyx7
    • Personal-Heart-1227 Your Boss thought you were Gordon Ramsey with his huge Kitchen Team to back him up like in his TV Cooking Shows!
      via Personal-Heart-1227
    • Advertisement
    • Money-Act-5480 Why didnt chef mike cook em? No one can tell the difference Imao just toss em in the convect for 5min
      via Money-Act-5480

    Stay up to date by following us on Facebook!

    Tags

    boss alacarte booking FAIL cooking chef loss catering
    Like
    Scroll Down For The Next Article
    Show Comments

    Also From FAIL Blog

    Tenant notices water damage in their ceiling, then finds out their upstairs neighbor keeps forgetting to shut off his running water, they report him: ‘It happened six times’

    Tenant notices water damage in their ceiling, then finds out their upstairs neighbor keeps forgetting to shut off his running water, they report him: ‘It happened six times’
    Next Article