On the unsexy side of being a chef

Not all amazing cooks will make great chefs. Some of the best chefs are not the best cooks in their kitchen. What you don’t see in those TV cooking challenges or hear when entering culinary school are all the things that will be required of you as a GREAT chef. Not only do you have to create a menu that guests (and your entire staff) will be excited about, but it needs to reflect a growing, creative version of yourself. The menu is mildly a fraction of what the job entails.

So let’s talk about the unsexy side of being a chef. What else is required? To start, you need to be business-savvy and dollar-attentive. There needs to be a focus on cost, inventory and negotiating with vendors without sacrificing your ethos or quality. It also means that you need to be an in-house repair person. Time and money are a luxury in this business. You don’t always get to use a repairman. Profitability can’t be your No. 1 driver in a business where the national average is 3 – 5% profit annually. Creativity alone will not keep you in business for the long haul.

Another key component is growing into the role of being a teacher. A chef is the in-house professor. A true chef should never want line cooks to just stay put. Inevitably, we have to figure out how to help them grow and to reach their goals. But with staffing shortages, it’s tough when you and your sous chefs are jumping on the line.

None of the above includes the daily basics of scheduling, emails, owners or investors, PR meetings, interviews and social media for the restaurant and ourselves, all while making sure everyone that works under the roof is happy. It’s equally as tough if you are a chef like me with severe ADHD who has to work hard at keeping all things lined up. It is a concerted effort. You have to have systems and structure.

And this leads me to the No. 1 thing they don’t tell you about being a chef: You need to be self-aware. You need to be really honest with yourself. Yes, you must know your strengths but, more importantly, you need to ask, “What are my weaknesses?” They don’t tell you to take your ego out of this — to put your whole restaurant first. Simultaneously, you need to build a management team around you that feeds into the culture/vision while strengthening your weaknesses. It’s not about you looking good. It’s about bringing out the best in your kitchen. And this means there is no successful version of me at Husk without my kitchen management team.

Like many chefs, our motley crew was affected by 2020. Some of us made decisions to get back to our creative roots. Some took a step back in their careers to spend time with family — the reasons go on and on. The one thing we all agreed on is that we wanted to be part of a team. We were all exhausted from being spread thin in understaffed restaurants.

The professionals in our kitchen make me better, and they make the restaurant look like a rock star. We all have our quirks, but we are balanced. We push each other to keep growing creatively and, on a lot of days, just to keep going.

So here’s a shout-out to my team — and to teams across Charleston — that make me and my fellow chefs look better every day.

Ray England is executive chef of Husk Restaurant in Charleston.