Week 8 BOC: Five Plus Five Soft Skills

      1. Show your skills, don't tell
On Monster.com, it tells you how you should not tell your soft skills, but to show it. Like when you hand an employer your resume, you shouldn't show any typos in your resume. It shows that you're well educated, you can read and write.

      2. Communication
3 years of being in the hospitality industry serving customers welcomely inviting them with a sense that they belong here.

       3. Adaptability
There is always a change to the menu, how we get our shipment, change in management within 3 months after another change has been made.

       4. High forward drive
When managers are supposed to be working, but want to sit in the back on their phones, I take the initiative to say something about it, or to just push harder in finishing what needs to be done.

       5. Teamwork
Working with multiple people on the job and different people each shift, you must know how everyone else works and at different paces.

Week 7 EOC: Profile Statements

Culinary professional who is quick on their feet always on the ready for a new challenge, a new task, and advancement in knowledge.  Goals need to be met quickly and efficiently and there is no greater challenge than that.

 Goal-oriented culinary professional directly from harsh instructors determined to unleash their student’s potential to gain respect and recognition through taste, aroma, and mouth-feel through Indian, Japanese, and Italian cuisine.

Through friendly competition with friends and co-workers, showing off the skills and heart of what it means to cook. Cooking is far more than who can make the best dishes, it’s finding yourself through the passion of what you love to do.

Week 6 EOC: Job Analysis

http://www.careerbuilder.com/job/J900VV65JRMPJ8CLHXB?ipath=JRG3&searchid=2fda1dc4-1c75-4f0a-9509-f799686bacf5&siteid=ns_us_g

Executive Chef

Blue Plate Restaurant Co, Minniapolis, MN

Job Description

The Executive Chef (Chef) is responsible for leadership, culinary focus, hiring, training and development of BOH team members, managing profitable financial operations, and ensuring and supporting marketing initiatives.

BENEFITS/PERKS
Enjoy 2 days off per week
Medical, Dental, Life Insurance, 401 K 
Paid Vacation 
Meal Discounts for you and up to 3 guests
Performance Reviews 2 x year
5 Weeks of Training 
Bonus Eligibility 

Accountabilities and Responsibilities

Leadership - Lead by example in all areas. Enthusiastic dedication, professionalism and positive leadership have the greatest impact on the team. The Chef must organize, energize, develop and lead a diverse work group with BPRC’s Mission Statement and Core Values as the guiding principles.

Culinary Focus - Understand, support and maintain Executive Team expectations and guidelines. Continuously support and build the culture behind the BPRC’s culinary vision. Keep the menu fresh and relevant through features and bi-annual menu changes. Maintain food quality and sanitary practices for food handling and cleanliness. Always look for culinary opportunities and ways to improve. Uphold all ServSafe guidelines both FOH and BOH. Work with the GM to maintain the entire facilities of the store; ensure cleanliness and consistent operation of the restaurant including sanitation, equipment, safety and health standards, and interior and exterior cleanliness.

Hiring, Training & Development of Sous Chef and Team Members – Training, development and cohesiveness of sous chefs and BOH team members. Interview, hire and train team members to ensure all aspects of the position are reviewed, demonstrated and validated. Coach, mentor and provide constructive feedback. Measure and document team member’s successes and opportunities. Identify opportunities and taking swift action to correct behavior.

Profitable Financial Operations - Accountable to the store being a profitable operation. Key areas include understanding of P&L, financial statements, budgets, sales reporting, inventory, costs, labor, etc. Order from BPRC’s primary vendors and build relationships ensuring best cost and service. Maintain product levels without over ordering or running out of products, is an integral part of the position. Understand productive scheduling and write schedules to budgeted labor percentage, manage and review opportunities and take action to correct shortcomings.

Marketing Initiatives - Work closely with the General Manager to ensure all initiatives involving food are planned, developed and executed to align with the store and company brand standards. It is crucial that the Chef understands the importance of marketing initiatives and supports them accordingly.

Job Requirements

Qualifications:

• College degree is preferred. Bachelor of Science degree in hotel/restaurant management is desirable. A combination of practical experience and education will be considered as an alternative.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Knowledge of computers (MS Office-experience and Google Platform a plus).
• Must have reliable transportation.
• ServSafe Certification recommended.

The book says "Current and accurate job descriptions inform job applicants about what they would do if they worked in the position. This information will impact their interest in the job, so managers must develop it carefully." This job description shows everything that is needed for this job. It involves the leadership aspect, which is very important especially for an executive chef position. Some of the qualifications are no-brainers, but it's good that they even thought of including the easily forgettable qualifications such as excellent communication skills. Excellent communication skills is key to being an executive chef because you need everyone under you to be able to listen to you. Not only your employees, but your customers too. Some customers love to chat it up with the executive chef of an establishment, especially those that are well known in the community, locally or non-locals.

Week 5 EOC: 3 Tweets

"How The Cheesecake Factory Works http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/cheesecake-factory_n_1748604.html … Cheesecake Factory uses a system to cut down on food cost, an already tedious task"
I chose this article on Cheesecake Factory saving the cost of its food because some companies fail to realize just how important saving their money is. Food waste is already a cost that no one likes, but it's a big portion of money when you see how much trimming you throw out, especially when it's not done correctly. "By offering low-cost trial to prospective customers, managers offer two things of value to their customers. First, Managers show that they are confident in the value being offered." By minimizing food waste, you can maximize profits.

"Tableware as Sensorial Stimuli by Jinhyun Jeon http://www.dezeen.com/2012/11/18/tableware-as-sensorial-stimuli-cutlery-by-jinhyun-jeon/ … via @dezeen #Synesthesia new way to eat with touch and color." I saw this in a video a few years back. This is a very innovative way to eat. The new textures in utensils really stand out. When you really get into food, it goes beyond tastes and flavoring. It goes into textures, viscosity, temperature, the list goes on. "The level of customer service provided is a major factor that sets apart competing restaurant and foodservice establishments. Therefore, the higher the quality of customer service, the better for the establishment and the customer." Just think of how many people would come back to your restaurant if you went even above and beyond to not only make sure the taste is great, but to offer a whole new experience to how they eat and what they feel while eating.

"The food industry is vulnerable to #litigation http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-human-resources-food-industry-60456.html …" This article is very important. This tells you that your Human Resources depends on how your staff is trained. If you are serving low-quality food and prevent potential lawsuits that could end your business. "When training is focused and done well, it improves the quality of employee work, promotes employee growth, keeps employees challenged and satisfied ,and creats talent to help the organization grow." This quote from the book 100% backs up my claim on training your staff members, it's a no brainer. You don't hire someone and expect them to know everything right off the bat.

Week 4 EOC: Physical Attractiveness

As a business owner, I would prefer to have my employees more attractive looking to attract customers. Employees that may appear to be more intimidating may not be the most suited for working in an establishment. Now, how I'm going about the hiring process, I'd have to be careful what I tell the person I'm interviewing, just like in the book says, "It is always important to be careful what is said, how things are said, and when things are said throughout the screening process." Minor scars, tattoos, or piercing aren't a big issue, those can be allowed as long as it's not noticeable upon first encounter, or if for tattoos, those can easily be covered up with either clothing material, or with long-sleeved shirts.
As far as meeting up with the standards of Nevada, I don't know too much, but when it comes to having tuberculosis, having generally poor hygiene, the book has something regarding this, "All restaurant and foodservice employees work around food. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all employees meet all applicable health requirements of the job." One worker that worked at my current job, he's no longer there, he had the poorest hygiene. The hair on his back was sticking out from the collar of his shirt and I wanted to barf, and his odor was the worst, and his facial hair made me cringe.
"This message of identity takes many forms, including the way an establishment looks on the outside, its décor, the items it serves on its menu, the prices it charges, and even the appearance of its staff. Brand is the single term owners and managers use to describe an establishment’s distinguishing features." Very important in terms of hiring people. You'd want to keep up good competition between other competitors, especially with the appearance of the staff. If all your staff members seem attractive to the consumer, it'll keep them coming back for more. Attractive meaning more than just appearance, but how they are socially and their cleanliness.

Week 3 EOC: This Charming Man

In the movie, there are strong messages about racism and prejudice. Some examples include when the printshop owner refused to hire the man from Iran, or when the names were switched, and he refused to hire El Hassan regardless of the fake identity. Another example is when the barman made a racist joke about when is it okay to spit on a middle eastern woman. When the response being "when she's on fire," the actual answer went ever farther when the answer was "it's always okay to spit on them." Whether it's funny or not depends on your taste.
Signs of prejudice shows when Lars Hansen revealed when we found out that Lars bullied Amanda for being a peasant woman. When he showed his true colors again at the building when he called the receptionist a peasant woman for not being able to operate a phone correctly on her first day of work.
Watching the movie gave some perspective on what to look for in people. Seeing that the bartender approached Amanda, it was clear that he had a relationship prior, and she told Lars how she got out of a long relationship. The Barman tries to talk to her, but Amanda just isn't interested, probably from the blatant racism he displays in the movie.
There are so many unseen significance in the movie that can easily go unseen, mainly by how little it shows us and how short the film is, but the Little Mermaid shows itself in the bar and how important it is, but when Lars hit the barman with it, it showed its comedic relief.