I’m rereading Relæ which I have had since July of 2017. In it you speak about the Herb Bouquet and also Michel Bras. I located a copy of his book and am now waiting to receive it.
I also think it's beneficial to have multiple years of experience before doing a stage and seeing it as a working vacation makes a lot of sense.
I know this piece is more about the pros and cons of doing a stage and what to be alert of.
But it’s been some time I have been really interested in the following question and I am curious on your perspective:
Is it ok to have a business which relies on interns or unpaid labor?
With this I don’t mean that the business has a few interns who help the team members with small tasks to speed up the process and are subsequently paid back with a ‘knowledge-or artisanality’ transaction.
I mean: must a restaurant be able to be completely operative if the interns aren’t there or without unpaid labor?
The underlying (hidden) topic I find interesting in this question:
If a restaurant can do significantly more because there is a high percentage of real unpaid ‘active work’ labor, the quality of the product/dish/service given can be realised at a lower cost for the customer. Which on its turn can as well create a surreal price-quality expectation for the guest and automatically creates a new norm which can be making it more difficult for other restaurateurs.
In this example I see active work labor not only as interns, but also structurally unpaid over-hours of employees. You could almost see it as doing a cycling competition with peds.
Also in this topic there is an underlying question: what is quality? and are more actions equal to more/higher quality/cost? (plating, techniques, actions).
For this comment in my opinion the first question is perhaps more related, but I am also really curious about your insight on the second one.
Sorry for dropping such big questions out of nowhere
Currently I’m in the process of moving our pop-up restaurant to a permanent location and there are many questions like this arising. I get a lot of insights on these topics by reading and listening to your posts, so thank you for that!
Great points and very interesting perspectives. I have myself spent some time thinking about them, and I think I will go deeper into it in a future post. Thank you for reaching out, and good luck with the new location!
Chef I would just like to say thank you for sharing your insight, fair explanation with your personal experience and years of knowledge. Consider there has been some viral circulation on these topic about free labour and abuses, your information is much needed for those who share dreams and passion in the industry.
By the way, I still talked about my first visit to CPN and Relae back in 2018, which was so memorable and truly amazing. Since then I became good friend with J Tam. I was actually volunteering at MAD last year and saw you in distant. Hope I will get to meet you next time when I’m in town.
An easy subscription after reading this column. Even easier when I realized that you had Relæ!!
thank you!
I’m rereading Relæ which I have had since July of 2017. In it you speak about the Herb Bouquet and also Michel Bras. I located a copy of his book and am now waiting to receive it.
GREAT read. As someone looking to get back into the industry with a new focus on education and growth, this was very insightful. Thank you!
Very topical given what is happening.
true
Nice read!!
I also think it's beneficial to have multiple years of experience before doing a stage and seeing it as a working vacation makes a lot of sense.
I know this piece is more about the pros and cons of doing a stage and what to be alert of.
But it’s been some time I have been really interested in the following question and I am curious on your perspective:
Is it ok to have a business which relies on interns or unpaid labor?
With this I don’t mean that the business has a few interns who help the team members with small tasks to speed up the process and are subsequently paid back with a ‘knowledge-or artisanality’ transaction.
I mean: must a restaurant be able to be completely operative if the interns aren’t there or without unpaid labor?
The underlying (hidden) topic I find interesting in this question:
If a restaurant can do significantly more because there is a high percentage of real unpaid ‘active work’ labor, the quality of the product/dish/service given can be realised at a lower cost for the customer. Which on its turn can as well create a surreal price-quality expectation for the guest and automatically creates a new norm which can be making it more difficult for other restaurateurs.
In this example I see active work labor not only as interns, but also structurally unpaid over-hours of employees. You could almost see it as doing a cycling competition with peds.
Also in this topic there is an underlying question: what is quality? and are more actions equal to more/higher quality/cost? (plating, techniques, actions).
For this comment in my opinion the first question is perhaps more related, but I am also really curious about your insight on the second one.
Sorry for dropping such big questions out of nowhere
Currently I’m in the process of moving our pop-up restaurant to a permanent location and there are many questions like this arising. I get a lot of insights on these topics by reading and listening to your posts, so thank you for that!
Ciao Mattia,
Great points and very interesting perspectives. I have myself spent some time thinking about them, and I think I will go deeper into it in a future post. Thank you for reaching out, and good luck with the new location!
Thank you!!
And very looking forward!!
Chef I would just like to say thank you for sharing your insight, fair explanation with your personal experience and years of knowledge. Consider there has been some viral circulation on these topic about free labour and abuses, your information is much needed for those who share dreams and passion in the industry.
By the way, I still talked about my first visit to CPN and Relae back in 2018, which was so memorable and truly amazing. Since then I became good friend with J Tam. I was actually volunteering at MAD last year and saw you in distant. Hope I will get to meet you next time when I’m in town.
Cheers,
Jonathan from HK
Thank you Jonathan!
thank you for sharing this sage wisdom Christian! something I will keep in mind for my future :)