The Ten-Minute Manager's Guide to...Hiring Chefs
By Virginia Gerst, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, 3/1/2006
Whether the operation calls for a superstar chef who works easily in kitchen and dining room or a rock-steady sous-chef, hiring culinary talent is a tall order. Faced with a number of eager applicants, how does an operator determine who is right for the job?
The best advice: Look to procedures ranging from carefully crafted interviews to behind-the-line testing before handing out the toques.
“You can never be 100% certain you’re selecting the right person,” says Thuan Nguyen, director of recruiting for Leawood, Kan.-based Houlihan’s Restaurants Inc. “But when you compile all the resources—the interviews and other tools—the odds are very good you will make the right hire.”
Standing the Heat
Joseph Keller never hires a chef until they have worked together in the kitchen.
“I put them in the mix and see how they react to different adversities,” says Keller, chef-owner of Como’s and the soon-to-open Bistro Zinc in Nevada’s Monte Lago Village at Lake Las Vegas Resort. “Every applicant will tell you they know all about the job, but you won’t really find out until you see them work.”
Keller auditioned five candidates for the chef de cuisine job at Bistro Zinc, scheduled to open this month. Each would-be hire spent a week or two in Como’s kitchen, working four to five hours a day. Keller has followed a similar procedure at his previous restaurants, including Bouchon, which he opened with his younger brother, French Laundry chef Thomas Keller, in Yountville, Calif.
“It’s a long, slow, meticulous process,” the elder Keller admits. “But I want to make sure before I hire them. I don’t want to have to fire anybody.”
Dennis Max, owner-chef of Max’s Grille in Boca Raton, Coral Gables and Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., also likes to test chefs under fire. He asks potential hires to create several meals using ingredients he provides, and judges the results with a panel that includes restaurant managers and the director of operations.
“It’s kind of like ‘Iron Chef,’” Max says. “We want to see if we like their food and its flavors, but we also want to make sure they are able to cook in our style.”
Ruth’s Chris Steak House uses a formal chef’s test to ensure that applicants are up to the chain’s standards.
“We have them make some of our recipes and cook different steaks at different temperatures,” says Jim Cannon, vice president of culinary operations for the Orlando-based company. “We watch them on the line and have them do a bit of expediting.”
A knife-skills test also is part of the exam. “We want to make sure they are not faking,” says Cannon. “You can tell right away if people know how to use a knife.”
Cents and Sensibility
In today’s competitive market, chefs have to do more than tend stockpots and salad lines; they need to take care of business too.
“The industry operates on such tight margins that a restaurant can’t afford a chef who doesn’t know how to control costs,” says Tom Davis, president of T-A-Davis & Associates, a Kenilworth, Ill., executive search firm specializing in the hospitality industry.
Brian Wilbur, district manager of Bon Appétit Management Co., Palo Alto, Calif., estimates that a chef is responsible for 60% to 80% of an operation’s finances and 95% of its food costs.
Those sizeable percentages mean that those who do the hiring “better have ready a good checklist of financial questions,” he says. “You can tell a chef’s background from the résumé, but when it comes to finances, you have to know what to ask.”
Wilbur’s queries include: “How do you calculate food costs?” and “How do you pinch pennies?”
Ruth’s Chris Steak House interviewers expect applicants to demonstrate ease with computers and financial spreadsheets, while chefs hoping to work at Newport Beach, Calif.-based Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar are quizzed in math. Corporate Executive Chef Russell Skall asks them to figure the percentage of profit for an item based on its menu price and food cost.
Dennis Max asks more than that of chefs hoping to cook at Max’s Grille.
“We ask if they have been responsible for purchasing and if they have been involved in planning out raw costs,” Max explains. “Did they schedule workers and hire and give raises?”
Menu of Experiences
How helpful is a résumé?
Bon Appétit’s Brian Wilbur takes them with a grain of salt, believing that “40% of what’s written is not completely factual.”
But most managers agree that there is some merit to those carefully crafted pieces of paper.
Joseph Keller checks the fine print to find out if a candidate has hobbies. He gives high scores to those involved in physical activities.
“That tells me they take care of themselves, and they aren’t going to be sick,” he explains. “They need to be healthy because this business will chew you up if you’re not.”
Wilbur homes in on employment history.
“At Bon Appétit, when we hire, we look at character,” he explains. “And longevity on the résumé is a good indication of that. Ten to 15 years in one place is a better indicator than great references.”
Sweetening the Pot
In today’s tight labor market, identifying the right chef is just the first step. The candidate then has to be persuaded to take the job.
“There have been times when you could hire any number of great chefs because the market was skewed that way,” says executive recruiter Tom Davis. “But right now a qualified chef can choose between two or three opportunities.”
Davis advises clients to ask themselves why someone would want to work with their operation before beginning to interview applicants.
“They need to crystallize in their minds why their operation is special so they can convey that to good candidates,” he explains.
Brian Wilbur discusses the history of Bon Appétit and the company’s goals early in an interview. “I talk about our commitment to fresh, local foods and sustainability,” he says. “Those things mean a lot to most chefs these days.”
Thuan Nguyen estimates that he spends 30% of an interview highlighting the attractions of Houlihan’s Restaurants and sister concepts J. Gilbert’s Wood-Fired Steaks, Bristol Bar & Grill, Braxton Seafood Grill, Devon Seafood Grill and Chequers Bar & Grill.
“We talk about the growth of the company, ongoing training and the potential for advancement,” he says. “These are things that usually intrigue candidates. I want to make sure they leave the interview excited.”
Personal Chefs
To determine whether a candidate has the management skills and positive attitude necessary to supervise employees effectively, executive recruiter Tom Davis asks candidates to tell him about people-management problems they have had in the past.
“A person who does not have management skills will start complaining about the staff,” he says. “That throws up a red flag. If they tell me how they solved problems, that’s a good thing.”
Ruth’s Chris’ Jim Cannon poses hypothetical questions to determine how well chefs handle tough personnel problems.
“We put them on the spot,” he says. “We say, ‘If you are doing 400 people at dinner and your main broiler person quits, what do you do?’”
Fleming’s Russell Skall asks chefs why they left their last job. “Do they blame their managers? You don’t want people who badmouth their former employer.”
How candidates comport themselves also indicates how well they will perform on the job, he adds.
“Do they look you in the eye?” Skall asks. “Are they self-confident? How do they walk into the interview? Do they have pep in their step? I can teach someone how to fill a job, but I can’t teach attitude.”
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