Who among us doesn’t love a great meal? Whether we choose eat at home or in a restaurant, all of us appreciate and respect the work that goes into preparing and presenting our food. We love the humble diner which serves up a phenomenal burger and fries and marvel over the lavish cuisine served up at a 4-star establishment. The proprietors of these two distinctly different types of business have a great deal in common – with each other as well as with the community of entrepreneurs in general. They understand their market, work hard to satisfy their customers, and create a high-quality product and service to compete effectively against each other as well as the thousands and thousands of other restaurants at hand. This is the latest in a series of posts I have been working on that discusses how we can draw lessons for our own ventures from the world around us – specifically from unexpected quarters. Last year, I wrote about how much we can learn from kids, about what dogs and musicians can teach us, and how we can draw inspiration from athletes. Today the great chefs of the world get their turn; these artists are are often wonderful business people and genuinely entrepreneurial, but are admired for their unending creativity and dedication to their craft. Great chefs work everyday to achieve perfection, and we can each learn from their example and their pursuit of the consummate creme brûlée (or burgér, if that should be your personal preference).
1. Chefs live by their creativity. There are not many businesses that are completely dependent on a continuous flow of creativity. Entertainment, advertising, and fine art are among the few industries built completely on a creative output. Fine dining stands among these as an example of pure creativity as a service and a product and the best chefs live and die purely on their ability to create. The chef who loses this ability can no longer compete and can no longer serve their customers or their market.
2. Chefs develop skills over time. Like a great musician a chef develops their skills and technique over many years of practice and refinement. Cooking is not just an art form, but also a craft and the tools, methods, and skills can take years to master. Whether classically trained, or self-taught the great chefs have worked hard to develop their expertise and these abilities are what set them apart and make them unique.
3. Chefs perfect. We speak and write often about the importance of iteration and constant improvement and the best chefs are masters of this. Developing great recipes is a time consuming process and the analogy to developing our own products or services is apt: take the time to develop yours by a process of refinement and repetition until it is as delicious as can be.
4. Chefs listen to their customers. Can you think of another profession where your customer is more critical to the process? Seriously, if they don’t like your product they will leave. They won’t come back and they won’t send their friends to eat the food either. In other industries, the entrepreneur can survive if their product is OK, or even of they have a fail or two. If you are to compete in the world of the chef, you had better pay close attention to that customer and their happiness with your food or you will not have a customer left.
5. Chefs work in teams. Great food is often, though not always, a team endeavor and the skills if the team are crucial. Chefs compete for talent on their staffs just the way you compete for talent in your business. And, as with any team, chef’s teams are an aggregate of the necessary skills and abilities needed to get the job done: sous chefs, line cooks, prep cooks, wait staff, mixologists all contribute to the overall experience of the customer and each of these folks come with their own talents and abilities. (more…)
