Franke Leake Speaks on Teaching Culinary Arts

FELC member, Franke Leake, who teaches in Hawaii, gave a great interview about teaching culinary arts and the industry in general.  Here is the information that awaits those who click on the URL below to hear the short interview:

In the past decade, there’s been a huge change in people’s attitudes about what they eat and drink. America's chefs are changing to keep pace. This year the American Chef’s Federation and the American Academy of Chefs honored Kapiolani Community College’s Frank Leake, with the Culinary Traditions award for excellence in developing the next generation of culinary leaders. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa spoke with him about eating and cooking. The Hawai’i Food and Wine Festival starts this Thursday. Find out more at http://www.hawaiifoodandwinefestival.com/ . Hawai’i-born KCC graduate Lance Nitahara is currently competing in "Chopped", the Food Network program Frank Leake calls the most true to life. Be prepared for a dramatic finish.

You can hear the interview by visiting:
http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/content/frank-leake-chef-professor-part-community-shapes-what-we-eat



Great job, Franke!

What I Teach in Restaurant Lab Class

In the fundamental restaurant management lab that I teach we have academic objectives to teach for sure.  We teach the kids the equipment.  We teach the kids different service styles.  We teach the kids basic cooking.  We teach them sanitation.  We teach them management basics.  They take quizzes and exams to motivate them to do the readings as well as retain what was learned from hands-on experience they get on a daily basis in the lab.

But the we teach them much more than that; we teach them about a professional kitchen.  For example, when I am expediting during lunch service, or my TA's stand in for me, there is no YELLING at servers or cooks or anyone else for that matter.  No matter how deep in the weeds we get from time to time.  We run a cool, calm, level-headed kitchen where orders come in, they are made, and served to guests as a team effort.  There is no yelling like on Hell's Kitchen or some of the kitchens I worked in when I had the energy for this business. 

There is no crazy, arrogant, egocentric, rude, bullying, loud, demeaning, self-indulging, hungover -- pick your adjective -- "chef" running around making everyone crazy, scared, crying or whatever.  Our chef works alongside the kids because she has a skill set that the kids need to tap into to work the line, make salads, plate desserts, etc., so we can serve our guests.  She is patient, she is caring, she is cool and does not roll her eyes when showing a kid to make a basil chiffonade to garnish our whole wheat pasta dish for the 10th time!  She is an educational professional.

There is NO sexual harassment of any kind albeit hostile work environment or quid pro quo that we all know is too common in the industry we know and love.  There are only "ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen" in my lab.  Nobody at any time for any reason makes any off color or sexual comment, nobody exhibits a behavior that is inappropriate either.  We show up, do service, have a robust debrief when the lab has been cleaned, and the students go their separate ways knowing a bit more about resturant management than the lab before.  That is what I was hired to do!

And this is what I want our kids to expect when they work as an intern or start their MIT program at an independent or chain restaurant.  That is what I teach.  I teach the professional kitchen.  Indeed, Bourdain would be hard-pressed to write anything sensational about the goings on in my lab!

It's a Beautiful Thing to Behold!

We are into our fourth week of rotation in the restaurant class.  The students in the BOH and FOH in our fine dining restaurant, as well as those on the Cafe side of the operation have hit their stride with confidence and competence at an all time high.  The kids have become a well oiled machine on the fine dining side for sure.  On the days that I expedite you can see the kids moving in unison as I call in orders and sell them one after the other.  Indeed today we taught them the old classic tableside dessert, bananas foster.  All it took was one server selling one and the rest of the orders poured in to the delight of servers and guests.

These are the days when the fruits of the labor of teaching the lab are paying off.  The kids really have got it together and it is a joy cranking up the lab everyday.  Watching the restaurant fill up with guests and watch the orders go out to our standards.  I will truly enjoy it as much as I can....

...because we will be rotating the kids next week into their new positions for another four week stint.  I am sure it will not be the same as going back to square 1 because we have a great debrief for all stations now so the kids at least know what to expect when they do rotate.  The downside is that they will not yet have stepped on the line to cook the orders I will most certainly call in an try to sell, parties big and small.  They will get the hang of it like the current crew, no doubt.

I am loving teaching this class.  I now know the joy that many of you must feel when the lab is humming like mine is today and hopefully in the days ahead.  So here is a shout out to all of you teaching labs that have a public face!

The Value of a $3 Cupcake

Today in the lab the students learned the value of a complimentary cupcake.  Let me explain.

We had an elderly couple make reservations for lunch today.  The Mrs. wanted to treat her man to lunch in our student-run restaurant.  She told us ahead of time that it was her husbands 80-something birthday.  We asked the kids what we should do, if anything, now that we know there is a special occasion in the house.  The students gravitated quickly to the idea of serving up one of our Guiness Cupcakes as a special birthday treat, compliments of the house, with students singing Happy Birthday.  Something I do not think we ever did in the restaurant but hey, I'm in charge now! 

The kids were excited with their plan.

Finally the moment arrived.  The party's plates were cleared and three student servers accompanied the TA to the table of the birthday boy.  As the cupcake was placed before our guest, the kids sang a genuine Happy Birthday to the delight of the gentleman.  His wife looked on lovingly.

In the debrief we had a chance to discuss how comping a $3 cupcake was worth its weight in gold and how we made that guest's day very special indeed with the unexpected treat.  The kids basked in the glow of their decision which pleased me to no end.

Bottom line.  Although running this lab is really physically and mentally challenging for me these days, the days like today make it all worth it.  The kids learned how to create a memorable experience with a $3 cupcake and a song.

Greetings from the Restaurant Lab

There is a small cubicle with a half wall in the corner of our student run restaurant that allows us to store supplies needed for service and the pc I am now writing this blog post.  This is truly a great venue from which to observe students doing what they have been educated and trained to do from checking reservations to presenting the check.  I am almost invisible sitting here although I can see the entire lab.

Like just now...back in a moment.

We have a student in the management position today who is behaving more as a hostess than manager.  While typing this post I noticed our server place an entree before a guest af the improper position -- which would not make our chef happy.  I motioned her quietly over to the cubicle and asked her what she thought of the way in which the entree was presented at table 33.  She had no clue what I was asking.  That was when I was able to have Just-In-Time Teaching to discuss plate placement, which she said we had not taught her and a bad answer because we did teach her table service techniques.  Then again, it was a good answer because it means we may not have taught her this properly. 

Once she realized the conversation was aimed at improving her management skills she thought it would be a good idea to go to the back-of-the house to see the photos we have of our menu items for cooks and servers to know how to prepare and present menu items to our guests.  She also thought it would be good to call servers together to make sure they are placing the plates down in their proper position.  I thought that was a good idea, too.  Now she is managing instead of guarding the reception desk!

The bottom line for me is that I am LOVING teaching the lab this semester.  It allows me to see whether or not the way we have taught students to manage the restaurant has been effective or not.  And that is something we know in real time because the students are acting on what we have taught them and some things have stuck and others have not -- which allows for instant coaching.  I do not get the opportunity to see what is going on in the heads of my students in traditional classrooms like this lab and will miss seeing how thinking is being translated into learned service behavior.  Long live the lab!

Groundhog Day

Have any of you ever seen the movie Goundhog Day with Bill Murray?  If not, here is a trailer for the movie to refresh memory or give you an idea of the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_yDWQsrajA

In essence, the character played by Murray is reliving the same day over and over and the movie captures how he handles that situation and is quite hilarious.  Over time, he continually improves upon each day until he ends up with the perfect day!

Well that is how I feel teaching five sections of the foodservice lab this semester so far.  The alarm goes off every day at 7:30.  I go through the same routine to ready for work and drive to campus.  I walk into the back of the house of our restaurant and there stand 16 to 20 fresh faces, depending on the day, ready to open up a restaurant for the first time.  Many have never even made Mac-n-Cheese from a box and in an hour or two they will be wielding a French Knife to prep for service, setting tables, etc., so that we can open our doors to the public at 11:30 AM for service.  Like the Bill Murray character we do our best to make each day in the lab progressively better and so far so good; by the time we get to the Friday lab we know the best things to say and do to have a successful lab for that day in the front- and back-of-the-house.  And then we arrive back to Monday with a new rotation of fresh faces to repeat the day's lessons for the remainder of the week to reach perfrection on Friday. So it goes.

Alas, the life of the lab instructor!  I am sooooooooooooooo glad I took on this assignment to teach the foodservice lab for the fall semester.  I can now feel the pleasure and pain that many members have been experiencing at culinary arts programs and walking in their shoes will help me be more responsive to their needs through FELC!  Can I have an Amen!