44.2021 Edition

⚠️FRIENDLY PSA BEFORE WE GET STARTED ⚠️ The Town Cutler team's Instagram account was hacked and sold last week 😱 It's up to the team at ~~Facebook~~ Meta now as to whether or not they get their original account back, but it would mean a ton to me if you folks could flood them with some new followers (link above) - if you've been following them for a while, you might not even have known that they made a new account! Thanks if you do, and stay tuned for some fun gear from them going live on the channel soon! Alright, back to the newsletter...

What's up Reader?

Here's a concept for you to consider: use friendliness as a competitive advantage.

I'm all-about this idea right now because it's a major theme of a new video that's dropping on the channel on Monday.

Since YouTube requires me to a bit more to-the-point, I wanted to expand on that idea here.

How often can puffed-chested-ness and rude demeanor be attributed to a negative feedback loop?

You behave in a mean or tough way because you think it will help gain respect > that makes people upset slash defensive > they're mean back at you > you become genuinely upset now > that person you just interacted with doesn't want that to happen again, so they think they need to be mean to gain respect > ...

And the cycle continues.

Whenever I see unhealthy cultures in professional kitchens or you folks send me rough stories in a DM about what's going on at work, I have to ask myself: how could one friendly link in the chain break that cycle?

What if instead, you:

Paused to ask how someone's doing...and genuinely meant it.

Made an inside joke from something that happened last week to connect with them.

Found some humor in the moment...even when high-stress moments suck.

Asked yourself how you'd feel if someone spoke to you with the words you're about to say.

As much as we say we work in food...we're also (sometimes more so) in the people business.

Because once you develop that reputation of being someone who doesn't need to be a dick-head to get noticed, you can suddenly drop that whole schtick and focus on the work at hand.

From there, all of a sudden more people want to work with you, you get backstabbed less often, and you ultimately don't have to lose sleep at night from that sour interaction during service.

Give it a try this week: choose to be friendly, even if it doesn't come naturally.

And if you do, reply to this email with the story and I'll shout it out next week 🙌

Highlights from the week to share 💥

To Read 📚

Is Hustle-Culture a form of Laziness? - Click in to read more...but here's a quote that might twist the knife if you've been on the hamster wheel without an end in sight: "When you can't prioritize, you have to hustle."

How to Win (without talent or luck) - Sahil took some inspiration from Naval on this one, and he crafted it so well. It's longer than your typical thread (& a bit of a hodge podge at times IMO) but it's a fantastic collection of mental models, quotes, and concepts that I think you can use today, could've used yesterday, and will also be valuable in 2031.

To Binge 📺

How smart people deal with HATERS - This is especially valuable for those of you that are just starting to produce content, put yourself out there with your food, or are entering a new industry. As much as this is a conversation between two film makers, I think the lessons can come in handy for you, too.

Delivery in Food - I was recommended this new David Chang show from a friend of ours that isn't in the industry, and I learned a lot in this episode. My takeaways: delivery still isn't fool-proof + automation is accelerating. If anything, I'm even more convinced we'll see both ends of the spectrum increase in sophistication:

Ready & available for you whenever you want it, wherever you are

Highly exclusive, have to be there in person, once in a lifetime experiences

To Peep 👀

Is Fine Dining "Doomed?" - I'm reminded of the line from Thomas Keller's new French Laundry book (it's actually on sale rn, link is affiliated) where he says something to the effect of: "I've read fine dining's obituary multiple times". A cheeky reference of the fact that "the death of fine dining" has been predicted or proclaimed multiple times, and yet we all still continue to love the restaurants. Does Adam Platt in the article make some good points & does the industry have room to improve? Yes. But being a critic and working to improve it are two different beasts.

Zanmai Revolution Kiritsuke 9" - I was in New York last week and had the pleasure of holding this in person at JB Prince...if I didn't have so many knives to review (yes there will be giveaways), I would've picked this up because it feels that good. If this is still in stock in 4-5 weeks I'll be picking one up because I want to make a video - it'll be the first time featuring Zanmai on the channel! I know several of you love this brand and use their knives as part of your kit, so I wanted to share my thumbs up on this knife so you can get your hands on it if you enjoy the look.

Current experiment I'm running 🧪

I'm testing a new Husky tool bench for my kitchen at our new place - I wanted to have a move-able tabletop that I can store up against the wall in a slim-profile, and use as a work-top for vertical video filming.

My big behemoth of a bench is in my office now and will basically be the hub for shipping you folks out gear one one side, and camera gear on the other. Plus, this is forcing me to pare down my gear collection a bit 😉

So far, I wish it was a little bit sturdier, but the form factor, lower shelving, drawers, and aesthetic is clutch.

Quote I'm Pondering 🤔

"Two things are required to be adaptable: A reason to adapt and the ability to adapt. " -General Stanley McChrystal

If you got value from me this week, I'd appreciate...

...a share of this newsletter! Links are below and I'd love to provide some value to a friend or colleague you think this would be perfect for.

👊Justin