20.2023 Edition

Editor: Justin Khanna​

Hey Reader,

It’s been a spotty few weeks of content for me - apologies, folks!

When I say sorry like that, it’s often met with immensely supportive (or even zero) reactions, but I still feel it like a ton of guilt-filled bricks when I have to take time away from work (even though I don’t pay attention to my favorite creators’ publishing frequency…funny how that works!).

It’s been a weird combination of friend-focused celebrations, family emergencies and international travel for me over the past few weeks. Going overseas took me to Japan, and those of you that are following on IG got a sneak peek on Stories, but what I didn’t share is that I nearly didn’t take the trip.

With to-do’s at home needing my attention, issues with family members’ health and the hamster wheel of content production on my mind, I had this looming feeling that I could forego the travel in exchange for being more productive.

But then I remembered a quote I heard, “You need to burn the candles”.

We all have un-burned “candles” we receive or accumulate in our lives:

• The spices you picked up at a cool store but still sit, sealed, in your pantry and haven’t been cooked with
• Vacation time that you’ve earned and haven’t used up yet
• A piece of gear that still has the tag on it because you haven’t quite found the “right time” to use it (or are afraid to be seen using such a nice piece)

For me, the most recent example was this Japan trip.

It was already planned, I knew I was going to enjoy it, and the only thing causing me to hesitate was the “it’s not a good time” voice in my head.

But when is ever a good time?

I think we fool ourselves into believing that there might be some utopian day where the to-do list is completely empty, no one needs anything from us, and there’s magically a pile of disposable income in the bank.

In reality, even if you were able to get all of that accomplished, factors outside of your control (like a global pandemic) can swoop in and disrupt your carefully curated plans.

That’s why the advice is to “burn the candles”. Do it now, while you can, even if it’s not “perfect”.

Don’t wait until your 50th wedding anniversary, until you get the call from the Michelin guide, or until you hit a financial milestone.

What would it feel like to light the candles, be present, and enjoy them now?

It’ll force you to be genuinely enjoy, you can stop lugging those damn candles around, and you can actually look forward to the next set of candles that will come into your life. And yes, you should burn those, too!

Call it Memento Mori, call it seeing examples of my loved ones having late-life regrets of how they spent their time, or maybe just call it justifying a fun trip to eat noodles with my best friend (when I had other, more practical, things to do).

As much as it pains me to see those regrets from my family members, it’s been an incredibly motivating catalyst to how I behave. I’m no stranger to working just for work’s sake, and left to my own devices, I’d have a closet full of unburned candles. Considering I know a lot of you readers personally, I realize I’m not only speaking for myself here 🙋

The reminder that “the right time” is a myth was a lesson that I had to learn in intimately harsh ways, and I hope that I can convince even one of you to ponder that belief this weekend.

Make the ask.

Do the thing.

Go for it.

Burn the candles 🔥

Top Hits 💥

​Food Textures and the American Palate​

A fascinating argument for what we might be missing here in the US:

"Not only does English lack a robust vocabulary for food textures but, whether as corollary or coincidence, English speakers also tend to value a narrower range of textures.

There have always been differences in what people of different regions eat, based on the flora and fauna supported by local climate and geography. Europe, to which the majority of Americans trace their heritage, is far less biodiverse than Asia, Africa and South America, where what many Americans consider more challenging textures are celebrated, from the viscosity of soups thickened with ogbono (bush mango seeds) in Nigeria to the sponginess of ubre asada (grilled cow udder) in Chile.

In a survey by the American sensory scientist Jeannine F. Delwiche conducted at Ohio State University in 2002, respondents considered texture significantly less important than taste and scent in its impact on flavor. Flavor is often conflated with taste, but where taste is quantifiable — corresponding to messages sent to the brain by receptor cells on the tongue when they detect specific chemical components in food — flavor is nebulous: an aesthetic judgment. It is often defined as a confluence of taste, scent and memory, yet other senses intrude. Studies have shown that diners have difficulty identifying flavors when foods are dyed different colors, for example. The eyes lead them astray."

Our Take: As If I needed further reason to push you to learn how to improve your ability to talk about food, amirite?

The cultural implications are one fantastic reason to read this article, but another might be realizing this simple fact: if you want to improve that skill, it might not be a problem of the complexity/range of your vocabulary, but in your ability to connect ideas.

Notice some of the analogies that this author writes about. “…crisp but tender like spears of asparagus in spring”, “…crunch, like ice, that taxes the jaw”, etc.

This lends even more weight to the advice of eating to learn. The breadth of experience that you can get in widening your palate allows for an expanded ability to connect ideas and describe memories (and ingredients) in ways that will allow for creative expression.

I’ll be eagerly awaiting new words to use, but for now, continue to eat with awareness and notice how you talk about food!

​Barbara Lynch, a Leading Boston Restaurateur, Is Accused of Workplace Abuse​

"But Ms. Horan said she was surprised to find that Ms. Lynch did little cooking and a lot of drinking. When she mixed the two, Ms. Horan and employees at other restaurants said, chaos ensued. On the occasions she spontaneously took charge of the kitchen while intoxicated, they said, Ms. Lynch sent out barely cooked chicken, threatened staff members with knives and threw away orders when she fell behind."

Our Take: For one, our hearts go out to the employees that had to deal with this. As with all of these stories, though, there’s no interest from us in continuing to pile on.

If you’ve been following for a while, the goal when these stories come out are two fold. Firstly, to allow an expanded group to see the stories so that if you’re experiencing this and feeling like you’re in isolation, you can be made aware of the fact that it’s not okay. Secondly, so that we can productively take lessons away so that the industry can improve.

A few lines really stood out here:

• “Because Ms. Lynch is the majority owner of her restaurants, answerable only to investors, the former employees said they had no recourse except to go public with their grievances.” - There isn’t a mention of HR in this article (I’m not saying that Lynch didn’t have any HR in her businesses), but this appears to be a case of a poorly structured & run business.. I know it seems like I’ve been beating that drum for a while now, but success behind the stove doesn’t mean guaranteed success in entrepreneurship. The article uses terms like “top team” and “director of operations”, but with over 200+ employees and an appeared lack of effective HR involvement, having an owner that struggles with addiction and abusive behavior was just a recipe for disaster.
• When accused of withholding tips, Lynch shared, “early in the pandemic, we fed employees to help them through that time when all restaurants were closed. I have provided coverage for employees suffering from trauma and other challenges and I have mentored chefs that have gone on to national and international renown.” - It’s difficult to trace which-dollar-went-where, but between programs like the PPP, SBA Loans that might’ve been received (or even clever accounting), this statement doesn’t justify that behavior and I wanted to call it out. Said differently: if you continued paying staff through the pandemic because of PPP funds you were granted, that doesn’t make it okay to not give them the tips they’ve earned. Also, providing coverage from trauma typically doesn’t get paid for via that employee’s tips, much less without their knowledge of that diversion. And lastly, mentoring chefs is great, but it quickly loses air when you use it as a way to virtue signal or smear over abusive behavior.

There are a few more dot points, but if this is a story you have questions on, reply to this email and I’ll be sure to include what you wanna know if I cover this in an upcoming solo podcast!

ICYMI 🙌

🎙️ Learn what it takes to go from culinary school grad to Chef-de-Cuisine at a newly awarded 1-Michelin starred restaurant with Chef Ki Chung! Our interview is live now ⬅️​

📲 Short on time but still want to listen to the best clips of the podcast? - Checkout Repertoire’s Instagram for clips from Suzanne Vizethann’s episode where we discuss chef’s mental health and the importance of empathy in hiring

🚀 Positioning for a promotion soon? Members of Repertoire Pro got access to the Your Promotion Pathway workshop inside the Community this week, adding to the already 6+ hours of bonus content inside the Knowledge Base - want access? Join today for just $1 with FD101 at sign up! ​

This Week, We Learned… 🧠

• Taco Bell to Grant $10M in Live Más Scholarships
• What is Mirin?
• Alex French Guy Cooking launched a pot and sold out in hours.
• Wage growth has been increasing, and the hospitality sector is at the top of the chart.
• What Makes a True ‘Caesar’ Salad?

Comment from you folks:

To Peep 👀

• ​UTILITY - Unfortunately, this is as short notice as the To Peep section will ever come 🫣 sorry, folks. My friends at Tilit are hosting an industry night, if you're in Chicago you should come by! Main reason I'm still deciding to share it here is because this year's is called "Preheat" in anticipation for a larger event in 2024 👀

• ​Joule Turbo - If you've ever done an extra large Lexan of sous vide bags (150 person event, anyone? 🙋‍♂️) this recent upgrade to the popular circulator is for you!
• ​The Welcome Conference - tickets are on sale now to Will Guidara's big show, I'll personally be there, and I can't wait to see some great speakers and sessions.

Quote I'm Pondering 💭

Thanks for reading, as always,

👊Justin​

​