Dear Feastlings,
I’m never really certain what to do- I feel like I’ve tipped my hand a few times too often, or jinxed us with an optimistic note here and there before we’re really certain we’re on steady ground again, and while it’s nice to be able to send out a chipper note about how things are turning around, we keep finding ourselves where we’ve been, with a kitchen staff that’s held together with duct tape and precarious hope. Granted, it’s still holding together, but we continue to look forward to settling into a period in which people who’ve done this before appear at work reliably and ready to use their years of experience to their own benefit, and therefore to ours and to yours.
Still, though, the resumes keep coming in- today, one from a person who’s worked at eleven restaurants, none of them for more than a four-month stretch, and one with a background in Haunted House acting and swap meet clothing stocking who feels ready to be a saute cook.
Ultimately, even as wearying as it is, we still manage to keep the doors open, so I’m putting my trust in the universe. I trust that eventually, as our stopgap employees continue to come and go, they’ll be replaced, one by one, by people who’ve done this before, who’ve done it well, and who’d like to continue doing it. I know I’m apt to receive a few suggestions here, and I’m happy to keep reading them, but yes, we already pay quite well and offer benefits above and beyond what it appears the majority of restaurants offer. And yes, we’ve put out feelers through our own crew and the people they’ve worked with as well as through our purveyors and sales reps. Yes, we’ve tried hiring people with less background and trained them. And as much as it doesn’t sound like I’m encouraged after a list like that, I oddly am.
Sure, we’ve gotten in a few more people who’ve already proven themselves to be worthy of little more than Haunted House work- though with excellent timing, I might add- and who’ve fallen by the wayside, but if we’ve made it this far with what’s been handed to us, I think we can still bootstrap our way out of this era.
Trust being the theme of the week, our wine tasting this Saturday will be another in our Trust Your Importer series, this one with the Trinchero family, and you can learn about that here:
And then, I suppose, you can keep trusting us to get through this rough patch and get on with things. I am.
Your pal,
Doug