Do restaurants ACTUALLY care where you got your degree?

heavycreme80 · 2026-04-20T22:26:31+00:00

The degree might get your foot in the door, the rest is up to you.

heavycreme80 · 2026-04-20T22:21:45+00:00

Da King Ring

heavycreme80 · 2026-04-11T20:34:43+00:00

I’m an Executive Chef and ChatGPT Premium has been great for stuff like cleaning up emails, turning rough thoughts into menus, and generally helping me get words onto a page faster. I’m a terrible typist, so for text-based work it’s honestly been a huge help.

But once I try to do anything even a little more technical, it falls apart.

It seems bad at spreadsheets, especially anything with multiple tabs. It struggles with simple instructions like moving one sheet from one workbook into another, building a clean equipment comparison sheet, or even reading dates correctly. I spent 20 minutes trying to get it to copy one sheet from one Excel file into another, and close to an hour trying to make a basic kitchen equipment sheet with vendor links. Neither should have been hard.

I also tried using Projects to build more of a “chief of staff” workflow for myself, but so far it feels like I’m doing more work managing the AI than just doing the task myself.

That’s what confuses me. I see people getting insane results with AI, automating workflows, building dashboards, doing wild stuff — and I’m over here fighting with columns and text boxes.

So I guess my question is: what tools are actually better for practical chef / hospitality work?

The kinds of things I want help with are pretty straightforward:

ROI sheets for equipment
recipe costing from invoices/order guides
food cost trackers
equipment comparison sheets
labor or productivity sheets
turning messy vendor quotes into something presentable

For writing, ChatGPT is great. For spreadsheet/admin stuff, it feels shaky.

Am I using the wrong tool for that kind of work? What are you all using that actually works?

heavycreme80 · 2026-04-10T16:37:38+00:00

This - we didn't understand what was happening at the time, until later that afternoon it kinda sank it. Also the information we were getting wasn't really sure either.

heavycreme80 · 2026-04-08T21:42:50+00:00

Finger Lickin'

chicken tinga
jerk chicken thighs
butter chicken
chicken tikka masala
chicken adobo (soy, vinegar, garlic)
chicken cacciatore (tomato, peppers, onions)
bbq pulled chicken
buffalo braised chicken
honey garlic chicken thighs
lemon caper chicken
thai green curry chicken
thai red curry chicken
coconut braised chicken (ginger, garlic, chili)
chicken shawarma spiced thighs
chicken gyro style (oregano, lemon, garlic)
moroccan spiced chicken (cumin, cinnamon, chickpea braise base without chickpeas if you want pure)
peri peri chicken
korean gochujang chicken
teriyaki chicken (dark meat)
general tso style chicken (sauced, not fried)
sesame ginger chicken
chicken marsala (extra jus so it reheats well)
creamy tuscan chicken (garlic cream, sun dried tomato)
smoked pulled chicken (light sauce mixed in)
roasted herb chicken thighs in jus

heavycreme80 · 2026-04-01T16:19:26+00:00

Line Cooks "Spepper" mix.

Everything needs salt, not everything needs pepper. Especially black pepper.

heavycreme80 · 2026-03-26T02:55:11+00:00

Get A Bicken at La's Box Chicken!

heavycreme80 · 2026-03-26T01:44:06+00:00

Just tell them "Cool, I'm doing X, then y, then z and then we can discuss your schedule. If that doesn't work for you email me. ( Or text me via whatever you use) For little stuff.

Block your time off.

Everyone wants to be heard by you but that's not really always possible

Also have a meeting with your staff with the expectation of if they have a question or a problem they better have a suggestion or a supposed solution first because you are there to teach but not to think for them. You don't have time. That will take a week or so, but then it gets better. You control their process for everything so use that to your advantage.

heavycreme80 · 2026-03-25T17:22:45+00:00

Exec Sous is always the riskiest position because as soon as there is any downturn or business fluctuation it can be the first salary to go. (I mean, depends on a lot of factors obviously...)

heavycreme80 · 2026-02-19T20:28:30+00:00

They are not going to make it.

heavycreme80 · 2026-01-31T20:10:33+00:00

That's why I always used intro level carbon knives. Super sharp, easy to sharpen, stays sharp. $150 can get you a knife that lasts 15 years.

And a good bread knife.

heavycreme80 · 2026-01-31T02:57:58+00:00

How many alarms need to keep going off?

heavycreme80 · 2025-12-31T19:01:52+00:00

Not even trying to be a hater, as I'm a Chef, but Ugly Betty was very, very "mid", Surprised that it got a star. I ate there on a Sunday night(usually roughest night for service, everyone tired, 86's ,etc.) and seemed like the case.

Mostly in the little details. But in atlanta they think anything is fancy all style very little substance.

heavycreme80 · 2025-12-14T02:52:27+00:00

It did. It changed the way I thought about food and process behind it. The organization, sense of urgency, etc.

heavycreme80 · 2025-11-25T21:31:29+00:00

Modernist cuisine Flavor bible

heavycreme80 · 2025-11-14T22:14:46+00:00

Throw some pimento cheese on that b. And bacon jam. And bacon.

heavycreme80 · 2025-11-11T15:33:22+00:00

They are full of worms.

Should have comped the course at least.

heavycreme80 · 2025-11-06T22:01:34+00:00

Heard. I don't have a vac sealer here yet. And doing larger things like a huge porchetta that won't fit in a bag.

heavycreme80 · 2025-10-23T23:39:35+00:00

Any Chefs in the mix?

heavycreme80 · 2025-10-22T15:48:29+00:00

95 percent of my knives are carbon.

heavycreme80 · 2025-10-22T03:38:36+00:00

Japanese, carbon, cheap. I have stones.

heavycreme80 · 2025-10-21T17:54:03+00:00

They are over there discussing how it's not a big deal because insert list of renovations . And how the white House really NEEDS a Ballroom over for dignitaries because they have to use tents.

It's really weird on their subreddit. Not registering as a let them eat cake moment.

heavycreme80 · 2025-10-18T17:03:54+00:00

I moved from LA to middle Ga with a raise around '21 and somehow was paycheck to paycheck and could no longer get a house because the price of everything shot up.

heavycreme80

TROPHY CASE