WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A GOOD FOOD SERVICE WORKER?
The emphasis of a food service education is on learning a set of skills. But in many ways, attitudes are more important than skills because a good attitude will help you not only learn skills but also persevere and overcome the many difficulties you will face in your career. The successful food service worker follows an unwritten code of behavior and set of attitudes we call professionalism. Let`s look at some of the qualities that a professional must have.
POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD THE JOB
In order to be a good professional cook, you have to like cooking and want to do it well. Being serious about your work does not mean you can`t enjoy it. But the enjoyment comes from the satisfaction of doing your job well and making everything run smoothly. Every experienced chef knows the stimulation of rush. When it`s the busiest time of the evening, the orders are coming in so fast you can hardly keep track of them, and every split second counts then, when everyone digs in and works together and everything clicks, there`s real excitement in the air. But this excitement comes only when you work for it. A cook with a positive attitude works quickly, efficiently, neatly, and safely. Professionals have pride in their work and want to make sure that the work is something to be proud of.
STAYING POWER
Food service requires physical and mental stamina, good health, and willingness to work hard. It is hard work. The pressure can be intense and the hours long and grueling. You may be working evenings and weekends when everyone else is playing. And the work can be monotonous. You might think it`s drudgery to hand –shape two or three dozen dinner rolls for your baking class, but wait until you get that great job in the big hotel and are told to make 3000 canapés for a party.
ABILITY TO WORK WITH PEOPLE
Few of you will work in an establishment so small that you are the only person on the staff. Food service work is teamwork, and it`s essential to be able to work well on a team and to cooperate with your fellow workers. You can`t afford to let ago problems, petty jealousy, departmental rivalries, or feeling about other people get in the way of doing the job well. In the old days, many chefs were famous for their temper tantrums. Fortunately, self-control is more valued today.
EAGERNESS TO LEARN
There is more to learn about cooking than you will learn in a lifetime. But isn`t it great to try? The greatest chefs in the world are the first to admit that they have more to learn, and they keep working, experimenting, and studying. The food service industry is changing so rapidly that is vital to be open to new ideas. No matter how good your techniques are, you might learn an even better way.
A FULL RANGE OF SKILL
Most people who become professional cooks do so because they like to cook. This is an important motivation, but it is also important to develop and maintain other skills that are necessary for the profession. To be successful, a cook must understand and manage food cost and other financial matter, manage and maintain proper inventories, deal with purveyors, and understand personal management.
EXPERIENCE
One of our respective chef has said, ‘you don`t really know how to cook a dish until you have done it a thousand times.” There is no substitute for years of experience. Studying cooking principles in books and in schools can get your career off to a running start. You may learn more about basic cooking theories from your chef instructors than you could in several years of working your way up from washing vegetables. But if you want to become an accomplished cook, you need practice. A diploma will not make you a chef.
DEDICATION TO QUALITY
Many people think that only a special category of food can be called gourmet food. It`s hard to say exactly what is it. Apparently, the only thing so-call gourmet foods have in common is high price. The only distinction worth making is between well-prepared food and poorly prepared food. There is a good roast duckling a l` orange and there is bad roast duckling a l` orange. There are good hamburgers and French fries. Whether you work in a fancy French restaurant, a fast food restaurant, a collage cafeteria, or a catering house, you can do your job well, or not. The choice is yours. High quality doesn’t necessary mean high price. It costs no more to cook green bean properly than to overcook them. But in order to produce high-quality food, you must want to. It is not enough to know how.
GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF BASICS
Experimental and innovation in cooking are the order of the day. Brilliant chefs are breaking old boundaries, inventing dishes that would have been unthinkable years ago. There seem to be no limit to what can be tried. However, the very chefs who seem to be most revolutionary are the first to insist on the importance of solid grounding in basic techniques and in the classic method practice. In order to innovate, you have to know where to begin. For the beginner, knowing the basics will help you to take better advantage of your experience. When you watch a practiced cook at work, you will understand better what you are seeing and will know what question to ask. In order to play great music on the piano, you first have to learn to play scales and exercise. But you should be ready to take good advantage of the many rewarding years of food service experience ahead of you.
