Andrea Mallon-Griffith, Executive Chef of Ocean Reef Residence Club, stresses the importance of caring for your team in thoughtful ways that will rejuvenate them.
Some of my earliest memories are from when I was little, getting up early on Saturday mornings and turning on the cooking channel. I would get so excited watching all the chefs prepare so many amazing foods and dishes that I had never seen before. I would sit with my dad and we would discuss the dishes, the regions that they came from, and how amazing it would be to be the chef on TV, to be able to experience all of the wonderful places they must have gone in order to have learned how to cook like this. I envied those chefs and I wanted a life of travel, learning, cooking from the soul, and sharing those talents with the world.
From the eyes of a child that all seemed so easy and so attainable to me. Boy, was I wrong.
Knowing then what I know now from first-hand experience would I do it all again? Would I wish to be the chef who I looked up to on television as a child? If that were my life, would I still feel passion for my craft?
The answer is, yes, yes! A thousand times yes!
I’m not going to say it has been an easy path, but what in life is easy?
I started my culinary journey living at home with my parents where my bills were taken care of, my clothes were all cleaned by mom, and food was always provided. Things got real for me when I graduated and moved out and on to bigger and better things. I began to work what seemed like 24-hours a day in order to learn from the best, train with the best, not miss anything that anyone else might be doing, and in the midst of all that work my normal line station every night.
Hours like those take a toll on your body both physically and mentally. I would come home washed out, drained, and almost numb to the world around me. But I knew I would still have to stay up to read, research, and learn more and more in order to prove myself in this field. I would have to put a lot of life’s most important events on hold—friends’ weddings, birthday parties, gatherings, family reunions—because this career path necessitates working when everyone else like to gather or party.
There were plenty of times I would doubt my path. How long could one go on working like this? When will people understand that it is not normal nor what was intended for a career?
I’m sure many of my fellow culinarians can relate. We all work hard. We all want to create amazing food. We all will push until we cannot physically do so anymore. But is that what it’s supposed to be all about? Should we miss out on everything in order to provide excellence for others?
Or should we begin to make a movement for change?
Over the last few years, the world as we knew flipped upside down. This forced people to look closely at what is most important to them and many have chosen purposefully to keep those values closer.
Programs all over the world started popping up to discuss mental health—a topic that has been a dark force in the culinary world for quite some time. This brought about a movement of change from the top down.
Owners of businesses started to do tests to see if shorter hours indeed improved the overall outcome of the product from the kitchen. It is proven that we as a people function better when we are well-rested and fresh for a new day.
How do we continue the momentum?
What are some of the ways you as a club chef can help your cooks and staff members achieve a better work-life balance?
Here is what we are working toward at the Ocean Reef Residence Club:
- Closer to a 40hour work week
- A nice breakout area for a quick 15 minutes break during the shift with snacks for the team to relax and feel like someone is caring for them as they care for others.
- Mental health days (perhaps a retreat, an off work trip, dinner or lunch out as a team)
- Yearly health and wellness retreats
- Additional paid time off
- Maybe an overnight once a year for your employees at your property so they can see the labor of their love
I know we all have a million ideas on how to grow our teams while promoting a culture of excellence. The struggle is real, but if we continue down this rabbit hole and invest in our team, not just their physical needs, but their overall well-being, we will have a lot better retention rate, happier team members, better food being produced, and a solid culture others want to be a part of.