Chef Gwern Secrets

A Chef's Horror Story:
Worst Day in My Kitchen Life

Watching the crew move efficiently behind the counter as I chomped a huge bite off my Big Mac, my thoughts drifted to six days ago…

What was supposed to be a routine dinner service turned into my worst nightmare in the kitchen.

Fully booked that Saturday. Guests arrived early, and I skipped the pre-service briefing to attend to them immediately.

My first mistake…

Soon, a wave of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen crowded the dining room. All reservations arrived early.

“Wow,” S muttered, “this is gonna be crazy,” as she hurried to seat the guests.

My restaurant can seat three groups at a time. Not eight.

Panicking, S neglected SOPs. Or completely forgot about them in those adrenaline-dazed moments.

**Restaurant SOP:**
1. Seat each table, take their orders, and send to the kitchen with details.
2. Arrange orders so the kitchen knows which table to fire first.
3. Serve drinks before moving to the next table.

That wasn’t the case that day.

Our second mistake…

Service staff’s impromptu plan: take all orders and send to the kitchen in one go. The printer spat out 20 order tickets continuously. Nobody was there to arrange them.

The result: orders jumbled, courses fired wrongly. Nobody knew which order belonged to which table.

“What’s the next course for table 3?” I questioned, eyes bulging at S. She stared blankly at the order tickets, almost sobbing.

“If nobody knows what to serve, how are the cooks going to cook?” I said.

It was a complete disaster. Customers were getting the fourth course when they hadn’t had the third.

After the last guest left… and everyone gathered.

“Sorry,” I said, my voice breaking up. “My bad. I shouldn’t skipped today’s briefing.”

Systems, processes, and SOPs are crucial to a restaurant’s success. They are a restaurant’s lifesaving guidelines.

“Systems, and the no-matter-what adherence to them, is what scales businesses,” I thought, as I took another big bite.

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

Happy to lose the bet.

“Daddy, you owe me a Nintendo Switch,” J excitedly called me over the phone.

“Yes?”

The memory of that promise I made more than a year ago slowly trickled back to me. I promised J a Nintendo Switch if she got an award for her studies.

She got it. This photo captures that moment.

I made it my personal law to fulfill whatever I say.

Trust—That’s the foundation upon which businesses are built.

Before you can lead, your team needs to believe in you. And it comes from trust.

Customers buy, trusting that you will deliver.

When you say something like, “You can take an off day on Friday night,” or “I’m increasing your salary,” make sure you stick to it.

Not just to avoid difficult conversations or because it sounds good at that moment.

Trust — this builds businesses.

#entrepreneurship #marketing #businesstips #businessstrategies #restaurantowners #restaurant #growth #branding #restaurantowners #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #veryunusualinsights #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

I’m going on a holiday to Shanghai soon. Just thinking about it got me super duper excited.

I can’t wait to enjoy myself. I gonna stuff myself with those giant crab-filled xiaolongbao which I’d seen on IG.

I gonna act like Andy Lau in Shanghai Grand and ask my wife to take some photos.

And I made a reservation at Mr&Mrs Bund by acclaimed chef Paul Pairet. Can’t wait!

Did you realize that the anticipation of something is always stronger than the actual moment itself.

Very smart psychologist have proven this thing call the anticipation effect.

We are always excited, looking forward to the next big thing.

That holiday we are going soon….

That Michelin-starred restaurant you booked 3 months ago in 2 days time.

We get super excited just thinking about it.

But the event itself, in that actual moment, 75% of the time, it falls flat.

It’s not what we imagined it to be. Not to our expectations.

Here’s the thing…

Our anticipation is fueled by our imagination. And we often imagine the best possible scenarios, which can lead to intense excitement.

So, to bring this perspective into business,

If we can deliver an exceptional impressive experience that is superior to people’s imagination, we can create an impact— a lasting, memorable experience.

And this is what brings recurring customers and 5-star reviews to your business.

PS: I share 3 specific ways you can go about delivering an exceptional experience to your customers in my Very Unusual Insight newsletter.

#entrepreneurship #marketing #businesstips #businessstrategies #restaurantowners #restaurant #growth #branding #restaurantowners #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #veryunusualinsights #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

“Hi 𝗠𝗿 Ng, it’s nice to see you again!”

“Is the food great so far, Albert?”

“Hey Sharon, can I let you try this new dish we just created? You will be the first!”

These are just some dialogues we make daily with our guests.

Not always possible, but I make an effort to speak to my restaurant’s guest whenever possible.

Here’s the thing…

Brand loyalty is when customers choose you, even when your competitors are cheaper. Even when your competitors are full of marketing gimmicks.

Achieving brand loyalty is all about making every customer feel like a VIP. And it comes from authentically building relationships and emotional connections. One at a time.

Provide value in every interaction and customers will choose your brand more and more.

And it pays!

Loyal customers are more likely to spend more money with you, and they’re more likely to suggest your brand to others.

That’s how you build a brand.

#entrepreneurship #marketing #businesstips #businessstrategies #restaurantowner #restaurant #growth #branding #restaurantowners #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #veryunusualinsights #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

𝐈’𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲.

But as I do it more often, I’m getting used to it. It becomes just another normal process to me.

I cut away unprofitable dishes ruthlessly.

I kill projects swiftly that look good initially but fall below expectations.

And double down my energies on those things that work.

I know it’s hard to let go of our baby.

According to “Prospect Theory,” humans have an enormous aversion to loss. We fear and avoid loss far more than seeking gain.

This theory describes why people prefer avoiding losses rather than acquiring equivalent gains. For example, the pain of losing $100 is often felt more deeply than the pleasure of gaining $100.

Loss aversion mainly appears in three specific forms:

1. Continuing to invest in something unprofitable simply because you’ve already invested time and money in it (sunk cost bias).

2. Overvaluing something you own or created simply because it’s yours (endowment effect).

3. Continuing to do something you’ve previously done in order to be viewed by yourself and others as consistent (consistency principle).

These three points make it subconsciously extremely hard to let go of the bad, unprofitable choices we made.

But to progress and move forward, killing is necessary.

#entrepreneurship #marketing #businesstips #businessstrategies #restaurantowner #restaurant #growth #branding #restaurantowners #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #veryunusualinsights #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

Whenever I put on my chef jacket, I tell myself:

“I will be the best chef I can be.”

Here’s the thing…

Our personal identity is fundamentally two things:

1. The story we tell ourselves.
2. The standards we set for ourselves.

In essence, it’s the personal standards we’re committed to, which come from the story we tell ourselves.

We are all committed to standards that we’ve set for ourselves, even if we don’t realize it.

Raise the bar higher, tell a better narrative to yourself, and soon, you will be playing at a higher level.

#entrepreneurship #marketing #businesstips #businessstrategies #restaurantowner #restaurant #growth #branding #restaurantowners #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #veryunusualinsights #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

I saw this interesting quote somewhere.

"Nothing happens until after you commit…”

It made sense to me. Only after you made the decision to go for ________ , then it will happen.

I truly believe It’s the same for anything in life.

You don’t obtain a driving license until you commit to learning it.

You don’t become a great chef until you commit to mastering the craft.

You will never start your own business until you commit and do everything it takes to start one.

#entrepreneurship #marketing #businesstips #businessstrategies #restaurantowner #restaurant #growth #branding #restaurantowners #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #veryunusualinsights #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

𝐈𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝-𝟏𝟗.

We didn’t know what Covid was, and fear was in the air. People were afraid to go out, and most customer-facing businesses were brought to their knees.

However, some businesses thrived.

Industries like pharmaceuticals and disposable gloves naturally profited because of the virus.

But others, through careful design and opportunistic pivots, turned that dark period into abundance.

I still remember my days spent planning delivery routes back then, factoring in customers’ timing, locations, and costs.

We were among the first food businesses in Singapore to jump into food delivery, collaborating with private-hire drivers to deliver meals to those stuck at home.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫:

You don’t need a pandemic to find those opportunities. They’re staring you right in the face daily—disguised as problems.

Winners are the ones who realize Napoleon Hill was right:

“In every adversity lies the seeds of equal or greater opportunity.”

But here’s where the smart ones win: they take each problem and turn it into an opportunity to build better systems, deliver a better customer experience, and most importantly, drive more profits.

#veryunusualinsights #entrepreneurship #marketing #lifehacks #businesstips #businessstrategies #restaurantmarketing #growth #branding #restaurantowners #restaurantowner #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

I once read about this 3 Michelin star French restaurant that focuses on vegetables.

This news caught my eye because the chef, Alain Passard, made a bold move by removing red meat from his menu to focus on vegetables in 2001.

I say bold move because he risked his 3 stars when he made that change.

He has retained his stars till today, showcasing his artistry and ability to transform simple ingredients into extraordinary culinary experiences at L’Arpège.

His approach to treating simple everyday ingredients like a carrot inspires me deeply.

What most cooks usually do when they work with carrots is to par-cook by blanching in salted boiling water.

Nothing wrong with that.

I just feel that the flavor of the carrot would leech out into the water.

What I like to do is to slow-roast it over medium-low heat with fresh herbs in the pan or oven. When you do that, the moisture in the carrot evaporates and the flavor intensifies. When it’s slightly soft and nicely browned, I just finish it by sizzling with some butter.

You don’t even need salt or sugar. It would be naturally savory and sweet, which is how I imagine Chef Alain Passard treats his vegetables.

Do you have a special way of treating your vegetables? Do share in the comments 👇

#restaurantowner #chef #restaurant #chefsecrets #cooking #carrots #restaurantowners #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #veryunusualinsights #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Chef Gwern Secrets

It took me years to realize this—To get ahead in business and life:

1. Read books that others overlook.
2. Engage in conversations. Learn what others don’t.
3. Take on challenges others shy away from.

By doing so, you’ll gain unique insights and skills to connect the dots and surge ahead.

😁If you have more tips, share in the comments below👇

#entrepreneurship #marketing #businesstips #businessstrategies #restaurantowner #restaurant #growth #branding #restaurantowners #foodbusiness #gkbizsecrets #veryunusualinsights #chefgwernsecrets

1 year ago | [YT] | 0