What It Is Like To Go On Vacation As A Chef
Many people tel me that I am silly for not wanting to open up my own restaurant. Of course I would love to have my own restaurant. Things would be the way I wanted them to be, people would answer to me at all times, but I would also have “no life”.I would be responsible for all of the financial burden, I would need to be on call 24/7, and I would rarely ever get to go on vacation if ever at all.
I have been in Florida for the past 4 days, and I am currently in the airport waiting for my flight to board. Prior to vacation I was an absolute mess. I made charts, sheets, checklists, I prepped and over prepped, gave instructions and was still worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my vacation fully. I even pulled a few late night shifts.
Right after my first flight I turned my phone on and I already had one voicemail. I thought ohh boy is this what the whole vacation will be like? The call was from a repair man who was coming to look at an oven, and wanted to let me know that he would be arriving shortly. Once I got off the phone the lady next to me goes “ohh do you own a restaurant”? I replied, “no, I’m just tha pastry chef at a restaurant in Boston”.
Yesterday, the day before I was scheduled to come back home I had a huge catering event; that I would be unable to attend because I’m on vacation. This was the first time my crew would be at the site ( alone)and I was sure things were going to get complicated eventhough I left three very capable people in charge. Me being me I called in the morning to check in, during the day I constantly checked my phone and I checked sales from the event. Thankfully I only got one phone call ( lol).
Despite all of my worrying and checking in I had an amazing and relaxing week off. For all of the chefs out there,I know it is hard to sit back and let someone else assume responsibility for a few days, but just do it, relax and enjoy yourself. If you are incapable of that then maybe you should just stay home it would be less stressful that way.
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Gourmet Bae
Hello fellow bloggers. My name is Bailey, but you can call me Bae. I am a 22 year old college graduate, and an aspiring pastry chef. I have recently been released into the real, wild, culinary world, and I am slowly finding my way. In the midst of it all I plan on exploring restaurants, pursuing food photography, critiquing recipes as well as creating my own, as well as reading as many chef biographies as my free time allows. I think it is important to know about the chefs that have paved the way for us fellow culinarians. It also allows you to sound educated when conversing with others in the field. I am very excited to see where this adventure takes me; I hope you will come along for the ride!
