A series of anecdotes with or without any connection to the running of a restaurant.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Ambition...

There must be a Viennese bakery in every big city in the world. This one is in Murcia.
I took the photo below as a tribute to Merisi's delightful photos of Vienna.























Over the last 7 days I have interviewed many 16-year old school leavers to replace our members of staff who are heading to university.
We usually offer these young people part-time work for the two years they attend college.
Every June, I spend a few days meeting future doctors, solicitors, teachers, etc...
A few years ago, one in every four interviewees wanted to study criminal psychology. I have a feeling that Cracker's popularity had something to do with it.

Television has a lot to answer for.
When Gordon Ramsay began swearing on air, some of us worried that it would put kids off becoming chefs, but on the contrary, the "F-word" attracted many to a catering career.
Whenever I ask these budding chefs where they see themselves in the future, the ambitious ones always reply that they would like to have their own restaurant.

This takes me back to my student days when I washed up at a local pizzeria and daydreamed of opening a coffee shop and calling it Café Crème...


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27 Comments:

Blogger Cherrypie said...

I have a 17 year old who would make a wonderful waiter. Shame I'd have to pick him up after work.

If you ever open up in Lincolnshire, I'll sort your staffing out.

X

19/6/07 1:57 PM  
Blogger Akelamalu said...

Cafe Creme - how lovely!

Lovely pictures (with your new camera!).

I love watching the 'F-Word' but Gordon Ramsay's language makes me cringe! I often wonder if his children swear?

Hope you're fully staffed now. :)

19/6/07 2:20 PM  
Blogger andrea said...

There used to be a Viennese bakery in Vancouver. I wonder if it's still here...? I was just thinking about my 14 year old and summer work. Bit too much of a commute, though... :)

19/6/07 2:34 PM  
Blogger Trac said...

I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up!?

But I am more than happy to hire out my children for slave labour purposes, if you're interested!
x

19/6/07 4:05 PM  
Blogger la bellina mammina said...

I think there's a cafe in a hotel here called Cafe Vienna, though I don't think they serve Viennese bakery.
One day when you open Cafe Creme, I woud like to come to the opening! ;-)

19/6/07 5:33 PM  
Blogger Caroline said...

Glad to hear that the young still want to earn money - the impression the media gives is that they are happy to just live on debts!

19/6/07 5:37 PM  
Blogger Cream said...

Cherrybabes! Welcome back! Yes, it would be a very long way to commute. But you'd better steer your Jack towards a less demanding career...

Akela, I don't like it when he swears, either. There is absolutely no need for it. And it is so sad when you see the other guests taking his abuse without a whimper!

Definitely a bit farther than Lincolnshire, Andrea.
I'm sure it'll be cheaper to give your kid pocket money...

Neither do I, Trac, neither do I...
I have been in catering for the last 27 years and I still keep saying to myself this can't be IT.
Slave labour!!! Poor kids!
You'll just have to make them wash up after every meal, they'll soon get the hang of it.

Bella, I think I am done with opening restaurants. Three is more than enough, especially when the excitement has worn off...But if I do, you'd better turn up.

You're so right, Caro. These 16-year olds are so keen to work and earn their own pocket money. But the bonus is that the job gives them so much confidence for later on.

19/6/07 6:09 PM  
Blogger Trac said...

But... I have Ralf the dishwasher for that sort of thing!?

Besides, if I spot one of my kids so much as pick up a crumb? Put something in a bin? I faint!

Shame I haven't got a chimney really or a coal mine in my garden... that'll teach 'em! :O)

19/6/07 6:35 PM  
Blogger Queenie said...

Well you have more than made your dreams come true, and that is something to feel proud about.
I'll be watching the F-word tonight, its such a shame he swears so much.
I'didn't like it when he killed his pigs, but I guess thats life!!!!

19/6/07 7:43 PM  
Blogger Hayden said...

how great is that! It's amazing to know that you want something so young, and then to be able to look back, dust off your hands and say "there! did it!"

I'm afraid I'm still struggling with "what I want to be when I grow up" (although lately I've had a glimpse!)

19/6/07 9:41 PM  
Blogger Merisi said...

You are so sweet, Cream (the kind of sweet Viennese tortes are *g*)! What a surprise, thank you so much, with a bit of Schlag on top (that's "cream" in Viennese, btw *g*). I'll have to come back tomorrow, right now I am sort of falling of my chair and my brain's screaming for rest. I hope you had a good evening,
good night from Vienna,
Merisi

19/6/07 10:59 PM  
Blogger Mary said...

Cafe Creme! I love it! Your pictures are making yearn to run away.

20/6/07 12:57 AM  
Blogger kj said...

cream, i wish i could walk into your restaurant and say,'cream, it's kj!'

we hired jamacian and bulgarian students for summer work in provincetown. they were all great.

20/6/07 6:14 AM  
Blogger Daphne Wayne-Bough said...

I bet there's not a Viennese bakery in Redcar.

20/6/07 12:52 PM  
Blogger Cream said...

Ah, yes Trac, I remember Ralf the dishwasher. You talk hard but you are soft really, aren't you...

Yes, Queenie a dream, but sometimes when things don't go right, it's like a nightmare...
If I didn't like meat so much, I'd become a vegetarian...

Hayden, it was some kind of natural progression...
And I never really stop moving and tweaking...

Merisi, Schlag! Wow! I'll have to add Viennese to my collection of languages now! Gracias!

Mary, I thought it sounded good at the time. Run away? From Paradise!!

One day, KJ, you never know. Come to think of it, one blogger is coming to sample our dishes on Saturday.

Daphnee, you're right. I don't think there is one anywhere in the North East. Ah, well there's an opening!

20/6/07 5:53 PM  
Blogger Merisi said...

"Café Crème" would be a good name for a Viennese café! *smile*
I am myself only a beginner as far as Viennese is concerned, they use the funniest expressions here. If you are not careful, you say one thing, and they understand something else entirely. Then you are stuck with the wrong kind of coffee. And that is the pits, for a learned Italian and a beginning Viennese like me. ;-)

21/6/07 6:20 AM  
Blogger Cream said...

There you are Merisi, if you want to change career, you could always open an opulent "Café Crème" in Vienna.
I have ordered wrong coffee many times in my life but that's how I learnt about Ristretto and the rest...

21/6/07 9:32 AM  
Blogger Merisi said...

As long as you didn't order a "caffe' corrected", and you one laced with arsenic! :-)

Regarding opening anything, I have seen enough of the food business in my own family, to know that at least I would be better off (and have more fun, I know, I've done it *g*) going waitressing. :-)

21/6/07 1:02 PM  
Blogger Merisi said...

Oh, my brain, translating when it's not supposed to: It should have read As long as you didn't order a "caffe' corretto" (corretto meaning "laced", with a drop or two of alcohol, usually cognac).
My apologies.

21/6/07 1:05 PM  
Blogger Cream said...

No probs, Merisi... I do prefer a nice Cognac to arsenic, though...
Correcto... ;o)

21/6/07 5:08 PM  
Blogger DCveR said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

21/6/07 7:08 PM  
Blogger DCveR said...

Guess you're not very different from the ambitious young man you were, only your goals changed a bit no?
Curiously one of our friends fulfilled his dream and opened his own restaurant, a very successful one for that matter, after a few years he decided to become a chef in another restaurant and sold his own business - running the place wouldn't allow him enough time with his daughters he said. Sure he's making much less money now, but you know what? He looks happier!

21/6/07 7:09 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Great post Cream - you and your guys must have some staff rota! Just me and the Mrs at the moment so its easy (ish)

Washing dishes used to be great in my local pub restaurant althoiugh the wrath of the chef was something else...
CR

22/6/07 5:59 PM  
Blogger Cream said...

DC, I am no longer involved with the cooking, it is more a question of tweaking stuff so it doesn't all fall apart.
I have tried it. It has worked very well. But I really do think there's more to life than what I am doing. My feet and brain are itching...

CR, it is often easier with less people around you... Nearly 80 at the last count...
You may remember La Capanella, one of Newcastle's first Italian restaurants. I started there washing up. And never looked back...

22/6/07 11:58 PM  
Blogger neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

I have a friend who dreams of being a chef...and she really does know food...I tell her dreams only come true if you start DOING!

23/6/07 9:13 PM  
Blogger valerie walsh said...

Hah that is the perfect name! How wonderful to employ all of those hopefuls!!!

24/6/07 12:09 AM  
Blogger Cream said...

Gigi, I dreamed for a while and then did it.

Val, some of them are so full of enthusiasm, it is infectious. They keep me young.

24/6/07 10:04 PM  

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