Happy Halloween everybody! If you stay in this whole-crazy-cooking business long enough, I hope you get to experience this next thing I’m going to talk about. One of the greatest feelings in this business is watching someone that worked under you, someone you trained, going on to do great things.
I know as an instructor I have the privilege of experiencing this pretty often, but it is definitely something that any hospitality-trainer can experience out in the industry as well. When chefs come to the school to recruit for their restaurant and we realize that the person doing the recruiting was one of our graduates, that is amazing. Or how about when you’re scrolling social media and you see a post about a chef being recognized for their accomplishments and you see that it’s one of your people, or you’re dining in a restaurant and one of the cooks comes to the table to greet you and it’s one of your former employees that cooked the delicious dish you just ate (or maybe is even the server who served it). Or what about getting invited to a catered birthday party event, and one of your former students is the caterer AND they hired OTHER former students to help with the event! If you do this long enough you’ll be surrounded by people that you’ve taught, trained, or influenced in some way (ideally in a positive fashion).
If you’re lucky they’ll go on to do even greater things than you did. And when that happens, don’t let it bruise your ego or make you think less of your own accomplishments. Wear it like a badge of honor and take pride in knowing that you played a part in their story, and even though their success belongs to them, you’re allowed to feel proud that you played a part in it. Teach. Guide. Inspire. Pass along this beautiful craft that you’ve invested so much of your time and love into. We’ll all be better off for it in the future