There is a quote on the wall facing our employees in the small, open kitchen in our restaurant. I point it out to us regularly as a reminder of the motive behind what we do.

Food is a demanding business. The early hours, the long days, the late nights, the aching feet and knees, the burns from fiery hot pans, the anxiety over everything being hot enough, clean enough, seasoned enough; all this can drive a person crazy and run him or her directly into another career. Unless of course you are one of those who recognize what the heart of the kitchen is all about.

Professional cooking is not about the chaos and pressure that some cooks and chefs seem to thrive in, nor is it about the chance of being recognized and gain fame (as cable TV is trying to seduce us by). It’s not to feed the ego, nor is it the best way to make a lot of money. It really comes back to one thing for me, and that one thing is embodied in those few words adhered on the wall.

The quote comes from a book that helped me put words to why I was willing to roll the dice and take the risk to open a restaurant. The book is The Soul of a Chef, by Michael Ruhlman. In it he observes and tells the stories of three American chefs and the paths they took toward creating their own distinct approach to food and cooking. Near the end of the book, he reflects on his observations with this summary:

I’d come to know three outstanding American chefs, each one of whom had been cooking his entire adult life and had made people happy doing it. In fact all three of these chefs had stated that a main reason, if not the reason, they cooked was that simple; to make people happy. If they failed in this, the work was for nothing. Didn’t matter how good the technique was, how artful the food, or the personal standards they’d brought to bear on it.

Reward for our work is indispensable. Without it, we live a hollow existence. And it’s why I don’t believe fame is enough. Popularity is fleeting. It’s something I don’t have much jurisdiction over. But I do have authority over whether or not I care about the customer’s pleasure.

To see someone walk into our space with the revealing non-verbal cues that this is the first visit, to watch the expression turn to delight in knowing that a new place like ours has finally come to their town, then hearing the words upon leaving, “We love it! We can’t wait to come back and bring our friends, and….”

This never gets old.