I was today years old when I realized…

I was embarrassingly old when I discovered most of the food you order is premade in some way. I had this fantasy: cooks in the kitchen happily made my favorite dishes from scratch. I also thought that the process of making a dish happened every time an order came in and was done in real-time. Let's take a BLT, for example.

I thought that when the order came in, the cook would:

·      Go fetch a head of lettuce from the cooler, peel off some slices, and cut them to the correct size of the bread

·      Go fetch a tomato from the cooler, cut off the ends, and cut some perfect slices for the sandwich

·      Grab a pan, heat it up, put some bacon on the pan, and cook it up for the sandwich.

At least I didn't think they had to bake the bread. Still, I should have realized that if they had to do everything mentioned above for every item that came in, orders would take hours instead of minutes. When I first worked in a kitchen, I realized that so much of the work was done beforehand. When I got to the restaurant, I would check to see what I needed on the line, refill what was necessary, and prepare the station. Then, like magic, whatever I needed was in the walk-in coolers or freezers.

I have been a line cook for a while, and we are the ones who are putting the ingredients together, cooking what needs to be cooked, and “plating” it so it looks delicious. However, lots of our work is already done for us. I primarily work at the fry station. I'm mostly making sure sides are hot and plentiful on the fry side, but the task that takes most of my attention is breading and frying chicken. I never have to worry about cutting the chicken to the appropriate sizes for our sandwiches or boneless wings; that is done for me. I don't make any of the sauces in which I "spin" the wings; they are already made for me. The carrot and celery garnish; it's already cut for me. When I need to drop appetizers in the fryer, they are already made and portioned correctly. Any successful kitchen operates similarly; the key is unseen work done beforehand by the essential prep cooks. The prep cooks do their job correctly when they have the right amount of ingredients, which is closely monitored by the kitchen manager.

            I know I beat this sports metaphor to death, but the prep cooks and kitchen manager are like the offensive line of a football team. Part of the reason I use this metaphor so often is that I was an offensive lineman in high school. Any opportunity I can to sing the praises of the position, I will. When a typical person watches a football play, everyone’s eyes are on where the ball is. The quarterback drops back and launches a thirty-yard pass, or the running back runs for a sold ten yards. Neither of those is possible without the offensive line blocking for the quarterback or creating a hole big enough for the running back to get through. The line's "prep work" often goes unnoticed as the play unfolds, like all prep work done by the morning cooks.

            An excellent athletic director is the kitchen manager and the prep cook. When done right, the work should go unnoticed and will be taken for granted. People will assume everything is running smoothly because of the coaches or players. However, the athletic director will put them in that position through all the unseen prep work. Orders, schedules, jerseys, parties, communications, and more prep work that people might miss unless something goes wrong. Otherwise, when ADs take care of all the prep work, the coaches can focus on coaching, and players can focus on playing. You know you have done your job well when your sports program (and kitchen) run like a well-oiled machine.