THE LAST OF US

BRIAN, CHEF

philadelphia, pa

Chef Brian was buzzing with excitement. He was opening a brand-new restaurant—a massive, high-end, high-volume sports bar. Big walk-ins, big tickets, and the potential for big financial rewards. To help steer the ship, he’d assembled a full management team: head chefs, general managers, assistant managers—the works.

But Brian is a man of many ventures. Around the time of the grand opening, he was also given the opportunity to travel abroad for two weeks to cook for soldiers, a meaningful gig he couldn’t pass up. Knowing he’d be away, Brian made sure everything would run smoothly in his absence. He prepped schedules, laid out plans, and even crafted a beautiful steak special served with a rich veal stock and potato side. He poured hours into developing it, then stocked it in the walk-in for the team to sell while he was gone.

Two weeks passed. When Brian returned, the first thing he saw? His management staff laughing it up at the bar, on the clock. Meanwhile, guests were waiting for drinks, being ignored. He headed straight into the kitchen and saw ticket times clocking in at 24 minutes, twice his standard. Brian expects a 12-minute turnaround. Yikes. Then came the real gut punch. He opened the walk-in... and there it was. His labor-of-love veal special, untouched and spoiled. The dish he had carefully prepared had been completely ignored. Even worse? A significant amount of other high-cost inventory had also gone bad. Thousands of dollars wasted.

That was the tipping point. Fuming, Brian stormed out to the bar and, right then and there, fired the entire management team. At first, they laughed—assuming it was a joke. When it became clear he was dead serious, they turned hostile, arguing and cursing him out. But Brian had seen enough. They had shown him everything he needed to know. The hardest part? These were friends. Or at least, they used to be. With no time to dwell, Brian threw on his chef whites, jumped back on the line, and got the ship back on course. He closed out the night himself—and over the following weeks, he built a new management team he could actually count on. Oh—and the best part? The next week, Brian recreated his veal special. It sold out.