Restaurant Biz

[ellett711]

Has anyone owned or operated a restaurant?

 

[Otherside]

I worked at Wendy's but found it to be too challenging.

My grandfather owned one though, saw a lot about how it operated.

 

[EditorOne]

So, otherside, does being a chef or owning a restaurant seem like something an INTP would find fulfilling?

 

[Otherside]

So, otherside, does being a chef or owning a restaurant seem like something an INTP would find fulfilling?

A chef, yes. Owning without managing, possibly. Owner and manager, no.

 

[YoungGuns]

So, otherside, does being a chef or owning a restaurant seem like something an INTP would find fulfilling?

I work in a restaurant (Pizza Hut lol)

I see practically nothing that would appeal to the INTP profile as far as managing one goes.

 

[Otherside]

I work in a restaurant (Pizza Hut lol)

I see practically nothing that would appeal to the INTP profile as far as managing one goes.

I worked at a pizza parlor that had a glass window between the pizza tossing area and the dining area. I was the tosser and people would watch from the dining area. I had to learn to shut it out of my mind that I was putting on a show of sorts.

 

[Oedipus]

My parents own a hotel/restaurant. I worked there as a waitress for a while, which was unbelievably awful. I hated talking to the customers and such and I was really bad at it, my head was always in the clouds and I'd forget what I was doing all the time, or not notice when people need served, etc.

 

[Jah]

I've eaten at restaurants.

 

[EditorOne]

It seems like chefs have to be both creative (for the sake of the food) and detail-oriented (for the sake of managing the kitchen). Also extroverted rather than introverted, although the familiarity of working with the same team for a long time might help enormously with that. Dealing with a constantly changing set of customers, who knows? At the level of changing patterns of food preferences that you have to grasp and then change the operation to meet, yeah. At the level of talking to individual strangers one at a time, not so much. Again, I can talk to strangers easily about something I know a lot about, to the point where their ears catch fire and fall off, so that might not be a problem either.
It's talking to people about nothing that seems to bother most of us.
Cooking is fun. Producing food everyone visibly enjoys is very satisfying. Figuring out the principles and paradigms about food preparation - the patterns of timing and materials that make certain things go together and taste better than any of those materials by themselves -- is great fun. But the rest of it has a lot of pitfalls, does it not?

I'm pretty sure INTPs make terrible wait staff. All those details and stupid questions. "How are your tomatoes today?" "Cold and red, madam."

 

[del]

It seems like chefs have to be both creative (for the sake of the food) and detail-oriented (for the sake of managing the kitchen). Also extroverted rather than introverted, although the familiarity of working with the same team for a long time might help enormously with that. Dealing with a constantly changing set of customers, who knows? At the level of changing patterns of food preferences that you have to grasp and then change the operation to meet, yeah. At the level of talking to individual strangers one at a time, not so much. Again, I can talk to strangers easily about something I know a lot about, to the point where their ears catch fire and fall off, so that might not be a problem either.
It's talking to people about nothing that seems to bother most of us.
Cooking is fun. Producing food everyone visibly enjoys is very satisfying. Figuring out the principles and paradigms about food preparation - the patterns of timing and materials that make certain things go together and taste better than any of those materials by themselves -- is great fun. But the rest of it has a lot of pitfalls, does it not?

I'm pretty sure INTPs make terrible wait staff. All those details and stupid questions. "How are your tomatoes today?" "Cold and red, madam."

My girlfriend has both culinary and pastry degrees, so I've learned a lot about this industry through her.

I didn't even realize cooking and baking were completely different things with very different subcultures until she went through school.

That said, I think an INTP could enjoy either. Pastry tends to be more methodical and scientific, whereas cooking is more... procedural? I'm not sure how to explain it.

I guess when you're baking, you have little to no interaction with the product after you put it in the oven. So you have to understand the scientific principles that effect your baking thoroughly in order to predict how it will turn out. If you don't get it right, dough doesn't rise, crusts won't flake perfectly, etc.

Cooking you can sort of do without much of a plan, just tasting as you go along and adjusting accordingly.

That said, typically cooks work in much more chaotic and loud environments. The back of the house at most restaurants is full of people yelling at each other, barking orders, and is extremely high energy and fast paced. I'm not sure INTPs could do that for long without being drained.

Of course, there are different environments. A smaller restaurant, teaching at a culinary school, etc. an INTP might enjoy.

Bakeries that I've observed I would compare favorably to chemistry laboratories. Same sort of "vibe" at least. If allowed enough freedom I bet an INTP would do well here.

The pay in this field is very poor, however. You pretty much top out at $12/hr, and you get paid the most at places like Whole Foods or a hospital -- not places where you can be all that creative. The very high end chefs have people working for them for free just to get the chance to learn from them, so you won't make any money at a prestigious place until you work yourself to the bone and become a sous chef.

My girlfriend is going back to school to become a nutritionist now.

As for owning or managing a restaurant -- based on what I've observed on how they operate, you couldn't give one to me.