Alice Waters' Startup Story
"Part of my philosophy is to try to give employees a great quality of life. My guiding principle is to put myself in their place and ask what I would find desirable in a job. That's why the waiters' changing room is just as beautiful as the Chez Panisse kitchen and bathrooms. I also feel that it's impossible for a chef to work productively six days a week. Chez Panisse chefs work three and are paid for five. This way they have a day to go to the market and get inspired to cook. It also gives them time to have dinners at home with their families." [CNN/Money]
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20 Comments:
"Chez Panisse chefs work three and are paid for five."
I'm skeptical: Alice Waters is an astute business woman. What's her pay scale like?
beano at 4:27PM on 08/29/09
Isn't her restaurant booked weeks in advance, and has been for decades? I imagine she turns a tidy profit on each patron, too. I bet she can afford to be angelically generous.
DaveFaris at 5:33PM on 08/29/09
There just isn't enough info in this article. This all sounds warm and fuzzy, but I would like to see a follow up article on her employees. What is their opinion on her business practices? How long have they been employed? Does their pay equal other chefs in other restaurants? Does she believe her chefs are lucky to be working for her? Does she believe her way of doing things is the way all restaurants should operate? Does she believe no one in the restaurant business should be in it for the money? I know she already believes we should all be paying more for our food to insure it will be organic, local, grass fed and whatever else drives up the cost of food.
I would love to subscribe to all of her practices when it comes to food, but I live in the real world and my financial situation does not allow for that. I must scrimp and save where ever I can. It would be nice if I had the means to be so particular. I don't, so I make due. If it comes down to buying local and all the rest or making a mortgage payment you can guess what I am going to.
This sounds a little pretentious and out of touch on her part. Maybe another article is required to clear some things up.
finsbigfan at 5:41PM on 08/29/09
For a lot of the answers to these questions, you can read Thomas McNamee's book "Alice Waters and Chez Panisse". It's available at a lot of libraries(which is how I read it).
michellelikestoeat at 5:48PM on 08/29/09
This practice aptly reflects Waters' general standpoint: idealistic visions that are impossible to put into practice on a larger scale.
I'm glad her employees get an absurdly good deal, but unfortunately very, very few people in the world can subscribe to such a wide-eyed and rosy lifestyle. Sorry, Waters. Rather than encourage me to eat locally and sustainably, you just polarize well-meaning foodies who can't be quite as virtuous as yourself.
teenagefoodie at 6:04PM on 08/29/09
@michellelikestoeat Since you read the book maybe YOU can clear some of these things up for me :). When I read an article online, in a magazine or in my local newspaper I don't expect to have to read a book to clarify what a good reporter should have had in the original article. When something that controversial is thrown out there (work for 3: get paid for 5) in this economy an explanation is expected. A little background on the concept would be nice. Who else does this? In what other industry is this a practice? Is this just AW's concept?
finsbigfan at 6:10PM on 08/29/09
I don't think it is idealistic to want your employees to have a high quality of life.
Also, and I speak from observations of friends and family, but often times it is about of distribution of wealth and we choose not to spend our money on food. Many, many, americans choose to spend a lot of money for cable tv, for their cell phone, for coffee at a shop rather than their house.
My sister makes a ton of money in the hair industry. Spends at least $85/month on cable tv, $70 something a month on cell phone services, has health insurance through her employer. Buys her morning coffee at starbucks. She tells me farmers markets are too expensive.
I work in the back of house in the restaurant industry. Our pay scale is low. I pay $270/month on my own for health care and I primarily shop at farmers markets. How do I afford it? I afford it because it is a priority for me. I don't have cable tv or a cell phone "plan" and I spend $5 a week on coffee beans.
I'm not judging anyone, I just think that sometimes it's about choices and level of importance, when it comes to how much we'll pay for food. Lastly, the primary reason for me shopping at farmers markets-because it tastes phenomenally better than the stuff in the grocery store.
michellelikestoeat at 6:30PM on 08/29/09
A lot of people seem to automatically resent Alice and everything she does. While it may be true that she treats her staff may not scale to a larger organization, that really doesn't matter. It works for her and her organization, and she chooses to be generous.
DaveFaris at 6:38PM on 08/29/09
@fins-
Well, I don't remember everything, but, from what I remember, Chez didn't turn a profit for a long, long, time and probably never would have if Alice didn't turn over the books/business aspect to people that actually could make it profitable.
I also know from working with someone who came from Chez that they have a very low turnover rate, which is unusual in the restaurant industry. David Lebovitz was there for 12 years! The guy I worked with worked there for 4 years, which, in the industry, is a long time. There are cooks that have been there for much longer. Seems to me she does create a place where people want to work because otherwise, why stay so long?
The downstairs restaurant has 2 chefs. At Alice's suggestion(because they were both going to leave to live in France), they split the year and each work at Chez for a 6 month period. It seems to me that she appreciated them and wanted them to stay, so she worked out a system.
I also think, and I'm not sure, that the 3 out of 5 means 3 kitchen days. I know the chefs get one paid office day as well. From someone who has done it, it is impossible to work 6 days a week and be productive, especially long term, in a kitchen.
Everyone deserves a pleasant work environment and a high quality of life.
michellelikestoeat at 6:52PM on 08/29/09
it's how you choose to live your life: why not create your own oasis if you can? i see nothing wrong with how she chooses to take care of her employees .... they take care of her - she takes care of them.
it's all about choices... like @michellelikestoeat said - people spend money on all kinds of things that don't really add to their well being.... and then complain about a $5 quart of perfect peaches..... it's all about what is important.
i don't know much about alice waters -- but people always like to attack those that break out of the herd.... dare to be different and you might find that you could do the things that make you happy, as well.
pooch at 8:54PM on 08/29/09
How many unpaid interns does " sweet Alice bluegown" have ? They stand in line to work there I'll bet . Not that there's anything wrong with that !
jfitz at 6:47AM on 08/30/09
Poor Alice. People are so jealous of you. I wonder if you care?
DaveFaris at 7:23AM on 08/30/09
What finsbigfan said. Are we just going to take her word for what an angel of a boss she is, or do we know that the employees have some real leverage in their workplace?
emilydev at 9:31AM on 08/30/09
Her practices as a restauranteur are all great.
That being said, I still can't separate a sense of smugness from Alice Waters when she talks about Chez Panisse. Its kind of like when a parent talks about their wonderful, successful children -- "Mark had his pick of the Ivys, but he decided to take a year off to go to Costa Rica -- we feel it's important for him to explore other cultures, and Harvard will always be there when he gets back!" That kind of thing.
JudgeFudge at 12:00PM on 08/30/09
I find some of the comments above to be a little surprising and off-the-mark with regard to Waters’ philosophy behind food. Let’s not forget that her early inspiration came from Marcel Pagnol films, which spoke to her about the lifestyle of French farmers, a lesson in frugality. As a student with very little money, I still follow her philosophy behind food. It boils down to saving money wherever I can with a little labor: soaking beans instead of buying canned, having a vegetable garden, making a sourdough starter, making granola. (Who wants packaged foods, anyway?) In one of her cookbooks, I came across a very useful tip, that if you don’t have the herb that a recipe calls for, you can use whatever you have that’s fresh. The integrity of ingredients is what counts; if you’re poor like me, maybe shy away from the foie gras, but you can still eat well for cheap.
I had a friend who waitressed at Chez Panisse, and the way they treat all of their employees is no joke. I don’t know the particulars of how much they were paid, but the grand prize at their holiday party was airfare, hotel, and dinner for two at a restaurant somewhere in Europe. . .
ingabee at 1:49PM on 08/30/09
I would think that Waters would have to take a smaller share of her restaurant's profits in order to pay her staff more than what other [comparable] restaurants pay their employees. There are some U.S. employers/business owners -- few though they are -- who do not need, or want, to have pots full of gold. There are a few of us who at some point in our lives who have realised that we have all we need, who have reached the point of "enough."
boogaloobaby at 7:09PM on 08/30/09
Amen, Michellelikestoeat.
PumpkinBear at 7:58PM on 08/30/09
I am sure that the Chefs are salaried and put in at least 15 hour days in the kitchen. Cost can be contained by not giving the line cooks overtime. When they hit their 40 hours in a week they go home. Not so for the Chefs. A Chef will burn out in no time if they work a conventional work week. I am sure that none of the Chefs at Chez Panisse are enjoying a life of leisure. They earn every penny and Alice Waters keeps her Chefs for a long time because she gives them time to recuperate on their days off even if its working in the office rather than the kitchen.
rbrblb at 6:36PM on 08/31/09
yawn, let them eat local organic cake.
peekpoke at 12:22AM on 09/01/09
There is a reason why her cooks are extremely loyal to her restaurant. Some stay on for decades.
savvysearch at 6:01PM on 09/24/09