0:11 [Music]
0:14 good morning or good afternoon this is
0:18 uh certainly not my normal habitat
0:19 usually there would be some stoves here
0:22 and some refrigerators and countertops
0:24 here cutting boards and knives and it's
0:26 pretty violent environment with all the
0:28 fires and the knives and young people
0:31 running around you know on
0:34 Red Bull these days opposed to
0:37 Coffee uh but here I am uh standing
0:40 before you it's hard to believe that a
0:41 little more than a generation and a half
0:45 ago chefs were considered domestic help
0:49 by the US Department of Labor thanks to
0:50 a lot of
0:54 recognition the Advent of food magazines
0:56 food channels and of course through
0:59 support of people like you we now have a bonafide
1:00 bonafide
1:03 recognized profession and I'm standing
1:06 here in front of hundreds of people to
1:09 talk about a restaurant it's quite
1:12 unique when you come to think about it
1:13 um I can't tell you how honored I am to
1:16 be here U it's some it's one of those
1:18 things that someone asked you 20 years
1:19 ago where do you think you'll be now and
1:20 I thought well I'd have my own
1:22 restaurant and maybe a really good chef
1:24 but standing on a stage at Ted
1:27 X I would never think i' would be there
1:30 who knew um but but I want to talk to
1:32 you about what a restaurant is all about
1:35 this connectivity which is this theme
1:37 that's running through the conference today
1:37 today
1:40 and what a restaurant is and how that
1:44 connectivity relates to who we are and
1:47 how we achieve what we
1:49 achieve like to introduce you to The
1:52 French Laundry in ya California this is
1:55 what you see when you come to our
1:59 restaurant why because this is about you
2:01 this is about you as an individual your
2:05 experience at that restaurant but I see
2:08 a lot of different things most of them
2:11 are hundreds of individuals that are
2:14 dedicated and committed to
2:19 you only you you by yourself people ask
2:24 me a lot of times about success and I've
2:27 thought about it for years and I realize
2:30 that success is not about Fame
2:33 it's certainly not a about fort Fortune recognition
2:34 recognition
2:37 Awards it's about memories it's about
2:40 the memories that we collect throughout
2:42 our lives and I'm sure each one of you
2:44 have wonderful memories about things
2:46 that you've done in your life and a lot
2:49 of that was about success that defined
2:52 success for me and certainly one of
2:54 those memories or one of the biggest
2:56 compliments I can receive is when a
2:58 guest comes to our
3:01 restaurant has dinner and then comes
3:03 back to the kitchen where I meet them in
3:05 the courtyard and they say Chef this
3:08 reminds me of and they go into this
3:11 wonderful tale about an experience they
3:13 had I don't know in the south of France
3:16 in Paris in Italy in Spain or even in
3:18 America a great experience they had in
3:21 another restaurant and I can only hope
3:23 that that individual goes on and has
3:26 another great experience and says this
3:30 reminds me of the French Laundry because
3:32 there in lies the true meaning of
3:35 success but what are we we're in the
3:37 hospitality industry I hate to call it
3:39 industry I haven't thought of a better
3:42 word for it but that's what we do we we
3:45 think about Hospitality as something
3:48 that comes from inside something that's
3:49 innate something that comes from
3:52 someplace in the heart something Soulful
3:54 you can teach Hospitality but it doesn't
3:57 have the same kind of impact as it does
3:59 when it comes from some place that's
4:01 meaningful some compelling
4:04 reason I'm a nurturer at heart I was
4:07 speaking this one of our for or one of
4:12 our fellow um uh presenters last night
4:14 and and I brought that up I said you
4:17 know what I do is nurture people I found
4:20 out long time ago what makes me happy is
4:23 making you happy it's one of the most
4:26 gratifying times of my life but let's
4:28 talk about cooking for a for a moment
4:30 because that's what restaurants and
4:34 chefs are all about right and cooking is
4:36 a very simple
4:39 equation it's about ingredients and
4:40 execution I don't care if it's the
4:45 French Laundry per Danielle Cafe bulud
4:48 Bon ad hoc the diner down the street
4:51 it's all defined by the ingredients that
4:55 they receive and the way they execute of
4:58 course our ingredients come from a wide
5:02 source of IND indviduals from all across
5:05 the country K&J orchards in California
5:07 bringing us stone fruit throughout the
5:10 summer extraordinary couple who
5:14 dedicated to peach trees plum trees P
5:18 Simmons of course Su young scalan uh a
5:22 young biochemist Dairy scientist who
5:23 decided to make
5:27 cheese but with love of music she names
5:30 the cheese after
5:32 ingred benjas a very interesting woman a road
5:33 road
5:37 scholar a woman who is uh Russian
5:40 literature expert who lives in
5:44 Stonington Maine and sells lobsters to
5:46 some of the best chefs in the country I
5:49 remember my first experience with ingred
5:52 was here in New York City over 20 years
5:56 ago when she began selling to a chef at
5:59 leard den and of course her name showed
6:01 up an article and I called her I said
6:02 would you sell me lobsters and she
6:05 wasn't interested in selling me lobsters
6:07 or any fish because she did not know who
6:08 I was she didn't know what my standards
6:11 were took me two years to get my first
6:15 hbit from her and since then we've been
6:18 connected wonderful lady
6:22 meaningful supports a a vast array of
6:26 fishermen in Maine Snake River Farms in
6:30 Idaho one of the premier
6:33 cattle ranches in our country bringing
6:34 some of the highest quality beef to the
6:37 tables that we've seen in a long time
6:40 Connie green a wonderful woman who lives
6:42 in Napa forges mushrooms not only
6:44 herself but has this whole underground
6:47 network of people who go out in the
6:50 middle of the night scouring the forest
6:52 for all these wild mushrooms that they
6:56 bring us a very special woman here Diane
6:59 stclair who lives in oral Vermont and
7:04 named her Farm the animal farm I wonder
7:07 why extraordinary woman read my cookbook
7:11 about 9 years ago and thought well I'll
7:13 send him some of my butter I've got four
7:16 cows I make butter I get up every
7:19 morning at 5:00 a.m. to milk those cows
7:22 I milk them again in the afternoon so I
7:25 can make some butter I'll send it to
7:27 Keller and see what he thinks about it I
7:29 received it FedEx showed up little
7:32 baggie with three little balls of butter
7:35 I tasted it I said wow this is
7:38 extraordinary I said Diane who are you
7:40 why did you send me this butter and how
7:41 much do you
7:44 make she said well I thought from
7:45 reading your book I thought you'd be the
7:48 perfect Chef to Showcase my butter I
7:52 make 15 pounds a week I said I'll buy it
7:56 start sending 15 lbs a week she had
8:00 three cows at the time Daisy lightning
8:02 scooter they produced our butter we
8:04 opened per se I said Diane we have a
8:07 dilemma we're going to need to get more
8:10 cows she did the only time that she has
8:13 off in the entire year seven days a week
8:15 twice a day milking her cows the only
8:17 time that she gets to to get away from
8:19 that is during the summer when they're
8:22 cing three years ago I get a beautiful
8:27 frame picture of a young cow named
8:30 Keller I said okay now I have a cow
8:33 named after me and a
8:36 child the noie orchard in Hawaii John
8:38 mood we have something in common John
8:40 and I went to the same High School in
8:42 South Florida several years apart he's a
8:44 little bit older than I am he became an
8:48 airline pilot in Hawaii and decided that
8:49 he was going to
8:52 buy a peach Palm Orchard 25 acres
8:55 sustainable and starts selling hearts of
8:58 palm he harvests the suckers doesn't
9:00 doesn't doesn't kill the main tree he
9:02 harvests the suckers and he's able to
9:05 supply us for the past 10 years with
9:08 fresh hearts of palm extraordinary John
9:11 Sterling caviar the Sacramento Delta
9:14 where sturgeon have thrived for
9:17 centuries Sterling caviar now produces a
9:19 sustainable product that we've been
9:21 working with them over the past 10 years
9:24 to continuously raise the standards to
9:27 replace the wild caviar that we used in
9:30 the past became so rare
9:33 Don and Sally Schmidt the original
9:35 owners of The French Laundry in Pho New
9:37 York at the Apple
9:41 Farm every week Don drives down four or
9:43 five cases of apples for us at The
9:46 French Laundry that relationship continues
9:47 continues
9:50 today Jacobs and Farms here's an
9:53 interesting couple Peter and Gwen you'd
9:56 never know it but they're dentists from
9:59 San Francisco who bought an acre Orchard
10:00 in Yael
10:03 California and Supply us with some of
10:06 the most amazing fruit that's available
10:09 nine varieties of figs three varieties
10:12 of peaches nectarines plums it's just
10:16 extraordinary he's gone as far as
10:19 certifying the snails that come out of
10:22 his farm as organic we Harvest our
10:24 snails organic snails from Jacobson's
10:26 farm and of
10:29 course a man that I'm so proud of Tucker
10:32 Taylor our own Gardener at The French
10:34 Laundry we have a 3 Acre piece of land
10:36 across the street where he har where he
10:37 cultivates and
10:41 harvest a wide variety of vegetables not
10:43 only for the French Laundry but also
10:47 Buon ad hoc and we even send some to New
10:48 York once in a while so they can see
10:52 what a truly amazing radish really is of
10:54 course El leian Fields Farm uh Keith
10:58 Martin a banker who decided to become a
11:00 lammer uh don't understand that I still
11:01 don't understand that he's tried to
11:02 explain it to me a dozens of times why
11:05 would a banker want to become a lammer
11:08 he did he's established a protocol for
11:12 raising his animals in a holistic way
11:15 that's now patented it's extraordinary
11:18 that he has now eight farmers in Western
11:21 Pennsylvania Eastern Ohio who have
11:24 adopted this protocol and now raised
11:26 Lambs not only for us but for some of
11:28 the other chefs around the country these
11:31 are just an example of a group of
11:33 extraordinary individuals who are
11:36 dedicated and committed to bringing
11:39 those products and ingredients to our
11:41 restaurant for
11:44 you and of course it's not just about
11:46 food ingredients if we think about
11:47 ingredients we have so many other things
11:49 the wine list I don't know how many
11:52 thousands of bottles we have on our list
11:55 representing dozens of countries
11:57 hundreds of producers and you think
12:00 about the generations
12:02 of individuals that are part of that
12:04 Network as well and then of course the
12:05 environment that we have at our
12:07 restaurant whether it's the architecture
12:10 the interior design the Linens the China
12:13 the glassware the silver it goes on and
12:16 on and then people you don't even see
12:18 and may not even realize that are there
12:21 they're working every day for
12:25 you reservationist administrative
12:30 staff Human Resources public relations
12:32 accountants all making sure that our
12:35 restaurant runs in a way that's going to
12:38 be efficient effective so that we in the
12:42 restaurant we Cooks we servers we sales
12:45 can give you the experience that you
12:48 expect the second part of the equation
12:51 execution what is execution execution is
12:54 about skills skill levels right what
12:57 defines a great chef what defines a
12:59 great server what defines a great some
13:03 is his skill level and what we do at the
13:06 restaurant three things that are
13:10 critical hiring making sure that we
13:12 identify the right individuals to come
13:14 to our restaurant I don't interview
13:16 everybody but I try to get involved in
13:18 the culinary side of it because I am a
13:21 cook and when I ask a young culinarian
13:24 why why do you want to work here why do
13:27 you want to cook oh Chef man I can't
13:30 tell you how passionate I am about what
13:33 I do I'm going okay that's interesting
13:36 passionate I'm passionate as well I'm
13:39 passionate about the first asparagus I
13:41 see the first baby spring lamb that
13:43 comes in the back door yes I'm really
13:45 passionate about that but after a week
13:49 or two what happens my passion kind of
13:51 subsides it goes down a little bit
13:53 because I've already seen it I've been
13:55 experiencing for a couple weeks kind of
13:58 O over it a little bit but I still have
14:00 an amazing asparagus that's still coming
14:01 in the back door I still have amazing
14:04 spring lamb what is it that's important to
14:06 to
14:08 me in recognizing that individual that
14:10 he should be working at our restaurant
14:12 or what is it in me that continues to
14:14 drive me it's
14:18 desire desire desire trumps passion
14:21 every time it's nice to be passionate
14:23 and passion is going to help move that
14:25 desire higher but when that passion is
14:29 not there what do you need
14:31 that desire that strong sense of Desire
14:33 Desire
14:36 training another important element in
14:39 execution we've hired the person we've
14:41 made him realize that passion is not the
14:42 most important thing that he better find
14:44 that something inside that desire that's
14:45 going to continue to to drive him for
14:51 the next 20 25 30 35 years in this
14:53 industry we want to train them he in the
14:55 door we want to give them the training
14:56 that they need in order to be able to
14:59 execute the expectations that we have for
15:00 for
15:04 you seminars purveyors come in suppliers
15:06 come in Keith Martin comes in Armando
15:07 Mani comes in they talk about what they
15:09 do how they do it what they produce what
15:12 their points are what their vision is
15:15 seminars wine seminars not only the Napa
15:16 Valley but around the world we send our
15:19 staff out our teams that go out to to do
15:22 to do these seminars an
15:26 amazing vast library of culinary books
15:29 wine books service manuals we write our
15:31 we write our own we write our own
15:34 service manuals update them on a on a
15:36 yearly basis making sure that the team
15:37 has update
15:40 information of course the third
15:44 part mentorship that man on the left Roland
15:45 Roland
15:49 hennan taught me why I
15:53 cook he was my mentor he's my mentor
15:55 today mentorship is such an important
15:59 part of success we continue to Mentor
16:03 our staff we assign mentors we ask you
16:06 who you want your mentor to be the
16:10 process that we Embrace
16:13 wholeheartedly another part is the tools
16:15 we have to have the right tools people
16:17 always talk to me what what should I buy
16:19 you know what kind of tools should I buy
16:21 buy the best go out and buy the best
16:24 because the best will last the best hat
16:26 makes a difference whether it's the
16:27 stove the sauté Pan the knife The
16:30 Cutting Board the Str trainer the spoon
16:32 I don't care what it is get the best get
16:34 what you're comfortable with it'll last
16:37 forever leadership
16:42 leadership leadership becoming a leader
16:44 giving the
16:47 team those individuals the confidence
16:51 and courage they need to execute
16:53 Jonathan Beno here I might some of you
16:55 may know Jonathan Beno he began at The
16:57 French Laundry in
16:59 1995 actually sor in
17:03 1996 later became chef of per today he
17:05 has his own restaurant Jonathan came to
17:07 me as a young Chef dep party a chef the
17:08 party is an individual who works on a
17:10 specific station in this case Jonathan
17:12 was the fish cook he came to me one day
17:14 and Jonathan does this he said Chef he
17:15 does that when he's making a point he
17:17 points at you with all four fingers and
17:19 his thumb underneath Chef I mean that
17:21 you know you know he's
17:24 serious I'm I'm not going to have a
17:27 cutting board on my station tonight and
17:28 I I'm I'm I'm working I'm you know I'm
17:31 busy you know it's back in the old days
17:34 when when everybody had a lot to do and
17:36 and not that we don't today but you
17:38 know I was more immersed in it and I'm
17:40 thinking okay whatever you know that's
17:41 that's interesting you're not going to
17:42 have a cutting board on your station yes
17:45 I'm going to be so prepared I'm going to
17:47 be so prepared I have so much confidence
17:49 in my ability to have my Misan plast
17:50 done that I'm not going to need a
17:52 cutting board now every chef depar and
17:54 every restaurant has a cutting board on
17:56 their station some of them need a
17:57 cutting board the butcher needs a
17:59 cutting board to carve the steak
18:00 Jonathan was doing fish everything's in
18:02 place everything's ready to go all he
18:05 has to do is cook and serve it I said
18:08 okay that's fine don't have a cutting
18:10 board at the end of the service Flawless
18:12 it's become the new
18:15 standard for that station because
18:17 Jonathan Beno had the confidence and
18:20 courage to step outside of what was the
18:23 norm in any restaurant and say I'm going
18:27 to do better I'm going to create a new
18:30 standard we all know that it's not about
18:32 any one
18:36 individual it's about a team we look we
18:38 give credit to those individuals whether
18:42 it's the quarterback the CEO or the chef
18:46 for that matter for everything that is
18:50 accomplished I love to be part of a team
18:53 a team to me is a family it's a way of
18:57 achieving a higher goal than ever
19:00 whatever we thought about but it's also
19:03 a lot of fun it's our soccer team of
19:06 course I'm the
19:08 coach we also love to share success
19:11 celebrate them with each other can you
19:13 imagine celebrating a success on your
19:16 own when we receive an award it's a it's
19:17 about that celebration let's get the
19:19 champagne out let's Pat each other on
19:21 the back let's give everybody a hug
19:23 let's celebrate that I look to the San
19:28 Francisco Giants now yeah here's a team
19:30 that nobody thought thought could do
19:32 what they did but it was through
19:34 determination and teamwork that they
19:38 were able to achieve something that
19:41 nobody thought they were ever capable of
19:44 doing teamwork it's all about that
19:46 teamwork there's this idea out there
19:49 that Thomas Keller is this you know
19:52 allseeing person and and I think that's
19:54 pretty prevalent with most chefs you
19:56 know we go to the market in the morning
19:58 buy pick out all the produce run over to
19:59 the fish market get all the fish go to
20:00 the butcher get all the butcher get all
20:03 the meat come back we we fabricate it
20:05 all we cook it all we don't eat we don't
20:07 sleep we barely breathe we we're there
20:09 that's it we do everything but that's
20:11 not that's not the case that's not the
20:14 case it's about the group of individuals
20:18 who are focused and determined to bring
20:21 you a great experience we talk about
20:23 that that culture that culture certainly
20:26 did begin with me the philosophy of what
20:28 we do and one of the cornerstones of our
20:32 philosophy is just do a little better
20:35 than yesterday come to work with that
20:37 idea and goal in your mind just a little
20:39 better I don't care if your shoes a
20:41 little shinier you've learned how to tie
20:44 your apron a little tighter your knife
20:46 is a little sharper your brunoise is a
20:49 little more exact just a little better
20:51 than yesterday that's all you have to do
20:54 and as the days go on the weeks go on
20:58 the months go on the years goes on you
20:59 end up
21:01 someone like
21:04 me one of the most meaningful decisions
21:07 I've ever made at the French ony 16
21:12 years ago was to change the menu every
21:15 day every day something that was almost
21:17 unheard of and certainly something that
21:21 was in practice at the extent that we do
21:22 we get together at the end of the night
21:24 all the chefs the chef dep pares the Sue
21:29 chefs around the table with our lists
21:31 of the ingredients that we've ordered
21:34 Tucker's Farmers list or the garden list
21:36 all these different pieces of
21:37 information we have and we start to
21:40 collabora work on the menu for the next
21:42 day we have a rule where there's no
21:44 repetition so during the evening someone
21:46 say it's corn season someone say someone
21:48 on the meat station say I got corn which
21:50 means that at the end of the night when
21:52 we start to do the menu he's already
21:53 died the corn because no one else can
21:57 use corn the result of that is
21:59 extraordinary that menu is outlined the
22:01 night before the Sue Chef comes in the
22:04 morning at 5:30 he looks at the menu he
22:06 starts to verify the quality of the
22:07 ingredients that are coming into the
22:10 restaurant he's able to modify the menu
22:16 extraordinary green tape just a little
22:18 story about green
22:20 tape it's something that we use
22:22 everywhere taping down the pass taping
22:25 down our menus we tear we tore the green
22:29 tape for 10 years we tore the green tape
22:32 for 10 years chefs like Grant aets Eric
22:35 zebold Jonathan Beno tore the green tape
22:37 when we were getting ready to open per
22:39 se a young group of people were coming
22:41 to New York City to inoculate this new
22:43 group I gave them a pep talk I said I
22:45 want you to go there and show set an
22:49 example make an impact a young expeditor
22:52 at at the time Zion cruel who taped down
22:53 the past at the French aundry every
22:56 night had this in his mind I'm not sure
22:58 what he was thinking February 16th
23:01 2004 he's taping down the passive per se
23:03 what does he do pulls out a pair of
23:04 scissors and cuts the
23:09 tape jaws drop it becomes a standard for our
23:10 our
23:13 restaurant becomes a standard for our
23:15 restaurant hiring training mentoring
23:17 confidence courage rapid
23:20 rate of evolution it's
23:23 all for you we want to make sure that
23:26 your experience is one that's compelling
23:27 and memorable I've been doing this for
23:30 35 years years it's something that I
23:32 focused my life
23:34 on this sat on my desk every day as I
23:36 was trying to purchase the French
23:38 Laundry having a dream is hard living it
23:40 is harder my biggest asset at the time
23:42 was my ignorance had I known what I was
23:44 have to go through I never would have
23:47 done it don't be afraid don't be afraid
23:51 to fail be afraid to try we have
23:54 mentored hundreds of individuals that
23:55 have come through our restaurant over
23:59 the past 16 years our Legacy is through
24:02 them and what they've done in their own
24:04 restaurants people like Eric zeel Grant
24:07 AET Jonathan Beno Cory Lee that
24:09 continues this
24:13 connection with who who who we are as
24:16 culinarians as restaurant tours as
24:19 nurturers and we do it all for you thank you
