How busy is busy enough?

Busy defines the life of a kitchen in countless ways. There is the busy of cooks flying about grabbing boards and wielding knives. There is the busy of fish deliveries pouring in the back gate almost faster than they can be fabricated and put away. There is the busy of tickets scrunching up out of the ticket machine, one right after another. There is the busy of servers rushing in and out of the swinging kitchen doors. There is the busy of porters scrubbing and sanitizing before and after every service. There is the quiet busy of Mondays spent preparing for the busy week ahead. There are long, late, busy nights and 60 hour work weeks. And behind the visible buzz of the kitchen, there is a busy that keeps the whole operation afloat. There are lists of calls to be made to purveyors, piles of order sheets to be filled, files of bills to be paid, equipment waiting for repair and workmen waiting to be scheduled. There are benefits, charities, interviews and awards. There is the incessant ring of the blue reservation phone pleading for a weekend table.

If ever there were a dull instant for self-doubt, you might imagine weary souls questioning, "How busy is too busy?"

In reality, however, no one at Chapter One ever regrets the whirlwind of work. If they have any energy left to lay awake at night, they probably wonder: "Are we busy enough?" They know that on a restaurant spectrum of business, there is but a thread between "success" and "snowed under." Success can be measured in volume of diners – how many seats you have and how often they are booked. Chapter One books every seat every night and almost every lunch. When we are succeeding, there is no remarkable difference in the kitchen between a weeknight evening and a weekend evening.

Success is also estimated in product turnover. How often must food come into your kitchen and how quickly is it sold out again? Chapter One has very minimal space for storage: one large cold room and refrigerator, three narrow freezers, one large freezer chest for special deliveries (like the whole suckling pig that is there now!) and drawers on the line that hold trimmed and filleted fish, beef and poultry. Produce and proteins that enter our kitchen have a life span of one to two days before they are presented on a plate. We are fortunate to see our purveyors almost daily.

At the end of each day, success is the margin of profit that lies between the cost of each plate and the price of each plate. I think there is a widespread myth that fine dining restaurants are largely over-priced for what they offer. It is an interesting accusation because, like every venue of cultural capital, it is difficult to put a price on human effort and artistry. But if we were to analyze restaurant prices simply based upon ingredient cost, I think many people would be shocked at how expensive it is to make a very fine meal. At Chapter One, we have in our pantry a small bin of "truffle products" – things like truffle infused oils and honey. These products come in very small quantities for very high prices. We might pay 14 euro for four ounces of truffle honey and we will use almost the entire four ounces for two small quarts of ice cream. At that price, we must sell six orders of the "Olive oil and nutmeg tart, dried banana, truffled honey ice-cream and toffee sauce" before we even break even on the price of the honey! In general, fine food equals a very fine margin of profit.

When I began my stage, Cathal, our Chef de Cuisine, warned me that the pace of his kitchen was a bit like standing in a stream trying to focus on the water as it runs by. "People can be overwhelmed and exhausted by the business, but my hope is that you'll see how busy you have to be to stay successful."