Vent: That one Sunday brunch shift that made me question everything

I walked into the line at 6am on Mother's Day with 87 covers booked, then the walk-in cooler died at 9am and the expo called out sick, and somehow we still managed to plate 142 perfect eggs Benedict before noon - but now my sous chef says we should have just refused walk-ins, so who was really right here?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan_roberts491mo ago

That kind of shift takes a real toll on everyone, and the fact you pulled it off says a lot about your team's grit. It's easy for a sous chef to second guess from the sidelines, but you were in the heat of it making calls in real time with limited info. At the end of the day, you got the food out and no one walked, and that's a win worth owning.

the_zara1mo ago

Maybe it's just me but refusing walk ins when you ended up plating everything successfully feels like the wrong lesson to take away from a Mother's Day miracle. The real question is whether the team felt supported or just burned out after that push. Sometimes the win isn't the numbers, it's that nobody quit on the spot.

grant_hart1mo ago

Did we all just forget that turning away paying customers on Mother's Day is basically restaurant suicide?