I have to agree with the author of the article quoted below. Although it may make good TV, there is not a lot about Hell’s Kitchen, or the show I like even less, Kitchen Nightmares, to recommend.
Don’t get the idea that this is how a proper kitchen is run, or that a failing restaurant can be turned around with a 48 hour makeover and a few shouting sessions.
While there are some good ideas and nuggets of wisdom that float through the show, there is also a ton of crap and flat out bad advice that expecting the non industry person to sort it out is unrealistic at best.
The way to run a restaurant right is to treat employees like adult human beings worthy of respect and professionalism and have a plan for managing your operation that doesn’t involve simply yelling and abusing customers and staff.
If you want to start a restaurant, don’t expect to learn much about how to do it by watching what is really entertainment and not so much “reality”.
After watching recently it dawned on me that just like every other “reality based” television show, there is remarkably little reality about them. In this instance Hell’s Kitchen has no basis in reality, and I hope everyone knows it has little to do with restaurant business at all.
As mesmerizing as it may be at the moment, no one asks the question: “What has happened to the victims of these tragedies caught on tape?”
I know most of you are aware of the popularity and success of Hell’s Kitchen. To me, as a restaurant veteran, it becomes something more than offensive and reprehensible. I find it unbearable when this show’s contestants are humiliated, traumatized and forced to act in a hateful manner toward their competitors. I feel this way because no professional I have ever dealt with has even come close to the behavior exhibited on this program. If they did, I would tell them to seek professional help or get out of the business.
On occasions Chef Ramsay has closed the kitchen while people are in the dining room or had orders redone because they did not meet standards, leaving the guests to wait. The whole time he is yelling and cursing at the top of his voice in an exhibition kitchen. Regardless of how impeccable and gifted Chef Ramsay is, his tirades and behavior would never be accepted in any professional environment — other than television. His behavior violates just about every major employment law in existence, not to mention the unwritten laws of the hospitality business.
Quoted Article Source Link: Google
