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PLAYTES: On The Table Professor’s Breakdown: Not Every Kitchen Needs a Michelin Brigade

 




By The Professor Chef


Culinary Lifestyle Expert


When I first heard about the Brigade System in culinary school, I thought it was some fancy French kitchen thing that only applied to Michelin-star restaurants.


Then I realized something.


I’ve been working in brigade systems my entire career—I just didn’t know the official name for it.


See, every kitchen has a system. Whether it’s a food truck, hospital, hotel, catering company, or Michelin-star restaurant, everybody has a role and everybody has a responsibility.


The difference is how detailed those roles become.


⸻


The Small Kitchen Brigade


Most of us start here.


When I first got hired in a hospital, there wasn’t a chef standing around yelling French terms.


There was a dishwasher, dietary aides, cooks, supervisors, and managers.


Everybody had a job.


My first job was dishwashing.


Then I became a dietary aide.


Then I became a dietary aide and dishwasher.


Everybody depended on everybody.


If dishes weren’t clean, cooks couldn’t cook.


If dietary aides weren’t accurate, patients didn’t get the right meals.


The system wasn’t fancy, but it worked.


⸻


The Growing Kitchen


As kitchens get bigger, positions become more specialized.


When I moved to Dallas, I started seeing more responsibility being divided between people.


I was hired as a dietary aide, but eventually started cooking on weekends.


Over time, I was working under the kitchen supervisor as both a dietary aide and cook.


That’s when I started understanding something important:


The bigger the operation gets, the more structure matters.


You can’t have everybody doing everything all the time.


⸻


The Hotel Kitchen


When I got to Las Cruces and started working in a hotel restaurant, I really started seeing the brigade system in action.


I started on cold side.


Six months later I moved to hot side.


Three months later I became a morning cook.


Eventually I was trusted to work multiple stations and different shifts when needed.


Every station had different responsibilities.


Cold side wasn’t hot side.


Breakfast wasn’t dinner.


Prep wasn’t service.


Different stations. Different expectations.


Same goal.


Feed the guest.


⸻


Then Culinary School Changed Everything


When I got into culinary school and learned about Auguste Escoffier, I realized the Brigade System wasn’t just about positions.


It was about organization.


Escoffier understood something that still applies today:


A talented kitchen without structure becomes chaos.


A structured kitchen can handle pressure.


A structured kitchen can train people.


A structured kitchen can grow.


⸻


The Michelin-Star Brigade


Now let’s talk about the kitchens everybody sees on TV.


The Michelin kitchens.


These brigades are built differently.


You may have separate chefs for:


  • Fish
  • Meat
  • Sauce
  • Vegetables
  • Pastry
  • Bread


Some people spend years mastering one station.


And honestly, I respect it.


Because excellence lives in repetition.


The more focused the role becomes, the more precise the execution becomes.


⸻


What I Took From All This


The biggest lesson I learned wasn’t French terminology.


It wasn’t titles.


It wasn’t hierarchy.


The biggest lesson was systems.


I’ve worked in hospitals.


I’ve worked in hotels.


I’ve helped with catering.


I’ve sold plates.


I’ve studied culinary arts.


And every place taught me the same thing:


Great kitchens aren’t built on talent alone. They’re built on systems.


That’s actually one of the reasons I’m building PLAYTES the way I am.


Not just menus.


Not just recipes.


Systems.


Because one day when PLAYTES grows from me into a team, everybody needs to know their role, their responsibility, and how they contribute to the bigger picture.


That’s what Escoffier understood over 100 years ago.


And that’s what I’m learning now as I continue my journey from cook to culinary professional, educator, and eventually The Professor Chef that I’ve always envisioned becoming.


PLAYTES UP. 🍽️📚👨🏾‍🍳


“Stay Focused. Get You Some.”

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