Sinding - Chefs at Henne Kirkeby Kro Cases on Management, Leadership and Organisations

Knud Sinding

Chefs at Henne Kirkeby kro

Knud Sinding

Chefs at Henne Kirkeby kro

From the book:

Knud Sinding and Anne Bllingtoft

Cases on Management, Leadership and Organisations, 1st edition 2012, chapter 4

1st e-book chapter 2013

Samfundslitteratur 2012

Cover design: Klahr|Graphic Design

Typeset: SL grafik, Frederiksberg

E-book production: Rosendahls BookPartnerMedia

ISBN: 978-87-593-9541-7

Samfundslitteratur

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CHAPTER 4

CHEFS AT HENNE KIRKEBY KRO

Food has become a spectator sport. TV shows cooking competitions, Danish chef Rasmus Kofoed wins the World Championship for chefs, and Denmark has the worlds best restaurant (NOMA). TV-shows star chefs who curse and swear when something doesnt suit them. Something interesting may be happening, some people may be good in a kitchen, but will food be ready for guests day after day?

Just north of Fils in Western Jutland Henne Kirkeby can be found. Not Henne Strand or Henne Stationsby. The place is not hard to miss. The church faces the road to the beach, and next to the church lies the inn. Until the big and now dried out Fils lake is restored in a few years, the inn is probably the main attraction.

Anybody who has driven around the flat landscape between Varde and the southern end of Ringkbing Fjord on a cold, foggy day in February must realize how hard it must be to run a year-round restaurant and hotel business in this area. German tourists visit all year, but there are fewer in the winter. Those who do come arrive with their cars packed full of supplies, which they devour in their rented summer homes. They are not inclined to eat at a gourmet restaurant, and Henne Kirkeby Inn is closed during the winter.

When the weather becomes milder, the situation is different. The organisation is re-established in different ways every day and every season. After a winter break, a new team of chefs and waiters comes together, but they must also come together every day. In this business, a good kitchen starts almost entirely from scratch.

The inn has long been known for its high gastronomic standards. For many years, it was owned by Hans Beck Thomsen, who was the third generation of his family to own it.

The situations described in this case occurred before Hans Beck Thomsen sold the inn to Flemming Skouboe. The former owner of LM-Glasfiber (a fiber glass company which manufactures blades for wind turbines) invested large sums in renovating and developing the inn. It isnt quite clear whether the investment will pay off, but Kathrine gave the following description of a recent dinner:

We had made a reservation for seating in the private dining room where we sat at a long table with a view of the garden on one side, and a view of the kitchen through a window on the back wall. Through the window, we could see the chefs working their way through the evenings seven-course menu. Throughout the evening, I became more and more astonished at the chefs way of working. Not the teams youthfulness, but that each individual chef (about seven to nine chefs in all) was specialised in only one dish his own dish while the rest of the team stood and watched as each individual dish was prepared and then served and presented to us by that same chef. During the presentation and while we were eating, the kitchen was cleaned and prepared for the next dish.

This experience was directly contrary to my expectations of what the tempo, teamwork and jargon would be like in a kitchen. Besides the food and wine, it was an experience in itself to observe the teams work process and their interaction with the head chef. In spite of the price, having 7-9 chefs who sought solely to satisfy our taste buds, was almost too good to be true. At the same time, I thought it impossible that the kitchen I could see could also serve the rest of the guests in the inns other rooms.

Halfway through our meal, I asked our wine waiter if the kitchen I could see through the window really only served us, and whether there was a larger kitchen in the back that served the rest of the inn. He answered that the kitchen I could see was the only one, and that the chefs served all the guests. Feeling a twinge of disappointment at having to share the chefs with the rest of the guests, I was amazed by what I had seen over the course of seven hours.

Morning

The team is seated for breakfast at the long table, and Hans Beck Thomsen sits at the end. Breakfast is served, bread and cold cuts, all made in the kitchen. The seat at the end of the table is the same seat in which Hans Beck Thomsens mother and grandmother sat when they ran the inn.

Everyone who is working that day gathers for breakfast, and plans for the days and weeks and seasons activities are reviewed. It is decided who will do what, so that everyone knows what they have to do. Everything is equally important and nothing in a good restaurant kitchen is without purpose. If the onions are chopped too coarsely or the meat isnt handled properly, its a problem even if it may seem insignificant. Each element contributes to the guests experience and interest in returning.

Piggies in distress

Karsten is an apprentice chef and on the team for the first time. Today, its his task to prepare the days first course, neck of pork marinated with strawberries, rhubarb, lobster, scallops, tomatoes and herbs. Maybe its the combination of pork and lobster that gave the dish the name piggy in distress but its far from certain that this name will appear on the menu the guests will end up seeing.

Mette is a fish chef and on the team for the third season. Among other things she has to make a turbot souffl for a party of 14. This party is also having a sorbet made from Marc de Champagne, something the dessert chef Jane will prepare. Tommy starts with turkey meatloaf and a batch of pigeons and quails that need to be cleaned and stuffed. The boss himself is searing 10 kg of veal tails while keeping an eye on all the others.

Many stations

Each workstation is called a parti, a concept borrowed from French, to some the ultimate language for gastronomy. At the first station, Karsten, the apprentice, is seasoning the pork neck with rosemary. At the next station, Mette is working with her large, flat fish. At the frying station, the boss is preparing his many veal tails. At the other stations, Tommy and Jane are working on their tasks.

A station of its own is found in the inns garden. Here, herbs and vegetables are grown for many of the kitchens needs, so fresh that no supplier could do it better. There is also a back garden where sheep and pigs are fed with the leftovers from the kitchen.

With titles such as fish chef and dessert chef, each chef is a sort of specialist, but some are more specialised than others. At the inn, fish and desserts are considered specialties while the rest is more all-around. In addition to the chefs, there are other specialists, for example the wine waiter. Should a chef get ill or injured, theres usually a waiter on the team who is also a trained chef. One of the seasons waiters doesnt yet know if she will be working as one or the other, but she can do both.

A brigade of regulars

Before this season, Tommy was at Hotel & Restaurant Fakkelgaarden in Kollund, Mette was at restaurants in Singapore and Australia, while Jane was at Sortebro Inn and Munkebo Inn. Tommy has been part of the operations for many years, the others have worked at the inn for fewer years but usually for several seasons. They are all in great form because they move directly from one kitchen to another. When it comes to the boss, the situation is different. He spends the winter in Copenhagen doing various types of consulting jobs. To get in form for the summer, he spends two weeks before each season at a training camp in the kitchen at Landhaus Scherrer, near Hamburg.