Episode Details

Back to Episodes

552: Rob Evans on Growing by Taking Risks

Published 7 years, 10 months ago
Description

Before being one of the most influential Chefs in Portland, ME, Chef Rob Evans was following the family trade of being a electrician. The calling of the kitchen was just too loud. He would go on to work at Goose Cove Lodge, The Inn at Little Washington, and The French Laundry. Evans returned to Portland's restaurant scene in 2000, when he and his wife, Nancy Pugh, took over Hugo's. In 2009, Rob won the James Beard Award, "Best Chef in the Northeast." In 2012, Rob and Nancy left Hugo's to focus on Duckfat, which they had previously opened in 2005. Evans latest project is Duckfat Friteshack which opened in 2018

Show notes… In this episode with Rob Evans, we discuss:
  • How Evans got into the industry.
  • Using the restaurant industry to explore, get experience, and clarity on what you want to spend the rest of your live doing.
  • When traveling, exploring, and gaining experience, giving the restaurants you work for a minimum of 1 year of your time in exchange for the lessons.
  • Treating every dish you serve or meal you cook as a job interview, because you never know who your future investor could be.
  • As an owner, working through your upper management to maintain high standards of detail and overall culture.
  • What Evans did to earn a letter of recommendation from The Inn at Little Washington's Patrick O'Connell to work at the French Laundry.
  • From the sous chef to the dish washing, creating a culture where there is an equal amount of "giving a shit".
  • The value and admitting your mistakes.
  • Going into business with people who counter you well.
  • Repacking gourmet or fine dining dishes to be more approachable when going from cooking for white collar to blue collar guests, Repacking gourmet or fine dining dishes to be more approachable.
  • How Evans style of "no waste" came from his attempts to maximize profit so he could stay afloat during the early years.
  • Having a genuine and generous approach to style of service.
  • How taking risks has served Chef Evans.
  • Finding the right people to take over your business.
  • Creating a business that is less dependent on creativity and skill level and more depending on systems, standards doing one thing better than everyone else, over and over again.
  • Using technology to streamline processes.
  • leveraging the gestalt management style.
Today's sponsor:

Cashflowtool.com A simple powerful and predictive cash flow companion for Qickbooks. Simple, because it requires no data entry, is always up to do and works on any device, anywhere. Powerful, because with it's built-in cash flow calendar, activitiy feed and anomaly detector, you instantly know all aspects of your cash flow with no surprises. Predictive, because you'll know your cash flow today and anticipate it tomorrow.

Knowledge bombs
  1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
    • Overly enthusiastic.
  2. What is your biggest weakness?
    • Caring to
Listen Now

Love PodBriefly?

If you like Podbriefly.com, please consider donating to support the ongoing development.

Support Us