July 15, 2025 • 32 mins
You don’t need more prep cooks—you need less waste.
Chef and zero-waste pioneer Vojtech Vegh joins Simon to dismantle the myths around food waste in restaurants. This isn’t about compost bins or turning scraps into soup—it’s about rethinking your menu planning to design for profit, efficiency, and impact from day one. Vojtech shares how he built a vegan fine dining restaurant with no trash cans, why most food waste “solutions” fail, and how time-starved chefs can actually save hours by shifting their systems, not just their storage bins.
If you’re an independent operator chasing consistency and margin in a high-cost world, this episode hits hard.
Topics include: food waste prevention vs. reduction, menu development strategy, systems thinking in kitchen ops, and shifting chef mindsets.
Connect with Vojtech
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vojtechvegh
Website: https://surplusfoodstudio.com
Email: vojtech@surplusfoodstudio.com
Connect with Simon
Email: simon@culinarymechanic.com
Book a Call: https://calendly.com/culinarymechanic/discovery
Website: https://www.culinarymechanic.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're listening toHeritage Radio Network.
I.
From kitchen chaos to well-oiled machines.
Get ready for newfangledtechnology and old school Know-how
(00:21):
stories and a good bit of fun.
I'm Simon, and this iscalled Area Mechanic.
. Simon (00:31):
Joining me today is Vojtech Vegh.
Thank you for taking the time.
Vojtech Vegh.
Welcome to Culinary Mechanic.
Vojtech (00:39):
Thank you for inviting me.
Simon (00:42):
Uh.
I gotta be honest, I found you on,I think LinkedIn a while back, uh,
maybe, maybe a year ago, and just tosee some of the pictures that you post.
Then to go on Instagram and seesome of the other things you post
around, being able to use so manythings really got my brain going so.
(01:02):
Um, at the first moment that Ithought that I could probably
get you to come on, I, I tried.
I feel like you and Iplayed a little dance.
Right.
It's been a few months thatwe've been working on this.
x (01:13):
No problem.
Yeah.
Simon (01:15):
You know, you're busy.
I, I appreciate that.
Um, so tell me, how'd you getinto the restaurant industry?
How'd you get into to working with food,
Vojtech (01:25):
uh, COVID accidents, to be honest.
Um, yeah, I started, I startedmy college as a waiter, which was
again, a completely random choice.
'cause I, I had to choose what I wantto do in my country when I'm like 15.
So, you know, random choicewhere my friends went.
And then I seen people like, oh,like you can also be in the kitchen.
(01:45):
You don't have to bein front of customers.
Let's do that then.
So I.
So I was like, yeah, welllet's be a chef then.
And you know, it took me a fewyears I went for internships and
it's only, only like a few yearslater when I actually felt like,
like, this is not too bad actually.
Like, uh, when I started my internshipsin like five star hotels in like
(02:06):
a bit better kitchen stuff, like Iactually quite like what I'm doing
here, so let's do more of that.
So started traveling, you know, pickingup experience, switching different
places, different restaurants, andI started enjoying what I was doing.
Simon (02:18):
That's awesome.
Um.
So you get going, you start doingit, go through some internships.
I mean, what, like what was the biggestmotivation for going zero, like going
towards a zero waste sort of thing?
Vojtech (02:36):
It was, uh, quite a long journey because I always, I always seen
it, I always seen that waste happeningin that, uh, restaurant industry and
I was quite, uh, conscious of it.
Because I was raised in what Ilike to call like a self-sufficient
household where we greweverything, everything ourselves.
So we naturally used everything.
(02:56):
It was like a natural zero waste kind ofthing without using the word zero waste.
So I always, I was always conscious ofthat was happening, but I didn't really
felt like anything I can do about that.
And then at one point later in my career,I was lucky to work with a head chef
who was hyper-focused on everythingthat typically ends up in a bin.
And he was want, he was wanting touse everything that we normally waste
(03:20):
and not because, well, not for thesake of reducing food waste, but
because he was curious about the newflavors and new textures and that was
like high in fine dining restaurants.
So, and we've been doing like all kindof things and that's where I kind of
talked to myself that like if we cando that at such high level in this
type of restaurant where DERs pay likehundreds of euros for their dinner.
(03:42):
Then surely this must bereplicated somewhere else.
So I decided that if I ever get achance to open my own restaurant,
I would want to have it zero waste.
And that's pretty soonafter that I made it happen.
And that was kind of how itstarted for me in the the world.
Zero waste that yeah, I saw it.
That this is possible.
I want to replicate
Simon (04:01):
that is I, it's absolutely amazing.
Um, I.
I think that maybe going back for me 10,15 years, I started to see some chefs in
the United States that were using, thatwere taking the scraps and they were
slow roasting things to get ashes and,and, and using a lot of things like that.
(04:24):
But I think that as I hear you talk, it's,it's, there's also multiple textures to
be, to be had from some of those scraps.
Um.
It just, yeah, I gotta sayit, it just, it blows my mind.
Um, and I think that as I, as I haveread some of the things that you've
(04:44):
put out, one of the things that reallycaught my attention was it's not just
trying to augment an existing programto, to go and, and use the waste, but
it's more pulling back, almost pullingback the lens and, and really looking.
Looking at the entire, theholistic approach of things.
(05:05):
So I was wondering if you could talk, talkto us a little bit about that, because
it's definitely a different way to think.
Vojtech (05:13):
You know, food waste reduction is not only about food waste reduction.
It's about everything you know?
And if I want to reduce my foodwaste, there are multiple reasons
why I should kind of want that.
A lot of people lead with environmentalreasons and of course that's great
because that's definitely one ofthe things that are important.
But, um, I lead with financial reasonsbecause if there is edible for dinner
(05:37):
bin, there is a lot of money in the bin.
And we are in the restaurantbusiness where we buy food with
the intention to re margin.
And that does not happenif that food is in the bin.
So I want to recover all that.
Lost, lost money from thebin back into my operation.
So there is a, there is a kinda, um, lotto consider and to me it's never only
(06:01):
about the single thing of, Hey, I havefood waste and I don't want to have it.
But it's also about I wantto become more efficient.
I want to do the good, theright thing for the sake of.
Doing the right thing because Ibelieve that E every business, any
activity is an opportunity to do good.
And doing business or servingfood to multiple, like hundreds of
(06:24):
people, thousands of people, is away to amplify your good efforts.
So there are so many reasonsfor me to do that, and I can't
think about why should I not?
I don't consider myself a bigenvironmentalist, but to me this
is all about like becoming moreefficient, having a good business
operations, and of course saving costs.
Simon (06:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So
let's see.
See, so looking at thatrestaurant that you open, right?
Vegan restaurant, zero waste.
I read somewhere, I waslike, there's no trash cans.
Which makes total sense ifyou don't have any waste.
(07:08):
But, and, and my like, absolutebig respect on that one.
But like, what does that require?
Like how,
just 'cause I, it's hard forme to like, wrap my head.
Like I, I'm, so I would just sayI'm a conventional chef, right?
I, I've worked in some prettybig restaurants, um, and there's
(07:30):
a lot of trash going around.
So, ha, tell me about that.
Vojtech (07:34):
It's, it's all about the planning.
Everything is in the planning, so Itook more than two years to plan the
restaurant and operation and everything.
The menu planning has started monthsbefore the restaurant opened, so
you have to calculate with everypotential amount of waste that
could be created in the process.
Not only food waste,but all kinds of waste.
(07:56):
You have to make sure that you havesuppliers and you have waste to get
your ingredient without any packagingor any, any sort of waste around it.
So it's making sure alot of things beforehand.
To make your operation easy afterwards,and that time investment upfront
is well worth it because youroperation will be like super smooth
(08:18):
if, if everything is well planned.
Plan your menu so every single part ofthe ingredient is circled back into use.
If it's not at the same menu, let'sextend the shelf life of the ingredient
by preserving or any other technique.
To be, to use somewhere elsein the future menu, et cetera.
But everything has tofind its place somewhere.
So nothing is distant for the bin there.
(08:41):
Um, there are of course either developparts of ingredients and things that
can't be consumed, like spoilageor plate waste and et cetera, for
which I eventually had to add, uh,small composting been in my garden.
But even that was added only later, likewhen we opened for the first few weeks.
We didn't even have that.
We didn't, we, there was literally no bin.
There was nothing.
Simon (09:03):
Okay, so that leads me to my next question, which is.
I'm a systems guy, right?
Like my, my, my business outsideof this podcast is really focused
on leadership systems and culture.
Right?
And so we're obviously talking aboutall three of those things when we're
talking about, uh, like the sh ashift that could potentially happen.
(09:24):
So what are the systems that,like what are the, yeah, what
are the systems that like brokefirst when you started to do this?
And I, and I get that there's aton of planning, but something
has to break along the way.
Vojtech (09:36):
Um, well, folks definitely were, uh, tracking slowly and most imp The, the
first one was probably that realizationthat you are never gonna get to zero.
There is always going to besomething, something that even no
matter how good you plan, there'ssomething is going to happen.
(09:57):
It's like when, when, no matter howmuch I talk to my delivery guys and
how good relationships I had with them.
Still, all the sudden mydelivery came like it.
It didn't come in plastic bags, butthe things that individually wrapped
in clean film, I'm like, good.
I literally don't have a place to putthat clean film, but also I really need
(10:18):
that ingredient for today's service.
So, uh.
Yeah, there we go.
Now I have a handful of twin filmin the corner of on the table.
Like, yeah, I mean, I figuredout what I'm gonna do with it.
Luckily in Cambodia there werelike good recycling initiatives,
so I had a place to kind of die.
We had that, but it's not idea.
Or like when guests leave, uh,they bring me in plastic bottles
(10:39):
and they leave it on the table.
I'm like, can you maybe like,please take it like this card is
in your hotel or something, becauseI don't have, that's amazing.
Simon (10:52):
Um, yeah, I, I mean, I, I think that that speaks to me
in, in the way that it doesn'tmatter how much you plan, right?
Other people will, all otherpeople won't, aren't always
thinking the way you're thinking.
Um, you know, I, I, I come into that with,you know, ru running kitchens and, and.
(11:16):
Some days, it doesn't matterhow much you plan life.
Mm-hmm.
Life flips you upside down andyou wonder what just happened.
Yeah.
Vojtech (11:24):
Um, yeah.
The kind of a mistake I made thereis that, well, maybe not a mistake,
but I had this naive from thevery beginning that I want to have
zero, the absolute company zero.
Like it has to be zero no matter what.
So I was like, likeextremely like dogmatic.
Opening time around that, I waslike not willing to accept any
(11:45):
sort of waste from anywhere.
And that of course was like slowlydriving me crazy because it, I was
gonna say, yeah, it's just impossible.
Like in the current, you, you,you're not going to have zero.
You are always going to havesomething, no matter how little
there's gotta be something, right?
So, uh, yeah, I had to fix my mentalstate as well in that process to accept
(12:06):
that there is always gonna be something.
Simon (12:09):
So I don't know if it is, it's just something that is said here in
the United States, but where I comefrom, like, you know, in the kitchens
I've worked for, we call that shootingfor the moon, but getting in orbit,
right?
Like you, you, you aim for the bigthing and then you're happy when you're
(12:29):
just orbiting the, the earth, you know?
You
Vojtech (12:33):
know, uh, I was, uh.
I can give you like a cr the, so youcan like imagine the level of craziness
that I was into bat and I kind oflike fixed my mindset since then.
It taught me a lot of things inthe process, but I, I would be
working like 20 to 23 hours a day.
(12:53):
So that's not a good start already.
And, uh, and some, there were, therewere nights when like, you know, when
you buy like new appliance or somethingand you have the styrofoam in a package.
So I read that you can like meltdown the styrofoam in acetone and
like form it into like new shape.
So I would be sitting at like midnighton the floor in my dining room, melting
(13:15):
down ace, melting down the tyro acetone.
Like briefing in all that toxic fumes.
And I was like, I don't know whatI'm going to do with this, but I, I
have to do like something, you know?
So like, these are the type of thingsthat I was doing like at the beginning.
Like, let me say that I haveevolved since then that I'm
(13:36):
not doing this kind of thing.
So anyway, I understand thatalways gonna be something.
So my focus is not on the perfectionanymore, like on the zero zero.
Simon (13:44):
It's, it's the progress, right?
It's,
Vojtech (13:45):
it's just, it's all about the progress.
Yeah.
Let's pause for a second.
If you're serious about building a kitchenthat leads from the top runs on systems
and actually feels good to work in, makesure you're following culinary mechanic.
This show is all about helping youlead better, scale smarter, and
stop white knuckling your business.
(14:06):
And if you're ready to dig in deeper,you'll find a link in the show
notes to connect with me directly.
Simon (14:11):
I think that kind of leads me to my next question, which is
how, how has it changed, right?
Like, how for you going for zero wasteaccepting a certain amount that there's
going to be, like, how, how do youfeel like you approach it differently
now than maybe when you first started?
I.
Vojtech (14:31):
Very differently because right now, to me it's all about
creating a positive impact.
It does not have to create a perfectimpact, but a positive one and a progress
is more important than the perfection.
So it's always about doing as much asyou can with what you have rather than
driving yourself crazy in the process.
(14:51):
Because when I realized that, okay, likethis is something that like this has a lot
of replicable element that I could liketell or teach other chefs of how to do
that in their place, I knew that like I'mnot going to succeed with telling everyone
like, Hey, you have to go complete zerowaste, otherwise it's not worth it.
You know, like, that's not going to work.
So I took like a lot of bits ofwhat I learned and tried to apply
(15:15):
it in other kitchens with otherchefs and see what works, what
doesn't, and I read it very quickly.
I learned that.
If I will be pushing to do likeeverything at the same time
that it's not going to work.
It's never going to work.
So I have to like break itdown into small step at a time.
Sure, we are not doing zero waste, but ifwe are reduce food waste by 50% and that's
(15:37):
a major achievement, like that's a lotof waste reduced, you know, so I, I lose,
I, I'm no longer like attached to thatidea of zero and having to be zero waste.
I still use the term because itcommunicates, what is it about?
But I, it's no more aboutthe having to do zero.
Simon (15:58):
Well, I congratulate you on on.
Understanding the understandingwhere you're crazy is right.
Uh, there, there's, there's value in that.
I think.
I think as chefs, we,we all go through that.
I, on some levels, I know thatI, you talk about 20 hour days.
(16:18):
23 hour day.
I, I know that, um.
I went through a phasewhere I was just aiming.
Um, there was a pretty, pretty heavyrecession in this country in 2008 and I
was determined to keep my restaurant, youknow, making money, not losing money, and
(16:40):
I. There were days where, where my friendsand my family thought I was just crazy.
But you, you get a mindset and you goand it is just, it just is what it is.
And I, and I appreciate, Iappreciate your crazy chef.
How's that?
Vojtech (16:55):
Yeah, right.
I was, I was completely like logged in.
I was logged into that wholething at the same time.
I was 26 at the time.
So, uh, there has been a lot of, uh,learning in front of me that I wasn't
aware at that very moment, but I'mextremely grateful I did that at the
time because I have so many takeaways.
I learned so much so early on thatI know what workforce doesn't, so
(17:18):
I can, you know, go from there.
Simon (17:20):
We talked about how it changed.
All right.
Let's just say we have a chefthat you're talking to that
is intrigued but skeptical.
What would you say would be the,like, what's the, what would be
the starting point for a chef?
How, how would you, howwould you recommend getting
(17:41):
started on, on this journey?
Vojtech (17:44):
Very easy, because almost every chef I speak to, or I have in my master
class is skeptical at the beginning.
So, uh, half of my time, I'm justbreaking down objects and misconceptions
from chefs, uh, which is the firststep in the world thing because
it's all about the mindset as I, um,always say, you know, like food waste
always comes down to the mindset.
The first thing I always say is thatit is a lot easier than it sounds
(18:08):
at the beginning, and I have a proofof that from all the other chefs
that I've worked with in the past.
And also is thatunfortunately debt has been.
This kind of a wrong perception of foodwaste reduction created in the industry.
Um, and I, I don't blame the chefs for it.
It's simply the communication and the wayit was presented in the industry that this
(18:32):
is what food waste reduction looks like.
So many chefs are focused on the factthat, hey, I have this byproduct here now
I will have to recycle it, upcycle it.
I really don't have time for this andI dunno what I'm gonna do with it.
So I'm never gonna start with that.
And there is this constant idea thatwe have to recycle things on the go and
just like do new things from byproduct,et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
(18:56):
And that's not how it works.
Um, because the recycling does not work.
So I always say that this is what weare doing is not food waste production,
but it's food waste prevention.
That makes a major difference becausereduction means that you look at
problems once you already have them,and then you try to solve them.
(19:18):
But prevention takes you a stepback in the process and you
focus on your potential problemsbefore they are even created.
That means in our world that you go backto the menu development process and you
look at the potential amount of byproductsbefore they are on your shopping,
before they are on your prep table.
Because once they're on your pep tableand the chopping board too late to
(19:41):
think about that, forget about that.
It's waste already.
If especially the, the,there are two parts to that.
One part why it's bad is because it isalways going to take you extra time if
you gotta reduce food based on the go.
And the worst part about that is, isthat if you upcycle a product on the
go, as you go, you don't even knowhow you are going to use that product.
(20:02):
Right.
So it's hard to monetize it, hard tosell it, and there isn't a real reason
why you should even make that product.
So there is no financialreturn on what you're doing.
So you always have to plan first.
Think about what are the potentialbyproducts I'm going to have?
How can I eliminate those?
Focus on one, one or two things ata time, and start there and do that.
(20:23):
And then replicate, replicate, replicate,
Simon (20:26):
huh?
I, I like it.
Um.
So one of the things that I, that Ifind fascinating about all of this is,
is that you, your restaurant is vegan.
And I think that for me, like Ithink about, I think about animals,
whether they be, you know, pigs or,or cows or chickens or whatever,
(20:48):
and very much like there's a whole.
There's a whole ethos aroundutilizing, you know, they, people
talk about, uh, snout to tail, right?
So you're using as much ofthat animal as possible.
I think that it's inter, it's alwaysinteresting to me when I hear people
talk about reducing waste, preventingwaste, and they're not, they're,
(21:13):
they're, they're talking aboutvegetables and they're talking about
how hard it is because I think that.
What you just described is, is kindof snout the tail on a zucchini,
I dunno, a cor jett, right?
It is, it is, it is really like, uh,having the, the mindset of going of,
well, when you fabricate a piece ofmeat, you know what you're aiming
(21:34):
for and, and then you know whatportion size it should be, right?
Mm-hmm.
And so I, that, I guess that makes senseto me to like, like I say, like I said
earlier, kind of zooming out and then.
Re almost tacking from that angle.
Vojtech (21:50):
So, you know, like the applicability of the zero
waste and everything, mindset,cooking, it's perfectly applicable
to all types of cooking.
There is no limitation animalproduction or not, right?
I focus on, well, I talkabout mostly, uh, plants.
F first reason is becausemajority of the food waste is
from fruit and we in kitchens.
(22:11):
So meat and fish does not create, by farthe amount of byproducts and waste that
fruit and weg creates in professionalkitchens because somehow we are always
more conscious about, like, we knowthat the price of that meat is a lot
higher than the price of a cucumber.
So we are naturally more consciousabout the amount of waste that we
are creating, even though there areexceptions, uh, seeing crazy things,
(22:35):
but it, it tends not to be thehighest amount of waste in kitchen.
So if, uh, I, I still do that aswell, you know, like I'm vegan.
I don't want to say I'm vegan.
I'm vegan diet wise.
I eat vegan food.
For health reasons and restaurantwas vegan completely accidentally.
(22:56):
It was never meant to be vegan.
Uh, it was meant, you gottatell me more about that.
You gotta tell me more about that.
Yeah, when I was opening the restaurant,like I was, like, I was dogmatic
and I was dogmatic about everything.
So I could only say local andorganic quality food no matter what.
It was local, organic,and that was in Cambodia.
So, uh, vegetables was not abig problem, but there was not a
(23:19):
single animal product that would beorganic and local at the same time.
I could get organic from Australiaor I could get local non-organic.
The only thing I found was chicken egg.
And I'm like, so I'm not gonna be hererunning a restaurant with chicken egg
being the only animal product in my menu.
That's, I mean, whatever,make it vegan then.
So I'm like, okay.
Like there goes a challenge, like Imade like a tenco tasting menu, which is
(23:42):
gonna be plant-based and you at the sametime, only local and organic products.
So, I mean, yeah, I did it,it was, uh, it was crazy.
But it, the vegan is,it wasn't international.
I wasn't vegan at the time.
You know, and I'm, I'm, I stilllike, don't consider myself
to be like hardcore vegan.
I have too many allergies, whichessentially makes me a vegan.
(24:03):
Um, but in my work, you know, it doesn'tmatter whether I focus on much type
foods or animals, it doesn't matter.
I approach those things in the same way.
So as much as you can use food wasteon your watermelon, you can also
reduce food base if you have a ball,lamb, or a heartbeat or a fish.
Right.
Anything else?
Simon (24:19):
Right?
Ah, I love it.
Um.
What would you say are the,
I guess I wanna, I guess we shouldprobably go back to some of the skepticism
just a little bit and say like, whatare the, like what are your favorite
myths or obstacles to kind of dismantleas you're, as you're teaching this?
Vojtech (24:44):
Yeah.
The first one is wedon't have time for this.
That's always consistentlythe first thing.
There is no time for me to do that.
You don't need time for to do thatbecause you are not going to be
expanding your Nissan Plus list.
You are not going to beadding things on your menu.
You are going to replacing things onyour menu and Nissan Plus list so that
like for forget about what you arewasting today and tomorrow, right?
(25:08):
You are not going to properly reducethat because you would have to, unless
you, you can, you have a menu or anevent where you can like do a change,
make menu changes all a minute.
Because it always comesdown to making change.
Because if you, the, your only way to,uh, recover financial or to make financial
(25:30):
savings on food waste is that thatbyproduct or whatever waste that you have
has to be circled back into operation.
It has to end up on your menu in someway, in some form, because if it's not
being sold with the margin, there'sno point making it, then I'm not
interested in making like fancy coolseasoning powders, which are nothing.
Anyway, you know, like you'renot gonna save money on that.
(25:52):
It's, it's nice thing to have, butyou're not gonna save money on that.
Um, so it's always about, think about yourmenu first if you want to get started,
if you want to see that in your kitchen.
Think about when you're next, updatingyour menu, writing a new menu,
creating new dishes of any kind.
Think about the potential amount ofbyproducts and reduce it at that point.
(26:13):
So if I put mashed potatoes in my menu,I know I'm going to have potato peel.
That is the time I want to think aboutas potato peels and what are I gonna do
with them, because if I don't any laterpoint, it's too late to think about that.
So this is, and in, in that way, itdoesn't take away any time from your
chefs because you are not going to bedoing more things than you did before,
(26:35):
like running or operating a zero wastemenu compared to, uh, any regular menu,
whatever we call it, a wait for menu.
It's, it's not take, it's notgoing to take more time in the end.
The prep time is going to be the same.
The only difference is that you areworking with different parts of products.
So instead of me, um, buying potatoesand making mashed potatoes and then
(27:01):
making, um, buying mushrooms and chopmushrooms and making mushroom, I can skip
the mushrooms, use those potato peels,roast them, season them, flavor them,
throw them into a, so I'm still makingthe, I'm still doing the same thing.
But instead of chopping themushrooms, mushrooms and cooking
them, I'm using the potato peels.
So the person doesn't change much.
(27:23):
There is no extra time investment needed.
But this is all about the mindset.
You know, like the mindset is the biggestthing that has to shift because we
just don't see it because the messagingis always about recycling, right?
Try to Google any foodbased food for restaurants.
Uh, make breadcrumbs, uh, dailysoup with your vegetables and
(27:44):
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Anything that's completelyimpractical in any commercial
kitchen, it's like just not happening.
And this is the belief thatwe have logged in, that this
is what reduction looks like.
Simon (27:56):
You're making me remember the days when my, my chef would come to me with a,
with a, with a tub of vegetables and go,here, make soup for today, and go, and
you'd, you'd look at it and go, okay, but.
Like, how are we gonna make all, like, I,maybe I can use a third of this, right?
Because so many things, like I, you,you can't put too many broccoli stems in
(28:18):
a soup and, and expect it to work witheverything else, or you can't, or, or
my favorite is the Green Bell peppers.
Like they don't always play right?
So, uh, yeah, I just.
I just have, I have like flashbacksto, to my chefs saying, oh, we
have, we got, we have to save money.
And it's like, okay, well,soup is not the place.
(28:38):
Mm-hmm.
So I feel you.
x (28:40):
Yeah.
Simon (28:40):
Um, but I love the idea of, of, you know, I love the,
I love potato peels, right?
Like, I'm, I'm the guy that,that wants to do a little.
Like, take more peel off, um, with a, witha little bit of the potato so that I can
roast it and I can have snacks rather thanlike the, the perfect peels every time.
(29:01):
You know?
Um, I, I think maybe Ifocus on snacking too much.
Um, but that's okay.
Um,
what,
you know.
Obviously you've got apretty consistent message.
(29:23):
You're, you're out there, you'reout in the world, you know,
you're presenting to people.
Um, I know you've got an onlinecourse and you've got a book.
Um, I guess one, you know, tell me,tell me what your favorite part about
teaching this is.
Vojtech (29:43):
It's, well, you have a group of executive chefs in front.
All of you, most of you're lookingat you like, who the F is this guy?
And why am I here?
Like literally lookingat you like skeptical.
And two hours later theyare like, I love it.
So when you, when you see that, whenyou see that shift in that small,
(30:04):
fairly small amount of time that they gofrom, like, I don't want to be here to
actually like, okay, like this is good.
I can do this.
I mean that, that to me is thefavorite because like most of my
master classes start that way.
With a bunch of chefs, like, I knowexactly what's going on in your head.
You hate me before I come here.
You know, especially when, when,uh, when a domestic class is
(30:27):
organized by their employer.
You know?
So like, they have to be there and theydidn't decide for themselves to be there.
So then they become skepticalof like, okay, like, like, you
know, like blah, blah, blah.
You know, like you see theskeptical looks and then at the end.
They're all like noddingand like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, good.
And then you, then you talk to them likea month later or two months later, and
(30:47):
they are, they are, they started doing it.
They're making changes, they'reimplementing things, you know, so it's
all about, you know, I, I always say themlike, I'm not here to teach you how to
cook, like you know how to cook, right.
I'm here to just give you likea bit of a different perspective
and the possibilities that youcan easily replicate and make
your own in your own kitchen.
Simon (31:07):
I, I love it.
I, it's funny that you mentionedlike employer, um, the employer
says, Hey, you're gonna go do this.
x (31:14):
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Simon (31:15):
Like, if you're an employer, you, you start to realize what the savings are.
Um, I find it crazy that, A, that thattwo, a lot of chefs would, would A, be
skeptical, and b, not want to be there.
'cause like I said, when I, whenI first started finding out about
you, I couldn't get enough man.
Like, I, I think it's amazing.
Vojtech (31:37):
Yeah, well, um, most of my, most of my work is organized through
employers and through the, throughthe managers and, you know, it's not
so much directly the executive chefsor chef deciding for themselves.
Uh, there are a few, but these areinitiatives driven by the corporate
(31:57):
offices and, and stuff, you know, so.
So sometimes there are just selectthe amount of chefs or choose the
chefs and they send them there andthey, they have to do it, you know,
so, and those chefs are thinkingabout all kind of things that they
could be doing instead of being there.
So, yeah.
Simon (32:13):
Yeah.
I mean, I, I guess I, I guess Iunderstand, um, I think the, the parallel
for me is that, uh, I get hired by, byrestaurant owners to help their chefs and.
When I first started this workabout three years ago, I was, I
was talking about leadership andwe were talking about systems.
(32:36):
And what I realized was every timeI would start working with a chef,
everything would go to time management.
We would always go back to the beginning.
And now, uh, recently in the lastfew months, I'm like, okay, now
every time I pick up a client.
I'm just gonna start with thetime management exercises instead
(32:57):
of looping back around and it's,and I get something similar.
It's like, oh, sometimesthey look at me like, why?
Why am I, why am I working with you?
Right.
And, and then they find how, find outhow much time they're wasting and how
much time they spend just talking topeople and, and not really focusing.
(33:19):
And how much more time they have oncethey are actually paying attention.
To it.
And then all of a sudden we, we talkabout delegation and we, you know,
so I, I understand it's like theydon't always want to shift from what
they know or feel is, is their way,
Vojtech (33:38):
the time is the biggest aspect because you talk to any executive chef,
like most of them are running aroundfrom morning to evening, you know, so
anything that requires extra time is abig no before they even know what it is.
So you always have to break down thatvery first objection, which is the time.
So I do the same thing because Iconsistently, the most asked question
(33:59):
is like, I don't have time for this.
How can I do that?
So I don't even get, I incorporatedthis into my content before they
even get to asking questions.
So it's already broken down.
Before we talk about something, think
Simon (34:10):
funny.
Time, time, time, time.
Rules at all, right?
Like.
But I, I, I understand.
I really do understand likewhat you're saying about
pulling back and planning first.
Well, chef, I, I can't thank youenough for coming to join us.
Um.
This, I, I call this my little sandboxin the world where I get to play
(34:33):
and I get to meet people like you.
So, uh, I really appreciate you coming.
I will make sure in the show notes thatwe can find you, um, that they can find
all of your resources, um, and, anda way to bring you into their world.
Um, for all of you out there, thank youso much for listening, uh, and watching.
You can find us, uh, whereveryou consume podcasts and YouTube.
(34:56):
Don't forget YouTube.
Uh, please like, follow, subscribe,uh, and leave us a five star review.
'cause every time I get one,my following gets just a little
bigger and I appreciate it.
So it's all you out therecatch you on the flip side.
Chef.
I'll catch you next time.
Vojtech (35:11):
Thank you so.
You've been listeningto Culinary Mechanic.
This show exists to help you leadwith more clarity, build systems
that actually work and create akitchen culture worth showing up for.
If this episode helped you moveeven one step in that direction, do
me a favor, leave a quick review.
It helps more chefs and operators stop thechaos and start leading with intention.
You're listening toHeritage Radio Network.
I.
From kitchen chaos to well-oiled machines.
Get ready for newfangledtechnology and old school Know-how
(00:21):
stories and a good bit of fun.
I'm Simon, and this iscalled Area Mechanic.
. Simon (00:31):
Joining me today is Vojtech Vegh.
Thank you for taking the time.
Vojtech Vegh.
Welcome to Culinary Mechanic.
Vojtech (00:39):
Thank you for inviting me.
Simon (00:42):
Uh.
I gotta be honest, I found you on,I think LinkedIn a while back, uh,
maybe, maybe a year ago, and just tosee some of the pictures that you post.
Then to go on Instagram and seesome of the other things you post
around, being able to use so manythings really got my brain going so.
(01:02):
Um, at the first moment that Ithought that I could probably
get you to come on, I, I tried.
I feel like you and Iplayed a little dance.
Right.
It's been a few months thatwe've been working on this.
x (01:13):
No problem.
Yeah.
Simon (01:15):
You know, you're busy.
I, I appreciate that.
Um, so tell me, how'd you getinto the restaurant industry?
How'd you get into to working with food,
Vojtech (01:25):
uh, COVID accidents, to be honest.
Um, yeah, I started, I startedmy college as a waiter, which was
again, a completely random choice.
'cause I, I had to choose what I wantto do in my country when I'm like 15.
So, you know, random choicewhere my friends went.
And then I seen people like, oh,like you can also be in the kitchen.
(01:45):
You don't have to bein front of customers.
Let's do that then.
So I.
So I was like, yeah, welllet's be a chef then.
And you know, it took me a fewyears I went for internships and
it's only, only like a few yearslater when I actually felt like,
like, this is not too bad actually.
Like, uh, when I started my internshipsin like five star hotels in like
(02:06):
a bit better kitchen stuff, like Iactually quite like what I'm doing
here, so let's do more of that.
So started traveling, you know, pickingup experience, switching different
places, different restaurants, andI started enjoying what I was doing.
Simon (02:18):
That's awesome.
Um.
So you get going, you start doingit, go through some internships.
I mean, what, like what was the biggestmotivation for going zero, like going
towards a zero waste sort of thing?
Vojtech (02:36):
It was, uh, quite a long journey because I always, I always seen
it, I always seen that waste happeningin that, uh, restaurant industry and
I was quite, uh, conscious of it.
Because I was raised in what Ilike to call like a self-sufficient
household where we greweverything, everything ourselves.
So we naturally used everything.
(02:56):
It was like a natural zero waste kind ofthing without using the word zero waste.
So I always, I was always conscious ofthat was happening, but I didn't really
felt like anything I can do about that.
And then at one point later in my career,I was lucky to work with a head chef
who was hyper-focused on everythingthat typically ends up in a bin.
And he was want, he was wanting touse everything that we normally waste
(03:20):
and not because, well, not for thesake of reducing food waste, but
because he was curious about the newflavors and new textures and that was
like high in fine dining restaurants.
So, and we've been doing like all kindof things and that's where I kind of
talked to myself that like if we cando that at such high level in this
type of restaurant where DERs pay likehundreds of euros for their dinner.
(03:42):
Then surely this must bereplicated somewhere else.
So I decided that if I ever get achance to open my own restaurant,
I would want to have it zero waste.
And that's pretty soonafter that I made it happen.
And that was kind of how itstarted for me in the the world.
Zero waste that yeah, I saw it.
That this is possible.
I want to replicate
Simon (04:01):
that is I, it's absolutely amazing.
Um, I.
I think that maybe going back for me 10,15 years, I started to see some chefs in
the United States that were using, thatwere taking the scraps and they were
slow roasting things to get ashes and,and, and using a lot of things like that.
(04:24):
But I think that as I hear you talk, it's,it's, there's also multiple textures to
be, to be had from some of those scraps.
Um.
It just, yeah, I gotta sayit, it just, it blows my mind.
Um, and I think that as I, as I haveread some of the things that you've
(04:44):
put out, one of the things that reallycaught my attention was it's not just
trying to augment an existing programto, to go and, and use the waste, but
it's more pulling back, almost pullingback the lens and, and really looking.
Looking at the entire, theholistic approach of things.
(05:05):
So I was wondering if you could talk, talkto us a little bit about that, because
it's definitely a different way to think.
Vojtech (05:13):
You know, food waste reduction is not only about food waste reduction.
It's about everything you know?
And if I want to reduce my foodwaste, there are multiple reasons
why I should kind of want that.
A lot of people lead with environmentalreasons and of course that's great
because that's definitely one ofthe things that are important.
But, um, I lead with financial reasonsbecause if there is edible for dinner
(05:37):
bin, there is a lot of money in the bin.
And we are in the restaurantbusiness where we buy food with
the intention to re margin.
And that does not happenif that food is in the bin.
So I want to recover all that.
Lost, lost money from thebin back into my operation.
So there is a, there is a kinda, um, lotto consider and to me it's never only
(06:01):
about the single thing of, Hey, I havefood waste and I don't want to have it.
But it's also about I wantto become more efficient.
I want to do the good, theright thing for the sake of.
Doing the right thing because Ibelieve that E every business, any
activity is an opportunity to do good.
And doing business or servingfood to multiple, like hundreds of
(06:24):
people, thousands of people, is away to amplify your good efforts.
So there are so many reasonsfor me to do that, and I can't
think about why should I not?
I don't consider myself a bigenvironmentalist, but to me this
is all about like becoming moreefficient, having a good business
operations, and of course saving costs.
Simon (06:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So
let's see.
See, so looking at thatrestaurant that you open, right?
Vegan restaurant, zero waste.
I read somewhere, I waslike, there's no trash cans.
Which makes total sense ifyou don't have any waste.
(07:08):
But, and, and my like, absolutebig respect on that one.
But like, what does that require?
Like how,
just 'cause I, it's hard forme to like, wrap my head.
Like I, I'm, so I would just sayI'm a conventional chef, right?
I, I've worked in some prettybig restaurants, um, and there's
(07:30):
a lot of trash going around.
So, ha, tell me about that.
Vojtech (07:34):
It's, it's all about the planning.
Everything is in the planning, so Itook more than two years to plan the
restaurant and operation and everything.
The menu planning has started monthsbefore the restaurant opened, so
you have to calculate with everypotential amount of waste that
could be created in the process.
Not only food waste,but all kinds of waste.
(07:56):
You have to make sure that you havesuppliers and you have waste to get
your ingredient without any packagingor any, any sort of waste around it.
So it's making sure alot of things beforehand.
To make your operation easy afterwards,and that time investment upfront
is well worth it because youroperation will be like super smooth
(08:18):
if, if everything is well planned.
Plan your menu so every single part ofthe ingredient is circled back into use.
If it's not at the same menu, let'sextend the shelf life of the ingredient
by preserving or any other technique.
To be, to use somewhere elsein the future menu, et cetera.
But everything has tofind its place somewhere.
So nothing is distant for the bin there.
(08:41):
Um, there are of course either developparts of ingredients and things that
can't be consumed, like spoilageor plate waste and et cetera, for
which I eventually had to add, uh,small composting been in my garden.
But even that was added only later, likewhen we opened for the first few weeks.
We didn't even have that.
We didn't, we, there was literally no bin.
There was nothing.
Simon (09:03):
Okay, so that leads me to my next question, which is.
I'm a systems guy, right?
Like my, my, my business outsideof this podcast is really focused
on leadership systems and culture.
Right?
And so we're obviously talking aboutall three of those things when we're
talking about, uh, like the sh ashift that could potentially happen.
(09:24):
So what are the systems that,like what are the, yeah, what
are the systems that like brokefirst when you started to do this?
And I, and I get that there's aton of planning, but something
has to break along the way.
Vojtech (09:36):
Um, well, folks definitely were, uh, tracking slowly and most imp The, the
first one was probably that realizationthat you are never gonna get to zero.
There is always going to besomething, something that even no
matter how good you plan, there'ssomething is going to happen.
(09:57):
It's like when, when, no matter howmuch I talk to my delivery guys and
how good relationships I had with them.
Still, all the sudden mydelivery came like it.
It didn't come in plastic bags, butthe things that individually wrapped
in clean film, I'm like, good.
I literally don't have a place to putthat clean film, but also I really need
(10:18):
that ingredient for today's service.
So, uh.
Yeah, there we go.
Now I have a handful of twin filmin the corner of on the table.
Like, yeah, I mean, I figuredout what I'm gonna do with it.
Luckily in Cambodia there werelike good recycling initiatives,
so I had a place to kind of die.
We had that, but it's not idea.
Or like when guests leave, uh,they bring me in plastic bottles
(10:39):
and they leave it on the table.
I'm like, can you maybe like,please take it like this card is
in your hotel or something, becauseI don't have, that's amazing.
Simon (10:52):
Um, yeah, I, I mean, I, I think that that speaks to me
in, in the way that it doesn'tmatter how much you plan, right?
Other people will, all otherpeople won't, aren't always
thinking the way you're thinking.
Um, you know, I, I, I come into that with,you know, ru running kitchens and, and.
(11:16):
Some days, it doesn't matterhow much you plan life.
Mm-hmm.
Life flips you upside down andyou wonder what just happened.
Yeah.
Vojtech (11:24):
Um, yeah.
The kind of a mistake I made thereis that, well, maybe not a mistake,
but I had this naive from thevery beginning that I want to have
zero, the absolute company zero.
Like it has to be zero no matter what.
So I was like, likeextremely like dogmatic.
Opening time around that, I waslike not willing to accept any
(11:45):
sort of waste from anywhere.
And that of course was like slowlydriving me crazy because it, I was
gonna say, yeah, it's just impossible.
Like in the current, you, you,you're not going to have zero.
You are always going to havesomething, no matter how little
there's gotta be something, right?
So, uh, yeah, I had to fix my mentalstate as well in that process to accept
(12:06):
that there is always gonna be something.
Simon (12:09):
So I don't know if it is, it's just something that is said here in
the United States, but where I comefrom, like, you know, in the kitchens
I've worked for, we call that shootingfor the moon, but getting in orbit,
right?
Like you, you, you aim for the bigthing and then you're happy when you're
(12:29):
just orbiting the, the earth, you know?
You
Vojtech (12:33):
know, uh, I was, uh.
I can give you like a cr the, so youcan like imagine the level of craziness
that I was into bat and I kind oflike fixed my mindset since then.
It taught me a lot of things inthe process, but I, I would be
working like 20 to 23 hours a day.
(12:53):
So that's not a good start already.
And, uh, and some, there were, therewere nights when like, you know, when
you buy like new appliance or somethingand you have the styrofoam in a package.
So I read that you can like meltdown the styrofoam in acetone and
like form it into like new shape.
So I would be sitting at like midnighton the floor in my dining room, melting
(13:15):
down ace, melting down the tyro acetone.
Like briefing in all that toxic fumes.
And I was like, I don't know whatI'm going to do with this, but I, I
have to do like something, you know?
So like, these are the type of thingsthat I was doing like at the beginning.
Like, let me say that I haveevolved since then that I'm
(13:36):
not doing this kind of thing.
So anyway, I understand thatalways gonna be something.
So my focus is not on the perfectionanymore, like on the zero zero.
Simon (13:44):
It's, it's the progress, right?
It's,
Vojtech (13:45):
it's just, it's all about the progress.
Yeah.
Let's pause for a second.
If you're serious about building a kitchenthat leads from the top runs on systems
and actually feels good to work in, makesure you're following culinary mechanic.
This show is all about helping youlead better, scale smarter, and
stop white knuckling your business.
(14:06):
And if you're ready to dig in deeper,you'll find a link in the show
notes to connect with me directly.
Simon (14:11):
I think that kind of leads me to my next question, which is
how, how has it changed, right?
Like, how for you going for zero wasteaccepting a certain amount that there's
going to be, like, how, how do youfeel like you approach it differently
now than maybe when you first started?
I.
Vojtech (14:31):
Very differently because right now, to me it's all about
creating a positive impact.
It does not have to create a perfectimpact, but a positive one and a progress
is more important than the perfection.
So it's always about doing as much asyou can with what you have rather than
driving yourself crazy in the process.
(14:51):
Because when I realized that, okay, likethis is something that like this has a lot
of replicable element that I could liketell or teach other chefs of how to do
that in their place, I knew that like I'mnot going to succeed with telling everyone
like, Hey, you have to go complete zerowaste, otherwise it's not worth it.
You know, like, that's not going to work.
So I took like a lot of bits ofwhat I learned and tried to apply
(15:15):
it in other kitchens with otherchefs and see what works, what
doesn't, and I read it very quickly.
I learned that.
If I will be pushing to do likeeverything at the same time
that it's not going to work.
It's never going to work.
So I have to like break itdown into small step at a time.
Sure, we are not doing zero waste, but ifwe are reduce food waste by 50% and that's
(15:37):
a major achievement, like that's a lotof waste reduced, you know, so I, I lose,
I, I'm no longer like attached to thatidea of zero and having to be zero waste.
I still use the term because itcommunicates, what is it about?
But I, it's no more aboutthe having to do zero.
Simon (15:58):
Well, I congratulate you on on.
Understanding the understandingwhere you're crazy is right.
Uh, there, there's, there's value in that.
I think.
I think as chefs, we,we all go through that.
I, on some levels, I know thatI, you talk about 20 hour days.
(16:18):
23 hour day.
I, I know that, um.
I went through a phasewhere I was just aiming.
Um, there was a pretty, pretty heavyrecession in this country in 2008 and I
was determined to keep my restaurant, youknow, making money, not losing money, and
(16:40):
I. There were days where, where my friendsand my family thought I was just crazy.
But you, you get a mindset and you goand it is just, it just is what it is.
And I, and I appreciate, Iappreciate your crazy chef.
How's that?
Vojtech (16:55):
Yeah, right.
I was, I was completely like logged in.
I was logged into that wholething at the same time.
I was 26 at the time.
So, uh, there has been a lot of, uh,learning in front of me that I wasn't
aware at that very moment, but I'mextremely grateful I did that at the
time because I have so many takeaways.
I learned so much so early on thatI know what workforce doesn't, so
(17:18):
I can, you know, go from there.
Simon (17:20):
We talked about how it changed.
All right.
Let's just say we have a chefthat you're talking to that
is intrigued but skeptical.
What would you say would be the,like, what's the, what would be
the starting point for a chef?
How, how would you, howwould you recommend getting
(17:41):
started on, on this journey?
Vojtech (17:44):
Very easy, because almost every chef I speak to, or I have in my master
class is skeptical at the beginning.
So, uh, half of my time, I'm justbreaking down objects and misconceptions
from chefs, uh, which is the firststep in the world thing because
it's all about the mindset as I, um,always say, you know, like food waste
always comes down to the mindset.
The first thing I always say is thatit is a lot easier than it sounds
(18:08):
at the beginning, and I have a proofof that from all the other chefs
that I've worked with in the past.
And also is thatunfortunately debt has been.
This kind of a wrong perception of foodwaste reduction created in the industry.
Um, and I, I don't blame the chefs for it.
It's simply the communication and the wayit was presented in the industry that this
(18:32):
is what food waste reduction looks like.
So many chefs are focused on the factthat, hey, I have this byproduct here now
I will have to recycle it, upcycle it.
I really don't have time for this andI dunno what I'm gonna do with it.
So I'm never gonna start with that.
And there is this constant idea thatwe have to recycle things on the go and
just like do new things from byproduct,et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
(18:56):
And that's not how it works.
Um, because the recycling does not work.
So I always say that this is what weare doing is not food waste production,
but it's food waste prevention.
That makes a major difference becausereduction means that you look at
problems once you already have them,and then you try to solve them.
(19:18):
But prevention takes you a stepback in the process and you
focus on your potential problemsbefore they are even created.
That means in our world that you go backto the menu development process and you
look at the potential amount of byproductsbefore they are on your shopping,
before they are on your prep table.
Because once they're on your pep tableand the chopping board too late to
(19:41):
think about that, forget about that.
It's waste already.
If especially the, the,there are two parts to that.
One part why it's bad is because it isalways going to take you extra time if
you gotta reduce food based on the go.
And the worst part about that is, isthat if you upcycle a product on the
go, as you go, you don't even knowhow you are going to use that product.
(20:02):
Right.
So it's hard to monetize it, hard tosell it, and there isn't a real reason
why you should even make that product.
So there is no financialreturn on what you're doing.
So you always have to plan first.
Think about what are the potentialbyproducts I'm going to have?
How can I eliminate those?
Focus on one, one or two things ata time, and start there and do that.
(20:23):
And then replicate, replicate, replicate,
Simon (20:26):
huh?
I, I like it.
Um.
So one of the things that I, that Ifind fascinating about all of this is,
is that you, your restaurant is vegan.
And I think that for me, like Ithink about, I think about animals,
whether they be, you know, pigs or,or cows or chickens or whatever,
(20:48):
and very much like there's a whole.
There's a whole ethos aroundutilizing, you know, they, people
talk about, uh, snout to tail, right?
So you're using as much ofthat animal as possible.
I think that it's inter, it's alwaysinteresting to me when I hear people
talk about reducing waste, preventingwaste, and they're not, they're,
(21:13):
they're, they're talking aboutvegetables and they're talking about
how hard it is because I think that.
What you just described is, is kindof snout the tail on a zucchini,
I dunno, a cor jett, right?
It is, it is, it is really like, uh,having the, the mindset of going of,
well, when you fabricate a piece ofmeat, you know what you're aiming
(21:34):
for and, and then you know whatportion size it should be, right?
Mm-hmm.
And so I, that, I guess that makes senseto me to like, like I say, like I said
earlier, kind of zooming out and then.
Re almost tacking from that angle.
Vojtech (21:50):
So, you know, like the applicability of the zero
waste and everything, mindset,cooking, it's perfectly applicable
to all types of cooking.
There is no limitation animalproduction or not, right?
I focus on, well, I talkabout mostly, uh, plants.
F first reason is becausemajority of the food waste is
from fruit and we in kitchens.
(22:11):
So meat and fish does not create, by farthe amount of byproducts and waste that
fruit and weg creates in professionalkitchens because somehow we are always
more conscious about, like, we knowthat the price of that meat is a lot
higher than the price of a cucumber.
So we are naturally more consciousabout the amount of waste that we
are creating, even though there areexceptions, uh, seeing crazy things,
(22:35):
but it, it tends not to be thehighest amount of waste in kitchen.
So if, uh, I, I still do that aswell, you know, like I'm vegan.
I don't want to say I'm vegan.
I'm vegan diet wise.
I eat vegan food.
For health reasons and restaurantwas vegan completely accidentally.
(22:56):
It was never meant to be vegan.
Uh, it was meant, you gottatell me more about that.
You gotta tell me more about that.
Yeah, when I was opening the restaurant,like I was, like, I was dogmatic
and I was dogmatic about everything.
So I could only say local andorganic quality food no matter what.
It was local, organic,and that was in Cambodia.
So, uh, vegetables was not abig problem, but there was not a
(23:19):
single animal product that would beorganic and local at the same time.
I could get organic from Australiaor I could get local non-organic.
The only thing I found was chicken egg.
And I'm like, so I'm not gonna be hererunning a restaurant with chicken egg
being the only animal product in my menu.
That's, I mean, whatever,make it vegan then.
So I'm like, okay.
Like there goes a challenge, like Imade like a tenco tasting menu, which is
(23:42):
gonna be plant-based and you at the sametime, only local and organic products.
So, I mean, yeah, I did it,it was, uh, it was crazy.
But it, the vegan is,it wasn't international.
I wasn't vegan at the time.
You know, and I'm, I'm, I stilllike, don't consider myself
to be like hardcore vegan.
I have too many allergies, whichessentially makes me a vegan.
(24:03):
Um, but in my work, you know, it doesn'tmatter whether I focus on much type
foods or animals, it doesn't matter.
I approach those things in the same way.
So as much as you can use food wasteon your watermelon, you can also
reduce food base if you have a ball,lamb, or a heartbeat or a fish.
Right.
Anything else?
Simon (24:19):
Right?
Ah, I love it.
Um.
What would you say are the,
I guess I wanna, I guess we shouldprobably go back to some of the skepticism
just a little bit and say like, whatare the, like what are your favorite
myths or obstacles to kind of dismantleas you're, as you're teaching this?
Vojtech (24:44):
Yeah.
The first one is wedon't have time for this.
That's always consistentlythe first thing.
There is no time for me to do that.
You don't need time for to do thatbecause you are not going to be
expanding your Nissan Plus list.
You are not going to beadding things on your menu.
You are going to replacing things onyour menu and Nissan Plus list so that
like for forget about what you arewasting today and tomorrow, right?
(25:08):
You are not going to properly reducethat because you would have to, unless
you, you can, you have a menu or anevent where you can like do a change,
make menu changes all a minute.
Because it always comesdown to making change.
Because if you, the, your only way to,uh, recover financial or to make financial
(25:30):
savings on food waste is that thatbyproduct or whatever waste that you have
has to be circled back into operation.
It has to end up on your menu in someway, in some form, because if it's not
being sold with the margin, there'sno point making it, then I'm not
interested in making like fancy coolseasoning powders, which are nothing.
Anyway, you know, like you'renot gonna save money on that.
(25:52):
It's, it's nice thing to have, butyou're not gonna save money on that.
Um, so it's always about, think about yourmenu first if you want to get started,
if you want to see that in your kitchen.
Think about when you're next, updatingyour menu, writing a new menu,
creating new dishes of any kind.
Think about the potential amount ofbyproducts and reduce it at that point.
(26:13):
So if I put mashed potatoes in my menu,I know I'm going to have potato peel.
That is the time I want to think aboutas potato peels and what are I gonna do
with them, because if I don't any laterpoint, it's too late to think about that.
So this is, and in, in that way, itdoesn't take away any time from your
chefs because you are not going to bedoing more things than you did before,
(26:35):
like running or operating a zero wastemenu compared to, uh, any regular menu,
whatever we call it, a wait for menu.
It's, it's not take, it's notgoing to take more time in the end.
The prep time is going to be the same.
The only difference is that you areworking with different parts of products.
So instead of me, um, buying potatoesand making mashed potatoes and then
(27:01):
making, um, buying mushrooms and chopmushrooms and making mushroom, I can skip
the mushrooms, use those potato peels,roast them, season them, flavor them,
throw them into a, so I'm still makingthe, I'm still doing the same thing.
But instead of chopping themushrooms, mushrooms and cooking
them, I'm using the potato peels.
So the person doesn't change much.
(27:23):
There is no extra time investment needed.
But this is all about the mindset.
You know, like the mindset is the biggestthing that has to shift because we
just don't see it because the messagingis always about recycling, right?
Try to Google any foodbased food for restaurants.
Uh, make breadcrumbs, uh, dailysoup with your vegetables and
(27:44):
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Anything that's completelyimpractical in any commercial
kitchen, it's like just not happening.
And this is the belief thatwe have logged in, that this
is what reduction looks like.
Simon (27:56):
You're making me remember the days when my, my chef would come to me with a,
with a, with a tub of vegetables and go,here, make soup for today, and go, and
you'd, you'd look at it and go, okay, but.
Like, how are we gonna make all, like, I,maybe I can use a third of this, right?
Because so many things, like I, you,you can't put too many broccoli stems in
(28:18):
a soup and, and expect it to work witheverything else, or you can't, or, or
my favorite is the Green Bell peppers.
Like they don't always play right?
So, uh, yeah, I just.
I just have, I have like flashbacksto, to my chefs saying, oh, we
have, we got, we have to save money.
And it's like, okay, well,soup is not the place.
(28:38):
Mm-hmm.
So I feel you.
x (28:40):
Yeah.
Simon (28:40):
Um, but I love the idea of, of, you know, I love the,
I love potato peels, right?
Like, I'm, I'm the guy that,that wants to do a little.
Like, take more peel off, um, with a, witha little bit of the potato so that I can
roast it and I can have snacks rather thanlike the, the perfect peels every time.
(29:01):
You know?
Um, I, I think maybe Ifocus on snacking too much.
Um, but that's okay.
Um,
what,
you know.
Obviously you've got apretty consistent message.
(29:23):
You're, you're out there, you'reout in the world, you know,
you're presenting to people.
Um, I know you've got an onlinecourse and you've got a book.
Um, I guess one, you know, tell me,tell me what your favorite part about
teaching this is.
Vojtech (29:43):
It's, well, you have a group of executive chefs in front.
All of you, most of you're lookingat you like, who the F is this guy?
And why am I here?
Like literally lookingat you like skeptical.
And two hours later theyare like, I love it.
So when you, when you see that, whenyou see that shift in that small,
(30:04):
fairly small amount of time that they gofrom, like, I don't want to be here to
actually like, okay, like this is good.
I can do this.
I mean that, that to me is thefavorite because like most of my
master classes start that way.
With a bunch of chefs, like, I knowexactly what's going on in your head.
You hate me before I come here.
You know, especially when, when,uh, when a domestic class is
(30:27):
organized by their employer.
You know?
So like, they have to be there and theydidn't decide for themselves to be there.
So then they become skepticalof like, okay, like, like, you
know, like blah, blah, blah.
You know, like you see theskeptical looks and then at the end.
They're all like noddingand like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, good.
And then you, then you talk to them likea month later or two months later, and
(30:47):
they are, they are, they started doing it.
They're making changes, they'reimplementing things, you know, so it's
all about, you know, I, I always say themlike, I'm not here to teach you how to
cook, like you know how to cook, right.
I'm here to just give you likea bit of a different perspective
and the possibilities that youcan easily replicate and make
your own in your own kitchen.
Simon (31:07):
I, I love it.
I, it's funny that you mentionedlike employer, um, the employer
says, Hey, you're gonna go do this.
x (31:14):
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Simon (31:15):
Like, if you're an employer, you, you start to realize what the savings are.
Um, I find it crazy that, A, that thattwo, a lot of chefs would, would A, be
skeptical, and b, not want to be there.
'cause like I said, when I, whenI first started finding out about
you, I couldn't get enough man.
Like, I, I think it's amazing.
Vojtech (31:37):
Yeah, well, um, most of my, most of my work is organized through
employers and through the, throughthe managers and, you know, it's not
so much directly the executive chefsor chef deciding for themselves.
Uh, there are a few, but these areinitiatives driven by the corporate
(31:57):
offices and, and stuff, you know, so.
So sometimes there are just selectthe amount of chefs or choose the
chefs and they send them there andthey, they have to do it, you know,
so, and those chefs are thinkingabout all kind of things that they
could be doing instead of being there.
So, yeah.
Simon (32:13):
Yeah.
I mean, I, I guess I, I guess Iunderstand, um, I think the, the parallel
for me is that, uh, I get hired by, byrestaurant owners to help their chefs and.
When I first started this workabout three years ago, I was, I
was talking about leadership andwe were talking about systems.
(32:36):
And what I realized was every timeI would start working with a chef,
everything would go to time management.
We would always go back to the beginning.
And now, uh, recently in the lastfew months, I'm like, okay, now
every time I pick up a client.
I'm just gonna start with thetime management exercises instead
(32:57):
of looping back around and it's,and I get something similar.
It's like, oh, sometimesthey look at me like, why?
Why am I, why am I working with you?
Right.
And, and then they find how, find outhow much time they're wasting and how
much time they spend just talking topeople and, and not really focusing.
(33:19):
And how much more time they have oncethey are actually paying attention.
To it.
And then all of a sudden we, we talkabout delegation and we, you know,
so I, I understand it's like theydon't always want to shift from what
they know or feel is, is their way,
Vojtech (33:38):
the time is the biggest aspect because you talk to any executive chef,
like most of them are running aroundfrom morning to evening, you know, so
anything that requires extra time is abig no before they even know what it is.
So you always have to break down thatvery first objection, which is the time.
So I do the same thing because Iconsistently, the most asked question
(33:59):
is like, I don't have time for this.
How can I do that?
So I don't even get, I incorporatedthis into my content before they
even get to asking questions.
So it's already broken down.
Before we talk about something, think
Simon (34:10):
funny.
Time, time, time, time.
Rules at all, right?
Like.
But I, I, I understand.
I really do understand likewhat you're saying about
pulling back and planning first.
Well, chef, I, I can't thank youenough for coming to join us.
Um.
This, I, I call this my little sandboxin the world where I get to play
(34:33):
and I get to meet people like you.
So, uh, I really appreciate you coming.
I will make sure in the show notes thatwe can find you, um, that they can find
all of your resources, um, and, anda way to bring you into their world.
Um, for all of you out there, thank youso much for listening, uh, and watching.
You can find us, uh, whereveryou consume podcasts and YouTube.
(34:56):
Don't forget YouTube.
Uh, please like, follow, subscribe,uh, and leave us a five star review.
'cause every time I get one,my following gets just a little
bigger and I appreciate it.
So it's all you out therecatch you on the flip side.
Chef.
I'll catch you next time.
Vojtech (35:11):
Thank you so.
You've been listeningto Culinary Mechanic.
This show exists to help you leadwith more clarity, build systems
that actually work and create akitchen culture worth showing up for.
If this episode helped you moveeven one step in that direction, do
me a favor, leave a quick review.
It helps more chefs and operators stop thechaos and start leading with intention.
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