June 16, 2022 • 30 mins
Joanne Irizarry is a chef in the industry that knows what it is like to deal with mental health issue, substance abuse and suicide. She spoke with us about what it's like in the restaurant industry and why she started "A Safe Place Inside Your Head" to help people who are looking for an online community for mental health support.
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Episode Transcript
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Nan Wilkinson (00:08):
Welcome to restaurant radio, a podcast that
focuses on topics that affectinfluence and matter to those of
us in the hospitality andrestaurant industry. I'm your
host, Nan Wilkinson.
Hi, everybody. Welcome back torestaurant radio. My special
guest today is Joanne Irizarry.
And Joanne is a 40 plus yearindustry veteran after finishing
(00:31):
a culinary art with an CulinaryArts Degree. Not only is she a
restaurant veteran, but she alsois a advocate for mental health
in our industry and outside ofour industry. And she has
created an online platformcalled a safe place inside your
head, which is on Instagram, Ibelieve. And also tick tock Is
(00:53):
that correct? Join. We're onInstagram, Facebook and tick
tock. There you go. So thank youso much for taking time to be on
the podcast today. I appreciateit. Sure. Sure. I'm very
excited. Well, thank you. I'mexcited to so i want to ask a
couple of questions. Obviously,you're in the restaurant
industry. And that's that's kindof my focus. But I know that
(01:13):
what you've got going is notspecifically for the restaurant
industry. Is that correct? Theysay place inside your head is
it's just encompasses anybodywho has mental health issues,
you know, specifically locally?
I don't I, because we becausewe're on We're an online access
(01:33):
tool, kind of, or community,specifically locally. I have a
lot of friends that are in theindustry that I will, will speak
with and talk to and helplocally, but not specific to the
restaurant industry. That'scorrect. Right, right. I've just
found you know, I've done a lotof research, and you know, our
(01:55):
industry is struggling, all theindustries are trying to find
help. And I think our industryhas struggled more than the
other ones. the quit rate,according to the labor Bureau
and statistics is double what itis in other industries. And you
know, I've been doing this, youknow, 40 plus years. And
I just feel like our industry isso hard hit with people who are
(02:17):
dealing with all sorts ofissues, whether it's substance
abuse, or some type of mentalhealth, it's an extremely
stressful situation that peopleare in, in this industry. It
just feels like this is an issuethat is starting to come to
light and that people arestarting to address and talk
about do you feel that's thecase?
Joanne Irizarry (02:37):
Oh, absolutely.
I have seen such a major change.
So a little bit of background.
Also, I'm a recovering alcoholicfor for nine years. So it's a
lot to do with me, I got out ofthe industry for a little while
because I needed to manage mystress without alcohol. And it
was too available to me workingin the industry. So I left for a
little while. And then I cameback like with a vengeance. So
(02:59):
because then I realized, oh, youknow, if I can do this, I can
help other people who are in thesame position as me that feel
like they can't cope. And I canprovide them with tools or be a
support system for them. So andyes, we're having a horrible
time, not attracting talent, Idon't know. So I also traveled
back and forth. I'm in Houstonevery other weekend, I have some
(03:21):
a lot of really good friends anda lot of Chef people that I know
in Houston. So I'm travelingback and forth there. And so I
always ask the question to them.
Are y'all experiencing the samething that we're having in
Austin? And for the record? Yes,they are. It's everywhere. It's
not just, you know, and I don'tknow if if money fixes the
(03:42):
situation?
Nan Wilkinson (03:42):
I think no, I would say absolutely. It needs
to be part of it. But it's onlythe tip of the iceberg, I
Joanne Irizarry (03:49):
think exactly like it people. And this is not
just in, in food service ingeneral. I work with a I'm an
accountant for a lot, a clientthat has a lot of different
kinds of business and we'reseeing overall people just want
to be valued for the work thatthey do. And they want you know,
like we have a lot of differentlove languages. And you know,
(04:11):
like part of it is to hear thethe the somebody say to you,
you're doing a great job. Welove what you're doing. Yeah,
it's hard. It's hard, harder. Ibelieve in the restaurant
industry. Just being in itbecause the physical part is so
unnerving. Like, you're like,you're constantly on unit. When
you get to work. There's no likedowntime. You don't get to like
(04:34):
look at your phone. You don'treally get to do anything like
that, like you are on you're onstage from minute one the minute
you get there, so you're judgedby like pretty much everything
that you do, right? People areconstantly watching you. So it
is it's it's hard, emotionallyto like manage that for a long
period of time and money doesn'tfix it, you know, like better,
(04:56):
more time off maybe or like someYeah, I mean, I don't want to
sound like, I'm gonna just gonnasay it like more time off for
sure, ya know, like a lotshorter work schedules is, is a
big thing, like people can't dothat. They can't do that for 10
hours, like your body cannotphysically handle it. And your
brain can't we shut off after Ithink what I've heard is like,
(05:19):
maybe seven hours or so is ourbody and our brain kind of shuts
down. And we're no longerproductive. And so people to be
no longer productive. Like, whatif we hire, it's hard, because
we can't hire more peoplebecause we can't get them into
the fold, right? You hire morepeople, but we bring in things
like, you know, we're gonna, Ihave a client that does this,
and not every restaurant canafford to do this. But there's
(05:41):
there there are, some are,there's a way you figure it out,
because this restaurant hasn'tgone under, because they did it.
But they give mental health daysoff to their employee. So you
know, one day, one day a month,but literally, if you're having
in crisis mode, and you can't,you know, like, you can even
plan this day ahead of time,like, I want the third Thursday
(06:01):
of every month, I'm gonna have amental health day. And it's your
it's paid, it's a paid day, youdon't have to worry about like,
I'm going to miss a day of workand I can't pay my bills or
whatever. Right. And thosethings like we saw, like the the
morale of the people turnaround. Because first of all,
you're you're saying I valueyou, I value your mental health,
(06:26):
that so much that I am willingto pay you to take care of that.
Nan Wilkinson (06:30):
That's, yeah, absolutely doing and I agree.
You know, there are somebusinesses and some restaurant
groups that are actually doingthat. And there, there was one
that I saw on the news, and Ican't remember the name of it,
but they actually hired someoneto come in and do like some
group talks with people and todo some mental health sessions.
(06:52):
They actually hired their ownperson, kind of like an HR
person, but they're the mentalhealth person. So I mean,
there's definitely I thinkpeople are taking a look at
that. And it like you said, it'snot just it helps, but it shows
value. And I I thinkwholeheartedly that this
industry. First of all, the PEpart kind of needed to be
tweaked a little bit anyway. ButI think that people expect to be
(07:17):
paid a fair wage period likethat shouldn't even try to sort
of be up for an argument. Likeyou should get a fair wage. And
finally, that's starting tohappen. And I think the
restaurant owners are arethinking that oh, yeah, I'm
paying people more, I'm gonnaget more people. Well, that's
not the end all. Again, the paypart, people should get a fair
wage, without arguments. And sonow we've got to look at really,
(07:39):
I think what the main issuesare, and again, it's the stress,
and it's the lack of respect.
And it's like you said that youcan't go you know what, I'm just
gonna not gonna make these sixmeals tonight. I'm just I'm beat
I'm just gonna wait and do ittomorrow. You got to do it. Like
it's it doesn't wait, it doesn'tsit on a desk, and wait for
tomorrow, everything has tohappen. And if somebody doesn't
show up to work, somebody else'sgot to pick up the site, because
(07:59):
our industry stuff doesn't. Itdoesn't wait. It's in the it's
in the moment kind of stuff. Andlike you said, you're always on.
One of the things that I wantedto try to do, because I felt
like right now more than ever,the mental health, like
everybody can use some mentalhealth support, because as you
had mentioned earlier, life'sbeen stressful. And I think the
(08:20):
mental health and having supportis so critical. And I've worked
on that for for health throughhealth connects. And so we've
figured out a way throughTelaDoc for employers to sign
their employees up. And for only$9 a month, they can get all the
mental health support. They likethrough Tella doc, as well as
(08:40):
some other health care support.
And so I think it's criticalright now more than ever,
people, everybody can use somesupport.
Joanne Irizarry (08:52):
And like we said earlier, it's not about the
money, but having the moneyfinally become an important
talking point that people I see.
There's, I'm not going to namethem because I don't want to.
Well, I mean, I guess I could,could I name it a restaurant in
town? Okay, so there's birdiesin town. I am a big proponent of
those chefs. In general. They'regreat, wonderful people, their
(09:13):
food is amazing. And when I satdown to talk to them, because I
always will, you know, be in achef myself, I always say, Hey,
I'm a chef, or you know, like,or they might already know me,
they might already follow me onsocial media. It's just a lot.
And they are they'll know who Iam or though, whatever. So the
conversation comes up. And whenI had that first conversation
birdies had just opened in, andI was talking to the chef owner,
(09:37):
who's he's a sommelier. So hegot a lot of time to spend with
me. And we were talking aboutlike, I was like, your people
look so happy. Like this is abit of a nice business model.
It's it doesn't it's not likethere's no servers there. So
that's kind of cool. And youjust, you don't they don't take
reservations. So you have towait, you know, like you just
(09:57):
they open it for For 30, youjust go stand in line and they
have somebody that comes out andbrings you drinks and you know,
they have like a covered patioplace for you to stand and you
can look at the menu. And, andthey only have like 10, or maybe
10 things on their menu. And andand so you go up and you ordered
right there, you order as muchas you want little as much. But
then you also get this littlething that you take to your
(10:18):
table. And if you want to ordermore food, there is somebody who
comes and brings you out yourfood, that you're welcome to
order more food with them,right. So it's a little
different from the like a normalexperience where you know,
you're sitting down, you'rewaiting for the server blahdy
blah, it just doesn't work likethat. There seems like
ridiculously happy and I waswatching the line, because I sat
at that. I sat at the like closeto the past. And I was watching
(10:40):
the line. And I was like eventhe line is like, I'm used to
seeing chaos on the line. Like,their head down. And they're
like moving fast. And you cantell like the energy is really
high and hot. People were notthese people were like the most
chill ever line that I've everseen. And but they were putting
(11:03):
out beautiful things likebeautiful things. And so I asked
them, like, how does this work?
And they're like, Well, younotice we have some empty tables
in the restaurant? Yeah, well,it's because we don't overburden
our staff. So we only let peoplein that we can handle at one
time, you know, we only haveseven people on staff right now
today. So we'll only let in? Anddoes that does it make our sales
(11:26):
suffer? Yeah, probably. Butwhat's more important is the
people are taking care of likethe customer, right? Getting a
good experience, this the personwho works there is getting a
good experience. And therestaurant might not be making
buku millions of dollars,because we were not stuffing
this place full of people. Andyou know, like running over
ourselves trying to feed them,we're managing it so that it's
(11:49):
comfortable for everybodyinvolved.
Nan Wilkinson (11:51):
That's, that's amazing. And, you know, I think
that that is, in my opinion,what these restaurant owners
need to do that. I feel like,you know, they look at the
menus, and they look at thecost, and they look at the decor
and they look at all these otherthings. And it's important, and
how they're figuring out theirbusiness, but the employee piece
(12:11):
of it is neglected. And I thinkif they start looking at it,
from the employee perspective,they will have a more successful
business and everybody will beless stressed. Maybe I've maybe
they'll make a little lessmoney. But I don't know, I just
think in the end, they'll havedone it better off period.
Exactly. I mean, if you justsay, Okay, that's a prime
(12:32):
example of how to how to goabout looking at how you can do
it. So I don't overburden mystaff. So I bring lesson or what
about looking at your menu andfinding, finding ways to either
cut back the menu, so it's lessstressful on those in the
kitchen or finding some ways tofind some products or put out
some food that's easier to putout. You know what I mean? So
like, everything's not sostressful, stressful, and some
(12:55):
things are easier. I mean, justlooking at it from the
perspective of the employee, andhow you can have happier
employees, have your guests haveyour owners. I mean, in the end,
I think it's just going to makeit better for everybody. But
it's, it takes work.
Joanne Irizarry (13:10):
The other thing they did parties also is they
have 100% Share on everything.
So everybody makes the samewage, if you want. Yes, it and
they they're they're doing itand they're doing it fine. It
doesn't matter who if you're thedishwasher, the line cook, if
you're the runner, it doesn'tmatter. And they're averaging.
And can I say this out loudthere? And because I'll say it
(13:32):
because she told me, they'vealso done interviews about this.
They're averaging anywhere from25 to $35 an hour for their
employees.
Nan Wilkinson (13:40):
Okay, so I'm gonna have to reach out to them,
but that is amazing.
Joanne Irizarry (13:44):
I would I would reach out to them and then they
also they also do I think itcould be for an app so I'm not
gonna I'm not gonna 100% quoteon this, but they do. Like I'd
only an eight hour workdayperiod, and then you get
vacation time, and then you getsick time. And then they also
they also I think they only havea 40 hour workweek you don't
work more than 40 hours. Ifthat's crazy.
Nan Wilkinson (14:07):
Well, I'm definitely gonna reach out to
them. But I'm glad you broughtthat to my attention. I think
that I think these all thesethings are so important. And I
think that's how we're going tokeep from losing some of the
people that we have. And again,like have people turn around and
go Yeah, that's an industry Iwant to go work. And I think we
also need to look at beingbetter mentors of those of us in
(14:27):
the industry and mentoring oneanother. I feel like that's kind
of gotten lost in of course,when I started four years ago,
there weren't anywhere near thenumber of restaurants there are
now and and we just needexponentially more, more people.
But let me ask you this back tothe alcohol thing for a second
because this is not the firstconversation I've had with
(14:48):
people who are recovering. Andin the industry. It's tough
because most restaurants servealcohol. How? What would you say
to somebody who's in theindustry are concerned and about
being in the industry and havingissues with alcohol and
recovering, and how would yourecommend they handle that.
Joanne Irizarry (15:10):
So if they're already in recovery, they
probably have some good tools,because they probably have been
to some kind of recovery throughsome kind of recovery process
for people because I counsel alot of people, that's what part
of this being an alcohol is thedisease is that you help other
people. And, you know, like,we're not professionals, medical
professionals, I don't think youhave to be to, to help a friend
(15:32):
who's struggling with anaddiction, just like you like
you, right? You can be anotherperson. And and I'm very, I'm
not the typical, like a person.
My path was different. It tookme a while I was in grief over
my son suicide. So there's thatpart of it. And then the biggest
part that I would say to anybodyis, if you're not ready, don't
(15:54):
even try, right. Like, if youhaven't woken up that day, and
said that said, I am over this,I want to, you know, I want to
be this to end I want this tostop. Because there is if you're
if you're a true, I believethis, if you're a true addict,
there's no middle ground on whatyou can do what you can't do,
like you just, you just can'tlike I've understood that. And,
(16:16):
and for me, it's fine. Like,because I did wake up that day.
And after, you know, 30 years ofalcohol abuse, I did wake up and
a family history of, of alcoholin general, I woke up and said,
This is it, I can't do thisanymore. And and I stayed away
from it for a while. Because Ijust needed I needed some space
(16:37):
between me and seeing alcohol ona daily basis. Then I opened a
restaurant and I had to tastealcohol for my for my menu,
because we had it on the menuand I just spit it and I was
fine. Like it didn't it didnothing. I didn't get triggered
or anything. Like I'm veryinterested in that. Because it
doesn't happen to everybodyelse. But I would say that what
(16:59):
I'm seeing a trend in because Ihave a lot of people who reach
out to me that say, Hey, I'mready, I'm ready to stop. And
they're like, but I don't wannago to meetings. And I'm like,
but you don't have to go tomeetings like you want hang out
with me, like find yourself somepeople who are like you who
don't want to drink becausethere's there's people, there's
plenty, right? I'm even hearingpeople who are interested when I
(17:21):
say, hey, I want to open up asober bar, would you be like,
would you go? I hear like 100%people say, I would absolutely
do that. So sobriety isbecoming, it's becoming more
popular, per se. And people arereally embracing it and trying
it and, and are being successfulin the restaurant industry or
service industry in general. Soit can be done. Done, but it's
(17:45):
in you like it does. Likethere's, there's 100% The only
person who can stop you fromyour addiction or manage your
addiction is you nobody else noamount of meetings, no amount of
anything else. It's it's an it'sa new, right. But part of that
is like surrounding yourselfwith people that, like you
(18:06):
admire that you that you sayHey, I like what you have.
Because that's what people sayto me. I really like what you
have, like had that happen.
Yeah, then tell my story. Andthen I say you can have a two
you know, like you want, I canhelp you I can you can watch me
just watch me or, you know, ifyou need me, I'm here. 100%. But
we have to find more mentors,more people who are willing to
(18:28):
to be those people to help thosepeople. Yeah, you just said
something sparked my interestreally, like when you said,
instead of an HR person, theyactually have like a mental
health. Professional addictionthat's just sparked this is like
offline, but it sparked myinterest because I'm, I'm
getting certified to be a lifecoach. And I was trying to
(18:49):
figure out like, what could bemy like, what can be my groove?
And you just you just inspiredme to speak that I could reach
out once this is done torestaurant owners. Oh, yeah.
And, and service, Pete, but likepeople that are in the service
industry groups, say hey, I'mwilling to come out and talk to
your people, I'm willing to helpthem like, at Marty been doing
this for a long time. And I canbe a mentor. I can be the
(19:12):
liaison between your staff andyou to get things where people
are or are happy when they cometo work every single day. And it
didn't require for them to, youknow, like be on drugs or
alcohol.
Nan Wilkinson (19:24):
Right. I mean, that's, yeah, that I mean,
that's definitely I think a nicething for sure. So thanks for
inviting me. Yeah, there you go.
You're onto something there. Sotell me just a little bit more
about a safe place inside yourhead.
Joanne Irizarry (19:38):
So it's a mental health community that was
started four years ago andhonored my son who did pass away
from suicide. He was and he wasin the service industry. He was
in the food service industry hiswhole life. And he was an
alcoholic and he wasunfortunately, he was on some
pretty serious drugs, includingoxycontin because he He had been
(20:00):
hit by a car. Oh my goodness.
And so he had a lot of nervedamage. And he was on a lot of
medications, which he absolutelyhated that life. And he had
been, he had been in recoveryfor a year from alcohol before
he died, but in his honor, onhis birthday, we created a safe
(20:21):
place inside your head as aprivate group on Facebook to
give people a place to actually,you know, commiserate about it,
like mental health issues,because my other son who has
bipolar disorder, and he has amild case of schizophrenia, he
would get on line and he wouldsay, Mom, I just, I can't find
(20:41):
like, My friends make fun of mewhen I say I'm having a bad day,
or I'm depressed or whatever.
And he's like, I just feel likethere's no safe place. And he's
in places inside my head. And Isaid, Well, why don't we
Nan Wilkinson (20:54):
create a group?
That's, that's incredible. And
Joanne Irizarry (20:59):
that's what we did, we created. And then it
went gangbusters. And duringCOVID, especially, it was really
tough. Right now we're onInstagram, we're at about the
770,000 mark, for followers, andthen on, say, on, maybe on our
private group, online, I thinkwe have like 10,000 followers,
but that one is a little bitmore. Because there's a lot of
(21:21):
people who, there's a lot ofbanter on there, because people
are actually sharing stories,and they're helping each other
like, like really helping eachother out, right, it's a little
different. To get people to bepart of that than it is to our
Instagram page. You know, like,if you're in look up mental
health, you're gonna find us asone of the probably one of the
top things, although our, ourthing has kind of gone down a
little bit. But but so we wecreated an honor of him just to
(21:44):
have a place where we could talkabout mental health issues, and
be transparent and bevulnerable, as a family to help
other people understand thatthey're not the only ones that
are going through that at all.
Like there's the mice, mice, welost one. But as a family, we
came together to help otherpeople so that we don't lose
more.
Nan Wilkinson (22:03):
Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, you, you,
you'll have been through somuch. And for you to do this and
be a mentor and to help so manypeople join and I'm impressed.
Good for you. That's, you know,it's very, it's very inspiring.
And so I'm impressed. You know,it does seem like mental health
(22:24):
is becoming a more importantfocus in everybody's life. And I
don't know, if you're aware,there's a there's a bunch of
groups, and they're not a lot ofMart here in the United States.
But specifically for therestaurant industry, there's a I
think it's called on what'scalled mental health for the
restaurant industry orhospitality can remember,
there's one called the burntchef project, I don't know if
you've come across that. Butthere's there are beginning to
(22:47):
be lots of support out there.
And I think this is fantastic.
I'm trying to put the stuff onmy website on help connect so
that people can find it easier.
There's a couple other things,you know, we were we were
talking earlier about, you know,how to how to help one another.
And I believe this is out ofAustralia, there's a website
called, are you okay? And it'sactually gives you ways to go on
(23:09):
and ask other people, it helpskind of mentor you a little bit
and helping to ask other peoplethat you might be concerned
about if they're okay. It'sreally cool website. And there's
just becoming more and more waysto support one another. And I
don't know, I'm just I'm reallyhappy to see these changes
coming because it's, it's a longtime coming and it's definitely
(23:32):
a need. So
Joanne Irizarry (23:36):
and and I really appreciate that you are
spotlighting it because it'sreally important in, in any
industry but in in the serviceindustry. It is it is just like
the things that we discussedearlier. You know, like, man,
it's burned and turn on thesepeople. And they're, you know,
they're the people who are whostay and are hard on it. Love
it. We love it. That's
Nan Wilkinson (23:56):
why we do it.
That's right. I
Joanne Irizarry (23:58):
love seeing people's faces. We love creating
food, we love community. Youknow, we love food in general,
we love each other. We love theidea of crafting this stuff, you
know, like we're very passionateabout what we do. And yeah, it
can be really overwhelming,especially long hours of it. And
I hate to see people burnt outbecause we you know, like we we
(24:20):
need great restaurants, we needgood chefs, we need happy
servers, you know, we need greatplaces for people to eat. Like
it's that's you know, that'slike the
Nan Wilkinson (24:31):
the primal it's like primal. I mean, it's like
the food and feeding and eatingis in sharing food is just a
it's like a primal thing. Imean, it's everybody's gotta eat
and so
Joanne Irizarry (24:43):
and what this is the thing also is once you're
in the industry, it's reallyhard because if you're if you're
passionate about it and you loveit like you say you do, then
it's really hard for you to getaway from it because you're it's
become so ingrained it becomesyour lifestyle like you know,
like I'm I I don't actively Ihave a food truck and a food
(25:03):
truck right now that runs. And Ihave a chef that runs the food
truck. And I'm an investor. AndI also have a barbecue concept
that's going to open at the endof the year, that I'm not going
to be active, I'll be active inrecipe creation. And that's
about it. So I don't actively,like work in the my restaurants.
But I'm like, It's all I thinkabout, you know, I'm a mental
(25:24):
health advocate. But in the inthe end, at the end of the day,
I'm a chef. Yeah. That's reallylike when people say, what do
you do? I say, that's the wordthat comes out of my mouth.
First is
Nan Wilkinson (25:37):
I love it. I love it. I totally agree it is kind
of that joke in the industry islike, Oh, well, once you're in
you never, you never get out.
But I do think that now's thetime for restaurant owners to
look at their staff and see howthey can be more supportive and
find what those needs are. And Ifeel like so often, in the
restaurant industry, it's sodifferent from working in a bank
(25:58):
or wherever else, and a lot ofaspects. But one of the ones is
it feels like that culture thatwe've created, that sort of
kitchen culture of being tough,and, you know, getting it done.
And that thrill of being on theline when the tickets are coming
in, has weighed us down. And wewe haven't treated one another
(26:21):
like, like other people do whenthey're working in jobs, like,
you know, whether it's the waywe talk to one another, or the
pressures and just feels likethat culture can be that kitchen
culture can be kind ofrestaurant culture can be kind
of toxic from time to time. AndI really feel like that's
changing. And I do think thatthat will also help the mental
(26:43):
health, people's mental healthif we just, you know, like, like
you're saying with birdies, justfiguring out how to make it. So
it's not so stressful for anyonebecause it can be fun, but can
also be extremely stressful.
Joanne Irizarry (26:59):
Yes, I so totally agree, if we just keep
this in mind is to be human. AndI say humankind, like human
karma kind, just, like how doyou want to be treated? That
says that? It's the freakingolden rule, like, you know,
and, and now more than ever, wereally need to do that with each
other.
Nan Wilkinson (27:17):
No, I agree wholeheartedly. And I think to
myself, I want to say to some ofthese restaurant owners, or even
managers or whatever, it's like,would you want to work for you?
Would you want to work at yourbusiness? I mean, seriously,
like that? I think you need tolook at it like that. I mean,
when I had a restaurant, I usedto tell my employees walk go out
(27:38):
front walk, like you're comingin? How does it look? Are the
windows clean as a floor clean?
Is it is it looks spiffy, it'sjust a place that you would want
to come and eat? And, you know,again, like the food and how
it's presented, like, you've gotto think about it from your
perspective of what if you'recoming in as a customer, and I
think that the business ownersneed to look out and go, Is this
a place that I would want towork? You know, whether whether
(28:00):
you're a chef, or just abusiness owner means that a
place that you would be happy towork? And I think that that's, I
think they should look at thatlike that. But anyway, all
right. What do you think ourindustry can do better to keep
and attract new talent?
Joanne Irizarry (28:22):
The do better part is going to be? First it's
going to be paying a fair wage,it's going to absolutely have to
be that the 215 an hour justdoesn't work anymore. In any
scenario. You know, I mean, lookat gas prices today. So yeah,
that's gonna have to be apriority. Anybody who's still
operating under that kind ofbusiness model is probably going
(28:44):
to continue to not have success,regardless of like, how many
tips or people make or whatever.
The other part is, if we don't,if we don't take care of people
mentally, figuring out a way,how does that work? We've talked
about a few things on this callalready that that have that
could start in the rightdirection. And then, first of
all, it comes from the top. Soin this as owners, chef's
(29:09):
restaurant owners, whatever itis, we have to set the example.
And if we're not thereourselves, we cannot expect our
people to be. So that's one ofthe most important things is for
you to be a good, a good leader,a good role model, a good mentor
to the people who work with you.
Nan Wilkinson (29:34):
I couldn't agree more. I think that we do need to
be better mentors. And I thinkthat even if you're a restaurant
owner, and maybe you're notthere all the time, that you
define what that culture isgoing to be in your restaurant
and not just for the customersbut for the employees and to
make sure your managers knowwhat that is. And carry that
(29:57):
out. And hopefully it's aculture of support Written
camaraderie and making greatexperiences for everybody.
Exactly. Joanne, I'm, again I'mso inspired by you and continued
success with all the differentthings that you're doing and I
just appreciate you being on thepodcast so much today.
Joanne Irizarry (30:16):
I appreciate you reaching out to me anything
anytime, anything you need me todo to help you just let me know.
Nan Wilkinson (30:22):
You bet I appreciate you. Okay. Thanks
everyone for listening and staytuned for the next episode.
Welcome to restaurant radio, a podcast that
focuses on topics that affectinfluence and matter to those of
us in the hospitality andrestaurant industry. I'm your
host, Nan Wilkinson.
Hi, everybody. Welcome back torestaurant radio. My special
guest today is Joanne Irizarry.
And Joanne is a 40 plus yearindustry veteran after finishing
(00:31):
a culinary art with an CulinaryArts Degree. Not only is she a
restaurant veteran, but she alsois a advocate for mental health
in our industry and outside ofour industry. And she has
created an online platformcalled a safe place inside your
head, which is on Instagram, Ibelieve. And also tick tock Is
(00:53):
that correct? Join. We're onInstagram, Facebook and tick
tock. There you go. So thank youso much for taking time to be on
the podcast today. I appreciateit. Sure. Sure. I'm very
excited. Well, thank you. I'mexcited to so i want to ask a
couple of questions. Obviously,you're in the restaurant
industry. And that's that's kindof my focus. But I know that
(01:13):
what you've got going is notspecifically for the restaurant
industry. Is that correct? Theysay place inside your head is
it's just encompasses anybodywho has mental health issues,
you know, specifically locally?
I don't I, because we becausewe're on We're an online access
(01:33):
tool, kind of, or community,specifically locally. I have a
lot of friends that are in theindustry that I will, will speak
with and talk to and helplocally, but not specific to the
restaurant industry. That'scorrect. Right, right. I've just
found you know, I've done a lotof research, and you know, our
(01:55):
industry is struggling, all theindustries are trying to find
help. And I think our industryhas struggled more than the
other ones. the quit rate,according to the labor Bureau
and statistics is double what itis in other industries. And you
know, I've been doing this, youknow, 40 plus years. And
I just feel like our industry isso hard hit with people who are
(02:17):
dealing with all sorts ofissues, whether it's substance
abuse, or some type of mentalhealth, it's an extremely
stressful situation that peopleare in, in this industry. It
just feels like this is an issuethat is starting to come to
light and that people arestarting to address and talk
about do you feel that's thecase?
Joanne Irizarry (02:37):
Oh, absolutely.
I have seen such a major change.
So a little bit of background.
Also, I'm a recovering alcoholicfor for nine years. So it's a
lot to do with me, I got out ofthe industry for a little while
because I needed to manage mystress without alcohol. And it
was too available to me workingin the industry. So I left for a
little while. And then I cameback like with a vengeance. So
(02:59):
because then I realized, oh, youknow, if I can do this, I can
help other people who are in thesame position as me that feel
like they can't cope. And I canprovide them with tools or be a
support system for them. So andyes, we're having a horrible
time, not attracting talent, Idon't know. So I also traveled
back and forth. I'm in Houstonevery other weekend, I have some
(03:21):
a lot of really good friends anda lot of Chef people that I know
in Houston. So I'm travelingback and forth there. And so I
always ask the question to them.
Are y'all experiencing the samething that we're having in
Austin? And for the record? Yes,they are. It's everywhere. It's
not just, you know, and I don'tknow if if money fixes the
(03:42):
situation?
Nan Wilkinson (03:42):
I think no, I would say absolutely. It needs
to be part of it. But it's onlythe tip of the iceberg, I
Joanne Irizarry (03:49):
think exactly like it people. And this is not
just in, in food service ingeneral. I work with a I'm an
accountant for a lot, a clientthat has a lot of different
kinds of business and we'reseeing overall people just want
to be valued for the work thatthey do. And they want you know,
like we have a lot of differentlove languages. And you know,
(04:11):
like part of it is to hear thethe the somebody say to you,
you're doing a great job. Welove what you're doing. Yeah,
it's hard. It's hard, harder. Ibelieve in the restaurant
industry. Just being in itbecause the physical part is so
unnerving. Like, you're like,you're constantly on unit. When
you get to work. There's no likedowntime. You don't get to like
(04:34):
look at your phone. You don'treally get to do anything like
that, like you are on you're onstage from minute one the minute
you get there, so you're judgedby like pretty much everything
that you do, right? People areconstantly watching you. So it
is it's it's hard, emotionallyto like manage that for a long
period of time and money doesn'tfix it, you know, like better,
(04:56):
more time off maybe or like someYeah, I mean, I don't want to
sound like, I'm gonna just gonnasay it like more time off for
sure, ya know, like a lotshorter work schedules is, is a
big thing, like people can't dothat. They can't do that for 10
hours, like your body cannotphysically handle it. And your
brain can't we shut off after Ithink what I've heard is like,
(05:19):
maybe seven hours or so is ourbody and our brain kind of shuts
down. And we're no longerproductive. And so people to be
no longer productive. Like, whatif we hire, it's hard, because
we can't hire more peoplebecause we can't get them into
the fold, right? You hire morepeople, but we bring in things
like, you know, we're gonna, Ihave a client that does this,
and not every restaurant canafford to do this. But there's
(05:41):
there there are, some are,there's a way you figure it out,
because this restaurant hasn'tgone under, because they did it.
But they give mental health daysoff to their employee. So you
know, one day, one day a month,but literally, if you're having
in crisis mode, and you can't,you know, like, you can even
plan this day ahead of time,like, I want the third Thursday
(06:01):
of every month, I'm gonna have amental health day. And it's your
it's paid, it's a paid day, youdon't have to worry about like,
I'm going to miss a day of workand I can't pay my bills or
whatever. Right. And thosethings like we saw, like the the
morale of the people turnaround. Because first of all,
you're you're saying I valueyou, I value your mental health,
(06:26):
that so much that I am willingto pay you to take care of that.
Nan Wilkinson (06:30):
That's, yeah, absolutely doing and I agree.
You know, there are somebusinesses and some restaurant
groups that are actually doingthat. And there, there was one
that I saw on the news, and Ican't remember the name of it,
but they actually hired someoneto come in and do like some
group talks with people and todo some mental health sessions.
(06:52):
They actually hired their ownperson, kind of like an HR
person, but they're the mentalhealth person. So I mean,
there's definitely I thinkpeople are taking a look at
that. And it like you said, it'snot just it helps, but it shows
value. And I I thinkwholeheartedly that this
industry. First of all, the PEpart kind of needed to be
tweaked a little bit anyway. ButI think that people expect to be
(07:17):
paid a fair wage period likethat shouldn't even try to sort
of be up for an argument. Likeyou should get a fair wage. And
finally, that's starting tohappen. And I think the
restaurant owners are arethinking that oh, yeah, I'm
paying people more, I'm gonnaget more people. Well, that's
not the end all. Again, the paypart, people should get a fair
wage, without arguments. And sonow we've got to look at really,
(07:39):
I think what the main issuesare, and again, it's the stress,
and it's the lack of respect.
And it's like you said that youcan't go you know what, I'm just
gonna not gonna make these sixmeals tonight. I'm just I'm beat
I'm just gonna wait and do ittomorrow. You got to do it. Like
it's it doesn't wait, it doesn'tsit on a desk, and wait for
tomorrow, everything has tohappen. And if somebody doesn't
show up to work, somebody else'sgot to pick up the site, because
(07:59):
our industry stuff doesn't. Itdoesn't wait. It's in the it's
in the moment kind of stuff. Andlike you said, you're always on.
One of the things that I wantedto try to do, because I felt
like right now more than ever,the mental health, like
everybody can use some mentalhealth support, because as you
had mentioned earlier, life'sbeen stressful. And I think the
(08:20):
mental health and having supportis so critical. And I've worked
on that for for health throughhealth connects. And so we've
figured out a way throughTelaDoc for employers to sign
their employees up. And for only$9 a month, they can get all the
mental health support. They likethrough Tella doc, as well as
(08:40):
some other health care support.
And so I think it's criticalright now more than ever,
people, everybody can use somesupport.
Joanne Irizarry (08:52):
And like we said earlier, it's not about the
money, but having the moneyfinally become an important
talking point that people I see.
There's, I'm not going to namethem because I don't want to.
Well, I mean, I guess I could,could I name it a restaurant in
town? Okay, so there's birdiesin town. I am a big proponent of
those chefs. In general. They'regreat, wonderful people, their
(09:13):
food is amazing. And when I satdown to talk to them, because I
always will, you know, be in achef myself, I always say, Hey,
I'm a chef, or you know, like,or they might already know me,
they might already follow me onsocial media. It's just a lot.
And they are they'll know who Iam or though, whatever. So the
conversation comes up. And whenI had that first conversation
birdies had just opened in, andI was talking to the chef owner,
(09:37):
who's he's a sommelier. So hegot a lot of time to spend with
me. And we were talking aboutlike, I was like, your people
look so happy. Like this is abit of a nice business model.
It's it doesn't it's not likethere's no servers there. So
that's kind of cool. And youjust, you don't they don't take
reservations. So you have towait, you know, like you just
(09:57):
they open it for For 30, youjust go stand in line and they
have somebody that comes out andbrings you drinks and you know,
they have like a covered patioplace for you to stand and you
can look at the menu. And, andthey only have like 10, or maybe
10 things on their menu. And andand so you go up and you ordered
right there, you order as muchas you want little as much. But
then you also get this littlething that you take to your
(10:18):
table. And if you want to ordermore food, there is somebody who
comes and brings you out yourfood, that you're welcome to
order more food with them,right. So it's a little
different from the like a normalexperience where you know,
you're sitting down, you'rewaiting for the server blahdy
blah, it just doesn't work likethat. There seems like
ridiculously happy and I waswatching the line, because I sat
at that. I sat at the like closeto the past. And I was watching
(10:40):
the line. And I was like eventhe line is like, I'm used to
seeing chaos on the line. Like,their head down. And they're
like moving fast. And you cantell like the energy is really
high and hot. People were notthese people were like the most
chill ever line that I've everseen. And but they were putting
(11:03):
out beautiful things likebeautiful things. And so I asked
them, like, how does this work?
And they're like, Well, younotice we have some empty tables
in the restaurant? Yeah, well,it's because we don't overburden
our staff. So we only let peoplein that we can handle at one
time, you know, we only haveseven people on staff right now
today. So we'll only let in? Anddoes that does it make our sales
(11:26):
suffer? Yeah, probably. Butwhat's more important is the
people are taking care of likethe customer, right? Getting a
good experience, this the personwho works there is getting a
good experience. And therestaurant might not be making
buku millions of dollars,because we were not stuffing
this place full of people. Andyou know, like running over
ourselves trying to feed them,we're managing it so that it's
(11:49):
comfortable for everybodyinvolved.
Nan Wilkinson (11:51):
That's, that's amazing. And, you know, I think
that that is, in my opinion,what these restaurant owners
need to do that. I feel like,you know, they look at the
menus, and they look at thecost, and they look at the decor
and they look at all these otherthings. And it's important, and
how they're figuring out theirbusiness, but the employee piece
(12:11):
of it is neglected. And I thinkif they start looking at it,
from the employee perspective,they will have a more successful
business and everybody will beless stressed. Maybe I've maybe
they'll make a little lessmoney. But I don't know, I just
think in the end, they'll havedone it better off period.
Exactly. I mean, if you justsay, Okay, that's a prime
(12:32):
example of how to how to goabout looking at how you can do
it. So I don't overburden mystaff. So I bring lesson or what
about looking at your menu andfinding, finding ways to either
cut back the menu, so it's lessstressful on those in the
kitchen or finding some ways tofind some products or put out
some food that's easier to putout. You know what I mean? So
like, everything's not sostressful, stressful, and some
(12:55):
things are easier. I mean, justlooking at it from the
perspective of the employee, andhow you can have happier
employees, have your guests haveyour owners. I mean, in the end,
I think it's just going to makeit better for everybody. But
it's, it takes work.
Joanne Irizarry (13:10):
The other thing they did parties also is they
have 100% Share on everything.
So everybody makes the samewage, if you want. Yes, it and
they they're they're doing itand they're doing it fine. It
doesn't matter who if you're thedishwasher, the line cook, if
you're the runner, it doesn'tmatter. And they're averaging.
And can I say this out loudthere? And because I'll say it
(13:32):
because she told me, they'vealso done interviews about this.
They're averaging anywhere from25 to $35 an hour for their
employees.
Nan Wilkinson (13:40):
Okay, so I'm gonna have to reach out to them,
but that is amazing.
Joanne Irizarry (13:44):
I would I would reach out to them and then they
also they also do I think itcould be for an app so I'm not
gonna I'm not gonna 100% quoteon this, but they do. Like I'd
only an eight hour workdayperiod, and then you get
vacation time, and then you getsick time. And then they also
they also I think they only havea 40 hour workweek you don't
work more than 40 hours. Ifthat's crazy.
Nan Wilkinson (14:07):
Well, I'm definitely gonna reach out to
them. But I'm glad you broughtthat to my attention. I think
that I think these all thesethings are so important. And I
think that's how we're going tokeep from losing some of the
people that we have. And again,like have people turn around and
go Yeah, that's an industry Iwant to go work. And I think we
also need to look at beingbetter mentors of those of us in
(14:27):
the industry and mentoring oneanother. I feel like that's kind
of gotten lost in of course,when I started four years ago,
there weren't anywhere near thenumber of restaurants there are
now and and we just needexponentially more, more people.
But let me ask you this back tothe alcohol thing for a second
because this is not the firstconversation I've had with
(14:48):
people who are recovering. Andin the industry. It's tough
because most restaurants servealcohol. How? What would you say
to somebody who's in theindustry are concerned and about
being in the industry and havingissues with alcohol and
recovering, and how would yourecommend they handle that.
Joanne Irizarry (15:10):
So if they're already in recovery, they
probably have some good tools,because they probably have been
to some kind of recovery throughsome kind of recovery process
for people because I counsel alot of people, that's what part
of this being an alcohol is thedisease is that you help other
people. And, you know, like,we're not professionals, medical
professionals, I don't think youhave to be to, to help a friend
(15:32):
who's struggling with anaddiction, just like you like
you, right? You can be anotherperson. And and I'm very, I'm
not the typical, like a person.
My path was different. It tookme a while I was in grief over
my son suicide. So there's thatpart of it. And then the biggest
part that I would say to anybodyis, if you're not ready, don't
(15:54):
even try, right. Like, if youhaven't woken up that day, and
said that said, I am over this,I want to, you know, I want to
be this to end I want this tostop. Because there is if you're
if you're a true, I believethis, if you're a true addict,
there's no middle ground on whatyou can do what you can't do,
like you just, you just can'tlike I've understood that. And,
(16:16):
and for me, it's fine. Like,because I did wake up that day.
And after, you know, 30 years ofalcohol abuse, I did wake up and
a family history of, of alcoholin general, I woke up and said,
This is it, I can't do thisanymore. And and I stayed away
from it for a while. Because Ijust needed I needed some space
(16:37):
between me and seeing alcohol ona daily basis. Then I opened a
restaurant and I had to tastealcohol for my for my menu,
because we had it on the menuand I just spit it and I was
fine. Like it didn't it didnothing. I didn't get triggered
or anything. Like I'm veryinterested in that. Because it
doesn't happen to everybodyelse. But I would say that what
(16:59):
I'm seeing a trend in because Ihave a lot of people who reach
out to me that say, Hey, I'mready, I'm ready to stop. And
they're like, but I don't wannago to meetings. And I'm like,
but you don't have to go tomeetings like you want hang out
with me, like find yourself somepeople who are like you who
don't want to drink becausethere's there's people, there's
plenty, right? I'm even hearingpeople who are interested when I
(17:21):
say, hey, I want to open up asober bar, would you be like,
would you go? I hear like 100%people say, I would absolutely
do that. So sobriety isbecoming, it's becoming more
popular, per se. And people arereally embracing it and trying
it and, and are being successfulin the restaurant industry or
service industry in general. Soit can be done. Done, but it's
(17:45):
in you like it does. Likethere's, there's 100% The only
person who can stop you fromyour addiction or manage your
addiction is you nobody else noamount of meetings, no amount of
anything else. It's it's an it'sa new, right. But part of that
is like surrounding yourselfwith people that, like you
(18:06):
admire that you that you sayHey, I like what you have.
Because that's what people sayto me. I really like what you
have, like had that happen.
Yeah, then tell my story. Andthen I say you can have a two
you know, like you want, I canhelp you I can you can watch me
just watch me or, you know, ifyou need me, I'm here. 100%. But
we have to find more mentors,more people who are willing to
(18:28):
to be those people to help thosepeople. Yeah, you just said
something sparked my interestreally, like when you said,
instead of an HR person, theyactually have like a mental
health. Professional addictionthat's just sparked this is like
offline, but it sparked myinterest because I'm, I'm
getting certified to be a lifecoach. And I was trying to
(18:49):
figure out like, what could bemy like, what can be my groove?
And you just you just inspiredme to speak that I could reach
out once this is done torestaurant owners. Oh, yeah.
And, and service, Pete, but likepeople that are in the service
industry groups, say hey, I'mwilling to come out and talk to
your people, I'm willing to helpthem like, at Marty been doing
this for a long time. And I canbe a mentor. I can be the
(19:12):
liaison between your staff andyou to get things where people
are or are happy when they cometo work every single day. And it
didn't require for them to, youknow, like be on drugs or
alcohol.
Nan Wilkinson (19:24):
Right. I mean, that's, yeah, that I mean,
that's definitely I think a nicething for sure. So thanks for
inviting me. Yeah, there you go.
You're onto something there. Sotell me just a little bit more
about a safe place inside yourhead.
Joanne Irizarry (19:38):
So it's a mental health community that was
started four years ago andhonored my son who did pass away
from suicide. He was and he wasin the service industry. He was
in the food service industry hiswhole life. And he was an
alcoholic and he wasunfortunately, he was on some
pretty serious drugs, includingoxycontin because he He had been
(20:00):
hit by a car. Oh my goodness.
And so he had a lot of nervedamage. And he was on a lot of
medications, which he absolutelyhated that life. And he had
been, he had been in recoveryfor a year from alcohol before
he died, but in his honor, onhis birthday, we created a safe
(20:21):
place inside your head as aprivate group on Facebook to
give people a place to actually,you know, commiserate about it,
like mental health issues,because my other son who has
bipolar disorder, and he has amild case of schizophrenia, he
would get on line and he wouldsay, Mom, I just, I can't find
(20:41):
like, My friends make fun of mewhen I say I'm having a bad day,
or I'm depressed or whatever.
And he's like, I just feel likethere's no safe place. And he's
in places inside my head. And Isaid, Well, why don't we
Nan Wilkinson (20:54):
create a group?
That's, that's incredible. And
Joanne Irizarry (20:59):
that's what we did, we created. And then it
went gangbusters. And duringCOVID, especially, it was really
tough. Right now we're onInstagram, we're at about the
770,000 mark, for followers, andthen on, say, on, maybe on our
private group, online, I thinkwe have like 10,000 followers,
but that one is a little bitmore. Because there's a lot of
(21:21):
people who, there's a lot ofbanter on there, because people
are actually sharing stories,and they're helping each other
like, like really helping eachother out, right, it's a little
different. To get people to bepart of that than it is to our
Instagram page. You know, like,if you're in look up mental
health, you're gonna find us asone of the probably one of the
top things, although our, ourthing has kind of gone down a
little bit. But but so we wecreated an honor of him just to
(21:44):
have a place where we could talkabout mental health issues, and
be transparent and bevulnerable, as a family to help
other people understand thatthey're not the only ones that
are going through that at all.
Like there's the mice, mice, welost one. But as a family, we
came together to help otherpeople so that we don't lose
more.
Nan Wilkinson (22:03):
Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, you, you,
you'll have been through somuch. And for you to do this and
be a mentor and to help so manypeople join and I'm impressed.
Good for you. That's, you know,it's very, it's very inspiring.
And so I'm impressed. You know,it does seem like mental health
(22:24):
is becoming a more importantfocus in everybody's life. And I
don't know, if you're aware,there's a there's a bunch of
groups, and they're not a lot ofMart here in the United States.
But specifically for therestaurant industry, there's a I
think it's called on what'scalled mental health for the
restaurant industry orhospitality can remember,
there's one called the burntchef project, I don't know if
you've come across that. Butthere's there are beginning to
(22:47):
be lots of support out there.
And I think this is fantastic.
I'm trying to put the stuff onmy website on help connect so
that people can find it easier.
There's a couple other things,you know, we were we were
talking earlier about, you know,how to how to help one another.
And I believe this is out ofAustralia, there's a website
called, are you okay? And it'sactually gives you ways to go on
(23:09):
and ask other people, it helpskind of mentor you a little bit
and helping to ask other peoplethat you might be concerned
about if they're okay. It'sreally cool website. And there's
just becoming more and more waysto support one another. And I
don't know, I'm just I'm reallyhappy to see these changes
coming because it's, it's a longtime coming and it's definitely
(23:32):
a need. So
Joanne Irizarry (23:36):
and and I really appreciate that you are
spotlighting it because it'sreally important in, in any
industry but in in the serviceindustry. It is it is just like
the things that we discussedearlier. You know, like, man,
it's burned and turn on thesepeople. And they're, you know,
they're the people who are whostay and are hard on it. Love
it. We love it. That's
Nan Wilkinson (23:56):
why we do it.
That's right. I
Joanne Irizarry (23:58):
love seeing people's faces. We love creating
food, we love community. Youknow, we love food in general,
we love each other. We love theidea of crafting this stuff, you
know, like we're very passionateabout what we do. And yeah, it
can be really overwhelming,especially long hours of it. And
I hate to see people burnt outbecause we you know, like we we
(24:20):
need great restaurants, we needgood chefs, we need happy
servers, you know, we need greatplaces for people to eat. Like
it's that's you know, that'slike the
Nan Wilkinson (24:31):
the primal it's like primal. I mean, it's like
the food and feeding and eatingis in sharing food is just a
it's like a primal thing. Imean, it's everybody's gotta eat
and so
Joanne Irizarry (24:43):
and what this is the thing also is once you're
in the industry, it's reallyhard because if you're if you're
passionate about it and you loveit like you say you do, then
it's really hard for you to getaway from it because you're it's
become so ingrained it becomesyour lifestyle like you know,
like I'm I I don't actively Ihave a food truck and a food
(25:03):
truck right now that runs. And Ihave a chef that runs the food
truck. And I'm an investor. AndI also have a barbecue concept
that's going to open at the endof the year, that I'm not going
to be active, I'll be active inrecipe creation. And that's
about it. So I don't actively,like work in the my restaurants.
But I'm like, It's all I thinkabout, you know, I'm a mental
(25:24):
health advocate. But in the inthe end, at the end of the day,
I'm a chef. Yeah. That's reallylike when people say, what do
you do? I say, that's the wordthat comes out of my mouth.
First is
Nan Wilkinson (25:37):
I love it. I love it. I totally agree it is kind
of that joke in the industry islike, Oh, well, once you're in
you never, you never get out.
But I do think that now's thetime for restaurant owners to
look at their staff and see howthey can be more supportive and
find what those needs are. And Ifeel like so often, in the
restaurant industry, it's sodifferent from working in a bank
(25:58):
or wherever else, and a lot ofaspects. But one of the ones is
it feels like that culture thatwe've created, that sort of
kitchen culture of being tough,and, you know, getting it done.
And that thrill of being on theline when the tickets are coming
in, has weighed us down. And wewe haven't treated one another
(26:21):
like, like other people do whenthey're working in jobs, like,
you know, whether it's the waywe talk to one another, or the
pressures and just feels likethat culture can be that kitchen
culture can be kind ofrestaurant culture can be kind
of toxic from time to time. AndI really feel like that's
changing. And I do think thatthat will also help the mental
(26:43):
health, people's mental healthif we just, you know, like, like
you're saying with birdies, justfiguring out how to make it. So
it's not so stressful for anyonebecause it can be fun, but can
also be extremely stressful.
Joanne Irizarry (26:59):
Yes, I so totally agree, if we just keep
this in mind is to be human. AndI say humankind, like human
karma kind, just, like how doyou want to be treated? That
says that? It's the freakingolden rule, like, you know,
and, and now more than ever, wereally need to do that with each
other.
Nan Wilkinson (27:17):
No, I agree wholeheartedly. And I think to
myself, I want to say to some ofthese restaurant owners, or even
managers or whatever, it's like,would you want to work for you?
Would you want to work at yourbusiness? I mean, seriously,
like that? I think you need tolook at it like that. I mean,
when I had a restaurant, I usedto tell my employees walk go out
(27:38):
front walk, like you're comingin? How does it look? Are the
windows clean as a floor clean?
Is it is it looks spiffy, it'sjust a place that you would want
to come and eat? And, you know,again, like the food and how
it's presented, like, you've gotto think about it from your
perspective of what if you'recoming in as a customer, and I
think that the business ownersneed to look out and go, Is this
a place that I would want towork? You know, whether whether
(28:00):
you're a chef, or just abusiness owner means that a
place that you would be happy towork? And I think that that's, I
think they should look at thatlike that. But anyway, all
right. What do you think ourindustry can do better to keep
and attract new talent?
Joanne Irizarry (28:22):
The do better part is going to be? First it's
going to be paying a fair wage,it's going to absolutely have to
be that the 215 an hour justdoesn't work anymore. In any
scenario. You know, I mean, lookat gas prices today. So yeah,
that's gonna have to be apriority. Anybody who's still
operating under that kind ofbusiness model is probably going
(28:44):
to continue to not have success,regardless of like, how many
tips or people make or whatever.
The other part is, if we don't,if we don't take care of people
mentally, figuring out a way,how does that work? We've talked
about a few things on this callalready that that have that
could start in the rightdirection. And then, first of
all, it comes from the top. Soin this as owners, chef's
(29:09):
restaurant owners, whatever itis, we have to set the example.
And if we're not thereourselves, we cannot expect our
people to be. So that's one ofthe most important things is for
you to be a good, a good leader,a good role model, a good mentor
to the people who work with you.
Nan Wilkinson (29:34):
I couldn't agree more. I think that we do need to
be better mentors. And I thinkthat even if you're a restaurant
owner, and maybe you're notthere all the time, that you
define what that culture isgoing to be in your restaurant
and not just for the customersbut for the employees and to
make sure your managers knowwhat that is. And carry that
(29:57):
out. And hopefully it's aculture of support Written
camaraderie and making greatexperiences for everybody.
Exactly. Joanne, I'm, again I'mso inspired by you and continued
success with all the differentthings that you're doing and I
just appreciate you being on thepodcast so much today.
Joanne Irizarry (30:16):
I appreciate you reaching out to me anything
anytime, anything you need me todo to help you just let me know.
Nan Wilkinson (30:22):
You bet I appreciate you. Okay. Thanks
everyone for listening and staytuned for the next episode.
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