Chef Konstantin Ivlev: "Regional chefs do not have enough steel eggs"

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

On the power of screaming, layoffs and the future of the restaurant business.

Konstantin Ivlev is the chef and founder of the Ivlev Group, which is rebranding and creating new restaurants across the country. But it was not his signature recipes that brought him fame, but the role of the host in the program "On Knives" of the TV channel "Friday": Ivlev travels to provincial cafes, scandals with local staff, breaks plates, and in the end completely changes the concept of the institution. For the tough character and loud voice of the chief, they even nicknamed the Russian Gordon Ramsay.

The life hacker talked to the thunderstorm of regional cuisines and found out what distinguishes a true chef from an amateur, what is the fault of most Russian restaurateurs and what every boss can learn from a chef.

Instead of a good base, novice chefs in Russia get mothballs

You said that until the age of 18 you did not like to cook at all. What is the reason for this?

- I had no craving for cooking. My mom cooks incredibly tasty, so I always loved to eat, but not to cook. The only thing I could do as a teenager was cut off a piece of doctor's sausage or open a can of sprat. From time to time, when I was a bully, my mother would put me in the kitchen and force her to help, but this did not awaken any talents in me.

Nevertheless, you went to study as a cook. Why?

- I did not study well at school, so I could not dream of an institute - only vocational school was waiting for me. In Beskudnikovo, where I grew up, there were three options: medical, car mechanic and cook. Most of all friends were in the latter, so I went there. Besides, my friend and I had a bet on a box of port that I would finish my studies. As a result, he graduated from vocational school with a red diploma as a cook of the fifth grade, although he was a poor student at school. However, I still didn't get any pleasure from studying. I was just amused that the cooking textbook contained the same recipes that my mother used to cook.

“I heard that it was not only the port wine box that influenced me, but also my father’s admonition

- My father influenced my decision very powerfully. I was gouged, I was worn from side to side: I did not understand what I wanted to do. In the late 1980s, the country smelled fried, so everyone went crazy: they stole and sold. I took part in this, but I understood that there was no future for such things. Then Dad said to me:

Gambling is interesting, but if you want to be a cool dude, then do one thing. Go to the cook. Under any government, people will be hungry. If the head is in place, then you will always remain with a piece of bread.

I agreed, and after the army I realized that I really like cooking. In 1993, the restaurant revolution began. Its essence was that women in gauze crowns from public catering sank into oblivion. Cooperative enterprises with foreigners began to open. At the same time, the first cool restaurant "Sadko-Arkada" appeared. I got there to work as an ordinary cook and saw that there are not only cabbage soup and borscht, but also other dishes. Meat, it turns out, can be fresh and roasted in seven different ways, not just to a sole state. I was shaken, and I realized that I like to cook.

You say that it makes no sense to study as a cook in Russia: you won't be able to become a good specialist. Is there anything that you have taken out of the vocational school and are still using in your work?

- I couldn't get a shit out of there. They showed me what Sovdep's cuisine is, and taught me how to chop - that's all. Unfortunately, the educational system related to professional cooking is still based on old textbooks. Instead of a good base, novice chefs in Russia get mothballs. In my opinion, there is not a single institute or college here that could give young people a boost. Only the Soviet pastry school is worthy of respect.

After graduating from college, you did not become a chef immediately. What made it possible to become Konstantin Ivlev, whom we know right now?

- The moment when I got high in "Sadko-Arkada" became the key moment. I realized that the future belongs to the cooking business, and decided to work with triple strength, and it doesn't matter if the boss was looking at me.

In general, it was not easy with the leaders. I'm a courtyard guy, and I didn't like the fact that the chiefs insult and verbally humiliate me. I wondered why they were fighting, and quickly realized that I myself was a moron and I was doing everything under a stick. I am a lazy person, my wedge had to be knocked out with a wedge: plowing stupidly so as not to be lazy and to learn something. And so he did.

Soviet times were pretty tough because people lived in a solid gray mass. I was doing what was interesting to me, and not to someone else. If everyone was in a hurry to leave work quickly, then I stayed. When I finished work in the shop, I asked the chief how to help in another. I didn't subscribe to porn magazines, but culinary ones. In general, he developed as best he could.

If you are a weakling, then everything collapses and turns into dull shit

How is your standard working day today?

- I get up and go in for sports - I swim, and then I go to the office, so that, together with the Ivlev Group team, distribute matters into primary and secondary matters. We are engaged in consulting - we open and rebrand establishments on a remote location. Right now I am going to a meeting, where we will discuss our next steps for a few months ahead for 6 hours. In addition to my classic work, I am also involved in television: I shoot the program "At Daggers" in the regions of Russia.

My days go by in different ways, so it's impossible to single out a standard one. If I get bored, I can sit on the sofa or on the plane to fly to another country on vacation. I do not live like most people, so I can call myself happy.

What does the workplace of Konstantin Ivlev look like?

- It is constantly changing: at one time the kitchen, and at another - the set. I had my own office only once in my life, but now I don't need it: yesterday, for the first time in a year, I arrived at the office and just sat down in the first place I could find. As a rule, I discuss matters in restaurants. We talk about food, so, of course, you want to eat. So why go far?

If we are talking about the kitchen, then I always stand at the distribution - this is the place where receipts hang and dishes are collected to give them to the hall. I take this position with great pleasure and cook with my chefs, charge them with energy and teach them how to do well.

You travel a lot around the country and criticize other people's jobs a lot. What is wrong with most of the restaurateurs in Russia?

- Unfortunately, they do not understand that it is not porcelain toilets for big money, but the kitchen that brings them profit. Even cool restaurateurs make the chefs' workplace small and the hall big. As a result, the restaurant turns into an Armenian mausoleum, while the warehouse and technical premises remain tiny. This is one of the reasons why the chefs cannot cope with the classic restaurant timing and provide quality service to the guest.

What are the provincial chefs missing?

- Regional chefs are short of steel eggs. You need to be the right chef and a real man if you want to take place in the profession. Even in my current status, I have to constantly prove that I am worthy. When starting work on a new project, I always arrange a tasting for partners. This is important to understand what you like and what you don't. This does not jar me in any way, although there is experience and status. I am preparing for others to appreciate it.

Regional chefs often say that Muscovites are awesome, but you can't even imagine how we have earned this position with sweat and blood. In 1996, I made confectionery molds from cans. We argued, swore, quit and got what we wanted. In general, I think that stamina and character are important traits for a chef. If you are a weakling who cannot defend his point of view, then everything collapses and turns into dull shit. The restaurant business in the regions is now exactly like that.

In my programs, I often get bad food or notice that food is not stored properly. Then I ask the chief: “What are you doing? You are a criminal! If you see that the owners are not ready to invest in the establishment and do not want to understand you, then fuck you and get a job as a simple chef in another place. Sometimes you need to take a step back in order to move forward later. But instead, regional chiefs become complicit in the crime. Their eggs turn quail and shriveled. These are no longer men, but male substances.

“I need people as powerful as me. Melancholic people quickly disappear from my kitchen"

For your emotionality and impulsiveness, you are often called the Russian Gordon Ramsay. Do you consider yourself a conflict person?

- I am non-conflicting, but very pedantic in everything that concerns work. I always clearly state my position and am not ashamed of it.

Emotionality and cruelty are inherent in honest people. We have such a people that it can be difficult to convey your idea in a different way.

I have studied a lot and know that the business model that I advocate is successful. If people do not understand this, then I begin to convey information the way it was customary in Russia: with a stick or a carrot. You can say it once, and a person will hear, and sometimes you need to bark once, and then people will shake up.

When was the last time you yelled at the cooks in your own kitchen?

- I think about three weeks ago. The problem is that many people confuse emotions with grief. Emotion is a state of a person who is not indifferent to what is happening. We work for a name, and then it works for us. It's a shame when you achieve great success, and then some asshole comes along and starts to go crazy and ruin your reputation.

The worst thing in this situation is that he himself understands the wrongness of his actions. You ask: "Why did you do this?", And he replies, "I do not know." Then emotions awaken in you, and you raise your voice.

After all, Russian chefs only swear, and foreign ones also throw inventory. The French use plates for these purposes, and the Italians use saucepans. I saw all this, but I only use a heightened emotional tone to explain to a person what is good and what is bad.

At the same time, all of my staff knows an important rule: do not mix work with personal. At the end of the day, we no longer resent each other, because I always explain what I punish and why I scold. My employees know that I am tough but fair, so they have been working with me for years.

Can you really help the cause with a cry?

- Absolutely! When you were a child, your parents probably raised their voices and clapped your butt to make you do what they wanted. The same principles apply at work. And if a person reacts to a cry with tears, I simply do not cooperate with him. I need people as powerful as me. Melancholic people quickly disappear from my kitchen.

What can any boss learn from a chef in terms of management?

- The main thing is to hear and listen to people. And also to inform them that you are the boss, with whom in no case can you argue.

Sometimes employees start punching you and looking at how good a manager you are. In this case, there is only one way out: to convey your rules of the game, and then ask people in accordance with them. If a person does not want to play by your rules, then you apply material punishment or moral destruction.

And despite the harshness, it is important to remember about justice. You can't just scold a person - you need to explain why. Otherwise, he will think that you are a moron who cannot be worked with.

How to organize the work of a large team, when everything is on fire and you need to act as quickly and harmoniously as possible?

- This does not happen to me, because I am always there and resolve such situations with my composure. If something happens in my absence, then assistants work. They need to get the team back on track.

A restaurant is a single organism: sometimes the kitchen is sewn up, and sometimes the hall. When the cooks are running out of time, the waiters start offering gifts and apologize. It should be clear that the staff is not indifferent to this situation. If the waiter says that the cooks are morons, then he should be driven away. Thank God, the guys are going through a tough selection to get into my team, so there are no such characters in it.

Are you as tough in the family?

- Of course not. We are all chameleons. In life, I am a sweetheart - very light.

What must happen for Konstantin from Hell's Kitchen to turn on at home?

- This has never happened. I can't stand problems from work to home and vice versa. This is an important skill that I teach everyone. It is necessary to separate the family and the kitchen.

Your wife is also good at cooking, but you often mention her pancakes unflatteringly. Why don't you finally teach her how to cook them?

- My wife cooks very well, but in any family there is a joke. In our case, these are pancakes, which she does not know how to make at all, but believes that they turn out to be fucking. She does not want to study, and I decided not to overpersuade the person. Anyway, I rarely go home and think that the world is not red with pancakes.

“We are collective farmers, but we want to be Europeans. This is our nation's misfortune"

Judging by your words, in the Soviet Union, lawlessness was going on in the kitchens and cooks were considered almost the last people. Now the attitude towards the profession has changed. But have the chefs themselves changed?

- I am one of ten chefs who have changed their attitude to the profession of a cook for 15 years. We stopped drinking in the kitchen, began to look human, but most importantly, we began to work.

And the cooks seem to have changed, but lately they have returned to their starting point again. In the program "On Knives" we reveal the vices of these morons. I’m so emotional and cursing on the screen because I’m trying to help them, and they don’t want to respect the guest and the product.

Name three basic rules that chefs in your kitchen follow unconditionally

- The first is subordination. Nobody ever argues.

The second is the rules of the game. From the first day, the employee knows what time to have dinner, where to go to pee and why warn that you have gone to smoke.

The third is the stimulation of employees. The guys know that if they do a good job, they will receive a material reward or promotion. If a person has no incentive, nothing good will come of it.

At one time, you yourself were not the most ideal employee. You were once fired from a restaurant for drinking alcohol in your workplace. How did this happen?

- It was a very long time ago - in 1993. I worked in the "Sadko-Arkada" establishment, and my friend and I decided to have a hangover. We were in our 20s, so we couldn't find anything smarter than puffing up vodka and orange juice in the women's locker room. The chief spotted us and immediately fired us. From that moment on, I swore that I would not drink in the workplace, and I still keep a promise to myself.

Do you often fire employees?

- It's very easy for me. I know exactly what I want from people, and I never adjust to them until they adjust to me. If you want to work with me and be cool, then first do what I ask. And if this does not happen, then it is not difficult to fire a person.

I never sawed the branch on which I sit, and I did not try to be nice to everyone. I have a goal - to make the business profitable. I understand that the people who work with me have families and loans, so they need to pay their salaries on time. I think about it every day, so they continue to work with me, despite the fact that I am a tough person. There are employees with whom we have been together for 20 years, although I fired and took them back five times.

What negative moments in the profession should any novice cook be ready for?

- To the fact that you are nobody and no one can call you. Young people who enter the profession take an erratic position. The main thing is to go the way when no one perceives you. This is the most important period for the formation of personality. If you want to be someone, you have to prove from a young age that you are worth something, although still young and stupid.

And how much can an already established chef earn?

- Fifteen years ago I received my last salary - 1 million rubles. Now the chef's earnings depend on the status, skills and stardom. Beginners receive from 60,000 rubles, and some 100,000 or 400,000 rubles. The amount is influenced by the personality and projects, of which there may be several. In this case, the chef receives double salary. In general, there is no ceiling.

All over the world, Japanese cuisine is cooked by the Japanese, while we have the Kirghiz

I want to quote you: “If you have eaten sausages and Doshirak all your life, and then came to a molecular restaurant, you won’t understand shit.” How do you prepare for visiting such places?

- First of all, you need to respect the people who made this food. If you don't like her, then you shouldn't say that this is shit that cannot be eaten. Better just not to go to places like this. It's the same as driving a Zhiguli and then getting the opportunity to drive a Rolls-Royce or being afraid to go to an expensive jewelry store, because you know that the saleswoman will check you with a scanner.

Whichever restaurant you enter, education and respect for people who plant and grow wheat for you and then prepare food should be in your blood. We have cattle on cattle. We are collective farmers, but we want to be Europeans. This is the misfortune of our nation. I don’t know what to do about it. It remains only to put up with what is.

What awaits the restaurant business in Russia in the near future? What concepts do you think to expect?

- I think everything will remain unchanged: Italian, Japanese and modern Russian cuisine. I would like us, like the rest of the world, to have more local stories. There are not enough Indian, Pan-Asian, Chinese restaurants. This is inexpensive but insanely delicious food. True, it should be prepared by professionals.

After all, we have like: all over the world Japanese cuisine is cooked by the Japanese, and here by the Kyrgyz. This is the big trouble in the Russian restaurant business.

Share life hacks that you can apply in your own kitchen right now

- First of all, you must have the correct inventory. People buy one knife, cut everything in a row, and then they are surprised that it turns out not elegantly and beautifully enough. Manicure sets don't just have different tongs. It's the same with knives: there is a sirloin, a swordsman, a saw-knife, and so on.

The second rule is good equipment. You need to have a decent stove, frying pan and blender.

And the last one is inspiration and time. Do not cook on the run: in this state, even the sandwich will not turn out the way you intended it.

You need to understand that food is you. If you love yourself, then be patient, time, and willing. Otherwise, not a damn thing will work.

Life hacking from Konstantin Ivlev

Books

I really like fiction and journalistic literature, in which there is a place for documentary. Now I am reading the work “The Gray Wolf. The Flight of Adolf Hitler , in which it is revealed whether Hitler committed suicide or fled to Argentina. The book was written by two English historians - Gerard Williams and Simon Dunstan.

Films and series

Nothing inspires or motivates me, except for Bond: I love adventure films. Right now I'm watching an interesting historical series "Borgia" about the Pope.