I used to make my living by creating and producing menu selections for profit in the restaurant and catering industries, a career field that has been accurately depicted in various accounts over the years, from Ferdinand Point to Anthony Bourdain.  In this past work life, one of the aspects of the day-to-day existence that I found myself obsessed with was the researching, testing, analyzing, massaging, tasting, and recording of “The Recipe”.

Think of it as a road map, assuming that most of you remember using one of these, and when an accurate road map is followed correctly, it will aid you in your effort to arrive at a desired destination.  ”The Recipe” is the road map set forth and carved out by the kitchen’s leadership for the staff members in need of consistent direction in their efforts to achieve culinary success.  Business ownership can use “The Recipe” as a forecasting tool for assessing the direction of the operation’s food and labor cost.  Selling food for a profit is a lot of things, but easy it is not, and the one thing that profitable food service operations have is a well executed catalog of recipes.  What came first, the chicken or the recipe?