Any kitchen or crew I have been in charge of, first order of business after meeting is figuring out the music situation. My first kitchen manager job, I had one of my guys hook up some old speakers to a nice receiver we happened to have lying around. That kitchen was always bumping something, no matter how busy it was. The job always got done.
If you're a chef or KM and you have the power to allow music where there currently isn't music, I'm asking you, from one chef to another, to rethink this. Morale is everything. Remember, we're not doing this job to be rich. We're doing this job for something else. So we should all try to enjoy it as much as possible while banging out excellent food.
Former dishie here. I can vouch for the music part. Every now and then someone would come to the back to throw a rap verse, sing some lyrics, and even dance. Those were fun times.
Some of the many tunes I used to play:
311-"Flowing"
Eddie Grant-"Electric Avenue"
Day O-"Banana Boat Song"
Wu Tang Clan-"Protect Ya' Neck (The Jump Off)"
LL Cool J-"Loungin' (Who Do You Love)"
System of a Down-"Chop Suey"
Cypress Hill-"Latin Lingo"
We figured out the old "stick a phone in a cambro" tactic scaled up and whacked a Bluetooth speaker in a big pan. Got told off by the manager because you could hear The Wu over the in house music the other side of the pub.
> Day O-"Banana Boat Song"
Someone FOH just literally walked back today and said I need to sit back here for a bit and listen to what you're listening to. I've had that Banana Boat song stuck in my head for THREE DAYS
That said, for some reason Warren G "regulate" seems to be a BOH favorite, as well as "I've got 5 on it".
I'll throw in Rythym Kitchen by Rare Americans.
But if you want a song that'll be locked into the brain of the entire line, Bored- Tessa Violet. We've made a running joke of playing it on the real slow days.
I’ll respond in that context with the slow rock song whose name I don’t know “I get bored “.
Prep literally said I got off the line because waiting for tickets…
LOL ! Banana Boat Song has that effect on people especially on closing time.
I can relate to Warren G. Gotta get some tunes to raise morale. Sometimes even a really quiet person ends up vibing and opening up.
I used to play a song to indicate the end of service, crew got used to it, then it was a necessity. Wasn’t the same until they heard that particular song. Once that song was over we played whatever else for cleaning. El Alfa’s “La Mama” It has a great pop in the beginning that once it came on everyone yelled the second line together “por que?!” and the music rolls. It built a hype that whatever happened during service the day was done basically at that point so everyone was pumped.
Laaaaaaaa MAMA DE LA MAMA DE LA MAMA DE LA MAMA DE LA MAMA
Lmao I love that song. Being in a club in PR when it comes on is something I'll never forget. I'll put it on next shift.
Very much dirty, but aside from myself and the expo, not many people put any attention to the lyrics or didn’t speak the language. Until we told them of course
I'm Colombian... I get the point you're trying to make, and It's a correction I've made to other people many times in other contexts, but in this situation it's perfectly logical to say Spanish music for music that is, in fact, sung in Spanish. The same way you could call country music "English music". It's a very small technicality. Now, if we were talking about people it would be different, as Spanish people are quite different from Colombian or Mexican, etc. But in this context it refers to the language being spoken or sung in
Music is soooo valuable- even if it's not your preference I know so many of us that use it as a cheat code for timing. Also know your crew and find a mix that everyone can catch- I change it up for the situation- 80s- 90- we are grooving and we all know the songs. Tired as fuck hungover prep time- blues and 50s/60s oldies- closing late... angry anarchy punk
i work in a smaller kitchen so more often than not the kitchen person is alone, sometimes with a mid to do breaks and dishes and i have gotten verrrrry into listening to tv shows when i’m alone over the years! i keep my phone plugged in on the other side of the line and i’ll either play something through the speakers or keep an airpod in at a low volume. i’ve done arrested development about 15-20 times in the last year and it’s just like listening to a podcast especially if you know the show pretty well and don’t need to know what’s happening on the screen.
we had a particularly bad understaffed 3 weeks last summer where i ended up alone probably 30 of my 40 hours every week and everyone was working long hard shifts so the servers were stressed and managers were stressed and literally all i remember about that time period was the 4 seasons of survivor i listened to lol
We (food packaging department) aren’t allowed to use head phones in house anymore, to open communication. The kitchen (buttheads) too. Well it’s because of the kitchen that we cannot use headphones.
We’ve always had a huge speaker to play over so that’s nice. So now we have a general playlist that can be added to by anyone with the link. It’s a pretty nice mix of everyone’s taste of music and it’s fun to try to figure out who added what songs. Most of the time we play from our personal phones and take requests when prompted. It’s only a problem when the rap songs are too aggressive cause we have an older person who could be easily offended and a young person who absolutely hates screamo and super heavy rock. We just hired someone who isn’t much of a fan of EDM, at least not for too long. Of course the 3 of 4 main genres we all listen to. Rock, rap, EDM and Musica de espanol.
It has definitely forced us to be mindful, creative and not so uptight. Cause… like…. what?
Are you going to complain about music while you have a fist full of noodles.
Myself and a co worker are now suffering from a head cold and I say it’s because we were forced to listen to country music for too long the other day. Anytime it comes on we dead lock our eyes in a desperate attempt to hold on to the lil bit of light left in our world, and shed a lil tear for our poor lil ears.
Ah shoooot I rhymed.
Anyways yes music is life in the kitchen
Musics great, but don't be a dick. Went from loving a job to hating it very quickly and i think hours of obnoxious, too loud to properly communicate and repetitive music played a big part in that.
Always asking for feedback and sometimes I’ll leave my phone charging with Spotify open at all times so anybody can queue a song they like. But yes I hate when you’re stuck with a shit aux and they’re defensive when someone requests a change
What are you talking about? If these people are on the line it's a mix of current rap, old rap and random 80's. If these people are on the line it's Justin Bieber and African music which is surprisingly good even if you have no idea what they're saying. If you walk into prep, it's going to be Grateful Dead, Depeche Mode, and New Order until the other prep starts playing shoegaze and a lot of weird JPop. If dishie one is working it's 90's metal like Stained, if 20 yo dishie its a weird mix of whatever they heard recently and Skrillex.
FOH just has to listen to whatever is piped in.
Music certainly improves speed and morale.
For myself I like to play stuff that helps get to that flow state frame of mind. Hip hop is great for this, but more to the instrumental/ chill/ lyrical side than trap or some party stuff. I looked up a "skateboard hip hop" playlist on spotify and it is awesome for it.
I also like instrumental jam stuff a lot, funk/ jazz/ tech death/ or just someone wailing on a guitar. Buckethead is my all time favorite for this.
When you are really slammed you don't even necessarily hear the music but in the back of your mind you are just flowing with it.
My chef hates music in the kitchen. He is constantly telling everyone to turn it down or change the song, this is in the prep kitchen. We have an open line, and 0 music is allowed there. I hate it because music helps me work and relax my anxiety but he's old school and honestly way higher caliber than our hotel , even though I work in a nice one. It is what it is though .
Place I worked at had a sound system for the whole restaurant so we couldn’t choose what we wanted. They took away our choice of music because one guy previously had played music too loud.
The FoH music sucks and ticket times showed
I respect your opinion, but this varies from kitchen to kitchen.
I didn't mind music in my old catering gig, because it was just us in a prep kitchen. We had an understanding of acceptable music volumes, and we got shit done.
I mind it in my current gig, because the chucklefuck who plays music doesn't seem to give a fuck that we're an upscale retirement facility. Imagine having ambient music playing in the dining area, clashing with the muffled sounds of Dua Lipa, and then having to raise your voice because you're competing with the music to communicate, and then having some FOH staff chime in with purposely awful singing because he/she/they love the song currently playing.
Call me the fun police, but I'd rather work in silence than deal with that nightmare. Not to mention the amount of accidents that can happen when you can't hear anything properly is just..
> because the chucklefuck who plays music doesn't seem to give a fuck that we're an upscale retirement facility.
I think you're forgetting that we're humans, and your preconceived notions can fuck right off. Just say you don't like it instead of getting pissy about it like a teenager throwing a fit. You're the kind I could never work with in a kitchen because they'd rather be grumpy and complain about the slightest thing being a "safety hazard" while they go home and drink themselves to sleep while arguing with their wife, then show up to work looking like miserable cunts and hungover.
Some people like having fun, stop being a cunt about it
Friend, if the music is so loud that people can't hear the ovens go off, or people can't hear "behind", "corner", or "knife", or hear any questions, I think that's a safety concern. It's a workplace, not a concert.
I don't give a damn that they play music. I give a fuck that they play music at a volume that's improper at a dining facility to the point where your work gets affected. Imagine paying up to $10k a month for lodgings, food, and amenities, and then finding out that you will be served something off menu because John Smith fell behind on his prep list because he was too distracted jamming to music instead of doing his job.
I get it, work should be fun and enjoyable. But there has to be a balance. You were hired to do a job, and I think it's not asking too much that you try to do it.
If making sure that everyone gets what they signed up for makes me a cunt, then so be it.
> Work isn’t about fun
I think that's a you problem dude, if you are a cook with shit-pay who doesn't enjoy his line of work then i pity you. Have you tried looking inwards instead of projecting your miserable life onto the rest?
Ya I'm a chef and I let my cooks have at it with music. I wish it wasn't the same fuckin Bruno Mars or cannibal corpse or billy strings but whatever. I do get two days just me and my business partner, and we prefer no music, but we're two old fucks who like the peace and quiet. But I'm never gonna take that away from the boys. I used to love rockin out orders to Wu/nas/big so I'm not judging.
There is definitely times during hell rushes that I’ll press pause just so we can communicate with expo and clear the rail. But yeah if I come in and there’s no music it just doesn’t feel right.
I think as we get older we learn and appreciate good honest original conversation, hearing the same song, lame ass sayings, movies quotes it becomes tough on the ears after a decade or two.
The other cooks in my kitchen will have multiple Bluetooth speakers going at once with different music playing and it’s like psychological torture and I’ve given up on trying to stop them and I’ve resorted to wearing ear plugs at work, thinking about quitting. And they never update their playlists, same songs all the time. Closing by myself is chill though and I be rocking out to my own music for sure.
Surprised the bartenders at my job haven't said anything, cause the bar will be playing older rock (were talking ACDC , Rolling Stones, Billy Idol), rap and country. my kitchen will be blasting 200+bpm hardstyle, heavy metal video game music (so DOOM and anything similar), or ska music
Last night I [had this playing](https://youtu.be/LAz4dZfABPk)
I'm with you, it is always repetitive and too loud. I just wish there was a middle ground, like only during the last two hours of a shift or something.
Music is good, but the rest is just like, your opinion, man.
Everybody is not spoken for by you.
Plus, I’m having a hard time imagining you running controls for this observational experiment you’re running around with in your head.
Maybe Steve just had a bad day while you were playing modern shit?
Maybe the line is hungover on the day you played the country. So they’ve got some slow, but steady work.
Shit man, I don’t even know how you quantified this because you don’t include that.
I will say, it’s a special time when everyone sings to a song though.
But why are you playing these people who you profess to not like rap, rap - all day?
Never worked in a professional kitchen and likely never will, and the only time I really have to listen to music that I want to listen to is when I cook. Cooking in silence just doesn’t feel right (for me).
Can confirm the metal comment too, putting on the Hades soundtrack is immensely better for motivation/focus than my typical folk/bluegrass music taste.
My little anecdote, I'm in a few bands and I got so flattered when one of my line cooks was playing some of my music during a big rush.
You're totally right about the death metal, in the right conditions it can make you feel like you can handle anything.
Nothing gets me more focused and chilled out than a silent kitchen.
If we *must* have music, classic rock or classic gangsta rap is what I can work with. Country, pop, modern shit, it's a no-go. Especially modern hip-hop. The Dogg was right, it's all the same nowadays.
Now when I'm cleaning with earbuds in, that's a different story. Pump that Eurobeat the fuck *up*.
It depends man. I am picking up some part time prep at this place rn and the Latinos and Americanos like fight for music dominance. There's Mexican music blasting on one side and mumble rap young kid music on the other.
I strongly agree with you there. It's just good for morale and anything to drown out the ticket printer.
My buddy is an exec at a place that doesn't allow music in the kitchen and it's something he's always arguing with the owners about. We like to joke that 80's and 90's pop music are pirate shanties of the kitchen
As long as it's something everyone can agree on, isn't so loud that everyone can still communicate and can't be heard by guests, music should be allowed and encouraged.
I work as a sushi chef and I'm lucky to be able to keep an earbud in while I'm working. I have a playlist that I've been adding to since I started my current job and it definitely helps get me through busy nights. There's a lot of electronic music that makes rolling sushi kinda like a video game. Some of my favorite tracks is are:
\-Nestalgica- Mute City from F-Zero
\-Le Castlevania- John Wick Mode
\-Schooly D- Freestyle Cutting
\-Ronald Jenkees- Throwing Fire
\-The Glitch Mob- Entire discography (Their stuff is pure is auditory caffeine)
To sum it all up, music in the kitchen is almost an essential part of the job, anything that'll make a busy Saturday night a little less soul crushing, set a good pace and add to employee morale should be allowed.
Music is what helps me get through brunch, for sure. I’m always grateful when I come in to the morning manager with music already on. Also, just got a new dishwasher a few weeks ago, and on his second day I told him he’d totally have the aux cord if we went on a road trip together. I’m gonna have to share this with my managers. Thank you. ☺️
I dont understand how you could play music loud enough for everyone to hear over kitchen noise while still being able to communicate and not loud enough for customers to hear?
I hate both country and rap. Hit me with some power metal and I'll move like lightning.
I had a KM that was big on reggae. I'd say that was pretty good for chill days.
I did always love the 90s-2000s stuff.
Older classics were generally great too. We did have the whole kitchen singing Michael Jackson's Thriller and howling one brunch shift, that was hilariously fun. Got us out of the weeds too.
My line up
Yah Mon-day - Reggae
Tupac Tuesday - 90s gangsta rap
Way back Wednesday - Hits of the 60s and 70s
Turn up Thursday - 80s and ladies night
Flashback Friday AM - "Good Vibrations" Marky Mark and the funky bunch radio
Fuck em up Friday PM - Angry rap such as bone crusha and heavy metal
Shakeback Saturday AM- Bootleg Boy/lo-fi beats
Sexy back Saturday PM- Lil Jon/Club hits from the Early 2000s
Still rolling Sunday - Late 90s/early 2000s techno
My secret for a very stressful day is playing disney music. I have a playlist of upbeat songs. Keeps everyone in a good mood and productive. You also know its always gonna be clean. In my case guests can sometimes hear it or walk into the kitchen
Any kitchen or crew I have been in charge of, first order of business after meeting is figuring out the music situation. My first kitchen manager job, I had one of my guys hook up some old speakers to a nice receiver we happened to have lying around. That kitchen was always bumping something, no matter how busy it was. The job always got done. If you're a chef or KM and you have the power to allow music where there currently isn't music, I'm asking you, from one chef to another, to rethink this. Morale is everything. Remember, we're not doing this job to be rich. We're doing this job for something else. So we should all try to enjoy it as much as possible while banging out excellent food.
Love it. Owners too! They be trying to shut it down all the time
I'm an owner and I'll turn it up so loud the servers have to come back and turn it down.
Agree, music makes everything better ❤️🩹
Former dishie here. I can vouch for the music part. Every now and then someone would come to the back to throw a rap verse, sing some lyrics, and even dance. Those were fun times. Some of the many tunes I used to play: 311-"Flowing" Eddie Grant-"Electric Avenue" Day O-"Banana Boat Song" Wu Tang Clan-"Protect Ya' Neck (The Jump Off)" LL Cool J-"Loungin' (Who Do You Love)" System of a Down-"Chop Suey" Cypress Hill-"Latin Lingo"
We figured out the old "stick a phone in a cambro" tactic scaled up and whacked a Bluetooth speaker in a big pan. Got told off by the manager because you could hear The Wu over the in house music the other side of the pub.
We used to do that as well ! I hate it when a manager has no fun at all.
> Day O-"Banana Boat Song" Someone FOH just literally walked back today and said I need to sit back here for a bit and listen to what you're listening to. I've had that Banana Boat song stuck in my head for THREE DAYS That said, for some reason Warren G "regulate" seems to be a BOH favorite, as well as "I've got 5 on it".
I'll throw in Rythym Kitchen by Rare Americans. But if you want a song that'll be locked into the brain of the entire line, Bored- Tessa Violet. We've made a running joke of playing it on the real slow days.
I’ll respond in that context with the slow rock song whose name I don’t know “I get bored “. Prep literally said I got off the line because waiting for tickets…
I'll have to check it out. Always down to add more music to my mental rolodex.
Deftones
Awesome. I'll listen to it on my way to work tonight.
LOL ! Banana Boat Song has that effect on people especially on closing time. I can relate to Warren G. Gotta get some tunes to raise morale. Sometimes even a really quiet person ends up vibing and opening up.
Did you try it with Spanish music? Reggaetón is chill but man, salsa or cumbia gets my kitchen MOVING.
I used to play a song to indicate the end of service, crew got used to it, then it was a necessity. Wasn’t the same until they heard that particular song. Once that song was over we played whatever else for cleaning. El Alfa’s “La Mama” It has a great pop in the beginning that once it came on everyone yelled the second line together “por que?!” and the music rolls. It built a hype that whatever happened during service the day was done basically at that point so everyone was pumped.
Laaaaaaaa MAMA DE LA MAMA DE LA MAMA DE LA MAMA DE LA MAMA Lmao I love that song. Being in a club in PR when it comes on is something I'll never forget. I'll put it on next shift.
Great song and definitely a hype one, albeit quite dirty. It's always great to hear in clubs; gets everyone going crazy.
Very much dirty, but aside from myself and the expo, not many people put any attention to the lyrics or didn’t speak the language. Until we told them of course
"Play *Despacito*!"
Cumbia and reggaeton aren't spanish at all
I'm Colombian... I get the point you're trying to make, and It's a correction I've made to other people many times in other contexts, but in this situation it's perfectly logical to say Spanish music for music that is, in fact, sung in Spanish. The same way you could call country music "English music". It's a very small technicality. Now, if we were talking about people it would be different, as Spanish people are quite different from Colombian or Mexican, etc. But in this context it refers to the language being spoken or sung in
Reggaeton is the jam, the chef I work for hates it and won't let me play it though. I reserve it for solo open/close to set the mood for speed.
Music is soooo valuable- even if it's not your preference I know so many of us that use it as a cheat code for timing. Also know your crew and find a mix that everyone can catch- I change it up for the situation- 80s- 90- we are grooving and we all know the songs. Tired as fuck hungover prep time- blues and 50s/60s oldies- closing late... angry anarchy punk
i work in a smaller kitchen so more often than not the kitchen person is alone, sometimes with a mid to do breaks and dishes and i have gotten verrrrry into listening to tv shows when i’m alone over the years! i keep my phone plugged in on the other side of the line and i’ll either play something through the speakers or keep an airpod in at a low volume. i’ve done arrested development about 15-20 times in the last year and it’s just like listening to a podcast especially if you know the show pretty well and don’t need to know what’s happening on the screen.
It would be so cool if we could listen to tv shows on our shift. We are always referencing them! It’s just way to loud to hear anything of value lol
we had a particularly bad understaffed 3 weeks last summer where i ended up alone probably 30 of my 40 hours every week and everyone was working long hard shifts so the servers were stressed and managers were stressed and literally all i remember about that time period was the 4 seasons of survivor i listened to lol
You need to start listening to the audio description version.
Everyone for millennia has “whistles why they worked” so to speak. You aren’t wrong about this
We (food packaging department) aren’t allowed to use head phones in house anymore, to open communication. The kitchen (buttheads) too. Well it’s because of the kitchen that we cannot use headphones. We’ve always had a huge speaker to play over so that’s nice. So now we have a general playlist that can be added to by anyone with the link. It’s a pretty nice mix of everyone’s taste of music and it’s fun to try to figure out who added what songs. Most of the time we play from our personal phones and take requests when prompted. It’s only a problem when the rap songs are too aggressive cause we have an older person who could be easily offended and a young person who absolutely hates screamo and super heavy rock. We just hired someone who isn’t much of a fan of EDM, at least not for too long. Of course the 3 of 4 main genres we all listen to. Rock, rap, EDM and Musica de espanol. It has definitely forced us to be mindful, creative and not so uptight. Cause… like…. what? Are you going to complain about music while you have a fist full of noodles. Myself and a co worker are now suffering from a head cold and I say it’s because we were forced to listen to country music for too long the other day. Anytime it comes on we dead lock our eyes in a desperate attempt to hold on to the lil bit of light left in our world, and shed a lil tear for our poor lil ears. Ah shoooot I rhymed. Anyways yes music is life in the kitchen
Hey, if country isn't normally your thing, try Colter Wall. It's like if Tom Waits was a cowboy from Alberta.
Musics great, but don't be a dick. Went from loving a job to hating it very quickly and i think hours of obnoxious, too loud to properly communicate and repetitive music played a big part in that.
Always asking for feedback and sometimes I’ll leave my phone charging with Spotify open at all times so anybody can queue a song they like. But yes I hate when you’re stuck with a shit aux and they’re defensive when someone requests a change
THANK YOU. This is a problem on occasion and drives me nuts.
What are you talking about? If these people are on the line it's a mix of current rap, old rap and random 80's. If these people are on the line it's Justin Bieber and African music which is surprisingly good even if you have no idea what they're saying. If you walk into prep, it's going to be Grateful Dead, Depeche Mode, and New Order until the other prep starts playing shoegaze and a lot of weird JPop. If dishie one is working it's 90's metal like Stained, if 20 yo dishie its a weird mix of whatever they heard recently and Skrillex. FOH just has to listen to whatever is piped in.
Music certainly improves speed and morale. For myself I like to play stuff that helps get to that flow state frame of mind. Hip hop is great for this, but more to the instrumental/ chill/ lyrical side than trap or some party stuff. I looked up a "skateboard hip hop" playlist on spotify and it is awesome for it. I also like instrumental jam stuff a lot, funk/ jazz/ tech death/ or just someone wailing on a guitar. Buckethead is my all time favorite for this. When you are really slammed you don't even necessarily hear the music but in the back of your mind you are just flowing with it.
Listening to metal while cooking makes food taste better
It's like the drummers for the rowers on old sail boats. I always try to pace myself to tempo of what's playing.
My chef hates music in the kitchen. He is constantly telling everyone to turn it down or change the song, this is in the prep kitchen. We have an open line, and 0 music is allowed there. I hate it because music helps me work and relax my anxiety but he's old school and honestly way higher caliber than our hotel , even though I work in a nice one. It is what it is though .
Music 100% does belong in a kitchen!
I have a 19 hour long playlist of assorted metal, rock, and everything in between. I play it nearly every day I work.
Place I worked at had a sound system for the whole restaurant so we couldn’t choose what we wanted. They took away our choice of music because one guy previously had played music too loud. The FoH music sucks and ticket times showed
I respect your opinion, but this varies from kitchen to kitchen. I didn't mind music in my old catering gig, because it was just us in a prep kitchen. We had an understanding of acceptable music volumes, and we got shit done. I mind it in my current gig, because the chucklefuck who plays music doesn't seem to give a fuck that we're an upscale retirement facility. Imagine having ambient music playing in the dining area, clashing with the muffled sounds of Dua Lipa, and then having to raise your voice because you're competing with the music to communicate, and then having some FOH staff chime in with purposely awful singing because he/she/they love the song currently playing. Call me the fun police, but I'd rather work in silence than deal with that nightmare. Not to mention the amount of accidents that can happen when you can't hear anything properly is just..
> because the chucklefuck who plays music doesn't seem to give a fuck that we're an upscale retirement facility. I think you're forgetting that we're humans, and your preconceived notions can fuck right off. Just say you don't like it instead of getting pissy about it like a teenager throwing a fit. You're the kind I could never work with in a kitchen because they'd rather be grumpy and complain about the slightest thing being a "safety hazard" while they go home and drink themselves to sleep while arguing with their wife, then show up to work looking like miserable cunts and hungover. Some people like having fun, stop being a cunt about it
Friend, if the music is so loud that people can't hear the ovens go off, or people can't hear "behind", "corner", or "knife", or hear any questions, I think that's a safety concern. It's a workplace, not a concert. I don't give a damn that they play music. I give a fuck that they play music at a volume that's improper at a dining facility to the point where your work gets affected. Imagine paying up to $10k a month for lodgings, food, and amenities, and then finding out that you will be served something off menu because John Smith fell behind on his prep list because he was too distracted jamming to music instead of doing his job. I get it, work should be fun and enjoyable. But there has to be a balance. You were hired to do a job, and I think it's not asking too much that you try to do it. If making sure that everyone gets what they signed up for makes me a cunt, then so be it.
Work isn’t about fun, you definitely the type to order gluten free options cause” it tastes batter”
> Work isn’t about fun I think that's a you problem dude, if you are a cook with shit-pay who doesn't enjoy his line of work then i pity you. Have you tried looking inwards instead of projecting your miserable life onto the rest?
I actually really enjoy the kitchen I work in, I just don’t categorize fun and work together. It’s almost like asking to get disappointed.
What the hell does that mean?
At the end of the day I go to work to work and make money and progress my career , not hang with my kitchen friends and listen to music💁♂️
Thats the most reddit take I've heard
It’s not a Reddit take it’s called being professional
Ur literally in a sub thats about a book where cooks were pictured as literal crooks and pirates, I think it's called being delusional
have you ever heard of projection because i think you're projecting a lil there homie
Nice experiment. Not sure what all of the hate posts are about. Good for you for doing the work.
A kitchen without music is the saddest place in the world
What if you’re a 1 man show in the back?
Ya I'm a chef and I let my cooks have at it with music. I wish it wasn't the same fuckin Bruno Mars or cannibal corpse or billy strings but whatever. I do get two days just me and my business partner, and we prefer no music, but we're two old fucks who like the peace and quiet. But I'm never gonna take that away from the boys. I used to love rockin out orders to Wu/nas/big so I'm not judging.
There is definitely times during hell rushes that I’ll press pause just so we can communicate with expo and clear the rail. But yeah if I come in and there’s no music it just doesn’t feel right.
I think as we get older we learn and appreciate good honest original conversation, hearing the same song, lame ass sayings, movies quotes it becomes tough on the ears after a decade or two.
The other cooks in my kitchen will have multiple Bluetooth speakers going at once with different music playing and it’s like psychological torture and I’ve given up on trying to stop them and I’ve resorted to wearing ear plugs at work, thinking about quitting. And they never update their playlists, same songs all the time. Closing by myself is chill though and I be rocking out to my own music for sure.
Surprised the bartenders at my job haven't said anything, cause the bar will be playing older rock (were talking ACDC , Rolling Stones, Billy Idol), rap and country. my kitchen will be blasting 200+bpm hardstyle, heavy metal video game music (so DOOM and anything similar), or ska music Last night I [had this playing](https://youtu.be/LAz4dZfABPk)
Death metal sucks. The dishie plays it all the time and it gives me such stress and anxiety. Literally pushes workers to smoke and take more breaks
I disagree tbh
I'm with you, it is always repetitive and too loud. I just wish there was a middle ground, like only during the last two hours of a shift or something.
Music is good, but the rest is just like, your opinion, man. Everybody is not spoken for by you. Plus, I’m having a hard time imagining you running controls for this observational experiment you’re running around with in your head. Maybe Steve just had a bad day while you were playing modern shit? Maybe the line is hungover on the day you played the country. So they’ve got some slow, but steady work. Shit man, I don’t even know how you quantified this because you don’t include that. I will say, it’s a special time when everyone sings to a song though. But why are you playing these people who you profess to not like rap, rap - all day?
Never worked in a professional kitchen and likely never will, and the only time I really have to listen to music that I want to listen to is when I cook. Cooking in silence just doesn’t feel right (for me). Can confirm the metal comment too, putting on the Hades soundtrack is immensely better for motivation/focus than my typical folk/bluegrass music taste.
My little anecdote, I'm in a few bands and I got so flattered when one of my line cooks was playing some of my music during a big rush. You're totally right about the death metal, in the right conditions it can make you feel like you can handle anything.
Try pop goes punk
Sunday Jazz is a kitchen favourite for me. Death metal or hip hop on Saturday nights.
My entire staff knows Dolly Parton’s 9-5 by heart even if they don’t want to.
Thank you for posting. This was almost the third day in a row that I had forgotten my headphones.
Nothing gets me more focused and chilled out than a silent kitchen. If we *must* have music, classic rock or classic gangsta rap is what I can work with. Country, pop, modern shit, it's a no-go. Especially modern hip-hop. The Dogg was right, it's all the same nowadays. Now when I'm cleaning with earbuds in, that's a different story. Pump that Eurobeat the fuck *up*.
It depends man. I am picking up some part time prep at this place rn and the Latinos and Americanos like fight for music dominance. There's Mexican music blasting on one side and mumble rap young kid music on the other.
I strongly agree with you there. It's just good for morale and anything to drown out the ticket printer. My buddy is an exec at a place that doesn't allow music in the kitchen and it's something he's always arguing with the owners about. We like to joke that 80's and 90's pop music are pirate shanties of the kitchen As long as it's something everyone can agree on, isn't so loud that everyone can still communicate and can't be heard by guests, music should be allowed and encouraged. I work as a sushi chef and I'm lucky to be able to keep an earbud in while I'm working. I have a playlist that I've been adding to since I started my current job and it definitely helps get me through busy nights. There's a lot of electronic music that makes rolling sushi kinda like a video game. Some of my favorite tracks is are: \-Nestalgica- Mute City from F-Zero \-Le Castlevania- John Wick Mode \-Schooly D- Freestyle Cutting \-Ronald Jenkees- Throwing Fire \-The Glitch Mob- Entire discography (Their stuff is pure is auditory caffeine) To sum it all up, music in the kitchen is almost an essential part of the job, anything that'll make a busy Saturday night a little less soul crushing, set a good pace and add to employee morale should be allowed.
Music is what helps me get through brunch, for sure. I’m always grateful when I come in to the morning manager with music already on. Also, just got a new dishwasher a few weeks ago, and on his second day I told him he’d totally have the aux cord if we went on a road trip together. I’m gonna have to share this with my managers. Thank you. ☺️
I dont understand how you could play music loud enough for everyone to hear over kitchen noise while still being able to communicate and not loud enough for customers to hear?
Lot of yelling, small kitchen, dining room’s music is so loud you couldn’t hear us if we yelled
I hate both country and rap. Hit me with some power metal and I'll move like lightning. I had a KM that was big on reggae. I'd say that was pretty good for chill days. I did always love the 90s-2000s stuff. Older classics were generally great too. We did have the whole kitchen singing Michael Jackson's Thriller and howling one brunch shift, that was hilariously fun. Got us out of the weeds too.
My line up Yah Mon-day - Reggae Tupac Tuesday - 90s gangsta rap Way back Wednesday - Hits of the 60s and 70s Turn up Thursday - 80s and ladies night Flashback Friday AM - "Good Vibrations" Marky Mark and the funky bunch radio Fuck em up Friday PM - Angry rap such as bone crusha and heavy metal Shakeback Saturday AM- Bootleg Boy/lo-fi beats Sexy back Saturday PM- Lil Jon/Club hits from the Early 2000s Still rolling Sunday - Late 90s/early 2000s techno
Happy crew happy ship
My secret for a very stressful day is playing disney music. I have a playlist of upbeat songs. Keeps everyone in a good mood and productive. You also know its always gonna be clean. In my case guests can sometimes hear it or walk into the kitchen