This is it. Today marks six full years I’ve owned Starry Nights. What a ride.

I’m fairly conflicted about what I’ve accomplished here since there are some pretty big failings I wish had gone differently, while at the same time I know my team and I made a lot of people happy and we did good work over the last six years.

I think my disappointments fall mostly into the “business” category. I’m not a business school graduate (I learned this all on the fly) so just like walking around with toilet paper stuck to your shoe, I’m afraid these little failings show.

I wish I could grow the company to be a major player in the local catering scene, but I just don’t know how. I’ve banged my head against that wall for years, but no success; I don’t even know how to break down the problem, so how can I possibly attempt to solve it?

I look at some of the other successful large-ish catering companies in the area and wonder how they got to where they are now. I try to figure out what they’ve got that I don’t. Money and networking is what it comes down to, I think. Funding, loans, angel-investors all provide capital to grow. I made a decision to not go down that road with Starry Nights, and I realize now that’s artificially limited my potential here. Had I to do it over again, I like to think I’d go the other way and get investors to put up the cash instead of being self-financed.

And the other issue, networking, is less about networking and more about fashion, or being the cool kid in the room; not something I’ve ever been good at. I tried, but just couldn’t figure out how to get venues to list us as the preferred caterer. I think some of this is the crowd mentality of “being cool” meaning that if Venue A lists me as the caterer, then Venue B will need to do the same to stay on par. And if I’m not listed with Venue A, then why should Venue B? It’s a hard ceiling to crack and I just never made it work.

On the upside, though, I think I’ve had a lot of success as a chef. I’ve learned quite a bit about cooking and catering and I feel very accomplished with what I’ve done with my team. Our biggest job to-date was 750+ for a company in Tacoma and we nailed it with military precision. No screw-ups at all. We’ve catered several jobs simultaneously, too, which truly show how far I’ve come from my apprenticeship days when I would freak out about making lunch for 4!

And my cakes. What can I say about my cakes? While I’m proud (but humble) about our catering efforts, I’m downright arrogant about our cakes. They are the best available, no exceptions. Our execution and quality of ingredients makes them a steal, even though we’re on the high side of pricing. I’m very happy to say that most of the clients we don’t sign only do so because of price, never quality. I’d put my cakes up against any other cake maker in town in a blind taste-test and I’d bet that we’d win.

To the future: Changes are on the horizon for Starry Nights. I’ve got lots of ideas, but nothing I want to really dwell on or plan for at this point. When I’m feeling positive-minded, I can look at my accomplishments here at Starry Nights as a very solid learning experience that has prepped me for the next big leap in my career.

Onward and upward.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy this. When I started this blog back in 2004, I was doing all the HTML by hand (I was a control-freaky graphic designer, what can I say?) but now I’m using WordPress and it’s SO MUCH EASIER! I can manage all the content, cross-link, archive, hide, etc to any content I want. And I still have designer-level control over the layout and design.

So far today, I’ve updated the “Resources” page with some listings, check ‘em out.

I’ll also slowly work through re-posting all my original content from the first incarnation of Kung Fu Chef, including kitchen notes, recipes, and general blog posts. Stay tuned.

2011 sucked. I mean it really sucked ass. Here’s to hoping that 2012 is way better.

In 2012 I hope for a lot of things, including a lot of professional growth. I’ve got some significant holes in my resume, and I’m looking to fix that. One thing that scares the shit out of me is being a breakfast/brunch line cook: “Wait, what, 80 more eggs? Holy crap.”

Seriously though, while I’m a good chef (meaning I know flavors, technique, ingredients, recipes, etc), most of my experience has been in the relatively safe environment of catering. A ton of prep, planning, and load-out, but not a lot of on-the-fly custom-fire orders. Breakfast cooks LIVE in the shit, or so I’m told. I want to experience that.

So as you’re all enjoying your New Year’s hangover (me too), and I’m at home not working (who hires a caterer for Jan 1?), let’s all toast the to the breakfast line cooks out there heading to work just as the rest of us stumble to bed.

Defining what a it means to be a chef is a tricky thing. It’s often easier to simply list what a chef does without getting into the metaphysical aspects of “being” a chef.

One of the things a chef does is make menus. And me, I’d rather clean the grease trap.

I realize this may be professional heresy to admit I hate making menus, but it really brings me back to my graphic design days of dealing with clients who can’t articulate what they want. And as a graphic designer, your worst client ever will always be yourself. It’s the same with being a chef.

I’ve got another Farestart dinner coming up on April 9 and I have to submit the menu before I leave for vacation. I kinda know what I want, but it’s a challenge to come up with something that will be broadly appealing but also interesting and just a little unique. I know I’m not an innovative chef, my forte is solid flavors done very well; approachable food to expand diners’ horizons.

The problem is that there’s always this pressure to come up with a menu that represents “me”. This is where the worst client aspect comes in. Who am I as a chef? Sometimes I have no frickin’ idea. This problem would be a lot easier to answer if I were a restaurant chef instead of catering chef. In the restaurant environment, I would constantly be creating and trying different ideas to see what works.

But, that said, I do have an idea where I’m going with this menu. It will be asian-influenced and we’ll have cake for dessert. I think if I just take it course-by-course and come up with some good flavor pairs that will be appealing, I’ll figure it out. And so back to work now!