I learned today that heating and cooling in a restaurant is incredibly important, especially in the kitchen.
I never really thought about the impact an air conditioning system might have on a restaurant except make it uncomfortable to be in, but after what I saw today, I now know otherwise.
Earlier today, I was hungry so I decided to stop by an all you can eat buffet. I arrived and noticed that it was fairly hot in there. We are nearing summer, and the temperatures have been getting pretty bad, even at night, so I wasn’t too surprised. At most, I figured this would be a minor inconvenience and I would get in and then get out. Boy was I wrong. I stared at all of the delicious food that laid before me, and just as I went grab the tongs, my eye caught the chef. He was working hard in the kitchen. Sweating profusely, I literally watched as a drop of sweat fell from his forehead and fell into the cooking food, and he still served it! I dropped my plate in disgust and left. It gets incredibly hot in kitchens which means the chefs are sweating to death and getting their sweat all over the place, including your food. You want to order some soup? Great, here’s your sweaty soup. That steak looks good? How about some sweat seasoning? And here’s your hamburger with a side of sweat and God knows what else. I later complained to the buffet about the lack of cooling and what I saw. The owner tried to give me a free meal, but I wasn’t going back. I hope they got their HVAC system fixed after what I saw, but honestly, I still wouldn’t go even if they had perfect heating and A/C.