At a recent conference in Brazil, Alex Atala, a man who’s straddled the line between success and badassery, spoke about the strict, regimented environment of his award-winning restaurant D.O.M. and how it led the former rocker to success as a chef. (Man, they all seem to be former rock stars these days.) Forbes just so happened to attend the The Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises conference, and came away with useful knowledge for any chef — especially chefs who would also like to be The Most Interesting Man (or Woman!) In The World.
Atala’s advice? To basically be a robot. But he says it better:
“My mom loved her dog and thought it was intelligent. However, the dog was only conditioned. Human beings are intelligent, but we are also conditioned! We do way too many things on the automatic mode. Develop the best routines and stick to it.”
“You don’t need to be smart to make money. You need to have plenty of ideas to be smart but you can be stupid and still make a lot of money. The only way to achieve greatness is to do the exact same thing everyday. To achieve perfection you must have the right routine.”
“One of my most famous dishes is Aligot. The recipe is so simple that it could easily be done by a child. [Watch a video of Atala preparing it here]. But the service is perfect. We turned a simple recipe into an unforgettable experience. One may wonder, “Oh, so the waiter is great!” No he is not. He just has a chef that orders him to practice tirelessly until he masters that skill. Training is the key to success.”
We’re not gonna touch his waitstaff remark with a 10-foot pole, but more Atala wisdom awaits at Forbes.
[Forbes]
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