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Independent Chefs Exchange Ideas

时间:2018-04-05 04:08:30

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(单词翻译)

 

American Chris Spear has been cooking food for others since he was 16 years old.

Spear has worked for a chef at large restaurants, and even had almost 100 employees reporting to him.

But there came a time when he grew tired of this job and wanted to be more creative. So he stopped working for restaurants and set up his own food catering2 business. It is called Perfect Little Bites.

Spear told VOA that spending many hours preparing food doesn’t make him feel tired. But he was concerned that becoming an independent chef, and not working in a restaurant, would make him feel lonely.

That led him to create an online networking group called Chefs Without Restaurants. It is a place for chefs to exchange ideas, advice, and even customer referrals.

Bringing chefs together virtually

Spears says that, while the service is new, the idea for it is not.

"I've been thinking about the Chefs Without Restaurants for about five years now, even before I took Perfect Little Bites full time because I kept thinking about, 'Well, when I do this full time, who are going to be my colleagues? Who are going to be the people who I can bounce ideas off? How am I going to be able to do things like cater1 an event that's maybe outside my range of 30 people? Like, do I have a resource where I can pull in one or two other people?”

?Spear said he didn’t feel like having full-time3 employees for his catering business. But he did want a way to communicate with others in the food preparation business.

The online group started last January. Since then, around 100 chefs have joined it.

Spear said that independent chefs have many different kinds of businesses, but don’t always get recognized. He wanted to use the group to bring attention to chefs who normally would not get it.

“I wanted to have something that's beneficial, but also didn't cost money. We are a Facebook group where I can just post and say, ‘hey next Wednesday a customer wants to do dinner here and the price range, where they live, if anyone is maybe interested, send me a personal message and I get you their info(rmation)."

Spears thinks this network can help those not working in the food service industry. He and other chiefs are building a website that lists the group’s members, what their specialties4 are, which ones are able to cater large parties and personal chefs for smaller events.

Cooperation instead of competition

Lana and Bobby Browner are a wife and husband team who own their catering business Bent5 and Bent Events in Frederick, Maryland.

The Browners specialize in Creole and Caribbean cooking. They also prepare and mix together foods that are available locally, in Frederick County, Maryland.

When the Browners heard about Chefs without Restaurants, they decided6 to become members.

The biggest difficulty for many chefs, they said, is that they don’t often form partnerships7 because they are competing for business.

?"But you don't have that in this group," Lana Browner noted8. "What we experience so far is a lot of learning about different chefs in the area.” It's even been interesting to get comments from chefs that work outside Frederick, she added.

The food community embraces idea

Chefs without Restaurants is also bringing more business to local eateries. One example is Maryland Bakes, a place where members often meet and prepare food in a common area.

Terri Rowe, owner of Maryland Bakes, says the group brings more energy to local small food businesses.

"They bring connections," she says. "They bring creative ideas and just the whole network of independent people joining together."

The group is popular with the local food community.

Olive9 Oil and Vinegar is one of the local stores Spear likes to visit. It often holds events to present cooking ideas and let chefs meet their customers.

Store owner Sharon Streb says small businesses should help one another succeed.

"I think by sharing that and having them come to the store," Streb explains. "They get in front of our customers and, hopefully, we get in front of their customers. That's a win-win for both of us.”

She adds that it’s difficult for small businesses, and many don’t succeed, so it’s important they work together.

I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

beneficial - adj. producing good or helpful results or effects ?

bounce - v. to talk about (something, such as an idea) in an informal way in order to get different opinions about it?

cater - v. to provide food and drinks at a party, meeting, etc., especially as a job?

colleague - n. a person who works with you ?

customer - n. someone who buys goods or services from a business?

flexible - adj. capable of bending or being bent?

network - n. a group of people or organizations that are closely connected and that work with each other?

online - adj. connected to a computer, a computer network, or the Internet?

range - v. a group or collection of different things or people that are usually similar in some way?

referral - n. the act of sending someone to another person or place for treatment, help, advice, etc.?

resource - n. something that a country has and can use to increase its wealth


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1 cater ickyJ     
vi.(for/to)满足,迎合;(for)提供饮食及服务
参考例句:
  • I expect he will be able to cater for your particular needs.我预计他能满足你的特殊需要。
  • Most schools cater for children of different abilities.大多数学校能够满足具有不同天资的儿童的需要。
2 catering WwtztU     
n. 给养
参考例句:
  • Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
  • Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的?
3 full-time SsBz42     
adj.满工作日的或工作周的,全时间的
参考例句:
  • A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
  • I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作,我不知道她是如何对付的。
4 specialties 4f19670e38d5e63c785879e223b3bde0     
n.专门,特性,特别;专业( specialty的名词复数 );特性;特制品;盖印的契约
参考例句:
  • Great Books are popular, not pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. 名著绝不引经据典,艰深难懂,而是通俗易读。它们不是专家为专业人员撰写的专业书籍。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
  • Brain drains may represent a substantial reduction in some labor force skills and specialties. 智力外流可能表示某种劳动力技能和特长大量减少。 来自辞典例句
5 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
6 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
7 partnerships ce2e6aff420d72bbf56e8077be344bc9     
n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 );合伙人身份;合作关系
参考例句:
  • Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
  • It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句
8 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
9 olive yI2x1     
n.橄榄,橄榄树,橄榄色;adj.黄绿色的,黄褐色的,橄榄色的
参考例句:
  • Have you eaten a kind of fruit called olive?你吃过橄榄这种水果吗?
  • She likes olive because It'symbolizes peace.她喜欢橄榄色因为它象征着和平。

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