Why celebrity chefs should fear fame

Excellent article from of all places, todays arts section of the Tribune. Regarding Paula Dean: "who's career has melted down like butter in a hot pan" great stuff.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/theaterloop/ct-ae-0707-jones-20130707,0,5247341.column

Jazzfood wrote:Excellent article from of all places, todays arts section of the Tribune. Regarding Paula Dean: "who's career has melted down like butter in a hot pan" great stuff.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/theaterloop/ct-ae-0707-jones-20130707,0,5247341.column

Heh, I read the same piece this morning and posted an excerpt from it over on the Paula Deen thread.

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I thought of that but felt it deserved it's own thread. Great minds think alike. And us? Luck.

Jazzfood wrote:I thought of that but felt it deserved it's own thread. Great minds think alike. And us? Luck.

LOL, dumb luck at that.

I think it deserves its own thread, too. It certainly does relate to Ms. Deen's current situation but the larger points made in the piece are undeniably relevant in a much broader context.

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I thought Chris Jones offered some excellent insight, congruent to something I've been touting to my clients for yrs- how employees supposedly working on your behalf and you believe have your back can ruin it for you. And how when you spread things thinly, it inevitably suffers and you lose control. As chef's, we only have our rep. It's hard enough, then add sabotaging yourself as in the case of PD. Stick a fork in it. Done.

Similar to Tall Poppy Syndrome, once a person reaches a certain level other people can't wait to cut them down. Snarky blogs and food snobs can't wait to pounce on the last big thing. A critic can make his name for calling out celebrity chefs to build up his own following. The media environment was different back in the nineties when Martha Stewart rose to fame and business success, but rumors seeped through the woodwork that would lead to a printed book then a hilarious TV movie. Some people just can't deal with a super successful women in a traditional role like homemaker or cook, even when they are equal parts businessperson. I actually think there is a cliched road back to acceptance next for PD.

Tyrgyzistan wrote: I actually think there is a cliched road back to acceptance next for PD.

I don't. I'm basing this on Michael Richards and Isaiah Washington as recent examples. Neither has had any substantial work since their respective meltdowns. I'm confident they've tried.

Wait, has anyone, recently, made a comeback after this kind of thing? I earnestly, can't think of any.

I can even think of examples where it was more personal & it worked out, like the Big Dog, a/k/a cigars & blue dresses seem to bounce off of him. But then I look at Woods(Tigger) & Allen(Woody), for example, & while they maybe critically accepted, they aren't able to make the kind of money they were making before their personal meltdowns( endorsements, and box office receipts respectively).

Michael Richards is set to star in new comedy series this fall. (With Kirsty Alley and Rea Perlman, FWIW)


http://splitsider.com/2013/02/tv-land-o ... ew-sitcom/

Just a guess on my part, but I think Michael Richards' comeback is due to his racist incident seeming like a crazy, anomalous, one-off misjudgment. I don't think Paula Deen will benefit from that presumption.

riddlemay wrote:Just a guess on my part, but I think Michael Richards' comeback is due to his racist incident seeming like a crazy, anomalous, one-off misjudgment. I don't think Paula Deen will benefit from that presumption.

Agreed. He's always seemed a bit off.

stevez wrote:Michael Richards is set to star in new comedy series this fall. (With Kirsty Alley and Rea Perlman, FWIW)


http://splitsider.com/2013/02/tv-land-o ... ew-sitcom/

I guess we can see how Mr. Washington fares.

pairs4life wrote:

stevez wrote:Michael Richards is set to star in new comedy series this fall. (With Kirsty Alley and Rea Perlman, FWIW)


http://splitsider.com/2013/02/tv-land-o ... ew-sitcom/

I guess we can see how Mr. Washington fares.

Check back in a few more years.

Can someone cut & paste article, pm me is fine, I don't subscribe to Tribune & it's behind the wall.

I don't think celebrity chefs necessarily need to fear fame. There's always going to be a certain amount of exposure that comes with growth. However, if celebrity chefs run their businesses responsibly and ethically, and create the proper culture at their workplaces, they have no more to fear from fame or success than any other entrepreneurs who grow their businesses (into empires). Of course, there's a lot to that. It requires a genuine desire to do things correctly, earnest diligence, capital investment -- and sometimes -- outside help. And, at the very least, it means not turning a blind eye to known/reported problems and ignoring them.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who you are or what business you are in. If you do not work aggressively and proactively to create a harmonious workplace, there will likely be a price to pay for it.

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Couldn't agree more. For insight into how it's done by one of the best of the best, read Setting the Table by Danny Meyer. A definitive work on the subject, I've made 100's purchase and read as part of pre employment training.


Amazon.com Review
Book Description
In October 1985, at age 27, Danny Meyer, with a good idea and scant experience, opened what would become one of New York City's most revered restaurants--Union Square Cafe. Little more than twenty years later, Danny is the CEO of one of the world's most dynamic restaurant organizations, which includes 11 unique dining establishments, each at the top of its game. How has he done it? How has he consistently beaten the odds and set the competitive bar in one of the toughest trades around?

In this landmark book, Danny shares the lessons he's learned while developing the winning recipe for doing the business he calls "enlightened hospitality." This innovative philosophy emphasizes putting the power of hospitality to work in a new and counterintuitive way: The first and most important application of hospitality is to the people who work for you, and then, in descending order of priority, to the guests, the community, the suppliers, and the investors. This way of prioritizing stands the more traditional business models on their heads, but Danny considers it the foundation of every success that he and his restaurants have achieved.

Full of behind-the-scenes history on the creation of Danny's most famous restaurants and the anecdotes, advice, and lessons he has accumulated on his long and ecstatic journey to the top of the American restaurant scene, Setting the Table is a treasure trove of innovative insights that are applicable to any business or organization.

pairs4life wrote:Can someone cut & paste article, pm me is fine, I don't subscribe to Tribune & it's behind the wall.

Here is a small excerpt from the piece that I quoted on another thread here yesterday:

at ChicagoTribune.com, Chris Jones wrote:The charges against Deen are serious, singular and wider ranging than her admitted past use of racist terms, and there now is clear video evidence that, at a minimum, she sanctioned an offensive climate of racial joking, separation and condescension of staggering insensitivity and ineptitude. She was no innocent.

So nothing here is intended to diminish their import, even if some (including former President Jimmy Carter) have made the case that Deen has apologized sincerely and paid a high price for her mistakes. But it's also true her self-destruction points to a particular vulnerability of the new breed of celebrity chef: disgruntled employees emerging from a workplace that the celebrity chef allowed to rage out of control. Deen's troubles began with a lawsuit by a former employee at one of her restaurants, Uncle Bubba's Oyster House in Savannah, Ga. No doubt other star chefs started to worry about how underlings could take them down too.

As you know, it would be totally out of bounds for anyone to post more of the material here. The Chicago Tribune owns the content and it is not ours to copy and paste here. Unfortunately, they moved this piece to the other side of the pay wall after it was initially posted. I no longer have access to it, either.

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for the Moderators

You are absolutely correct. I do NOT want anyone to violate content laws by posting where impermissible.

pairs4life wrote:...I don't subscribe to Tribune & it's behind the wall...

Unless things have changed, you should be able to circumvent the pay way by switching browsers or deleting cookies.

Hi- The article was in the Sunday trib. in the arts section. It was a good article. One thing I have always wandered is how people like Gordon Ramsey can run multiple restaurants and do multiple tv shows in at least two different countries, and spend time with their family. Gordon has at least 3 and maybe 4 shows on Fox, and then I think he does at least one show on the BBC America, and he has multiple restaurants that he owns, and he does cookbooks. Gordon is the highest paid celebrity chef in this country. He made $29 million last year. Paula was number 4 last year, and Rachael Ray was number 2 and Wolfgang Puck was number 3. At least Rachael does not run any restaurants, but she does endorse a ton of stuff.

I liked the way the article mentioned that Julia Child never got involved in more projects than she could handle, and was not in it for the money. Nobody knew before Paula's problems arose, that she endorsed so many products. It would be interesting to read some of the comments left by readers of the trib. Thanks, Nancy

Hi- I just googled the article, and I was able to pull it up. An ad also comes up at the same time, but you can close the ad. Only one person commented on the article, and said that everybody should leave poor Paula alone. Here is the link to the article.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... 341.column

Hope this helps, Nancy

chgoeditor wrote:

pairs4life wrote:...I don't subscribe to Tribune & it's behind the wall...

Unless things have changed, you should be able to circumvent the pay way by switching browsers or deleting cookies.

Thank you. This worked easily. I can't believe I didn't know to try this before, but I think it's rare that I run into a wall.