Top Chef

Last night was the finale of Top Chef. If you’re watching the show but didn’t catch last night’s program, quit reading because the rest of this post is about the business lessons we can learn from the winners and losers and you might not know who they are yet. But for those of you who do know (or don’t care), there are a few important takeaways from how the judging went down. The three finalists – Carla, Hosea, and Stefan – were dramatically different personalities and it was those personalities as much as their cooking skills that determined the outcome.

Going in to last night, many observers felt Carla would win. She was on a roll and had been cooking “with love.” Her food was generally more simple than that of the others, prepared using the best ingredients she could find and basic techniques executed perfectly.  Last night, she allowed her sous-chef to talk her into doing beef sous vide – a method she had never used before (think of it as gently cooking something in a sealed bag). The meat was a disaster although the judges complimented her sauces.  She compounded that error by trying to make a blue cheese soufflé for dessert, another sous chef suggestion, and had oven issues. The lesson is obvious. Stick to what made you successful and have the confidence to run your team that way.   There is a reason why there are test markets and beta tests.  One shouldn’t roll out an untested product especially when everything is on the line as it was for her last night.

Stefan is probably the most highly skilled of the chefs although far from the most imaginative or inspired.  Where he failed was in his attitude.  He cooked what he wanted the way he wanted.  If you didn’t like it, too bad.  Early on the judges called him “cocky” and that arrogance showed up in his food.  Last night he froze some fish so he could slice it more thinly.  This made the dish watery as the fish unfroze and when the judges called him on it his response was “did it taste good?” without acknowledging there was a problem.  Again, an obvious lesson.  Customers recognize attitude and when they identify issues in your product they expect honesty and an admission of error.  At no point in any show did Stefan admit he screwed anything up even though he didn’t win every challenge.  It was always bad judging or, when in a team situation, bad partners.

Hosea won.  The new Top Chef was not the most innovative of the group nor the most skilled.  He was, however, very consistent and very true to himself in dish selections.  Last night, the assignment was to cook a three course meal.  Desserts were NOT mandatory and Hosea didn’t make one even thought the other two did because he knew that wasn’t his strong point.  In fact, the desserts were, in the end, the things that killed the other two.  Carla could not serve her soufflé and Stefan’s dessert was demeaned by the judges as “dated” and nothing special.

The lessons of Top Chef are good ones for us all.  Be true to yourself, listen to your customers, and engage in conversation.  Not only did it make good TV, it makes for great business.