One Day, One Job » restaurants

Charlie Trotter’s

Willy Franzen — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:56:16 +0000

When I moved to Chicago last year, just days before my 24th birthday, my parents decided that they wanted to treat me to a truly amazing Chicago experience to start off my life in the city right. They took me and my girlfriend to a dinner at Charlie Trotter’s, one of the finest restaurants in Chicago and the world. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name, Trotter’s is usually found somewhere on Restaurant Magazine’s list of the Top 50 Restaurants in the World (although they seem to have dropped off the list this year).

When I dined at Charlie Trotter’s I chose the Grand Menu, which is an 8-course tasting menu. Although the menu is constantly changing, I had the pleasure of enjoying: Prince Edward Island Oysters with Sea Water & Pickled Daikon; Chilled Snow Lake Trout with Roe, Watercress & California Crayfish; Four Story Hill Farm Quail with Spring Onions, Chanterelle Mushrooms & Chorizo; Grilled Nantucket Bay Scallop with Boudin, Pig’s Tail & Fennel; Forty Eight Hour Braised Short Rib with Lobster Mushrooms & Fermented Black Garlic; Concord Grape Sorbet with Grape Leaf & Parsnip; Honey Crisp Apples with Cider Granite & Ginger Jelly; and Black Mission Figs with Shaved Fruit Cake, Marcona Almonds & Pedro Ximenez. It was an amazing meal that took food to a level that I didn’t know it could reach.

Trot Out Your Best

Yes, Charlie Trotter’s is obscenely expensive if you look at it as just a dinner, but there’s so much more to the experience than just eating. What you have to understand about Charlie Trotter’s is that everything is perfect. Your food will never be cooked improperly. If you tell them that you don’t like cheese, they will prepare you something without cheese. Your water glass will never be empty. You are experiencing something at its highest level. It’s like Albert Pujols’ swing, Yo-Yo Ma’s music, or my fly fishing (just kidding)—Charlie Trotter is one of the best at what he does. And that’s why you should consider a job with him. If you are able to land a job at Charlie Trotter’s—and it won’t be easy—you will be a part of something that is pure excellence. Even if your future isn’t in hospitality, you will gain an appreciation for performing to the highest expectations. That will translate to any job, just like working at the best consulting firm, investment bank, or ad agency. And if you want to stay in the culinary field, then there’s obviously no better place to start than Charlie Trotter’s.

Just ask Grant Achatz, the chef at 10th ranked Alinea (also in Chicago). He got his butt kicked during his try-out at Charlie Trotter’s, but he’s clearly better for it. This isn’t some company that you can just send your résumé to and hope that they take you, but if you meet the below criteria, you should give it a shot:

No matter what level of education or job experience you may have, we are always seeking to meet individuals who have a great attitude, are willing to commit themselves to learning, are passionate about food and wine and have a great work ethic. All of these attributes are of equal importance to us during the application process at Charlie Trotter’s.

You can submit your résumé to Matt Merges at Matthias@charlietrotters.com for culinary positions and to Christian Giles at Christian@charlietrotters.com for service positions. Just make sure that you bring “your A game.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever dined at Charlie Trotter’s?

Mina Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:33:20 +0000

Most CEOs have resumes that include business school, many of years of experience, and boring lists of financial accomplishments. How would you like to work for a company where the CEO’s proudest accomplishments are his being named Bon Appetit Chef of the Year and International Food and Beverage Forum Restauranteur of the Year? Michael Mina of the Mina Group is just that CEO – Chef Executive Officer (sorry, that is a horrible pun). Making deals, like any CEO should, Mina formed a partnership with Andre Agassi, the tennis star, in 2002 that has resulted in the launch of a line of high end concept restaurants.

Say Goodbye to Ramen (at Least Cooking It)

The Mina Group manages restaurants in California, Nevada, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, and Arizona. Here’s a full list of the restaurants with menus, photo galleries, chef profiles, and reservation information. We do know that they participate in on-campus recruiting at at least one school with a Hospitality Management program. Beyond that, their About page says that they are always looking to hire restaurant managers, chefs, line-cooks, sommeliers, servers, bartenders, hosts, and any other people who are seeking employment in a restaurant related position.

Individual positions are not listed on the Mina Group website, or anywhere else on the web (there’s one or two exceptions), so the best way to go about finding a job is to ask for one. Send an e-mail to hr@minagroup.net with a cover letter describing your qualifications and what type of position you’re looking for and a resume.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you know what positions are best for new college grads who want to work at the Mina Group? Leave a comment and let us know.

Nutricate

Willy Franzen — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:00:33 +0000

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been making it a little too easy for you to find great entry-level jobs. Linking directly to jobs takes all the fun out of your job search, and we wouldn’t want to deprive you (ok, we got a little sick wading through bad career sites). Today we’re featuring Nutricate, a company that doesn’t list any jobs on their careers page, but certainly is worth a look for any new grad who is interested in food merchandising or marketing. Go read our job search blog, and then use our tips to get yourself an interview with Nutricate.

If we’re going to write about a company that doesn’t list job openings on their site, they better have something extraordinary to offer. We don’t know much about what working at Nutricate is like, but we really love their business. What do they do? They put nutritional information on restaurant receipts. It’s one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-that business ideas. First and foremost, informational receipts make a great educational tool to help people lose weight. Second, it’s a good enough gimmick to get people in the door of the restaurant. Third, the receipt is something you’ll pull out of your pocket and look at again before throwing away (that’s really smart marketing). We could go on, but you are probably already thinking of your own reasons for why Nutricate is brilliant, or you’re thinking about how you actually thought of this idea when you were 15, but never did anything with it.

Why should you take the initiative to seek out an entry-level job at Nutricate? They’ve got an amazing product. The company is growing rapidly. And they’re located in Santa Barbara. So, get off your butt and do some research before you inquire about jobs for new college grads by e-mailing careers@nutricate.com.

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at Nutricate.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

In case you haven’t already subscribed, do it! You’ll learn about great companies, find the best entry-level jobs, and learn how to be an all-around smart job searcher – and you won’t even have to type in our URL anymore.

OpenTable

Willy Franzen — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:00:18 +0000

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and you told your sweetheart that you’d make a reservation and take care of the dinner plans. You forgot/procrastinated. You’re one of those people who is petrified by phone interactions. For some reason the simple task of picking up a phone and dialing a restaurant to make a reservation intimidates you to no end. Shoot, you stared at the phone for 3 hours before you built up the courage to call your date to ask him or her out in the first place. Why can’t you just make a reservation online?

If you’re going to be an effective job searcher, you should probably try to get over this phobia before your first phone interview. Calling around for reservations might be good practice, but we understand that Valentine’s Day can be stressful enough. We’ll let you off the hook just this once. You can use OpenTable.com, a site that lets you make reservations at some of the best restaurants in the country with the click of the mouse. All you need to do is enter your location and the date and time you’d like to book, and they’ll show you what’s still available in your area. It might even save you from completely blowing Valentine’s Day.

OpenTable is a dot-com veteran that has survived conditions that put most Internet companies out of business. The New York Times describes OpenTable’s ups and downs quite well in an article from last Summer:

It took three years for OpenTable to seat its one-millionth diner. But now, the company seats two million diners every month. And Zagat, the restaurant rating service, has adopted OpenTable for reservations made through its site, zagat.com.

OpenTable survived because of a very smart business model. You may only recognize them as an online restaurant reservation service, but their real business driver is the software that they sell restaurants to manage reservations. This software interacts directly with OpenTable.com and provides a full reservation management solution, whether the reservations are made in person, over the phone, or online. In case you missed it, the key point is that OpenTable has built a brand with loyal consumers who now demand that restaurants offer OpenTable.com service. For a restaurant to provide this service, they have to buy in to OpenTable’s reservation management software. It’s brilliant – using customer brand recognition to drive the sale of B2B software.

OpenTable currently has only one position that requires minimal previous work experience. This job is as a Field Operations Specialist. The good news is that there are quite a few openings in a variety of locations: Frankfurt, Germany; Miami, FL; Madrid, Spain; Vancouver, British Columbia; Paris, France; San Diego, CA; Las Vegas, NV; St. Louis, MO; and Charlotte, NC. This job is heavy on travel and requires some technical know-how, as you’ll be troubleshooting OpenTable systems in restaurants. You’ll also need to be a customer service star, since you will be the face of the company at the customer sites. There are also some administrative and sales positions available at OpenTable, but they require more experience than the Field Operations Specialist Job. These jobs could be worth a look for a college grad with exceptional hospitality management or outside sales experience.

Now go save Valentine’s Day by making a reservation on OpenTable.com.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at OpenTable.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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