One of the things I admire most about the foodservice and restaurant industry is the culture of mentorship. Chefs of both notorious Michelin star restaurants and humble small town diners alike understand and cultivate the benefits of being a mentor. Perhaps it happened by accident, perhaps you set out to make a difference while sharing your passion for cooking. Whatever the reason for doing so, mentoring new culinary graduates or chefs with the passion but limited training, is one of the reasons mainstream culture has gravitated towards this industry.

Restaurant shows are popping up left right and center romanticizing the restaurant industry. What restaurant shows don’t always show is the grueling hours, backbreaking work and decisions that need to happen to keep a restaurant operational, such as finding new restaurant dishes that don’t eat into a restaurant’s profits. However what’s clear is it brings together people, passion and a hell of a lot of AH-MAZ-ING food.

To pay it forward, and help continue on the tradition of being a mentor to new culinary stars, we’ve compiled 5 tweetable quotes from famous chefs – with career advice and wisdom that should go a long way to shaping your future. If you're feeling inspired by the quotes below, feel free to click each quote to tweet it individually.

“Work ethic and attitude is everything. It's the only thing that matters.” (Click to Tweet)

“I would take a less knowledgeable cook with a great attitude and work ethic over a talented prodigy with pissy attitude any day of the week. It will always make for a better team at the restaurant. I can't tell you how many amazing cooks have been through my kitchens and simply have not made the cut because of their attitude. And guess what? Three, four, five years later those cooks are still line cooks. They still complain about how much everybody else sucks around them. If you're a line cook at 25 and still one at 35, it's time to look in the mirror. I can guarantee that YOU are the problem not anyone else.”—first published in HuffPost Taste

Marc Vetri, Chef/Founder of Philadelphia’s critically acclaimed Vetri Family of Restaurants

“Taste everything. Learn to love all flavors, textures, and appreciate them for what they are.” (Click to Tweet)

“Taste everything. Learn to love all flavors, textures, and appreciate them for what they are. If you aren't tasting it, how can you serve it?”—first published in Dallas Observer’s Burning Questions Blog

Brian Zenner, Executive Chef, Belly & Trumpet

“Always be willing to learn from others. Be open-minded. Leave your ego at the door.” (Click to Tweet)

“Be relentless in the achievement of your goals. Stick to what you believe in. Surround yourself with people that support and believe in what you are trying to do. Always be willing to learn from others. Be open-minded. Leave your ego at the door. Taste your food.” – first published in Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News July/August 2014 Issue

Steve McGoey, Corporate Chef, Keg Restaurants

“You need to fully understand the business, because at the end of the day it is a business.” (Click to Tweet)

“You need to fully understand the business, because at the end of the day it is a business. If someone wants to be successful as a chef, they have to take the time to understand that some of the failures come from someone becoming a pretty decent cook, but not understanding the financial makeup of a kitchen — the food costs, the labor costs.”

"In this day and age, understanding marketing is a huge thing. If you can't market yourself, you're dead, especially in New York City. My hat's off to anybody who's successful in this business, because it's not easy, and the margins are very small. There are really no shortcuts to being a good cook. You have to cook a piece of fish a thousand times before you get it. You really have to put in the time." – first published in New York Daily News

Charlie Palmer, Chef/owner, Aureole, East Side

“Go into every situation with your eyes wide open, stay humble, work hard, never stop learning” (Click to Tweet)

“Stay sharp, have a positive attitude, go into every situation with your eyes wide open, stay humble, work hard, never stop learning and never give up. Not every day will be a great day but you can pretty much be sure that it will be different than yesterday. Enjoy the good and the bad and embrace it as learning and an opportunity to grow.” – first published in Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News Magazine March/April 2014

Judson W. Simpson, Canada’s First and Only Certified Master Chef

Old Fashioned Glasses are one of the most used glasses in a bar or restaurant because of their versatility. While traditionally, an old fashioned glass is used to serve certain cocktails such as the Old Fashioned, because of the shape of glass it can also be used by bars or restaurants as a Scotch glass for Scotch on the rocks (or neat), other alcoholic beverages such as Rum and Coke, water glasses, and more.

With Restaurants Canada stating the average foodservice operator's pre-tax profit is just 4.2% of the entire operating ratio¹, finding glassware that not only allows operator's to utilize the same glass in different ways, but also doesn't break the budget can be a problem. We’ve looked at numerous different sources of old fashioned glasses both in crystal and glass in Canada to help you determine how much they cost so you can price your drinks accordingly.

Old Fashioned Glass Price:

The first thing you need to determine is whether you want to go with a old fashioned glass made of glass or crystal old fashioned glass. Old fashioned glasses made of glass that are approximately 10oz range in price from $2.50 - $9.99 per glass. This price range is dependent on whether they’re purchased from at wholesale or retail prices, whether they are manufactured from a brand-name and the location they are manufactured. Crystal old fashioned glasses that are approximately 10oz range in cost from $3.15 - $9.99 per glass (for a similar straight style tumbler). This price range is again dependent on wholesale or retail prices, where they are manufactured and whether a brand name manufactured them.

Shipping Costs:

With an increasingly online world, there are times when you either don’t have the time or physically can’t pick up old fashioned glasses in store resulting in free shipping. If a store pick up isn’t an option, shipping costs would range based on the quantity of glasses you are ordering. Because glass and crystal are primarily air, shipping costs are charged on the dimensions of the shipment instead of the weight. For example, 10 dozen glasses across country from our warehouse in Mississauga, ON to Vancouver, BC you’d be looking at 0.50c per glass in shipping charges.

Hopefully this blog post gives you a range required to start planning your bar menu along with what budget you can allocate to tabletop supplies.

When exhibiting at the Quebexpo in March we had the chance to experience a new way to test the quality of bistro chairs. From our previous post on how strong bistro chairs are, we know that they're pretty tough chairs – our strongest we've tested to date in fact. But just because they're capable of holding a lot of weight doesn’t necessarily mean the backs won't break if customers lean back on them (and let's be honest – a lot of people lean back on chairs). One of the Quebexpo attendees showed us a great way of telling if the chair backs on a bistro chair are strong yet flexible enough to deal with a customer’s weight and adjustments as they eat or attend an event. He asked if he could see one of our NES Reliable Bistro Chairs and proceeded to do what Jonathan does in the video:

We found out after from the attendee that in cases where the plastic is too brittle (i.e. doesn’t allow flexibility for the chair to move and bend with a customer) if you attempt to bend the chair back backwards it snaps clean in two – signalling a poor quality bistro chair that won’t hold up to the rigors of the rental world.

The answer: it depends on what style of table you want. Below we’ll elaborate on what style and size wholesale tablecloth you need for a 30” x 72” rectangular banquet table.

If you want a 6ft banquet table that looks like this with a polyester tablecloth draping just to the floor:

Image Source: http://www.pacificpartycanopies.com/

a 90 inch x 132 inch polyester tablecloth will go right to the floor. These are used most regularly as the style of table for banquets and events of most kinds.

If you want your table to look like this with a polyester tablecloth draping just halfway down the legs:

Image source: http://www.middlegeorgiatentrentals.com/

a 60 inch x 102 inch polyester tablecloth will go halfway to the floor. These are used in more casual events including children’s parties.

If you want your table to look like this with a spandex tablecloth:

this includes a 6ft spandex tablecover. It provides a modern and clean line that a lot of buffets, and trade shows utilize.

There are tons of different types of crystal wine glasses out there. Some are stemless, some are stemmed. Some have rounded bowls and others have the classic tulip shaped bowl. But with the number of crystal wine glasses out there, it can be overwhelming to choose which crystal wine glass goes with which wine – unless the product has it in its title. We’ve decided to put together an easy reference post utilizing our own crystal wine glasses to help you easily determine the best wine to serve with each glass.

In our Serenity Crystal Wine Glasses Line:

Serenity 12oz Crystal Wine Glass

Best for white wine, it is the smallest wine glass available in our crystal stemware collection. A white wine glass should have a prominent U-shaped appearance to maintain the cooler temperatures. If you’re looking for a red wine glass that would pair nicely next to the 12oz Crystal Wine Glass, I would recommend the 16oz wine glass as it has the best scale in relation to the size of glass.

Serenity 16oz Crystal Wine Glass

This glass is a versatile glass in that it can be a red wine glass when paired with a 12oz glass for white wine or can be a white wine glass when paired with either the 19oz red wine glass or 22oz red wine glass. Because of its size the 16oz crystal wine glass would pair nicely with any of the other wine glasses in our Serenity line. Its scale works well with any of the glasses.

Serenity 19oz Crystal Wine Glass

This glass is best as a red wine glass due to the size of the bowl. It has a fuller, rounder bowl which allows the red wine to properly breathe. The complex aromas and flavour bouquet that exists in red wine requires a glass with a larger bowl to ensure the red wine contacts more air during the pour or swirl.

Serenity 22oz Crystal Wine Glass

This glass is again best as a red wine glass due to the size of the bowl which allows the wine to breathe.

In the Victoria Crystal Wine Glasses Line

Victoria 23oz Crystal Wine Glass

If used along with the Victoria 28oz wine glass, the 23oz makes sense to use as a white wine glass but works best with red wine in all honesty. If used entirely by itself I would recommend it as a red wine glass as it has that great bulb shaped bowl synonymous with luxury. It has the slight inward curve at the top of the glass to focus aromas and still a decent amount of room to swirl the wine.

Victoria 28oz Crystal Wine Glass

This wine glass is the ultimate shaped bowl for red wine. Bulbous and round, it allows substantial breathing for the wine. It has the slight inward curve at the top of the glass to focus the aromas and provides substantial room for swirling and swishing of the wine.

Hopefully this blog post gives you a useful reference point to look for when choosing the best crystal wine glasses for your event or establishment.