We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tae Strain a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tae, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

The most challenging part of running a small scale supper club is the constant change. We have similar themes that run through each event and that drive the food, but not having a ‘home base’ makes it hard to maintain rhythm. That said we are incredibly fortunate to have a generous industry friends who have supported us and provided spaces/resources/staff etc.

The other main issue is the sporadic nature of the supper club. We typically will do 1-2 public events per month so you don’t have the luxury of refining your dishes-systems-culture day in and day out as you would in a restaurant setting. I think this is the main reason I look forward to finally opening a brick and mortar space. I truly love what we do because it always feels special, however I miss the constant learning opportunities that come with full time restaurants.

Tae, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Here we go –

I am a chef by trade and have spent most of my career cooking in NYC, SF, DC, and Baltimore. I never expected to be in this business, but came to a fork in the road moment after College where I had to think long term. Cooking was a passion but never seemed like a career. Nonetheless I choose this path and have been blessed to have had so many amazing experiences.

You hear often that Food is the great equalizer, and I truly believe that. It is the lowest hanging fruit to connect people and culture. The industry is so global, but becomes such a small community with only a few degrees of separation.

Any advice for managing a team?

Prioritize the happiness and stability of your team before anything else. Before opening a restaurant, before writing menus, before putting events together…the most important thing you can do is define who you want to be as a leader and you want your culture to be.

At the end of the day the well being of your staff will guides your guest experience. This is the business of hospitality, ie, the business of making people happy. There simply is no way to provide that sense of warmth to your guests if your staff isn’t invested, and your culture isn’t positive.

That said, culture isn’t just about the intangible qualities. It is about creating healthy, functional, and efficient systems that allow staff to do their jobs to the best of their ability. These notions have to work holistically or the whole cannot succeed. This requires you to set clear expectations, and equally as important, work each day to protect and uphold them. Often there is a notion that if you set your systems, or you put something in writing, then you have done your job and any mistakes are 100% the fault of your employees. This could not be more untrue. Systems require constant attention. Once they are in place and your culture is positive, it is your job as a leader to ensure you are holding yourself more accountable then anyone else in the business.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I believe that my generation of chefs were often trained in kitchens that did not prioritize the ‘team’. They were built on the classic pirate ship mentality wherein you had to be the best and that was your focus. If others around you couldn’t keep up, it wasn’t your problem, it was theirs. You can easily get stuck in this mentality. The reality is that team success is your success. Even if you have a great service and all your food is perfect, if the rest of the kitchen struggles, then the bottom line suffers. The real lesson is simply seeing the big picture of what it means to be part of a thriving team.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ggoma-supperclub.com/basic-01
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ggoma.supperclub/
• Facebook: –
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tae-strain-491b70196/
• Twitter: –
• Youtube: –
• Yelp: –
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• Other: –

Image Credits

@katkimballphoto

@marjanneco

@caeancouto