The Truth About Becoming a Chef in 2026

Speaker A: Is it worth joining the hospitality industry in 2026? Sweetgreen's consistent struggles for this year, the importance of networking in the food industry, and more. This is Ray deluci on the Repertoire Report. Before we get into this podcast, if you could please like and subscribe for this video, we are aiming to go to 2,500 subscribers on YouTube. When we do that, we will be doing a follower Q and A. So if you get us to 2,500 subscribers on YouTube, we will be doing that Q and A for you all. Also, if you're listening on Spotify or Apple, please please share with a friend and please leave a review okay, my first story today comes off of a Reddit thread that I read six days ago and I actually had some thoughts and it starts with this quote. What's the consensus on joining the hospitality industry? Tldr Everyone in here makes hospitality sound scary and not worth it. Should I even consider joining just because I like home cooking and see myself working in a professional setting? I'm currently at a crosswalk in life where many different options could be applied. One of them is joining culinary school and becoming a chef. I've loved cooking since I'm little and have learned from my dad, who used to work hospitality, and my mom, who makes dinner for the whole family very often. I'm now making whole dinners with desserts and entrees, et cetera, et cetera, for my family and find it amazing. My question is, is it really worth it to dive into the world of hospitality just because of my love outside of it, I'm, um, well aware it's nothing like home cooking. Like the scene in Ratatouille where Colette tells Linguini that she cannot be mommy because of the rush in the plates piling up. Half the people here seem to be either miserable, addicted to something, or both. And I don't know if I want to subject myself to that. Additionally, the other half in here sounds like they're getting abused by their managers would heavily appreciate realistic and sincere advice. So a lot of different pieces of advice in here, and I think that there was some good advice, some bad advice, and I just wanted to give my advice for this In 2026, should you work in the food industry? In 2026, should you work in an industry around hospitality? And I want to extend out to food because my answer is going to be very concerning a broad part of this industry that we're all in. So my answer would be that if you love food and you know, you have a passion for Food, then yes, there are many reasons why you would consider going into the food and restaurant and hospitality world. But I also wonder that if you're at a crosswalk in your career, like I've always found it interesting where people will go into the food industry from different careers and they'll automatically think they have to go into restaurants. It's like this. I have to go jump into a restaurant, go work the line, go work in like a hospitality setting. When there's so many different food positions within the food industry that maybe aren't restaurants that would actually like, benefit from the skillset you have. So if you've worked in other industries, say you, uh, were a project manager or uh, you manage product, then maybe getting into a food position that has to do with that same skill set, but more so in the food industry is a good bridge into the industry that you're trying to break into. I think that it is highly important to understand that restaurants are tough, especially in 2026. And so if you have never worked in a restaurant, if you've never worked behind the line, if you've never had that stress, I'm all for people going and trying to do that. And I think there is a good amount of people that will do that, will fall in love with it and work in restaurants. I don't think that. I find it sad that there is almost a prescription to never go to restaurants because there are opportunities to be had. I think that when someone's going into the restaurant industry, they have to very clearly level set with themselves what they're looking to get out of it. If you're simply looking to be a passionate cook or, uh, be someone who's passionate about serving food and serving people in general, then like, the restaurant industry can be very lucrative and it can be a very great career if you go about it the right way. What a lot of people fall into, in my opinion, and Justin and I have talked about this plenty of times on this podcast, is people against the restaurant industry. See the accolades and the awards for a select few and think that that automatically equals success in some fashion or way. And then they push themselves to try to go into that very small or that tight window, that group of people that have a Michelin star that are on the world's 50 best, and they kind of forget that there's a whole bounty of other different restaurant jobs or food jobs out there. But if you're coming at this from, uh, I'll go two ways. First, from someone who's young in their career looking to Maybe see this as a potential career. I do think the food industry has a lot to offer. I don't think culinary school is necessarily for everyone. Especially, uh, in a year like 2026 where, you know, Justin offers total station domination. You know, we have chef tech stack, there's a bunch of different resources on how to learn how to cook. And quite frankly, if your goal is to go into a restaurant, then I would recommend you not go to a CIA or a Johnson and Wales if you just simply want to cook in a restaurant, because the debt you will incur will likely be too high for you to pay it back. I think what CIA has transformed into, and I think why so many times it gets a bad rap from some people, is the CIA is a bachelor's degree. You know, there's a, there's a, uh, idea that you are going there for a higher education. And what a lot of people conflate with that is. And I think maybe, you know, this could be the CIA also marketing in a better way. Like you are likely going to go there and go into a higher, say highly hierarchical but like a, uh, management position, or you're going to go to a food company and be like a product manager or a project manager. Like you're likely going to go into not just being on the line. And I think where people get caught is a lot of people go to the CIA because it's deemed this from your culinary institute, which it is. But then they don't realize that if their goal was to like go cook on a line, then this might not be for them because the cost is just so high. And so if you're trying to go for a lower cost, a lower cost IND entry into the restaurant and food industry, then I'd highly suggest a community college or a cheaper program that's going to give you a little bit more bang for your buck and not incur so much debt. Now if you'd like to go into food science, which I think is one of the most underrated jobs in the entire food industry, or if you want to go into product development, which I found myself in, if you want to go into any of that, then yeah, I would suggest going to a CIA or a similar food focused food business or a food product development school that gives you the necessary training and techniques in order to be successful in that. And I think that a lot of times when people think about going into hospitality, they just jump into restaurants. But I extend hospitality out to food businesses and food manufacturers as well. You're serving people a product you're serving people food that is perishable, that, you know, has a limited shelf life. I highly recommend people look into all the different roles that they could attain in the food world beyond restaurants. And that isn't to say that restaurants shouldn't be an option. They definitely can be and should be and could be for a lot of different people. I think the one thing that people forget is in an age where AI is affecting so many different sectors, I mean, we talked about that chart where AI adoption is very low in restaurants. Automation is more so what you have to worry about. But the restaurant industry is workforce, uh, that is much healthier and m a little bit more protected from AI overreach than it is from a lot of other options. So I think that you're going to have these people coming from different industries. And why I'm leading the podcast with this and is as we get into the fall, as we get into like, understanding where to take your career, the food world has a ton of great jobs that don't necessarily reside in the kitchen. And again, it doesn't mean not to go into kitchens. But from this person who's maybe making a career change, you might have a skill set or, uh, the ability to do other tasks that rhyme with roles in the food world that you can then deploy your earned skill set into. And I think a lot of times people overlook the own skills they have because the restaurant industry is quite frankly portrayed as something that's almost alien. It's something that, you know, many people on the outside don't understand. And so then people kind of conflate that with the food world entirely. And I think that's a poor assessment. And there's a lot of food businesses, food companies, food positions you can get into with tangential skills if you do the time to do research, do have some understanding of the food business. And I think there's definitely, uh, I want to talk to those people that have gone into restaurants that are feeling burnt out. The steps to going into a food quality assurance chef position is not too far from where you're from. Like, I, during COVID worked in restaurants and I went into a job after where I was literally the in between, between R and D and operations, where I would take what R and D did and I would do it at scale and I would taste product and I would use my culinary understanding while learning about, uh, you know, how to use this much more larger food manufacturing equipment. And then I was able to translate that into R and D work. So there's like, steps and there's obviously like different paths you can go down. But I think that the biggest thing I'd say is like, yeah, I definitely think people should join the food industry in 2026. There's a lot of potential, there's a lot of opportunity, especially with all the different food industry options out there, all the different food industry businesses popping up. I think siloing yourself to just restaurants can be a, uh, negative. I also think not taking restaurants seriously can be a negative. You know, we have seen some improvements in the restaurant industry from the National Restaurant association over the last, over the summer and we, I do think there is still going to be great operators doing different eating know, having different kinds of success. You know, Justin's been very bullish on the hotel, like really tight, focused, like luxury dining. There's the private chef gigs that are really doing well. And I've met a ton of people private chefing, food media who might not even like, they don't really have a formal culinary training. They kind of taught themselves or learned as they went and they've been able to deploy the skill set they had before food with the skill set they gained in food to really carve out a great uh, career for themselves. And so I'd highly recommend, I had, I would highly recommend like taking stock of your skill set. I think that the food industry is when you should definitely consider in 2026, I think that hospitality and restaurants should be considered for those who understand what they're going into it for, they understand the realities of the work. There are good operators, there are good systems in place. There are also terrible operators and there's also a, uh, very unhealthy lifestyle that can come with restaurants. So understanding and having the right leadership, the right mentorship and going to the right business is critical and crucial if you're considering going into the food industry in 2026. And lastly, I would say there is a ton of different options you can find within the food world that might not be restaurant, but could be restaurant adjacent or could be adjacent to a skill set you had in a previous career. And quite frankly the food industry needs talented, smart and you, uh, know driven individuals, much like any industry or. But what I found is that the food industry really rewards you in terms of the ability to find and carve out your own niche and path within the food world. And I, I, I think it is a great industry. It's something I love. I couldn't imagine doing anything else outside of food, but my path has definitely twisted and turned and gone in a Bunch of different directions to where I'm at now. But that all came with just being willing to go, hey, like, I, I want to learn, maybe learn some new things. I might not have all the skillset, but I'm gonna try to try to go somewhere new and see what happens. Uh, I think that, you know, there's some advice I wanted to maybe just highlight. There was someone said that it's not the easiest career path. You have to put in a lot of time before you make decent money. If you're not extraordinarily talented, really passionate, aren't extremely turned off by all the cons of being a cook, I suggest staging or getting entry level cook job. Yeah, I really like this. But first I just want to say, like, whenever advice is given about someone joining the food industry, it's always like restaurant lens focused. Whereas, like, there's so many different ways you can join into this area. So I just want to like keep pounding that drum. Someone says. And I don't know if I agree with this first statement, but some. This person says, most adults are dead inside, no matter the occupation. For those of us crazy enough to cook food for a living and make it their career, your passion must outweigh the negatives when you cook. And this is what I resonated with because I always felt this. When you cook food, you have a chance to directly change someone's day, possibly even give them an experience they will remember forever. I get to touch people's lives with what I do, and it keeps me going and I love it. There's also what is called the flow. And when you are good at something and get into the flow and everything else fades away, that level of focus is addictive. You don't have to do drugs or alcohol. I've been through various stages, sobriety in my career, but by no means am I a poster child for that. You get to work long hours, miss nearly every important family or friend event, work every holiday, destroy your body by the time you are 40, and unless you develop the grit to find your own path and shape your own destiny, this career will swallow you whole. Whether or not it's worth it is up to you. But in most industries, the number of people who are passionate about what they do is a small percentage, at least in ours. As a chef, I can surround myself with people who have passion for what they do as long as I choose to do so. And then someone else finally said this. It is possible to have your cake and eat it too. The jobs exist, the ones that give you the creative out outpouring that you look for good hours, benefits and a good team. And I will say that I've seen and agree with that. However, you have to understand how incredibly rare those jobs are. And I would push back on that because if you're looking in restaurants, yes, like some especially fine dining restaurants, but if you're looking into the broader food manufacturing, food development sector, then they're not as rare as you might think. I'll say this. The one thing I'll say is, like, if you're not passionate about food, you should not enter this industry. You need to love food. You need to love something about food. You need to love, uh, preparing it for others, the ability to develop a product, the ability to develop a menu. There needs to be something that draws you to this industry. You definitely need passion. And it's not just like, oh, I like to eat xyz. You need to love the act of preparing food in some format. If you don't love food, then no, I would recommend you not enter this industry because at the end of the day, you really do need to love this, this industry to, like, be of any impact. Like, I do this podcast because I love the food industry. If I didn't love the food industry, I would hate doing this podcast. Like, everything I touched within the food industry comes from a sense that I love cooking. I'll never forget that, uh, when I started, when I was like in high school, in a vocational school, remember, being like, my goal is like, I just want to be able to step into a kitchen in my home kitchen and just be able to create whatever I wanted because I had so much knowledge. And I'm not saying that I'm there necessarily yet, but my Rolodex of what I could just whip up in a, in my home kitchen, like, uh, that's always been my, my measuring stick. It's like, yeah, like, if someone was craving something in my house, I could literally just go make it because I know so much about cooking. Or I could easily work, like, read a recipe or read a reference point and go make it. Understand exactly the techniques needed to achieve what I need to do. And so, yes, I think the food industry is very, could be very lucrative for some in 2026. You need to go into it with the right goals. You need to have an own understanding of your talents, your pros and your cons, like what you're good at, what you're not good at, what you enjoy and what you don't enjoy. You need to have a realistic vision of where you see your food career going. Of course, reaching out to Justin can help you with that. You know, the total station domination, chef tax, all these different things, these tools that we've built here that Justin's built here, repertoire that I help him with are highly valuable. So I highly suggest going to the description down below to learn more about those. All right, next up on the podcast is I want to stay, um, on this idea of the importance of networking in the food industry. So this is another. This is in Line Cook's Reddit thread, and this person says, I've been working in kitchens for almost 30 years. One thing I never learned to do is network. Despite a long and moderately successful run, people in the community I work in don't know who I am or what I'm capable of. I feel like I still have a solid 10 years yet, and I want to make the most of it. But terrified of putting myself out there. And honestly, I can relate to this. I, I've struggled personally with some, like, social anxieties and items like that or like that. That, like, that has been an, um, issue. I've had to force myself to really put myself out there because kitchens are intimidating, restaurants are intimidating. The food industry is intimidating. I can't stress enough, though, how small of an industry the food industry is and, and how critical and vital to success networking is in this industry. Networking is so, so important. I've gotten so many different opportunities, so many different, just cool experiences. Sometimes the experiences that are, don't, uh, that are not profitable, they don't add to your bank account, but you're just, like, grateful you've gotten them. There's so many different things that come from networking. You get in contact for someone and you're on the contract for three months doing work. You get in contact with someone and you get a new job or you get relocated. You get in contact with someone that you might have known a few years ago, they're in your, they're in your city to cook or just visit, and you end up getting dinner and catching up. And it's a, it's an enjoyable time that you might not have realized you needed. Uh, my advice for networking is just be willing to talk to anyone and everyone in the industry. Be willing to listen, be willing to ask questions. You can really get caught into a trap where you know all. And so therefore, you don't need to ask anyone any advice. You don't need to inquire. And being inquisitive, being interested, being able to go out and just talk to People is like, so, so important for your success in the food world. Justin is. You know, I talk about Justin like, you know, I have a large network, but Justin has, um, a greater network. And it's his ability to cultivate that network, keep in touch with people, have an understanding of what the food industry offers and like all the people within it. And just being a solid human being has served him well. And it served me as well as well. Like the, the network you build is critical to your success. I almost, when people ask me, going back to the joining the food industry bit, was the CIA worth it? It was worth it for me because I knew that I wanted to get more so into food business. I maybe didn't know that till the end, but I realized that, like, that's where my, my suit. Strong suit was. But I'll always say it was the ability to meet new people and network and open up my worldview. Like, that was just so critical for me as a person to be able to like, go see something outside of Buffalo, New York, and see and meet people from different cultures and see how they have different wants and different goals and how they approach the food. Food entirely. So for me, like, networking is something that is so undervalued. It's not talked about enough. And it sometimes, like, feels like common sense. But I truly can't make you appreciate enough how building a strong network, you know, asking for contact information when you meet someone that you want more information on, being willing to talk and ask questions, being willing to give advice. You never know. And it's like always seen in this lens that you're like, reaching out to someone maybe more talented or more skilled to you and your perception. But you never know how being nice to someone that is like, quote, unquote, lesser skilled than you five years ago might rebound later on when they own their own restaurant group and they're looking for a solid chef or they're looking for someone to help them develop recipes on. Networking is so important. And in an, uh, industry where we can kind of curl up and kind of become like, insulated, I think that the people that do really well simply have built great networks and they're able to meet new people and understand the social relationship dynamics of people within the food world. And what ends up happening is. What ends up happening is you are able to meet new people, get new opportunities. But more than that, you just brought in your own repertoire, no pun intended, and you're able to just kind of ensure that, you know, if you end up leaving a place, you, you have options if you, you never know who's going to reach out because they think you're talented and give you an opportunity. And the more you network, the more that the, I just see networking as, the more you are able to do it, the more chance of positive outcomes somewhat happening somewhere down the line. The high, the higher likelihood of that happening. It just, it just increases in my opinion. So just wanted to share that, uh, piggyback off of the last story. All right, a couple quick stories. First is Sweet Green. So the Fitness Institute had an interesting article. I covered Sweet Green last year and I find Sweet Green interesting because it lives in like this health, fast, casual territory. And with the psycho explorer outbreak and everything else going on, I wanted to follow back up and I thought the Food Institute had a great article. It's by Vince Barton and the title is Sweet Green's Turnaround Has Problems beyond an outbreak quote In November 2021, Sweetgreen held its IPO. The stock priced at $28 and jumped, um, 76% to 4,950. At that price, Sweet Green's market capitalization was over $5 billion. On Thursday afternoon. Sweetgreen reported earnings for the second quarter of 2026 into trading Friday. Its shares dropped 9% by midday and nearly 90% decline from the first day close. At that stock price, Sweetgreen now has a market capitalization of 640 million. So from 5 billion to 640 million, accounting for $143 million in cash on the balance sheet, the market now values the operating business at just about $500 million. Given the anticipation that greeted the IPO, that valuation is stunning. Sweetgreen now is worth less than the likes of kura sushi and breakfast chain First Watch, which is like, really incredible to think about. Both fine businesses, but never viewed as potentially transformative in the way Sweetgreen was. And incredibly, that optimism around the IPO wasn't a one off. As recently as late 2024, the chain's valuation cleared the $4 billion mark. But since 2024, they've struggled badly. Same restaurant sales grew more than 6% in 2024, an impressive performance in a tough environment that suggests that the business was on the right track. Last year, however, those sales declined almost 8 percentage points in the company's annual report. Comparable restaurant traffic fell, uh, more than 10%. The first half of 2026 hasn't been much better, with visits falling another 6% in the second quarter. Sweetgreen did not show signs of life. The traffic trend improved materially from minus 11% in Q1 to minus 2% over the following three months, management said. Uh, within the quarter, visits rose steadily with flat performance. For the month of June. Data from Placer AI actually tipped a better quarter. The firm thought same store traffic was up nearly 4% in June, but showed the same steady increase in customers. There are two big, big problems that Food Institute shares. First is acyclospiasis outbreak that has nothing to do with company like Sweet Green doesn't even use the iceberg lettuce that appears to be the source of the parasite. But many consumers aren't making that differentiation. They're finding and the company has estimated that July same restaurant sales were hit by about 6 percentage points due to fear of the outbreak. Again, they're not even using the iceberg lettuce that is having issues with the outbreak and they're having this, uh, this issue. The problem there however, is that it's not entirely clear what the turnaround, that the turnaround is working at least not an appropriate cost. Um, so they go on to say that in combination rarely seen in restaurants. And this is why I found this so interesting. Sweet Green same restaurant revenue fell 6.2% but mix did most of the harm, driven principally by the shift to wraps. Mix took more than 4 percentage points off sales. At the same time, Sweetgreen took no pricing for the year, despite higher input costs. Management pointed out that broader price trends have badly lagged both restaurant and even grocery inflation over the last several years. In other words, to some extent sweetgreen is buying better traffic either through offering simply lower priced meals by not passing along input costs to protect margins. Which is interesting from a consumer standpoint because you go, oh wow, that's really awesome. They're not passing off the cost of all this increased cost of doing business, but consumers are not reciprocating this idea. So they just go on to say that, you know, the $16 salad problem, um, in the, in a year where like people are, um, you know, worried about if there's just all this worry and then lastly there's growing execution problems. Wraps did contribute to same sort of sales, but same store sales. But they share that the launch did not go as well as testing. The company is talking about changing its marketing both in the message it delivers and who it targets. Tests are being run in custom salad orders, scheduling and app personalization, and that it was reworking potentially its entire pricing architecture. They go on to say it's possible certainly to say sweetgreen is a strong concept, but also a young business having to deal with new issues outside its control. From that view, the current situation is almost unfair. Just as the chain was figuring out how to respond to inflation and affordability issues, it was waylaid by an outbreak at other restaurants involving a, uh, product it doesn't even sell. The more skeptical view is that those issues simply brought to the fore ongoing concerns about strategy, execution and management. Whichever interpretation is right, sweetgreen has a lot of work left to do. So again, I find it fascinating. Sweetgreen is one of these restaurant pro groups, IPOs that was like a darling back in the early 2000s and is totally cratered. I'm interested to see what happens next. I'd love to hear if you are following this and what are your thoughts like? Do you go to Sweet Green? Do you what? Do you have any insight as to why sweetgreen is not doing well? Would love to hear your thoughts on the situation. All right, next up there are Salmonella jalapeno outbreak that is affecting other restaurants such as Qdobo and Chipotle. Very scary stuff in the cyclosporiasis, uh outbreak and now unfortunately, jalapenos. This uh is from Restaurant Dive where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 345 people across 27 states have fallen ill in a salmonella outbreak tied to contaminated jalapeno peppers distributed by coast citrus distributors. The vast majority, which is 93% of patients interviewed as part of the public health investigations, reported eating at Mexican restaurants before falling ill. According to the U.S. food and Drug Administration. Patients reported the onset of illnesses from June 19 to July 20. So almost an entire month on July 20, Chipotle switched suppliers for jalapenos and stopped serving the potentially contaminated products. Qdoba did the same on July 28. Both brands issued statements of this week explaining the rationale for the product removals. Chipotle said its Ingredient Traceability system identified jalapenos from a particular grower in Sinaloa, Mexico and distributed by Coast Citrus distributors as a common ingredient from a common lot. Proactively remove them from the restaurants where they have been distributed and replace them with product from different growers. Qdobo said they're pulling them out of an abundance of caution of pulling all jalapenos from their stores. The brands are not alone in pulling peppers from the stores. On Thursday, Sweet Green CEO Jonathan Neiman disclosed the salad chain had removed and discard discarded all jalapenos from the supplier in the affected areas. Quote Jalapenos are using only two of our 15 dressings and nowhere else on our menu representing a very small portion of our sales mix. So you have the cycle splur outbreak for sweet green and then you have the salmonella issue and it is just a nightmare. Just a nightmare. And then lastly you have this beef recall from Argentina. Nearly 30 this from USA Today you nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef recall. See the effective products. Nearly 30, 30,000 pounds of raw beef products imported from South America have been recalled in two states because they entered the United States without undergoing a required inspection. Courtsy Argentina USA LLC located at Aventura, Florida recalled approximately 29,000 pounds of raw beef imported from Argentina. The Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service products were produced between May 15 and May 20 and have used by a freeze by dates of 9-15-20. According to the FSIS announcement, the problem was discovered during routine FSIS inspection activities. This recall is being classified as a Class 1 recall, which according to the USDA means a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death. No confirmed cases of illness have been linked to these products. So just a final recall update for beef as well. So just being aware, being diligent and, you know, hopefully there's a, you know, there's a control, uh, on this. It shows and highlights the importance of food safety in this country. And I just hope that, you know, we get this under control because it's honestly just insane. All right, my last story before we head out of here on this repertoire report is I got to go see the Tony Bourdain biopic or Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony last Monday m August 7th for a premiere. And I just wanted to kind of shout out a 24 and the CIA. This isn't a full review. Justin and I are going to be doing some more of movie slash Kitchen Confidential content later on in September. But I just wanted to kind of share that I was very impressed with what A24 did. The whole premise of this initial release was obviously for press screenings and whatnot. But what they did is they did it on a Monday and they called it Industry night. And if you've ever worked in restaurants, you'll know that Industry night is often held on Mondays. It's when most restaurants are closed or most restaurant workers are off. And it's, uh, a gathering at a certain restaurant or place where industry people can come and, you know, network chat, have a good time, just enjoy a night with their peers in a different food city. So what 8 24. And the CIA did is an open table is they hosted this pre screening. And so I got to go see the movie early. And I just thought it was a very smart and tactical way to kind of, uh, uh, a movie that was very aware of what. What it was trying to portray, what it was trying to portray about Tony. I said in my Instagram, kind of quick reaction, it's not a full life biopic. It's about him, 19 years old, working in kitchens. And I don't want to say much more than that because I think it's a great movie and you should definitely go see it. But I really enjoyed it and I was really surprised by it. Like, the reverence of cooking in an extent. It's interesting because there were some in the beginning where it was like, oh, is this going to just, like, be a, uh, you know, glamorization of the negative consequences of the negative aspects of the food industry? But I really feel like they did a good job of like, trying to really portray what is, like, good and what is bad within the food world and kind of the love and reverence probably that Anthony Bourdaini had for the food industry and kind of what, what the origin story of how he was kind of morphed into and led into later on in his life. And when I went there, I got a pretty cool shirt, I got a hat, I got a, like a book of matches. I just thought, like I said, it was really well done. And I was just pretty impressed with the idea that they really put their time to go ahead and talk to the food industry people. There was an even, uh, video before the screening with Matt Johnson and Dominic Sessa and the other actor in the movie where they go, hey, like, we, we made a movie about you, and they're talking about the food industry people. And so I just thought I was very in touch and I thought it was very geared, uh, towards anyone who works in the food world. And so I think that if you worked in the food industry in some capacity, you'd really enjoy this movie and it would resonate with you in some way. So I definitely, you know, obviously recommend going to see it if you have the opportunity to do so. But I just wanted to share that experience. Like I said, we'll talk much more in depth about both the movie and how Kitchen Confidential holds up. But overall, I just thought it was a really cool experience that I really hadn't seen. And I think that any time, you know, media is portraying the food world, portraying line cooks, portraying chefs, anytime Media is kind of out there trying to capture or, you know, utilize this industry to be able to have some recognition, respect, reverence for the people that work in it and kind of the food, you know, the, the, the people that are a, uh, part of it, that make it up, that make it possible for these things to happen, to have that recognition, to have that reverence and care and understanding and intentionality for them, I think was really awesome. And I really hope that that doesn't go unnoticed for people in the food industry, because I know there's been some backlash about whether or not Anthony Bourdain would even want this made. But just from my personal opinion, I think that the way they went about trying to include in some way people within the food world, you know, obviously current Culinary Institute of America students and, uh, people that worked in industry and like, really labeling it, uh, industry night, I just thought it was smart. I thought it was a really nice tactical way. I had some friends that went, they enjoyed the movie, they enjoyed the, the recognition of people in the food industry. And I think that, like, when a company does that and they, they, they tackle the story of someone who's so important to this industry and to so many different people that you, you can't help but feeling. But leave feeling a little bit impressed with what they did. So, like I said, we'd love to hear if you've seen Tony by the time you watch this or you are watching this and you see Tony later on. Like, we'd love to hear your thoughts and we'd love to hear your thoughts on how they kind of rolled out the marketing for this movie and how they've really kind of leaned into the restaurant worker piece of it in, in a, uh, small but I think, meaningful way. That is all I have for this week's repertoire report. Again, a lot to go over. I will be back with Justin next week. Just a friendly reminder that at 2,500 subscribers, we are doing a Q and A. So please subscribe and share with a friend. If you're watching on Spotify or Apple, please leave a review. And yeah, like, uh, I just want to say, like, you know, we took the week off last week. We're back to record today. Back to my original point. The food industry is fun. It is hard. It is tough. It is. It'll, you know, kick your ass. It'll be something that is very challenging but is also very rewarding. And there's so many different opportunities like the Tony movie or just so many other things that I, you know, could go on for hours about that I've just gotten to do and see and be a part of because of my involvement in this industry. And I would say that if you're ever thinking of joining it, like, it definitely is worth it. So if you're in it, you hopefully know that. So thank you all for listening, has been a pleasure, and I will see you all on the next Repertoire Report. Again, please subscribe if you have not 2500 subscribers are doing a Q and A, and we'll see you on the next podcast.