Somedays at Southern weren’t all the glory and delight that I reflect upon when I look back at my tenure there. We opened back in 2012 and I think we might’ve had a combine 18 months of harmony in the 9 years I spent sticking all of my fingers into the dam leaks that needed most of my toes too.

All those years we never had a stable GM or KM for the most part. LTO was the only concept that graduated two really solid GMs that are now proud representatives of Community Tap which puts a smile on my face to see two good people go to a fine company with a great reputation.

Southern we pushed out GMs like a pez dispenser. We had a couple come and go that would’ve done well had they stayed but the constant turmoil of the restaurant business pushed out too soon.

We had some not so good ones too that I’m just elated didn’t burn the fucking place down whenever I stepped out of the building.

Side note Southern almost burned down twice the first two years..

I didn’t have much to do with the GMs the first three years my partner handled the front while I handled the back. It worked for a bit until after the first partnership crisis.

Kitchen managers were of the same chaos there. I lost my first one about a month after opening for a dozen different reasons. He had quite the impact when he was hired and was released the day before our first weekend brunch.

The next one stuck around for a couple of years but it was mostly me standing behind him making sure the roof didn’t fall on his head. He meant well but was more interested with his tinder app and what little brains he used for work he usually kept it in his Johnson.

He never let the truth get in to way of a good story. Especially when discussing his culinary background. I lost count of how many women at Southern that broke his heart. I let him go for his third tardy in a row. I got tired of him clocking my kitchen staff in early to make up for waiting for him in the parking lot every morning. When I let him go his last words to me where “at least it’s raining”

The next guy had a solid background with a local chain. He was somewhat professional and talked a good resume. He had the leadership skills of Kim Jong and suffered from a massive napoleon syndrome. He was 5’6” ish when standing on his toes. His palate was terrible (looking at you pork chop special with cranberry glaze and smoked coleslaw. He also had 20 different recipes containing leeks because every weekend it seemed I had some sort of protein laying over some sad wilted leeks.

He also broke the cardinal sin, don’t ever cry in front of the line cooks. He did. It was over after that.

In the 9 years I spent in my old company I was the main guy in the kitchen 6 of those years. Even when Dive, LTO and Habitap were around. It made for a fun time. I kept my leash tethered at Southern. She was always my favorite.

2016 I was training a new KM named Josh. He was a solid human with a good background and he had a good temperament. He was on his first week and his only itinerary for that month was to work and shadow on the line. My KMs were never administrative. Your prep table was your desk. You worked a position during crunch time and you never sat in the office unless you were doing data entry. It’s a system I was bred from. The GM was the administrator. The KM was the motor. I had an office too. It stayed nice and dusty.

Saturdays could be a real mother fucker at Southern. We would do about 200- 300 covers for brunch, flip the restaurant in 2 hours and feed another couple of hundred with a completely different menu with additional weekend features. This particular Saturday it was all that along with a 200 person catering downtown.

To accomplish this feat of a triple service day I needed everything to go exactly to plan. If you’ve worked in a restaurant for more than one hour then you know it’s an impossible feat. I spent a lot of time crossing my knife riddled fingers.

To start my day off with a bang my egg guy was a no show at 8am

9am

And then 10am

Line cooks are overachievers when it comes to sleeping in. I’ve driven to many a homes to beat on doors or if you leave them unlocked you may find me standing over your bed smiling with a redbull can in my hand.

It was all out of love y’all. I had a passion that was hard to pinch and a restaurant with a fat monthly lease that needed to be paid. I’ve only had one employee threaten violence for waking them up and I gave them that opportunity. They declined

I could never see myself doing such a thing now. I was in such a rage for so many years.

I drove about 2 miles down Pleasantburg to wake my egg guy up. Got him going and 3 minutes before I had my brunch line accounted for. One short of course because that was the standard most of the time. When we are short handed I would prep and run up to the line to run inside expo if tickets went over a certain amount. Then I run back and prep for dinner service while keeping stock on grits, biscuits, gravies, pancake mix, gallons of waffle mix, pudding portioning oh and I was also prepping for a 200 person catering. There would be no break, it was 15 hours on my feet. I was primed for it. As I always told myself.

The employee I had taken the time to drive to their home to wake up was also interested in becoming my km number 4. He wasn’t selling himself that well. He had potential. We was a great line cook. He had talent and an ego to match.

When he walked into work he was upset I had hired a KM in training. He had never approached me about the km job but as an employer you’ve got a good feel for the ones that want to climb the ladder but sometimes they miss the rungs. He had missed quite a few and this wasn’t the first time I looked up his address.

When brunch service ended at 3pm he decided to end his employment with the company and left with no word to say. I would’ve been clueless to the situation had it not been for Brady, one of my long time guys who now helps me at the deli, was leaving for his break and came right back in once he had received a text saying “I quit” or whatever it might’ve read but it meant we were going to now be two people short. Brady rode that wave with me all night. Which is another reason why he fills in at the deli with me.

I tried to call the employee but he wouldn’t answer his phone. My new KM in training spent the evening with a raised eyebrow noting the chaotic environment he was witnessing all day. He said it wasn’t a big deal but he put in his notice the next month.

I cannot recall anything about the catering other than 200 plus Mac and cheese balls. It was a $3k catering on top of a $12k day with three line cooks all day, one trainee and myself. The kitchen never flailed but man it was smoke and mirrors all night. By 9pm we had 86’d most of our menu. My partner actually took a moment to question why it went so bad.. Could’ve possibly been one of our last conversations together. Partnerships are like marriages sometimes. They don’t always work out.

We got the catering out too. We were spent. To add more fuel to the fire we still had to reckon with Sunday brunch the next morning with no egg guy. Every single linecook worked from 8- 11pm that night without a break except for the cigarette suck down on the way to the dumpster. They were the fucking heroes of the day.

I have what I call “notches” on my work belt that I added emotionally and mentally that I use to refer to what took you out of the business. This was a big one.

Pretty sure the water heater went out that night too. We were boiling pots of water to put in the three compartment sink to wash dishes.

At least I had a dishwasher that evening.

I can’t place these in order from worst to worst but this one stuck with me for awhile. It definitely took a permanent chunk out of my passion.

I haven’t spoken to that employee since that day. It’s nothing personal I get it. Somewhat. He would be one of at least a few dozen walkouts over the years.

When I departed from my old company and would wrap my head around another concept this story along with a few others would always pop in my head and I’d immediately think “fuck you no thanks”

I’ll even share this story in much more colorful detail when someone wants to talk to me about opening their own spot.

I’ll ignore the irony of writing this before a busy Saturday at the deli with two of my employees that were there that day.

At least I can say I’ve got two veteran warriors that have my back.