Where the term Black Hat Chefs came from
The term "Black Hats" came from my days at Ft. Benning, GA where I received Army airborne training. The "Black Hats" were the instructors that ran the school, they were hard charging and completely dedicated to what they did. The black hat symbolize a strive towards excellence. It represents someone who will take the risk and do whatever needs to be done. Black Hats are the best in what they do. Our Black Hat Chefs are a tribute to my instructors at The United States Army Airborne Infantry School, Ft Benning 1986
-Jim McGrody
-Jim McGrody
Black Hat Chefs Raleigh, NC
Inspired by Chef Jim McGrody
Chef McGrody worked for 16 years in the contract food service world. Throughout the years, he was always an advocate for training. While working for one of the "Big Three" he created the "W.O.R College" This was based on the Weekly Operating Report that managers had to send to corporate every Friday. Most of the senior managers understood it but most of the younger managers and front line supervisors had no clue where these numbers came from.
The W.O.R College was a training program created for his managers and supervisors to help them better understand their financial responsibilities. The result was overwhelming and managers began to better understand how their day-to-day management practices affected the outcome of their financials. Food cost came down.. Labor came in line and the managers had better controls of their operations. This was not a company program. It was a program McGrody created that was well needed, as many managers did not know what to do, or how to control cost.
He then began to work on the culinary side of things. As a culinary trainer for two different contract companies, he was well versed on how to train personnel in the culinary arts. He was tasked to train multiple food production personnel from various food service operations throughout the southern United States and in Arizona. He would spend hours training cooks from many different accounts on the basics of culinary foundations. His early experiences were met with resistance. Even though it was a company mandate, most managers he met did not care about great food or going from mediocre to excellence. All they were worried about was their bottom line. Not knowing that correct cooking techniques would help reduce cost and get their bottom line “in line”. It was frustrating to say the least. He knew he needed a program that had buy in, not only from the employees but from the managers as well.
After leaving the contract world in 2005, McGrody set the early version of Black Hat Chefs in motion. What he learned from a failed system made his program stronger. He knew that you needed a champion at each location, someone who could carry on the message and enforce the learning once the corporate people left. This was the answer.This was going to be different. It had to be different.
2005 Washington DC
While running a hospital food service department in Washington DC, Chef McGrody was struggling to bring restaurant quality food to his patients. The challenge was the cooks -- they were hard working but had never been trained on gourmet food preparation. They had never learned the foundations of cooking and were unable to rise to the level of service that was required. Chef McGrody began the early version of the Black Hat Chefs in 2005, in Georgetown, Washington DC, with no budget, a few videos from the Culinary Institute of America, a set of knives and an old mandolin. He did not have much to start with but he had a lot of passion for food. He wanted food cooked the right way and his mission was to train his cooks to learn the basics and start producing better food.
His first class was on batch cooking -- a cooking method where you cook food in small batches. This ensures freshness and high quality of the products being prepared. Most hospital cooks were cooking all the food at once and holding the food in hot boxes where it began to die a slow death. The food was pitiful and inedible.
Chef McGrody was on a mission to change the way patients were being fed and he needed a solid training program that could change the culture of hospital cooks forever. The Black Hat Chefs was working and the food was getting better.
Finally... a place that understood the mission of good food , September 2006 UNC Hospitals
After leaving Washington, McGrody brought his idea to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill NC. The chefs and managers there quickly embraced the program and collectively made it a very strong culinary training program. Their dedication to excellence and weekly meetings turned it into something special. The program has since taken on two diferent directions but the motives are mostly the same. That is for both hospitals to produce better cooks and ultimately better food for their patients.
Two years later Chef McGrody started the Black Hat Chefs Culinary Training Program at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC. McGrody and his team of chefs have taken this program to a new level. They developed a intensive training program based on top notch culinary schools curriculum. This program is something all of the cooks at Rex must attend .
Here is a snap shot of what is involved in this intense training.
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Inspired by Chef Jim McGrody
Chef McGrody worked for 16 years in the contract food service world. Throughout the years, he was always an advocate for training. While working for one of the "Big Three" he created the "W.O.R College" This was based on the Weekly Operating Report that managers had to send to corporate every Friday. Most of the senior managers understood it but most of the younger managers and front line supervisors had no clue where these numbers came from.
The W.O.R College was a training program created for his managers and supervisors to help them better understand their financial responsibilities. The result was overwhelming and managers began to better understand how their day-to-day management practices affected the outcome of their financials. Food cost came down.. Labor came in line and the managers had better controls of their operations. This was not a company program. It was a program McGrody created that was well needed, as many managers did not know what to do, or how to control cost.
He then began to work on the culinary side of things. As a culinary trainer for two different contract companies, he was well versed on how to train personnel in the culinary arts. He was tasked to train multiple food production personnel from various food service operations throughout the southern United States and in Arizona. He would spend hours training cooks from many different accounts on the basics of culinary foundations. His early experiences were met with resistance. Even though it was a company mandate, most managers he met did not care about great food or going from mediocre to excellence. All they were worried about was their bottom line. Not knowing that correct cooking techniques would help reduce cost and get their bottom line “in line”. It was frustrating to say the least. He knew he needed a program that had buy in, not only from the employees but from the managers as well.
After leaving the contract world in 2005, McGrody set the early version of Black Hat Chefs in motion. What he learned from a failed system made his program stronger. He knew that you needed a champion at each location, someone who could carry on the message and enforce the learning once the corporate people left. This was the answer.This was going to be different. It had to be different.
2005 Washington DC
While running a hospital food service department in Washington DC, Chef McGrody was struggling to bring restaurant quality food to his patients. The challenge was the cooks -- they were hard working but had never been trained on gourmet food preparation. They had never learned the foundations of cooking and were unable to rise to the level of service that was required. Chef McGrody began the early version of the Black Hat Chefs in 2005, in Georgetown, Washington DC, with no budget, a few videos from the Culinary Institute of America, a set of knives and an old mandolin. He did not have much to start with but he had a lot of passion for food. He wanted food cooked the right way and his mission was to train his cooks to learn the basics and start producing better food.
His first class was on batch cooking -- a cooking method where you cook food in small batches. This ensures freshness and high quality of the products being prepared. Most hospital cooks were cooking all the food at once and holding the food in hot boxes where it began to die a slow death. The food was pitiful and inedible.
Chef McGrody was on a mission to change the way patients were being fed and he needed a solid training program that could change the culture of hospital cooks forever. The Black Hat Chefs was working and the food was getting better.
Finally... a place that understood the mission of good food , September 2006 UNC Hospitals
After leaving Washington, McGrody brought his idea to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill NC. The chefs and managers there quickly embraced the program and collectively made it a very strong culinary training program. Their dedication to excellence and weekly meetings turned it into something special. The program has since taken on two diferent directions but the motives are mostly the same. That is for both hospitals to produce better cooks and ultimately better food for their patients.
Two years later Chef McGrody started the Black Hat Chefs Culinary Training Program at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC. McGrody and his team of chefs have taken this program to a new level. They developed a intensive training program based on top notch culinary schools curriculum. This program is something all of the cooks at Rex must attend .
Here is a snap shot of what is involved in this intense training.
Week One
- Basic Culinary Math
- Stock Preparation (veal, chicken, fish, fumet)
- Serve Safe Class On Food Safety
- Knife Skills
- Proper Technique of Saute
- Proper Techniques of Roasting
- Farmers' Market tour and Learning About Sustainability and Local Farms
- Practical exam -- producing a 3-course meal on the learned competencies for a panel of judges
- Written Test On Competencies
Week Two
- Culinary Math 2: Costing Patient Menus, Butchers' Yield Test, AP Cost vs EP Cost
- Product Identification. Fresh Herbs and Spices, Primal Cuts on Beef and Pork
- The Grand Sauces: All 5 are taught plus their derivatives
- Soups: classic puree, broth-based and cream-based
- Proper Technique of Grilling and Broiling
- Proper Technique of Pan-Frying and Deep-Fat Frying
- Prepare a Meal for 100 people using these techniques
- Mystery Basket Menu based on competencies learned
Week Three
- Culinary Math, Advanced concepts
- Advanced Knife Skills
- Basic Nutrition and Patient Diets
- Menu Planning and Development
- Proper Techniques of Poaching
- Proper Techniques of Braising
- Leadership Development
- Mystery Basket Practical Exam
- Written Exam
Week Four
- Currently under construction check back often to see our updates
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Email: blackhatchefs@gmail.com
Email: blackhatchefs@gmail.com