Joe Bill had approached me to be the Executive Chef at "Swan's Landing" and I was excited about this opportunity. He had experience in the business, and it was in Tahoe. This restaurnat was on the Lake had over 200 seats and was considered by many to be the best in the area. I thad never made a profit and had always been subsidized by the owner. Joe had acquired it from when the owner sold out to a developer. The developer would continue to a thorn in Joe's side the whole time he was running Swan's. I went to Bottle Bay and met the developer and Joe and some of their relative's and friends. This was a small lakeside par ty with an Island theme. We arricved on my boat so the evening was sure to be good. After introdcudtions and a drink or two we left and let them continue their event. The vibe was good and energy was right. So I was even more enthused at this point. I spent the next three weeks working on the menu and dealing with hiring issues. It was mid summer so many of the best employees had work. The remainder of the local employees that wanted to work had been hired at the festival so the remainder, the ones we ended up hiring were not the cream of the crop. Some where down right scary or mental. As a steak house we wanted the best steaks we could get. All would be hand cut and we also made our own hamburger. WE tasted steaks from several vendors and ended up with One of FSA's private high end labels that the owner had just developed and released for public sale. It was fantastic. As one of the manager's I had to deal with many of the staff issues when Joe was out working on growing the business. The staff would show up drunk or high and wonder why I would send them home or even a few I had to fire for their obvious lack of caring and rebellion. We tried Sunday brunch, dance parties, live bands, just about everything that would drive business. But the landlord did not want this. He wanted simple and posh even if it meant an empty place.
One of the major success's that Joe developed was a copperative venture with Goodwill Industries to start a cooking school as part of the job retraining effort in the state. We used an 18 week curriculum from Johnson and Wales and well as the Serve-safe program. I was the initial instructor who taught both the serve-safe class and the culinary arts portion of the program. We had 14 initial students from around the region. We had class in the morning and practical application labs in the afternoon. Some were hired on at the restaurant and worked extra hours as well. This was a fantastic venture and many of the students still work in the area.
We planned our grand opening Aug 11 and had trained the stafff on the menu. At the last moment we changed the menu and opened with out a trained crew. (Red Flag). This type of radical behavior became more evident over the next several months. In conjunction with the 7 day weeks and 16 hour days we were working Joe and Iwent into stress overload. This was such a huge venture.
Making the best of a bad situation. We did our best to deal with the daily issues. The outdated POS system still running on DOS from company that did not exist anymore. Dealing with a landlord who on a daily basis was sticking his nose into the restaurants operations duties and driving a wedge between the staff. Working against the old owner who was sueing over name rights. The list just went on and on. Joe tried his best to stay positive, but some days it was just overwhelming for both of us.
The ever popular 6am to 1 am shift 7 days a week takes its toll.
Almost a year had passed and the stress was mounting on a daily basis with no end in sight.
I finally decided to give notice and move on. The red flags were just to much for me to stay on board. Joe hired another cook to train and he had a huge ego. He intervened in the classes and undermined my lessons. I called him out several times to no avail. So I cancelled class and left him to his inflated ego. Joe and I ended up in a big yelling match with threats and cops when I finally returned for my belongings. I was an ending that I was ashamed of. Later on I passed on this info through a mutual friend to Joe that I was sorry, but I have talked to him since that experience. Today the restaurant has gone through managers leasing from the developer. It has changed it's name and menu and all have failed. Currently it has gotten good reviews and seems to be holding it's own. I wish them well in that seemingly cursed location.
SO I had worked my way through the restaurant's of Sandpoint and the lake. I had burned out on my boat and the woman in my life had run me ragged and used up all my charity and finances. So I went on a roadtrip to visit my mom in Canada and clear my head. When I returned to Idaho I packed up my belongings into storage units and left in my subaru, heading for Omaha to see my sister and look for work in a city with over 5,000 restaurants.
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| Photo courtesy of Goodwill Industries) Swan’s Inn Restaurant Executive Chef Shawn Dickensheets teaches the Inland Northwest Culinary Arts course provided by the cooperative efforts of the Goodwill Industries and seven area restaurants. |
The Journey continues...
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