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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
American Chris Spear has been cooking food for others since he was 16 years old.
Spear has worked for a chef at large restaurants, and even had almost 100 employees reporting to him.
But there came a time when he grew tired of this job and wanted to be more creative. So he stopped working for restaurants and set up his own food catering2 business. It is called Perfect Little Bites.
Spear told VOA that spending many hours preparing food doesn’t make him feel tired. But he was concerned that becoming an independent chef, and not working in a restaurant, would make him feel lonely.
That led him to create an online networking group called Chefs Without Restaurants. It is a place for chefs to exchange ideas, advice, and even customer referrals.
Bringing chefs together virtually
Spears says that, while the service is new, the idea for it is not.
"I've been thinking about the Chefs Without Restaurants for about five years now, even before I took Perfect Little Bites full time because I kept thinking about, 'Well, when I do this full time, who are going to be my colleagues? Who are going to be the people who I can bounce ideas off? How am I going to be able to do things like cater1 an event that's maybe outside my range of 30 people? Like, do I have a resource where I can pull in one or two other people?”
?Spear said he didn’t feel like having full-time3 employees for his catering business. But he did want a way to communicate with others in the food preparation business.
The online group started last January. Since then, around 100 chefs have joined it.
Spear said that independent chefs have many different kinds of businesses, but don’t always get recognized. He wanted to use the group to bring attention to chefs who normally would not get it.
“I wanted to have something that's beneficial, but also didn't cost money. We are a Facebook group where I can just post and say, ‘hey next Wednesday a customer wants to do dinner here and the price range, where they live, if anyone is maybe interested, send me a personal message and I get you their info(rmation)."
Spears thinks this network can help those not working in the food service industry. He and other chiefs are building a website that lists the group’s members, what their specialties4 are, which ones are able to cater large parties and personal chefs for smaller events.
Cooperation instead of competition
Lana and Bobby Browner are a wife and husband team who own their catering business Bent5 and Bent Events in Frederick, Maryland.
The Browners specialize in Creole and Caribbean cooking. They also prepare and mix together foods that are available locally, in Frederick County, Maryland.
When the Browners heard about Chefs without Restaurants, they decided6 to become members.
The biggest difficulty for many chefs, they said, is that they don’t often form partnerships7 because they are competing for business.
?"But you don't have that in this group," Lana Browner noted8. "What we experience so far is a lot of learning about different chefs in the area.” It's even been interesting to get comments from chefs that work outside Frederick, she added.
The food community embraces idea
Chefs without Restaurants is also bringing more business to local eateries. One example is Maryland Bakes, a place where members often meet and prepare food in a common area.
Terri Rowe, owner of Maryland Bakes, says the group brings more energy to local small food businesses.
"They bring connections," she says. "They bring creative ideas and just the whole network of independent people joining together."
The group is popular with the local food community.
Olive9 Oil and Vinegar is one of the local stores Spear likes to visit. It often holds events to present cooking ideas and let chefs meet their customers.
Store owner Sharon Streb says small businesses should help one another succeed.
"I think by sharing that and having them come to the store," Streb explains. "They get in front of our customers and, hopefully, we get in front of their customers. That's a win-win for both of us.”
She adds that it’s difficult for small businesses, and many don’t succeed, so it’s important they work together.
I’m Phil Dierking.
Words in This Story
beneficial - adj. producing good or helpful results or effects ?
bounce - v. to talk about (something, such as an idea) in an informal way in order to get different opinions about it?
cater - v. to provide food and drinks at a party, meeting, etc., especially as a job?
colleague - n. a person who works with you ?
customer - n. someone who buys goods or services from a business?
flexible - adj. capable of bending or being bent?
network - n. a group of people or organizations that are closely connected and that work with each other?
online - adj. connected to a computer, a computer network, or the Internet?
range - v. a group or collection of different things or people that are usually similar in some way?
referral - n. the act of sending someone to another person or place for treatment, help, advice, etc.?
resource - n. something that a country has and can use to increase its wealth
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cater
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| vi.(for/to)满足，迎合；(for)提供饮食及服务 | |
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catering
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| n. 给养 | |
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full-time
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| adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的 | |
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specialties
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| n.专门，特性，特别；专业( specialty的名词复数 )；特性；特制品；盖印的契约 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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partnerships
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| n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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olive
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| n.橄榄，橄榄树，橄榄色；adj.黄绿色的，黄褐色的，橄榄色的 | |
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