what i've learned

I TAKE THINGS in stride. Maybe a lot of it is maturity. When I was a lot younger, in my late twenties, I was a tyrant.

- Emeril Lagasse CHEF/RESTAURATEUR, 65, NEW ORLEANS

I TAKE THINGS in stride. Maybe a lot of it is maturity. When I was a lot younger, in my late twenties, I was a tyrant. I would go off the handle quite easily. That doesn't really happen today.

SHIT HAPPENS. If a guest has a bad experience, I can only control that so much. I can't control the human element of how people receive it.

THE DIFFICULT THING these days is staffing, both front and back of the house. What's challenging is just getting people. After Covid, I don't know where everybody went. They seem to have disappeared from the workforce.

I'VE GOT PEOPLE who've been with me a long time and they don't take things for granted-meaning just because they've been with me twenty-five years doesn't mean they don't have to go to work every day. That doesn't exist in my organization.

I THINK YOU HAVE TO BE honest with people. You have to be real. I treat people the way that I want to be treated.

ONE THING ABOUT COVID for me is that I ended up closing six restaurants. It gave me time to think about what I actually wanted to do. And it gave me an opportunity to downsize-to really zoom in on five restaurants.

MY SON E. J. AND I have been building this restaurant with the team for over two years. It's called 34 because I'm Emeril the third and he's the fourth. It's a little homage to Portugal and to my mom.