How I Learned To Tame My Temper - And Become A Better Boss

Samin Nosrat has always been “good with people”—when she’s not managing them. The chef and star of Netflix’s smash hit Salt Fat Acid Heat, adapted from her best-selling book, is as charismatic in person as she is on screen, with an infectious laugh. She’s starting a new company, to produce future TV projects; this time, she’s determined to be a better leader.

- Maria Aspan

In 2004, I started working at this restaurant in Berkeley, California— Eccolo, which was founded and run by my mentor, Chris Lee. I came to run the kitchen, and that was my first managerial role. It wasn’t my restaurant—I didn’t have any ownership—but because I was working for my mentor and also because of my personality, I took on the stress like it was.

There was constant tension with the investors. Our values were fundamentally misaligned. That’s fine when things are successful, but when there are challenges, it really gets difficult. They didn’t care that we wanted to buy the best organic eggs, or attempt to pay a living wage. They were like, “That’s not how restaurants run.” We had come in so idealistic—but when you don’t have a reputation yet and you’re not making any money, you can’t really afford to do that.