Meet Eric Reeves

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eric Reeves. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eric below.

Hi Eric, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I find my resilience from what I find to be the nobility in being truly hospitable. I think that true hospitality has to be largely selfless and it isn’t easy – rewarding work rarely is. I have been thinking about this recently because I see a lot of restaurant professionals speak on social media about the age-old conversation about “closing time.” There are a lot of variables, and sometimes even laws, to consider about how late you can or should serve someone in a hospitality setting, but I’m of the mindset that closing time means the latest time you’re willing to let a guest start their experience in your establishment. If someone walks in at 6pm, generally speaking, the spirit of hospitality would implore you to allow them to linger until they feel restored (where the word “restaurant” stems from), without limit. And if that same guest walks in 5 minutes before closing time (again, barring legal or logistical limits), I think that same spirit of hospitality should be extended to them. Lots of hospitality professionals believe that the onus is on the guest to be considerate about entering an establishment close to closing and don’t have a problem cutting off the guest’s experience because they want to leave. They often invoke the common, and in my opinion, rude, unprofessional, and passive-aggressive methods of turning up the volume of the music, bringing up lights, gathering the remaining staff and staring at the guest, etc., all in an effort to make them uncomfortable so they will leave. And to be clear, hospitality, as a global concept, has historically involved a code of conduct from both the host and the guest, so there are and should be expectations on the guest to behave respectfully. I don’t condone and don’t tolerate bald-faced disrespect so I’m not talking about the guests who are abusive of that code of conduct, though even then there are tactful, professional means of ending those guest’s experiences. But if hospitality is really the focus of one’s professional endeavors in this industry, then one should find the patience to offer grace and understanding in the face of lingering guests. The argument is often, “if you don’t want to be hurried, then don’t come in right before we close,” but I would turn that argument around and say “if you don’t have the resilience to deal with challenging guests and meet the frustrations and difficulties of offering true hospitality with grace, then don’t try to make your living in this industry.” We’ve all had long days and tough days and I want restaurants to be the place you can go to recover from that and I like to give the benefit of the doubt and that takes resilience!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My name is Eric and I’m a food beverage and hospitality professional living in Chicago, Illinois. I started my career in restaurants in my teens, developed my education with a degree in the culinary arts, and expanded my skills working in kitchens and dining rooms in Chicago and Los Angeles. At this point in my career I’ve spent about equal time in back and front of house positions so in the summer of 2017 I put my experience together to create my own popup dining experience called Salt Spoon. It started as an intimate dining experience for 10 guests at a time hosted in my South Loop neighborhood space that offered my own menus and my brand of hospitality. I ran it in that capacity, full-time, for several years before the pandemic limited my ability to do so and ended up shifting the focus to the breads and baked goods I often served at these hosted events. Breaking bread is such a symbol of connection and it was a product I could offer in a no-contact setting during the pandemic, and so 4 years later it has officially become the Salt Spoon Bakehouse. I specialize in handmade bagels and naturally leavened breads, still operating in a pop-up capacity. I love this format because it really lets me keep the project small, intimate, flexible, and in close contact with both every product I offer and every guest I offer it to. Overall, the company has expanded into Salt Spoon Hospitality under which I offer pop up events of different kinds, in-home dining and catering experiences, and restaurant and hospitality consulting services. I’m really happy with the places this company has taken me because restaurant work can really test people’s limits and often burns out even it’s best and brightest, but working for myself in this current setup, I have control over my schedule and my work-life balance in a way that keeps me fully emotionally available to offer the best hospitality I can to all of my clients.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think self-awareness is a really important trait for people in this industry in particular. If you don’t keep an eye on yourself you can really be tempted by the most toxic parts of this industry, and you can really burn yourself out in ways that just wash out why you got into it in the first place.

You definitely have to be a “people-person” to succeed in this industry in any capacity so I would say number 2 is congeniality. Even though I work “for myself,” I’m always interacting with people. Clients, collaborators, purveyors, etc. It is tough work, and tensions can rise and it often feels like the stakes are enormous… remembering that making people happy is at the core of this work and knowing how to communicate in ways that are conducive to that goal is essential. You have to be able to earn the respect of those who follow you to really move a team toward a common goal. There is also an inconceivable amount to learn, so being able to connect with coworkers, leaders and mentors will definitely set you on the right trajectory.

And, the last is pretty purposefully vague, but professionalism in all its facets. Many chefs, bartenders, etc. develop all the skills to make the most delicious food and beverage in the world, and while many creatives are offered a great deal of leeway when it comes to proper communication skills, respectful conduct, etc., the ones who understand the importance of well-rounded professionalism beyond a physical skill set are the ones that set themselves apart. Learn how to write emails properly, learn how to spell the food and industry terms that you use, learn how to communicate effectively, so you can inspire a team to follow an idea, learn to be organized both physically and mentally, learn to be understanding of different perspectives and how to work together… all of this and more is the professionalism that lots of people who sort of “fall into” this industry don’t bother to develop.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

I know this sounds backwards, but the biggest obstacle I have right now is not expanding. People are always asking when I’m going to open a permanent brick and mortar operation. There is a lot about that prospect that is tempting, and I may give in some day, but I want to make sure that I’m expanding for the right reasons. I spent so many years of my career sacrificing nights, weekends, and holidays with my loved ones to be at work, making sure the rest of the world was able to celebrate with their loved ones. I loved providing that for a long time, but I really appreciate that I have the flexibility to both do what I love when I want, and to put it on hold when other more personal opportunities present themselves. I want to prove to myself that I can open my own traditional operation after assisting with that dream for so many others, but I don’t want to let my ego or the prospect of financial gain disrupt what is currently a really good balance. I just want to be sure to remain intentional in all my decisions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.saltspoon.com
• Instagram: @saltspoonchicago
• Other: email me at info@saltspoon.com

Image Credits

Stephen Hamilton Productions
Colin Boyle
Eric Reeves