Lately, Texas barbecue joints have been battling the high cost of raw ingredients like brisket, even to the point of possibly replacing it with other cuts of meat. They're facing other challenges, too — including in labor and staffing.
Consider the meat cutter, a sacred tradition in Texas barbecue. At meat market-style joints, we step up to the chopping block and place our order with the person actually cutting the meat, aka the “cutter.”
How hard can this job be, you might ask? After all, we all cut meat. At a steakhouse, we are dutifully presented with a steak knife just before the arrival of our charred and crusty rib-eye, with which we happily slice off mouthfuls of delicious (if expensive) bite-size portions from our slab of beef.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
CRITICS' PICKS: Houston's best barbecue joints
Such techniques do not translate to the unique requirements of a professional barbecue cutter. There are few, if any, other cuisines in which someone manually cuts your meat to order while you watch. The skills needed to fill cutter positions are often hard to come by.
5775 Woodway, 281-888-0331
Open daily.
Just ask Wayne Kammerl of The Brisket House. Cutters and pitmasters are two of the positions that make staffing a challenge.
“Our best employees come through (referrals from) existing employees,” says Kammerl. “But we’re maxed out on that.”
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
The process of barbecue joint staffing changed after the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, in the mid-2010s, when craft barbecue was at its peak in terms of international popularity, finding qualified cutters and pitmasters was almost impossible due to high demand. Other ancillary positions, like prep cooks, dishwashers and cashiers, were somewhat easier to come by.
Post-pandemic, the situation has flipped. Thanks to the so-called “Great Resignation,” in which hourly employees have clocked out of the workforce, finding staff for positions like prep cooks and cashiers is more challenging.
“We’ll get 200 applicants on a job website of which 15 are qualified,” says Kammerl, “Of those 15, two might respond and one might show up for an interview.”
Conversely, cutters and pitmasters are somewhat easier to find these days. There were many people trained for these positions during the boom years who are now available as some barbecue joints cut back on staffing.
“You can tell a lot about a guy’s knife skills by the way they cut an onion,” says Kammerl, who often promotes from in-house. Indeed, promoting prep cooks — who are wizards at cutting vegetables and other raw ingredients — is a natural way to fill a meat cutter position.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
As for pitmasters, Kammerl is well-positioned to hire, train or promote in this area because he exclusively uses semi-automated rotisserie pits, which are now enjoying a renaissance due in part to high labor costs at barbecue joints.
Unlike manual offset pits, rotisserie pits can potentially save as much as 50% in labor costs when it comes to the actual barbecue cooking process. And when those pits are run by a talented and experienced pitmaster like Kammerl and his trained staff, they can still produce world-class Texas barbecue.
Pitmasters rethink the unique staffing needs of Texas barbecue joints
9
6
02.03.2024
Lately, Texas barbecue joints have been battling the high cost of raw ingredients like brisket, even to the point of possibly replacing it with other cuts of meat. They're facing other challenges, too — including in labor and staffing.
Consider the meat cutter, a sacred tradition in Texas barbecue. At meat market-style joints, we step up to the chopping block and place our order with the person actually cutting the meat, aka the “cutter.”
How hard can this job be, you might ask? After all, we all cut meat. At a steakhouse, we are dutifully presented with a steak knife just before the arrival of our charred and crusty rib-eye, with which we happily slice off mouthfuls of delicious (if expensive) bite-size portions from our slab of beef.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
CRITICS' PICKS:........
© Houston Chronicle
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Rachel Marsden
Bradley Blankenship
Michael Kwet
