One competitor for the position of executive chef at the Googleplex in Mountain View describes his experience with the hiring process.
“The Whole Foods Market Cookbook” author Steve Petusevsky wrote a column in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about his experience to date as a hopeful for one of two Google executive chef jobs.
The process began with a phone call, and has found him and a select few invited to California to meet and interview with a selection of Googlers, including an onsite nutritionist. His visit included the opportunity to explore the Google kitchens and prepare a menu.
To say Mr. Petusevsky was impressed by what he saw would be understatement. Here’s some of his observations:
“There is every imaginable seasonal produce item, the finest natural meats and poultry, fresh fish, lobster, rock shrimp and organic tofu — both Japanese and Chinese.
I am blown away.
There is a huge walk-in just for condiments. There are four varieties of Thai chile paste, Indian curries, hot chile pastes from India and Indonesia. I am led to a storage room for just organic grains, nuts and seeds. I gently caress the bottle of 12-year-old balsamic vinegar and pop a fresh macadamia nut into my mouth.”
On request, he prepared a menu of several items, ranging from soup to dessert, with stops for salad, appetizer, entre, and vegetarian entre along the way. He expects to hear from Mountain View to see if he gets to compete further.
When Google’s press release announcing the chef hunt hit the web, the Murdok authors bounced around the opinion that Google missed a golden opportunity to really milk the search for maximum publicity. Wouldn’t it have been fun to see Mark Burnett produce a reality show around the Google Chef Quest?
Google certainly would have had a chance to expand its advertising frontiers. And imagine the thrills for viewers as the competitors battle to find the real jar of saffron amidst a shelf full of impostors containing turmeric in the Google Kitchen. We think Google really missed a chance at building some serious hype. Or at least giving us a couple of laughs.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
