Jason Symington
After five years as executive chef for Panago Pizza, Jason Symington has made the move from the employee ranks to the entrepreneur side of the restaurant business, becoming executive chef and part of the concept-development team at Rasoee Restaurant Systems, Inc, a franchise operation featuring South Asian cuisine. But one thing hasn’t changed: Symington’s commitment to mentoring young chefs who aspire to increase their knowledge, skills and career opportunities.
Raised in North Bay, Ont., Symington was originally on the academic path, with a keen interest in science that continued through his college years. But as fate would have it, he had started working in a hometown pizza restaurant at age 15, making dough and preparing toppings. “It was a fun place to be. Everyone hung around after school. Learning about making things from scratch — instead of just opening a can — turned me on to the idea of going into cooking as a career.” After a move to Toronto, restaurant work paid his rent and college tuition, and he might have gone on to become an engineer, except his family moved to British Columbia. “In my second-last year of university, I came out for a visit and fell in love with the place.”
Symington credits his first cooking job after moving to Vancouver, and his subsequent upward career mobility, to Earl’s Restaurants and its superb staff-development regime. “The training program, and what it exposed me to, was what made me successful.” He was eventually recruited by Panago, where, he says, “I think the Ocean Wise seafood program is one of my bigger wins — talking about the impact we could have and educating our consumer base — so that was a lot of fun.”
At Panago, he visited retail locations. “I worked with the staff to try to bring the food component into the stores, even show them how to hold a knife correctly. It’s very satisfying to me personally to go back a few months later and see the person I was teaching holding the knife correctly — and showing the technique to co-workers.”
Now with Rasoee, he is “responsible for all things food: the recipes, the menu, influencing how the kitchens are designed to handle the food, the equipment in the kitchens, developing the supplier team and bringing food industry expertise to our new team.”
Symington says his greatest occupational challenge as an executive chef is being able to clearly articulate his vision of new culinary directions or a specific recipe. “You have to be able to build great relationships with people and present your ideas well. You have to develop people skills. You need to do that as any kind of chef, but as a corporate chef it’s very important to develop those skills and believe in what you’re saying.”
Transitioning from employee to employer has not presented many surprises for Symington, but a few more obligations: “I have more responsibility, which I relish, and the team and I have recently discussed how excited we will be to look back in three or four years and see what we have been able to accomplish.” In the meantime he says, “I am involved with a lot of stuff I wasn’t before: Learning to understand the basics of real estate leases, beginning to understand franchise agreements, and working toward building a brand and a culture that people will want to be part of ― both franchisees and customers. Big job, but it will be a lot of fun, and I’m very happy to be learning new things.”
As his career progressed, Symington was surprised by how long it took to start making good money. “If I had finished my engineering degree, I’d have been at a top income level quickly, whereas in the chef’s trade, it seemed to take a long time. I wouldn’t change it for the world, but I learned that working my way up was really important.” That grim reality isn’t always understood by newcomers. “Our junior chefs coming on board, they have an idea that they’ll get that cushy TV-chef job, but they have to be realistic about the hard work they have to look forward to, starting at the bottom and really working hard every day to move up. The rewards are definitely there — I’ve got all the perks of a corporate chef’s income now — but no one is ever going to hand it all to you on a platter!”
Inspired as a teenager, grateful for his training at Earl’s and elsewhere, he now tries to give back. “I’m involved with the BC Chef’s Association to help other people get into the apprenticeship program. I think the hands-on, day-to-day training that you get through the program is key to a successful career. You can learn a lot from books, but when you step into the kitchen for your first shift of your new job, the chef is going to expect you to have a certain level of training and skill. A straight culinary school program will often not provide you with that skill base. I feel strongly that a large part of my success, and the success of a lot of my friends in the industry, was due to our apprenticeship training.”