from minimum wage to restaurant owner 2

see I told you blogging was new to me as that last post got ended unexpectedly! Anyways- The manager (Ron Haines) turned my application over and recognized that I had Black Angus work history, he says I used to manage the Black Angus in Anaheim and did you know... from that moment I knew I was hired! $3.35 an hour minimum wage in the State of Oregon at that time. I was just happy to have a job. A job in a restaurant I had never eaten at and I knew little about fish and chips.
In 1993 Skippers was still in it's prime and we were a busy fish house! On Friday and Saturday nights the line of guests would go outside the door and around the building!
At the time we were cutting fish by hand and there was a lot of prep to be done always, for the first six months I worked either in the back doing prep or the dining room bussing and clearing tables. The restaurant was more full service than fast food, there was no drive thru, in fact there was a smoking section! that is a thing of the past. After six months had gone by I had learned a lot and worked hard - I liked the pace of working in a busy fish and chowder house. Feeling more comfortable I was finally allowed to work on the cook line! this is where the magic happens! where fry cooks go to battle furiously cooking fish and fries at break neck speeds, and the friers are full and cooking for 2 to 3 hours with no let up. The rush would hit and I would start cooking and time would just fly by, during the rush you never knew what to expect but somehow we always made it through it. Ron was a good manager and he pretty much was always able to guide the ship so to say through the rough patches. I learned to live for the lunch and dinner rush to prep for it, almost to need it like some new drug I had found - what a rush. I knew I was born to cook. I worked hard and I learned a lot from Ron and all the other employees from the early days, it was good times.

From minimum wage to restaurant owner 1

I had never been to a Skipper's Seafood and Chowder House until I was hired on at the Grants Pass, Oregon Skippers in November of 1993. I had relocated to the Grants Pass area in 1992 and rejoined the work force in 1993. It was nice to take that year off, and I have great memories of the time I was able to spend with my Mom and Dad. It was a time to focus on my life and a fresh start. After relocating from Southern California it was time to put my party 24/7 lifestyle in the past, and enjoy more sober moments. At the time Grants Pass was a thriving plywood mill town and supported at least 4 different mills, If you did not work at the mill it was most likely to get hired on at a service based job - such as a restaurant or a bar.
My father and brother both worked at the mill, and it was a good job, it just was not for me. Grants Pass did have lots of restaurants though, and restaurants had always interested me. When I was in high school I had worked at Burger King(only a couple of weeks) that was a horrible job. I spent a couple months at Numero Uno Pizzeria and that was a little better but not much. I then went to work for my chef uncle at the Buena Park Black Angus and that is where I found the magic of working in the kitchen and working with fantastic people. Fantastic Spanish people! I worked in a kitchen of all Mexican guys - and this is where I learned to cook and to clean.
These were some of the most humble and hard working people I have ever met. I have great memories of the teamwork cooking at the Black Angus.
When I turned my application in to the manager at Skippers in Grants Pass - he turned

A blog is born

My name is Randy and I own the Skipper's Seafood and Chowder House here in the Hazel Dell
neighborhood of Vancouver, Washington. We opened or I should say reopened the Skipper's here
on April 16th, 2008! hard to believe over 6 months ago already and I am just getting around to this. First, thanks to all the local patrons for the awesome response and over whelming support we have been given since we opened! It has been very busy, and we are enjoying ourselves.
Writing a blog is a brand new thing for me but I am looking forward to it - I want to share stories about my restaurant, other restaurants, My 15 year career with Skippers and most important - the food! My love for great food, especially seafood. Especially Fish and Chips! because folks when properly done nothing beats Great Fish and Chips and Chowder too.