The world continuously fights off COVID-19. While it is an undeniably hard feat to combat the current health pandemic, people struggled to make things work and keep themselves afloat against the tides. And somewhere in San Francisco, California, an esteemed chef revolutionizes her restaurant in the face of the crisis.
Everything was going fine for French chef Dominique Crenn -- she grows her produce in her organic garden making sure that her dishes are fresh. Business was steady as her two restaurants and a bar were thriving. She was also ready to push things a little further by planning on opening a bakery. That is until the coronavirus hit.
Typically during dinner service, her restaurant team flawlessly works like clockwork; along with head chef of Atelier Crenn head chef Jean Christophe Bourgignon, Crenn and the rest of the restaurant had each dish going out of the kitchen and onto the table of customers, each carefully crafted with the blast of electric and unique splashes of taste.
Not even one of the world's foremost chefs is safe from the impending threat that the pandemic brought along. When California had to go on quarantine, Crenn had to lay off more than 50 staffers of her staffers.
According to Crenn, the threat has been looming ever since California went on lockdown. With the daily number of five to six restaurants bidding farewell from good, Crenn knew that she could not be complacent.
From French Fine Dining to Fast Food for Frontliners
Many restaurants had to close down permanently after they suffered significant financial losses when California had to go on lockdown.
Even Crenn's own French-themed Atelier Crenn, her Michelin three-star jewel in San Francisco, was not safe from suffering losses. As a fine dining restaurant, the lockdown impeded customers and income flow.
Employing resourcefulness and creativity, coupled with a few tweaks, Crenn quickly transformed her fine dining Parisian-inspired restaurant into a fast-food chain. And proudly, Crenn proclaims that it was a cool fast-food one.
Currently, her Atelier Crenn provides food to frontliners who risk their health for the public.
Crenn, who managed to overcome other personal battles such as surviving cancer, was confident that her Atelier Crenn would survive through the pandemic. With the same attitude she had when Atelier Crenn shifted from fine dining to fast food, she was willing to remodel and modify her restaurant if it calls for it.
Crenn, the Rebel Chef
Unlike most chefs, Crenn never went to culinary school. Nevertheless, this did not serve as a setback for her in fulfilling her dreams. She testified that food, as her passion, was what she was meant to pursue.
Leaving France in 1988 to pursue a culinary career in the States, Crenn hustled through the kitchens of San Francisco and Los Angeles, which eventually led to her opening Atelier Crenn, which has been in the foodservice since 2011.
Thanks to the Netflix show "Chef's Table," a James Beard Award, and earning three Michelin stars, Crenn eventually made a name for herself: an unusual chef who persists through tribulations.
