Mike White could stand the heat just fine.
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But he still got out of the (restaurant) kitchen.
As executive chef at Carr's Restaurant, White routinely worked 12-hour days.
Sometimes he got a reprieve on Sundays, when he worked for 10-hour stretches.
White didn't mind the long days too much — until he walked down the aisle.
"When I got married was when I got out of the restaurant business," he says.
"That's not a coincidence."
Working as a chef in a high-end restaurant is a notoriously demanding job, with brutal hours, nonexistent family dinners and intense pressure to turn out a perfect product night after night.
Some local chefs are finding flexible, family-friendly and still fulfilling ways to work with food, in venues from retirement communities to school districts or grocery stores.
"It's about finding a happy medium," says White, now executive chef at Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community.
"I'm doing what I love doing — and not killing myself doing it."
A captive audience
White, who previously worked at Bent Creek Country Club, left Carr's after seven years for a gig selling restaurant supplies.
But the market shrank, and as low man on the company totem pole, White found himself out of a job.
Reluctant to return to the restaurant grind, he joined Quarryville Presbyterian in March.
White supervises three kitchens at the 350-resident community, including a cafeteria that serves 80 employees.
His hours are sane — 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with "rush hour" during lunch — and flexible enough that he can attend his daughters' sporting events.
White, whose recent culinary creations include sautéed striped bass with clams casino butter sauce, says his goal of customer satisfaction hasn't changed.
"I still want them walking out the door with a positive impression," he says. "The only difference is, they'll be back tomorrow regardless."
Feeding the next generation
David O. Ludwig started his post culinary-school career in the early 1990s, as sous chef at the former Wahtney's Inn, Clay.
He wasn't married at the time.
"Though you can make some good money in the restaurant business, it takes a toll on family life," says Ludwig, who's seen it happen to friends and colleagues.
After he left Wahtney's, Ludwig, of Denver, worked for area retirement communities and the Lancaster County Career & Technology Center.
Now the married father of a teenage daughter, he works more reasonable nine-hour days as food-service director for Solanco School District.
Ludwig came to Solanco — a position previously held by at least one fellow restaurant refugee — in July.
"We feed 4,000 kids every day," he says. "That's a huge responsibility."
Ludwig, who eventually hopes to head food services at a university, enjoys the occasional opportunity to step in the kitchen for special functions, like last week's banquet for 400.
He doesn't see himself ever returning to restaurants. That would mean giving up his daughter's chorus concerts and working in the garden.
Attention, shoppers
In July, Bob Miller left his 11-year post at Symposium Mediterranean Restaurant to serve as Stauffers of Kissel Hill's first-ever executive chef.
After 37 years in restaurants, Miller, a married father of three, says he needed a change — and a break from working every night, weekend and holiday, sometimes till 2 a.m.
"This is the first year that I spent Thanksgiving, Easter and New Year's Eve with my wife in probably 20 years," he says.
He also cites the often-overlooked physical demands of standing on the line for hours at a time.
"I just can't physically be on my feet all those hours anymore," says Miller, who had spinal-fusion surgery three years ago.
Miller, who oversees the bistro and heat-and-eat chef's case at Stauffers' Rohrerstown store, works roughly 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
It's still a long day, but now he can drive his daughter to school, take an actual lunch break and get home to Neffsville in time for dinner with his family.
Miller is also relieved to part with the stress of hiring and especially firing employees.
But he admits he sometimes misses the excitement of a full dining room on a Saturday night.
"Any chef that ... tells you they don't miss that — they're nuts," he says.
At Quarryville Presbyterian, the challenge of coming up with fresh menu ideas on a limited budget keeps White's skills sharp.
"Am I playing with lobster tail and filet mignon every day?" he says. "No. But I'm still doing things like beef Oscar" (with ground-round steak).
And White has discovered another unexpected perk to his new schedule.
He now has time to go out to dinner.
CONTACT THE NEW ERA: mschweigert@LNPnews.com or 291-8757
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