An Intimate Portrait: Kaylee Platt

May 27, 2012

Kaylee Platt…we all love her, but how much do we really know her? She has been with the Briar Group for a year, working with the management team at the Lenox Hotel.

She is a Johnson & Wales graduate and before coming to work with us, she managed a Qdoba and is a self proclaimed “expert burrito roller”. She grew up in Clinton Mass, the middle child of five sisters. Baking with her mother is how she decided the food industry was her calling.

Kaylee and I sat down for lunch in the festively decorated Green Briar in Brighton and got up close and personal…

Kaylee, you have worked both front of the house and the kitchen. Which do you prefer and why?

KP: Front of the house, because people get to experience my personality and great jokes.

Do you like working in the hotel setting as opposed to a stand alone restaurant?

KP: Having worked in both I like the hotel setting because the expectations for hospitality are set very high and you can learn a lot!

If you could describe yourself as one City Table dish, what would you be?

KP: The Sliders Three Ways. Because the dynamic of the dish is like my personality, different, delicious and irreplaceable.

I hear you make a mean whoopee pie and your own Limoncello? What are your other specialties?

KP: I sure do! I love to cook and bake. I make a mean raspberry white chocolate layer cake.

You mentioned that the mustache tattoo on your finger was inspired by a chef you worked with in the past who told you, “you aren’t man enough to work in my kitchen”. It does seem in our industry that a lot of the kitchens are heavily dominated by males. What are your thoughts on this, having experienced it first hand?

KP: When I first started in the kitchen it was hard because you don’t have anyone “on your side”. But it made me a better chef and a much better manager to learn how to deal with tough personalities.

You have a great way with people. Guests, as well as staff and such a strong grasp on the hospitality industry. What is the key to your success? Your secret if you will?

KP: Oh, I will. Being the middle child of five girls, the only way I could get attention was to be outgoing and funny.

Adam Feldberg from the corporate office asks “In the Survey Monkey about the all manager meeting, one of the questions asked was ‘Who was your favorite speaker?’. You said that everything that comes out of Mike Carlisle’s mouth is pure gold. Can you go into these feelings a little deeper?”

KP: Mike Carlisle is a sensational man! Working under him is a true gift and he’s pretty easy on the eyes.

Angela Grant from accounts payable wants to know “If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, with whom would it be?”

KP: Gisele Bundchen! So I could know what it’s like to be married to Tom Brady.

Lastly, we all want to know, just who is Kaylee Platt? In just a few words...

KP: Day dream believer, homecoming queen. Comedian, hospitality extraordinaire. Ya see, I’m a joker, I’m a smoker, I’m a midnight toker.

These 10 questions originally came from a French series, "Bouillon de Culture" hosted by Bernard Pivot. They're better known as the questions James Lipton asks every guest at the end of "Inside the Actor's Studio."

What is your favorite word?

Feldberg

What is your least favorite word?

Wrinkle

What turns you on?

Satisfied guests

What turns you off?

Unsatisfied guests

What is your favorite curse word?

Darn

What sound or noise do you love?

Brendan Griffin’s laugh