How the Detroit Lions’ kitchen is going to work out with all these cooks in it

Let’s take a look inside the Lions’ kitchen to see what everyone is doing

Mike Payton — Detroit Lions Beat Writer
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The Detroit Lions made a big hire on Monday when they added New York Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka to their coaching staff in a “high-ranking offensive position.” This prompted some Lions fans ot wonder if maybe Detroit has too many cooks in the kitchen now. That’s not what’s going on here. So let’s talk about what’s really going on in this kitchen. Here’s how the jobs break down:

Dan Campbell, Executive Chef

Campbell is overseeing everything. He’s not going to be calling plays anymore, but he will oversee the plays that are going on to the field and sign off on every dish that goes to the table. He can step in during a dinner rush and cook some meals if needed. Everyone is working towards the same goal, and he’s leading the kitchen.

Drew Petzing, Head Chef

Here’s the guy who’s calling the plays for the Lions. Petzing designs the menu every week and designs how courses work together. In the league, you might call that play sequencing. Petzing is cooking the meals he designed and is sending them out to the table with Campbell’s trust.

Mike Kafka, Sous Chef

The sous chef is an important job because they are the guys that install the menu in the kitchen. They’re helping everyone else learn how to cook the menu and ensure that the food quality is up to the standards of Campbell and Petzing. But they’re also able to contribute some dish ideas and ensure that the menu stays vibrant and new.

Hank Fraley, Prep Cook

The food all starts with Fraley. If the dish is prepped wrong, it’s not going to get any better down the line. If the offensive line doesn’t work or isn’t able to block in the way the concept of the play is set up, then the whole thing just shuts down.

Tashard Choice, Grill Station

The Lions are primarily a run-first team. They’re a steak restaurant, and the running backs are the steak. It’s on Chocie to make sure these steaks are cooked to perfection at the temperature the customer requested before they’re sent out.

Scottie Montgomery, Plating and Expeditor

After everything is cooked, Montgomery is the guy who is putting it on the plate and doing that thing where they take the sauce and spread it across the plate and then build a little food statue with the vegetables.

The Players, Service

Pretty simple stuff. The Lions players are the guys taking the plates from the kitchen and serving them to the customers. This is no simple job. You have to make sure you have the right servers on staff. These are the only guys the customer is really seeing, so they have to make sure they’re doing everything right.

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