Kevin Fehling is our guest in the 170th episode of the Restaurant-Ranglisten.de podcast. The three-star chef and owner of Hamburg restaurant The Table talks about ten years of self-employment, creative continuity, the effects of corona on his own sensory life and the economic and conceptual challenges of top gastronomy.

Kevin Fehlin looks back on a decade as an independent entrepreneur and chef: "We are naturally delighted to have been able to maintain our independence with great success, which was and is truly sustainable." From the very beginning, the aim was to create a restaurant that bears his own signature - contrary to the general opinion that you need a hotel or a strong sponsor in the three-star sector: "It is essential for success that you set yourself goals, believe in them and realise them. If you don't have goals, you can't achieve them."

Fehling emphasises that The Table, with its unique chef's table concept, was a risk and a break with traditional forms: "I just had this crazy idea... with the whole repertoire of the past 15 years that I had collected in culinary terms. So this table didn't come about because of how others do it and then I do it the same way... I thought about what I didn't actually like. And that's how The Table came about." Even after ten years, the business side is still a constant challenge, because "I now have 30 employees, who of course have to be paid on time and make sure the restaurant is full."

The coronavirus pandemic hit The Table just as hard as many other top restaurants. Fehling is open about the consequences of his own illness: "I was in bed for three weeks and my limbs were absolutely aching... I also couldn't smell or taste anything for two months." For a chef, this is existential: "It's an absolute drama." Only gradually did he regain confidence in his own sense of taste: "I'm really glad about that." Fehling relied on teamwork to ensure continuity: "The most important thing for me, of course, was that it continued like this."

Ten years after it was founded, the three-star segment has changed: "It used to be more pomp, more luxury, more caviar, more people, more sole and turbot - that's no longer necessary today." Other restaurants today also show that quality and creativity are not tied to luxury products: "The variety of styles and also no longer having the pressure to cook for stars, to have to work with or use absolute luxury products." For Fehling, another recipe for success is staff consistency: "As I said, we have our personnel costs here. It's very well harmonised, including of course the cost of goods sold. And economically, to come back to your question, we can definitely run the table well. But of course we are also dependent on being fully booked."

For Fehling, creativity and continuity are not a contradiction: "Basically, it's about staying true to yourself on the plate, which means believing in your own signature style, manifesting it and developing it further. I can't do that if I reinvent myself every year." Many dishes therefore reappear in ever new variations.

According to Fehling, one of The Table's strengths is its close-knit team: "It's like my second family... It's no longer just about thinking in purely economic terms, but also about looking to the future and consciously focussing on sustainability rather than egotism." Personal continuity and mutual trust form the foundation of the ongoing creative process: "A dish can sometimes be really exhausting in the creative process until it's finished... We always utilise our fund from the past with new experiences from the present and then simply look to the future."

When it comes to the business side of self-employment, Fehling makes a strict distinction between the entrepreneur and the chef: "The two are completely separate. We have a really golden rule. No matter what we want to buy, we buy it... We put everything on a plate because I feel it's so perfect. It's just my own mind working, because otherwise I'd be unhappy every night." Efficiency in service was also planned: "Short distances, one look to the back, one look to the front... That has... its justification, but not with the concept we have created... At the same time, it is also a relief for the guest. All this pomp and luxury... is deliberately reduced for us."

On the development of his own cuisine, he says: "Everything tends to take place in the creative subconscious. And just as we have developed a signature style... I try to rely on my own creativity. The perfectionism has always been there... Sometimes we don't need caviar for it... A plate is only really finished when you can take something away. Perfection lies in reduction."

Despite economic uncertainties, Fehling remains cautiously optimistic. The crisis in the catering industry is palpable, but his own concept and team provide support: "We are actually in a catering crisis that is not yet being called by its name. And even in Hamburg... almost 70 restaurants have closed, which is of course quite remarkable. And we are very proud of the fact that we have always been true to ourselves." The future should continue to be characterised by continuity, creativity and team spirit - both in the company and on the plate.