The Dishwasher

And the many roles of the entrepreneur

Ali Sonko - dishwasher and co-owner of Noma

My first proper job with responsibility was as the GM of a restaurant on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. We were the outliers – the only non-Italian restaurant tucked between Hester and Broome Street.

Every morning, I'd step off the 6 train at Spring Street and walk down Mulberry. Along my route, I'd pass the old-school Italian restaurants where owners sat outside, nursing their espressos and cigars while their staff prepared for service inside.

At 22, I judged them. I was all nervous energy and constant motion, viewing their morning ritual as a sign they'd lost their hunger, their drive. I placed so much value on action that I couldn't see the wisdom in their stillness.

Almost ten years later, those morning scenes take on a different meaning.

The Heart of the Kitchen

There's a beautiful story about Ali Sonko, who spent 15 years as a dishwasher at Noma, consistently rated the world's best restaurant. In 2017, René Redzepi made him co-owner, recognizing that Ali's contribution went far beyond clean plates – he was the heart of the restaurant, the foundation everything else was built upon.

In every restaurant, the dishwasher is the most important person day-to-day. Without them, everything falls apart. No clean plates to serve your food, no glasses for drinks. The entire operation depends on this seemingly simple role.

But over time, I've learned that the growth of any restaurant – or any business – requires us to move through different roles, each teaching us something essential about ourselves and our venture.

The Dance of Roles

As entrepreneurs, we embody different parts of the restaurant at different times:

The dishwasher is our taskmaster self – focused, diligent, essential.

The chef is our project manager – creative, coordinating, bringing vision to life.

The server is our connection to people – present, attentive, responding to needs.

The manager is our systems thinker – observing, adjusting, improving.

The owner is our visionary self – watching patterns, steering growth, maintaining perspective.

The Trap of Perpetual Motion

Many of us get stuck in dishwasher mode. Like my younger self, judging those owners on Mulberry Street, we equate value with constant action. We're so focused on the next batch of dirty dishes that we never step out to see what's happening on the restaurant floor.

We forget that sometimes the most productive thing we can do is sit still long enough to see the whole picture.

Finding Our Way to Stillness

We all start as dishwashers in our businesses – and we should. There's profound wisdom in starting from the foundation, in understanding every aspect of our operation from the ground up.

But staying there? That's where many of us get trapped.

Those Italian restaurant owners I once judged weren't disconnected from their businesses – they had found a different way of being present. Their morning ritual wasn't about checking out – it was about maintaining the perspective necessary to guide their restaurants forward.

That espresso and cigar outside? It took me years to understand it wasn't about relaxation – it was about presence. About being still enough to see clearly, calm enough to make wise decisions, and confident enough to let your team grow into their roles.

The Continuing Evolution

I no longer walk down Mulberry Street, but the lesson of those morning scenes stays with me. Now I find myself asking different questions: Where am I limiting my business by overvaluing one role and undervaluing another? When am I holding on too tightly to tasks that should be shared or delegated?

My business is entering a new phase where I don't want everything to flow through me. I'm actively seeking the right partners, learning to take decisive action in some areas while simply overseeing projects in others. In certain aspects, my role is purely about setting vision and bringing the right people together.

The challenge isn't just about moving through these roles – it's about developing the wisdom to know which role is needed at which time. Sometimes we need to roll up our sleeves and wash the dishes. Other times we need to step back and watch the whole restaurant move in its dance.

The path of an entrepreneur isn't linear. It's about growing into all these roles while maintaining the humility to move between them as needed.

The true art lies not in mastering any one position, but in knowing exactly what the business needs from us at any given moment.

The question I sit with now isn't about which role is most important – it's about having the awareness to recognize which role is needed when, and the courage to step into it fully.