Carmy’s 27 Non-Negotiables In The Bear Season 3, Explained

Warning! Contains spoilers for The Bear season 3.

Summary

• Carmy introduces a long list of questionable non-negotiables in The Bear season 3.
• While some pointers in this list are too obvious to even be there, others put immense pressure on The Bear’s staff.
• Carmy himself defies many of his own rules, but some of them seemingly make sense.

Carmy introduces a long list of non-negotiables in The Bear season 3’s episode 2, revealing his overbearing approach towards running a restaurant. After his break-up with Claire in The Bear season 2’s ending, Carmy changes significantly in The Bear season 3 and focuses on nothing but successfully running his restaurant. He doubles down on his efforts to improve as a chef and enforces his harsh methods on others as well.

However, instead of being lucrative, most of his tactics seemingly backfire on him as they lead to more chaos and conflict in the kitchen. Despite realizing that going too hard on himself in the past has left him with many deep emotional scars, Carmy does not step back from his rigid approach. His non-negotiables in The Bear season 3 perfectly reflect the inception of his gradual downward spiral.

27 Of The Place

Seems Similar To Mise-En-Place

The first non-negotiable on Carmy’s list is “of the place,” which seems to a common culinary term “Mise-en-place.” It is a French kitchen term that encourages a chef to gather and organize all ingredients before starting the cooking process. According to the concept, everything from chopping vegetables to setting up utensils, measuring ingredients to arranging everything correctly must be done beforehand. Carmy puts this on top of everything else because he knows that is how restaurants of the highest caliber function.

26 Less Is More

Emphasis On Minimalism

With this pointer on the non-negotiables list, Carmy intends to emphasize how his staff must practice minimalism instead of overdoing every dish. Some of the best dishes in the world are the most uncomplicated concoctions of high-quality ingredients and are prepared through the simplest (but not easiest) of processes. Even when it comes to presentation in fine dining, plating is usually done in a clean and elegant manner, allowing the customers to appreciate every separate component of the dish. Therefore, the non-negotiable is a reminder that they must focus more on quality and less on quantity.

25 Vibrant Collaboration

An Expectation Of Dynamic & Lively Teamwork

Interestingly, even though Carmy does not prepare a list of non-negotiables in The Bear‘s seasons 1 and 2, he maintains “vibrant collaboration” in the kitchen with his positive leadership. However, in season 3, he becomes less patient with his co-workers and always rushes them and stresses them out in his pursuit of perfection. Owing to this, it is ironic that The Bear season 3’s Carmy puts “vibrant collaboration” on his list of non-negotiables when he himself is not able to follow the rule.

24 No Repeat Ingredients

Ensuring Food Diversity

Carmy was against the idea of chasing Michelin stars in The Bear season 2 because he understood how much pressure star-earning restaurants have to deal with. However, in season 3, he changes his mind about getting the stars because he is driven more by his mind-numbing pursuit of culinary success and less by empathy and passion. Therefore, to ensure his restaurant ranks among the best for food quality and innovation, he encourages the use of new and fresh ingredients.

23 Consolidation + Speed

Striving For Quick Turnaround

As Carmy’s flashbacks from working in top restaurants reveal, head chefs like Terry and David would often remind him and other chefs to increase their work speed to ensure their customers were never dissatisfied with the overall turnaround. Carmy wishes to implement the same in his kitchen while also adopting other methods to streamline the process of their service. He even buys new equipment for the kitchen in The Bear season 3 and reorganizes workstations to promote this aspect of the non-negotiables list.

22 Confidence + Competence

To Encourage Autonomy & Maintain High Standards Of Service

To level up their service, Carmy also hopes to ensure all staff at the restaurant are fostering a sense of ownership towards their responsibility while showing enthusiasm to learn new skills. While it is understandable where his sentiments come from, Carmy seems to adopt the questionable methods of his former bosses, like David, to instill these practices in employees. As a result, many employees leave The Bear restaurant at the beginning of season 3, while several others feel burnt out and tired.

21 In + Out Service

To Increase The Efficiency Of Service

This seemingly refers to creating a dining experience where the staff is expected to streamline every process in the kitchen. Meanwhile, even the servers and external staff have to practice every method that reduces waiting time and maximizes table usage. With this non-negotiable, Carmy’s intentions seem to be in the right place. However, he struggles to implement this because he is too fixated on chasing perfection instead of investing some time in training his co-workers or establishing means of effective communication.

20 Pursuit Of Excellence

Carmy’s Coping Mechanism

This leads to a dissonance between him and Sydney, prompting Sydney to think about leaving The Bear and pursuing other opportunities.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with chasing excellence, getting blinded by the pursuit is what leads to trouble for Carmy. By putting this down on his list of non-negotiables, Carmy wants to strive for the highest standards of performance and quality. However, instead of understanding what excellence means to Sydney or other employees at his restaurant, he only thinks about what it means to him. This leads to a dissonance between him and Sydney, prompting Sydney to think about leaving The Bear and pursuing other opportunities.

19 Details Matter

The Devil Is In The Details

Since Carmy worked in several high-grade restaurants before taking over his brother’s business, he realizes that he and his team will have to focus on every detail to ensure they rank among the best. He also knows that earning a Michelin star is no easy feat and requires a restaurant to serve exceptional food that reflects the highest culinary standards. Therefore, he highlights the importance of details in his list of non-negotiables because it is the details that can ultimately determine whether they will earn the star.

18 Know Your Shit

Encouraging Staff To Hone Their Skills

This pointer in Carmy’s list seems a little too forced because he does not allow his staff to breathe before enforcing his dream of earning a Michelin star on them. In the previous seasons, Carmy gave everyone enough time to adapt and breathe instead of forcing them to level up suddenly. In The Bear season 3, however, his patience runs thin, and he expects everyone to upgrade themselves in an instant. This leads to many conflicts in the kitchen and causes many staff members to crack under pressure.

17 Focus

Demanding A High Level Of Awareness During Work

The act of cooking requires razor-sharp focus because a chef has to keep a close eye on everything from food temperature to quantity of ingredients, uniformity in taste to consistency in presentation. By writing down “focus” as a non-negotiable, Carmy tries to remind everyone how they constantly need to be aware of what they are doing in the kitchen to eliminate all errors and mistakes. However, given how being focused is the least one expects from a staff member, Carmy is clearly stating the obvious here.

16 Service

Something Richie Understands Better Than Carmy

Since Michelin star inspectors also look at how a restaurant treats its customers instead of solely focusing on the quality of food, Carmy puts this one down in the non-negotiables to make sure they are providing a well-rounded experience to customers. However, as The Bear season 3 suggests, Richie seems to have a better understanding of the term “service” after his brief but eye-opening tenure at Chef Terry’s Ever restaurant. Unlike Carmy, he understands customers and takes them to interact with them instead of merely serving them food.

15 Time

Every Second Counts

There is a scene in The Bear season 2 in which Carmy calculates the time it takes for him to move a dish from one kitchen counter to another. This scene perfectly captures the value of time management in the kitchen. Everything from preparation time to the movement of food from the kitchen to the table has to be perfectly optimized. Although “Every Second Counts” has a deeper meaning in The Bear, it also serves as a reminder to minimize delays and offer prompt service to customers.

14 Not About You

The Customer Is God

Carmy seemingly writes this one down to remind everyone that, in the service business, they always come second to the customer. As passionate as they may be about cooking, they must always prioritize the customer and remember that it is not about them. However, Carmy seems to contradict this in The Bear season 2 when he forces Richie to serve a dish with mushrooms to a customer who does not like them.

13 Perfect Means Perfect

A Reflection Of Carmy’s Past Trauma

…after working under the toxic leadership of chefs like David for years, the flawed idea of chasing perfection is so deeply ingrained in Carmy that he cannot help but struggle with conflicting feelings about it.

Deep inside, Carmy understands that they cannot always achieve perfection. He even discourages Sydney from seeking Michelin stars in The Bear season 2 because he knows it would put unnecessary pressure on them to confine their dishes into little boxes of perceived perfection. However, after working under the toxic leadership of chefs like David for years, the flawed idea of chasing perfection is so deeply ingrained in Carmy that he cannot help but struggle with conflicting feelings about it. Every time his past traumas resurface, he only doubles down on these mindless endeavors.

12 No Excuses

Do Not Negotiate The Non-Negotiables

With “no excuses” on the list, Carmy wants all staff members at The Bear restaurant to take full accountability for their actions and proactively find solutions to their shortcomings. He expects everyone to practice professionalism instead of justifying their underperformance with excuses. Put simply, “no excuses” means that none of the non-negotiables on the list are negotiable.

11 Respect Tradition

Honor One’s Roots

To achieve Michelin stars, a chef not only has to be masterful with his flavors but also has to bring a sense of tradition and personality to his dishes. Reminding his staff how they must stick to honoring and preserving traditional culinary practices and authenticity, Carmy puts this one on his list of non-negotiables. In many ways, the show itself follows this rule by featuring stunning visuals of Chicago and immersing viewers in its bustling cityscapes and restaurant scene.

10 Push Boundaries

Redefining Limits

As Carmy’s experience with Joel McHale’s David suggests, pushing boundaries is fine as long as it does not compromise one’s mental well-being and creativity.

Since Carmy was constantly pressured to work beyond his limits during his early years as a chef, he believes everyone working at The Bear should do the same. While The Bear’s staff can benefit from this non-negotiable if it encourages them to improve themselves, Carmy’s methods of pushing them can be counter-productive in the long run. As Carmy’s experience with Joel McHale’s David suggests, pushing boundaries is fine as long as it does not compromise one’s mental well-being and creativity.

9 Clean As You Go

The Kitchen Is Never Left Dirty

In The Bear season 3, this non-negotiable is strictly implemented, and all staff members at the central restaurant leave the kitchen spotless after their shift at work. There is a scene where Tina even questions whether they have to clean the kitchen every single day. Since Carmy knows the best restaurants in the world adopt similar practices, he responds with conviction, emphasizing why good hygiene in the kitchen is a non-negotiable.

8 Break Down Boxes

Cost Cutting Through Waste Management

Carmy understands that breaking even with a fine-dining restaurant, especially in the post-pandemic era, will not be an easy feat. Therefore, by making “break down boxes” a non-negotiable, he ensures they compact all boxes after usage and save some bucks on waste disposal costs. Apart from saving costs, it also helps the restaurant maintain cleanliness and efficiency. Some of the most crucial moments in The Bear season 3 happen when characters break down boxes. While Carmy realizes how much he thinks about Claire during a box-breaking session with the Faks, Sydney reaches her breaking point while breaking boxes.