In this episode, Michael and Jon discuss burnout and mental health in the restaurant industry, challenging the “be resilient” culture and arguing that broken systems—not individuals—often cause collapse.
Jon recounts nearly two decades in kitchens, reaching executive chef before severe physical breakdown (degenerative disc disease, herniation, surgeries) alongside worsening coping behaviors including alcohol and heavy pain medication, compounded by escalating expectations and little support.
After leaving the industry and struggling with loss and depression, he studied engineering and applied “change the inputs to change the outputs” thinking to hospitality.
He founded Kanned Heat (kannedheatkitchen.com) to share actionable resources on building personal and workplace systems—boundaries, clear expectations, communication channels, cross-training, scheduling with redundancy, and management accountability—to protect health and careers, address substance abuse and suicide risks, and reduce predatory staffing pressures.
Connect with Jon:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sargentjon/
https://kannedheatkitchen.com/
