Meet Dave Becker.
The Boston-area restaurateur, who owns both Sweet Basil in Needham and the recently opened Juniper restaurant in Wellesley has had a busy 2014 (to say the least). When he’s not jumping back-and-forth between his two restaurants, you can find the chef throwing pottery, a hobby he enjoys outside of work.
Becker’s pottery is featured at his own restaurants as well as other Boston eateries including Fort Point’s Tavern Road. Here, the chef tells us how he spends his days running two restaurants while also keeping his staff and customers happy.
How do you spend most mornings?
I usually wake up around nine, drink really strong coffee (I’ve been alternating between Peet’s and Sumatra lately and Peet’s is awesome but Sumatra is the reigning king) and read The New Yorker. My day starts between noon and 2 p.m. but once I’m at the restaurant I’m kind of stuck, so I have to take care of all the errands like banking, post office and gym stuff before then.
What are the top priorities on your to-do list right now?
In general, trying to keep everyone – from my staff to my customers – happy. It’s kind of boring but when the temperature changes, it’s time to make sure all the fridges and cooler/heater stuff are working, and now that I have two restaurants, I have a ton of them.
What is the best part and the worst part about your day?
The worst part of my day is when someone on my staff has a stupid self-induced injury because they’re goofing off.
(The best part) Every day brings a different set of surprises and some are really memorable. Recently a table started singing along with Cecilia at the top of their lungs and it traveled through the entire restaurant and every single person joined in. I almost cried with happiness when that happened. Another time an elderly man at Sweet Basil asked if we could play a song by Andrea Bocelli. We didn’t have one but we put it on Spotify and he pulled his wife out of her seat to dance in the middle of the dining room. He dipped her and everything. That kind of stuff makes my job cool.
What do you love most about running two restaurants?
Now that Juniper is open, there’s truly never a boring day. It’s impossible to get sick of the food at either place, even for me. Before Juniper opened, I only had one option so I’d order takeout from down the road, but anytime I’m hungry now, I have two full menus to choose from.
If you could impart one piece of advice to our readers, what would it be?
Try to surround yourself with people that you like and you will forget that you’re at work. Also, say please and thank you. When you say please and thank you these days it catches people off guard because you don’t hear it very often anymore.
If you weren’t answering my questions, what would you be doing instead?
You really want to know? I’d be over at Brookline Oriental Rug Company getting some Persian rugs looked at. That’s where I get the rugs for Juniper. I usually go for the ones with the holes in them or the ones that are beaten up because they have more characer.
