People cut themselves when they use a dull knife. Also important in the training is mastering the portions delved to each customer. Working at the rate the Teppan chef cooks, it is easy to either mince portions or overindulge them. A handful of mushrooms, five strips of zucchini and one onion slice for every customer is average, and any more or any less is substandard. Meat preparation also challenges the Teppan chef.
Different customers order their steak prepared to different degrees.
Finding the hot spot on the grill, and portioning each strip of steak to the area which will cook it quickly and accurately presents a challenge to every potential chef. According to Tran, not everyone can be a Teppan chef. Because of the time and number of employees involved in training, a trainee becomes a real investment. Before a chef ever prepares one meal for a customer, he has practiced his method and style in front of a table of employees. Each time the cook is deemed unready, a significant supply of ingredients must be used to retrain him, ingredients which could be better served to a paying customer.