# Perks of the Executive Chef



## chef sammie (Dec 18, 2016)

Can someone please tell my friend who owns a bar and restaurant that 99% of our busniess executive chefs have a bar tab


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## laurenlulu (Sep 9, 2012)

I don't understand what you mean. Do you mean that alcoholism runs rampant or that chefs pay for drinks?


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## everydaygourmet (Apr 4, 2012)

Well a "bar tab" is a running account of what you've ordered that you pay @ the end of the  night or for some business customers weekly, not sure IF CHEF SAMMIE is referring to a shift drink, Chef?


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## chef sammie (Dec 18, 2016)

I as a EXECUTIVE CHEF have never paid for drinks in my work place


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## everydaygourmet (Apr 4, 2012)

CHEF SAMMIE said:


> I as a EXECUTIVE CHEF have never paid for drinks in my work place


Well then, think you answered your own question "EXECUTIVE CHEF" "CHEF SAMMIE", then just inform the owner of the error of their ways.

Welcome to CT, btw.

Cheers!

EDG


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## chef sammie (Dec 18, 2016)

Lol...,ppl really! You pay for your drinks?


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## laurenlulu (Sep 9, 2012)

Yes, I'm not going to play a part in lessening the profits of a business I'm attached to.


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## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

Wow, priorities


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

I have worked at places where I was OK to have 1 "on the house" after work, but I've never been in a situation where "I've never paid for my drinks" at the place I work.  I know of those kind of places and more often than not, not only is the chef sitting at the end of the bar, at the end of the night downing them left and right, but so is are the owners, a hostess or 2, and maybe a server or bartender.  Then the owners wonder why they are running in the red.  Sorry, but it is a bad precedent.  Don't get me wrong.  I am all for the occasional celebratory drink, or even party after work, on the owners, but the key word there is occasional.  There needs to be a reason for it.


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## hookedcook (Feb 8, 2015)

CHEF SAMMIE said:


> Lol...,ppl really! You pay for your drinks


Hi, some of these guys are pretty serious on here. Not sure why but I guess this is the "professional" Chef thread. If I'm running a restaurant busting my ass working 80 + plus hours a week. Going home, writing menus and dreaming/ nightmares about cooking, the restaurant is going to give me a proper rum and coke or 2 at the end of my shift, bottom line. That's the way it is for me, if you can't afford that than you can't afford me. As for waiters, busboys, hostesses, you should be able to buy a shift drink at 50% at the end of your shift. As for the bartenders they are constantly finding a way to steal them and owners/chefs are constantly trying to catch them or compromise with them to make everybody happy. Dysfunctional, but real.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Hi Chef Sammie....

After 30-odd years in this biz, the best advice I can give you and your  friend is this:

A smart person does not defecate in his/her own back yard.

This is pretty self explanatory, right?

and,

If you want freebies, you are expected to return freebies back.

The bartender who provides you free bevies will eventually want a nice meal in return, none of that staff meal crap, but a nice cut of prime rib or the like. If this becomes a habit, it could get you into serious trouble. 

If its the owner pouring you drinks, s/he'll will want sweat in return for drinks, extra hours or the like.

Its kinda like those bumper stickers from the '70's that read "Cash, azz, or grass, no one rides for free ''......


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## phaedrus (Dec 23, 2004)

hookedcook said:


> If I'm running a restaurant busting my ass working 80 + plus hours a week. Going home, writing menus and dreaming/ nightmares about cooking, the restaurant is going to give me a proper rum and coke or 2 at the end of my shift, bottom line. That's the way it is for me, if you can't afford that than you can't afford me.


To quote Don Draper 'that's what the money is for! '


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

The place I'm at now, kitchen mgmt gets what they call a QC card with a preset amount of money you can use for food or beverages at your restaurant in a given month. My lead cook gets $100, i think, i get $200, I don't know what the chef gets. Most of mine goes for drinks for my crew; personally I don't expect anything free, this is technically part of my compensation.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

AllanMcPherson said:


> Wow, priorities


I'm with you. I can't believe what I'm reading here.

Executive Chef Sammie, you are a perfect example of what society calls "the gimme gimme generation.

You EXPECT that your workplace will provide you with free or costed alcoholic beverages.

You EXPECT that you can drink all the Coke or Pepsi you want on the line while working.

You EXPECT free or costed food while you are on the line or doing prep.

Sheesh!

What in the world makes you think that 99% of business Chefs have a bar tab?


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## peachcreek (Sep 21, 2001)

I'd rather sell the booze than drink the booze. I'd rather sell the food than eat the food. But that is just me.

Cheers!

Peachcreek.


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## chefwriter (Oct 31, 2012)

Free booze has never been a priority of mine as executive chef. Better equipment, better quality food products, better training, better organization, better staff, better cleanliness… There are plenty of issues the owners and I have to discuss. 

If all you have to worry about is free booze, you've got nothing to worry about. Or you're not paying attention to your other problems.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

Free booze, never is. I would rather see the "free" amount translated to my bottom line, which is found in the dollar amount of my paycheck. Pay me what I am worth and I will gladly provide my own beverages.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

Any business that wants to stay a business for the long haul needs to keep an eye on the bottom line, there is just no way around it.

When I work for a restaurant as a chef, I am an employee working for a business; but at the same time I am running my own business within that business.

I am CEO and president of Chef Layne For Hire and you better believe that I keep a good eye on the bottom line of Chef Layne For Hire. Accounts receivable and accounts payable are very closely monitored.


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## spice77 (Jan 18, 2013)

Some days an open bar tab would be nice, but there are a Board of Directors who would frown upon it and put their full weight behind the frown.  Chefwriter is right though, at the moment I am focused on better equitment and a staff with some depth to it.  Hence, the idea an open bar would be nice some days.    what the heck, I have booze at home.


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## jimyra (Jun 23, 2015)

I worked at one place that no employee could consume alcohol on the property at any time.  Employees got a twenty percent discount and could buy food for their family. If my wife and I went to dinner on my day off she could have a glass of wine with her meal but I could not. I think this policy is a good policy and prevents a lot of problems. Except for the family meal food should not be free. What do you do when the Exec. Chef runs a tab and gets a DUI on the way home. The next day he is in jail your bartender is in jail for over serving and it is Friday night.


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## chef brah (Oct 10, 2016)

Phaedrus said:


> To quote Don Draper 'that's what the money is for! '


But he wants to live like there's no tomorrow

Btw those who are saying restaurant owner should make chefs pay for drinks is kinda too shrewd i feel. at most 9-5 white collar desk jobs...most refrigerators have beer nowadays and employees drink together at work on friday nights and company pays for those beers or maybe bottle of cheap whisky.


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## hookedcook (Feb 8, 2015)

Chef Brah said:


> But he wants to live like there's no tomorrow
> 
> Btw those who are saying restaurant owner should make chefs pay for drinks is kinda too shrewd i feel. at most 9-5 white collar desk jobs...most refrigerators have beer nowadays and employees drink together at work on friday nights and company pays for those beers or maybe bottle of cheap whisky.


Don't bother. It's a lost cause on here to make your point about shift drinks. I understand what you are saying. I'm a chef because I don't like to ever think of working a 9-5. I like the craziness and dysfunctional lifestyle of cooking and restaurants. Not knowing where I'll work or where I'll live in 6 months is fine with me. I'm a solid worker and don't screw over my boss or my coworkers ever. I respect the other chefs on here and in certain restaurants or business there is no messing around for legal or financial reasons. To each their own, if my ass was on the line and it was my restaurant paying the bills trying to support a family, every penny counts and I respect that. As for me I don't have those obligations. But after spending 10 years in the Caribbean it is funny how serious some of these guys/girls take their job. You cook food, on a bad day you burn something. Relax people


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

hookedcook said:


> Don't bother. It's a lost cause on here to make your point about shift drinks. I understand what you are saying. I'm a chef because I don't like to ever think of working a 9-5. I like the craziness and dysfunctional lifestyle of cooking and restaurants. Not knowing where I'll work or where I'll live in 6 months is fine with me. I'm a solid worker and don't screw over my boss or my coworkers ever. I respect the other chefs on here and in certain restaurants or business there is no messing around for legal or financial reasons. To each their own, if my ass was on the line and it was my restaurant paying the bills trying to support a family, every penny counts and I respect that. As for me I don't have those obligations. But after spending 10 years in the Caribbean it is funny how serious some of these guys/girls take their job. You cook food, on a bad day you burn something. Relax people


There is a lot of difference between shift drinks and having a running tab at the bar where you work. I've also known places and heard of places where the staff "party" in the restaurant after closing time, raiding the bar and kitchen on a nightly basis and sucking down bottles of beer/wine/liquor every night. So there is a difference between a "here, you worked hard tonight--have a cold beer" to "I'm going to sit at the bar for 2 hours after my shift and suck down free drinks all night."

I'm guessing, on this scale, CHEFSAMMIE is leaning towards the latter. We've all known a CHEFSAMMIE, which is why he/she gets under our skin so much.

And yeah, a lot of us take our jobs seriously. The industry has made tremendous strides in the last couple decades moving out of the drug/alcohol abuse and prison/inmate/sailor mentality of the job into a more respected, thoughtful and celebrated career. People like Chef Sammie (who I'm going to totally stereotype based on 3 posts and not even feel a little bad about), who threaten to de-rail all that hard earned gain (that many of the chefs on this site have built their careers curating) definitely earn the scorn of the forum.

I don't know what spending 10 years in the Caribbean has to do with anything (island time?), but I promise you that I would take my work as serious as I do now, regardless of location. We cook food? Yeah, we do, and if we do it right, we do a lot more than that. We make memories. We provide comfort, and respite, and "restore" people. We take people back to their childhood, we expand their horizons with new flavors or ingredients they've never tried. We make people laugh, we make people cry. We get people laid, we put pieces of ourselves on the plate. At the highest levels we make art. I could go on.

If that sounds corny to you, I don't care. We take it seriously because it is our passion, our livelihoods, and our lives.


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## hookedcook (Feb 8, 2015)

Someday said:


> There is a lot of difference between shift drinks and having a running tab at the bar where you work. I've also known places and heard of places where the staff "party" in the restaurant after closing time, raiding the bar and kitchen on a nightly basis and sucking down bottles of beer/wine/liquor every night. So there is a difference between a "here, you worked hard tonight--have a cold beer" to "I'm going to sit at the bar for 2 hours after my shift and suck down free drinks all night."
> 
> I'm guessing, on this scale, CHEFSAMMIE is leaning towards the latter. We've all known a CHEFSAMMIE, which is why he/she gets under our skin so much.
> 
> ...


I do agree with you. It's not corny to care out what you do. But for me its a job, not my life. I'm not chef Sammie. Living in the Caribbean and South Pacific is different than the US or Western Europe. It's funny with all the insane safety laws in the US but I guess its good. Nothing is changed about getting the best ingredients and putting out the best product I can. I take pride in what I do. But you can relax a bit. Things are unpredictable. You're menu can change in a second if a fisherman walks up to your back door with a nice fish. Not here to make waves. As I've said before most of the time I'm on here is when I'm vacation and had some rum drinks. Been on vacation since Sept. 1st. After 4 months off traveling around South America time to work again. I'll be gone again soon, Cheers


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

The insane safety laws can all be traced back to insane lawsuits.

O.t.o.h. I remember working in Singapore in the early '90's. One large chemical co there supplying 90% of the hospitality industry with cleaning chemicals. None, I repeat, none of the labels had international signs for caustic, wear goggles, do not ingest, etc., no written warnings either. No instructions on dilution rates, no information on what each particular product was intended for.


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## chef brah (Oct 10, 2016)

foodpump said:


> The insane safety laws can all be traced back to insane lawsuits.
> 
> O.t.o.h. I remember working in Singapore in the early '90's. One large chemical co there supplying 90% of the hospitality industry with cleaning chemicals. None, I repeat, none of the labels had international signs for caustic, wear goggles, do not ingest, etc., no written warnings either. No instructions on dilution rates, no information on what each particular product was intended for.


lol singapore.

they have the most retarded service staff in the world i feel


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