# Injured, seeking an alternate path within the industry...



## bastewithgtb

Hello everyone I am a 32 year old man who has been cooking professionally for over a decade but an injury has made me come to the conclusion that I will not be able to do very much physical labor in the future. I am here to reach out to the community and ask others who have possibly been in a similar situation for advice on where to look next career wise. I pretty much only have cooking work experience other than odd jobs as a teen. I have cooked under a few James Beard award winning chefs and expedited the line in a high volume Michelin star restaurant for 3 years.

I am looking for anything within the culinary industry that doesn't require me to stand for long hours or do excessive heavy lifting. I love food and would like to stick to my passion but jobs not culinary related that could apply my skill set I would definitely consider - I just don't have any idea what that would be. I have some ideas and suggestions so far but I am here to cast a bit of a wider net so ANY feedback is appreciated.

Thank you for your time.


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## rbrad

The first thing I would recommend is reposting on the professional chef section as a lot more people will see it.There are other things you could do in the cooking or hospitality field and a lot of it has to do with your location and interests.Teaching or consulting could be an option and so could some kind of administration type job such as in a purchasing department in a hotel, larger restaurant group or catering company.A short business course in a community college along with your experience could open some doors for you.Another option is sales either through a SYSCO type company or in restaurant equipment.Hope everything works out for you.


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## patblue

Just adding to what rbrad mentioned above - R&D for one of the bigger chains could also be an option.
Very regulated working hours, generally a lot more relaxed atmosphere than in an active kitchen and, just as a side bonus, more days off 

I've left the kitchen some time back and worked for 2 years for a large QSR chain - was in the R&D team and our main job was to come up with new menu items that could be fitted into the mechanics of the operation.


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## bastewithgtb

Thank you for both of your replies. I have posted in the other section now. Great ideas so far, I really like the idea of R&D so will put some research into that.


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