# selfish question: how do I make lots of money and gain power in the world?



## chalkdust (Feb 18, 2009)

through the culinary arts. I dont know much about business. What do I need to know? Do I need business school? economic theory?

What would I need to understand and how would I have to function to get a huge amount of money and power and prestige through really great cooking related things?

I want the opportunity to travel places and open tons of restaurants that are really great and maybe offer training programs for other people interested in learning to cook.

mainly I want money and power. enough power so that I can open creative restaurants that do whatever I want them to do, that are also "environmentally friendly" and pushing towards positive global economic change for all the third world and poor people.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

If you want to make a billion dollars in the restaurant business, start with two billion.

In your post, I don't see any mention of passion or love of food and cooking. I gather that culinary arts are not your primary muse. It appears that money and prestige are more your siren song.

I would think you might investigate training and learning more about public relations as a primary career slant; which you could then use to further your advancement in the culinary world.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

My suggestion: Pray a lot to hit the LOTTERY


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## chalkdust (Feb 18, 2009)

Well i have many passions. But without money I will die or end up a loser, a hippie who feels more shame every day for not buying his dead mom a house, or homeless. Public relations I am not good at. 

I love cooking and learning about food and cooking. I love to read about and experiment with french, indian, middle eastern, and west indian/latin american food. I consider myself fascinated with french and italian cooking and its influence on the rest of europe, and would love to know more about austrian, slovenian, coratioan, slavic, czech, italian and hungarian art. (I am half austrian myself).. The pastries and dumplings alone could thrill me endlessly.

I consider myself close to a creative powerhouse on the fascinating and beautiful worlds of trinidad, jamaica, colombia, and guyana, with hopes to learn more about all the places in this area including mexico.


i wana be a big time celebrated chef i guess. that appears in famous publications 

really i want to fulfill my artistic and intellectual passions and get lots of money and also get many women!!


West and east african cooking intrigues me. from ethiopia and the sudan down to tanzania and mozambique to the west sides, the congo, benin, togo, nigeria, mali, ghana, senegal. I barely know anything. I wouldl iek to open a five star african restaraunt, and five star caribbena restaraunt that can employ africans and caribbeans and give them five star french/italian chef training, that oppens up lots of exciting world fusion creative possibilities to open up other five star trinidad, haitian and jamaican restaraunts. 

i would love to get trained in classic indian and chinese and even japanese techniques, but right now im on my way to joining the marines or doing something. like isaid, i want to give soemthign back to my parents, buy the m a house. but dont want to be an accountant or finance guy.

im in school for anthropology. Im 26. im not in grad school yet. I would love to go to haiti and become a vodou priest or go to japan and get well versed in all the okinawan karate styles. I currently am learning to play west african (guinea, mali) and caribbean (cuba, puerto rico, brazil, trinidad, haiti) music as well as dances, and I do train karate. this stuff is amazing. but I need money!!! Its a werid world/culture with little money. shoot I would want a major animated motion picture about african mythology prince of egypt style. or bring back a hugely successful afro beat abnd that has big celebrations of steel pan trini style,m and haitian rasine vudu roots music, and fela kuti style afro beat funk with good lyrics.
but we can t have that. maybe i need to move to africa?

right now i help at a chinese take out place, i get to hang out, but not do much, they are slowly training me. its all simple, lots of work, great food. they could do chicken feet and bon bon chicken, wine sauced rabbit foot, ginger chicken, new york style dim sum, chicken feet, livers, and all kinds of interesting dishes. but dont. they barely get by and people just order general tsos all day. what is gonig on with chinese restaraunts? are they not allowed by china to expand? are they helping out the chinese community so they dont want to be better than any of the other take ut restaraunts. will people here just not order that kind of food? im kind of disappointed at how awesome this chinese restaraunt coulkd be, they defintiely work like demons and have a family too. general tso's, brocolli chicken all day, but at least i get to try soem more intriguing dishes with them...


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

1) *There is no or very little money in the restaurant business.*

True, you can live quite well if you have a successfull restaurant, but you don't earn much. True, you can sell a successfull restaurant for lots of bucks, but think of that money as back-pay from all of those years of working like a dog wth no pay.

2) *The people who earn the most are people who work with other people *
Think about it, this includes doctors, lawyers, real estate, and especially sales people. Yes money makes the world go round, but if there were no people, the money would just sit there. If you want to earn good money get a job that interacts with lots of people.

3) Can't help you much with women, you're on your own there.


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## chalkdust (Feb 18, 2009)

hmmm so maybe i need to look at communication fields/careeers so i could document or broadcast artistic and educational anthropological, scientific, artistic and culinary programs?

ok well how do I become super business savy in the world of cooking? like bigger than wolfgang puck. i want to go head to head wth mcdonalds and burger king ... and start a chain of mostly black owned and operated healthy international ethnic restaurants that incorporate african, french, italian, creole, indian and chinese traditions in creative and unique ways that give an opportunity to employ lots of people in poor communities and also give sa positive nod to the promotion of healthy eating and green friendly eating and supports none slave labor created trade and international produce laws, etc etc. basically the most awesome restaurant franchise ever!!! these restaraunts will feature live folkloiric african music form hiait cuba trinidad and martinique as well as jazz, this will help out ghetto areas and promote cul;tural developemnt, these centers wil lalso have martial arts and african and indian dance classes and be tied in with research at universities so these traditions can be kept alive with a similar impetus that is keeping classical music and public radio alive (scoff scoff, and that needs help too). the goal of these centers is to compete with musicians that just want to get laid and not give anything back other than their none african blues derivatives. the guise will be revolutio nand change, but in the end i want to get a lot of owmen and make a lot of women cuz i dont know if america is ready for communism (I dont think it is!!!)


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## chalkdust (Feb 18, 2009)

thanks foodpump. what do you do as a professional chef?


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Not to burst your bubble. but Wolfgang Puck was put into business and guided by his Ex Genius wife and her family and connections , Barbara Lazzeroff. One of the best open space Int. Deco s around.


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## chalkdust (Feb 18, 2009)

lol. i honestly know nothing about the man. but i doubt he would impress me with anything!

just give me some cassavas and a lot of coconut milk, i will blow your mind!


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Business, BIG business, is completely different ball game. Research Wolfie, research T. Keller, for McD's don't research under McD's, but look for Kroc, reserch will tell you everything that _happened._, but not what is to come.

After researching you will find that:

1) Chance favours the prepared mind
2) You need unlimited access to credit to grow mega-big
3) Connections are more important than cooking

Me? Just humble cook, been cooking for around 25 years, and now have my own artisan chocolate/pastry shop


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## mwhitehair (Jan 10, 2010)

How do you make money and power in this industry?

You bust your ***. Plain and simple. And yes, the money, women, prestige and paparazzi are all cute perks for a select few that work hard enough and make the right moves, but they don't come until you've put in your blood, sweat and tears on the line for a decade or so, pulling fifty-sixty hour weeks and forgetting what a Saturday off feels like. 

I forget who, but someone on here recently referred to our trade as (forgive me if I misquote) "thankless toil", and they hit the nail on the head. If you can love and embrace this industry for (and in spite) of all of that, than you're on the right track. 

With all due respect, it sounds like you're in this for all of the wrong reasons.

And no, America is not ready for communism.


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## xjmrufinix (Mar 16, 2009)

You've been watching way too much Food Network, dude. For every celebrity chef, there are literally thousands of people grinding on the line for peanuts, or owner/chefs losing their life savings on restaurants. Being passionate or dedicated or talented is no guarantee you will be rich or famous in this business. There are so many variables which are out of your control that affect business; weather, perishable inventory, culinary trends, unreliable employees, food costs, and on and on and on....you can do everything right and still not get rich. There are culinary schools everywhere loaded to the gills with people suffering from delusions of grandeur, and more restaurants in most towns than the economy can support right now. 

Those few who have achieved what you're talking about - the Ramsays and Bourdains of the world - did so only after busting surviving hellish decades of 80-hour weeks and having started at the bottom, washing dishes as teenagers. Even then, there was a good deal of luck involved in them getting the opportunities they did.


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## pembroke (Sep 26, 2009)

Why not save time and go into banking instead, if it all goes tits up the goverment will give you more money to start again; it's all win, win, win!


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## shipscook (Jan 14, 2007)

everything you have been told here is spot on! except maybe the person who mentioned 56 hour week--pretty short, at what you are looking at is an 80 hour week.

With all that music and stuff, sounds like you need a club that is involved with a performing arts group??

Not sure why you are even looking at food service with all that going on??? and EPA and DEC too??

And unless you are hotter than Bourdain or Michael Symon, you ain't got a chance with the ladies till you have the word on the street about your food. And a television presence. What do you other ladies here think??

Dream on, Lottery was you best idea,
Nan


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## chalkdust (Feb 18, 2009)

banking sounds so boring. i want to read up on bordain and symon.

thanks!


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I agree with shipscook.. everything you have been told here is right on including the working hours and the ladies.

If you are going to succeed in this business you have to be willing to do any job at all in the kitchen and not think any task beneath you. I have seen cooks who will not set foot in the dishpit, or lift a finger to help put orders away and that is not the way to get ahead. If you do anything and everything and are willing to learn and are not full of yourself, then anything is possible. 

As for being rich and famous... we all dream of it, but only a select few will achieve it.


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## shipscook (Jan 14, 2007)

but, define rich and famous?? Just got my '92 Jeep running again, my rent and other bills are paid ahead, eating wild salmon and can afford some good wines, and here in Southeast Alaska I am famous for islands around??
And pretty **** happy---will even be happy to get back to the long hours here soon. Having a crew of happy smiling, satisfied people after a meal is priceless?

Cheers,
Nan


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I think what you just described sums up my feeling of wealth. Add to that a wonderful family and good friends as well as just being happy.


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## gunnar (Apr 3, 2008)

be a movie star in a oscar winning role in a movie about cooks.


seriously, anymore you have food bloggers getting fame on FN. Have ya seen the commercials for that geek?. Youtube is a great vehicle and a webpage is a good start for reaching people while being someone that can't tolerate people and their foibles. Martha Stewart is a stone cold b!th from what i have heard and yet through magazine articles to her own show she is able to be popular and insulated at the same time. 
looking into an acting agency might do some good for you.


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## greyeaglem (Apr 17, 2006)

If I kew the answer to that, I wouldn't be sitting up at 2 in the morning reading these posts! (hee, hee).


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## mwhitehair (Jan 10, 2010)

No joke. The way Blogging has taken off, if done right, it'll definitely put money in your pocket.

Gaining the "power" you crave is deeper, more complex thing. Sure people may know your name, but to what end can you really impose your will in this industry? "Influential" would be a better, more practical goal, as surely Bourdain, Ramsey, White, Ferran, Etc. have the most definitely achieved the status of "Influential". 

And for clarification, my earlier 50-60 hour week statement was just to put a base/minimum figure out there. I agree, 80+ Hour weeks are no rare thing for a driven Chef wanting to go places... this week was a short one for me at 68.


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## kirstens (Jul 3, 2009)

Symon?? From a ladies point of view......not too cute. Bobby Flay though, that's a different story.


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## chefboyarg (Oct 28, 2008)

watch a lot of Duck Tales and take careful note of how and where Uncle Scrooge invests. A sure-fire way to riches I'm told. You'll be swimming in pools of bills in no time.


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

If you have to ask, you won't make it... The few chefs who do make it THAT big are geniuses - mostly business wise. Take Alain Ducasse - plenty of people can cook like him (after all, he's never on the line), but no one can recreate a 3 Michelin star menu and atmosphere as consistently as him...


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

Besides, money fame and power are overrated... It's really more trouble than it's worth. Not to mention, you can't take your wealth with you when you die.


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## pembroke (Sep 26, 2009)

If you were born in North America or Europe then you've already hit the jackpot of life!

To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world required, in 2000, just US$61,000 in assets! There would be 33.3 million people poorer than you!

Consider yourself **** lucky to begin with!

How the world's wealth is distributed - the top two percent own half


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## damack (Feb 21, 2007)

ok bordain is only famous and has the TV shows because he wrote a book, he is a famous author that happens to be a Chef, read 
[h1]Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly its bordains book.[/h1]
today i worked starting at 5am-2pm no brake, i dont mind, i enjoy my job and half the time i wasnt in the kitchen i was moving tables and chairs around the hotel and helping out . like they have said befor there is noting below you, i will jump in the dish pit, or do what ever else i need to do, i am a night owl and i have been waking up at 4:30am for the last 4 months because thats what needs to be done.

now honestly....

you are going into a job that is full of a bunch of guys with passion that are over worked, under paid and all have ego's so if you dont love food.GET OUT NOW opening a restaurant in my area costs a minim of 2 million.

also T. Keller owns lots of great resturants: French Laundry, Bushon, AD HOC and Per Se, but what people dont know is that the first place he opened he closed because it was lousing money. i lived across the street from this guy at one point he is the **** in the kitchen, but he didnt know money management

give up now


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

This has got to be a joke!


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

Well put Damack.. I can't agree more with your statement that no job is beneath you.  I have ran dishpit many times and well.. while I am not a fan of it and have to be careful when I do it (food allergies) it is part of my job as AKM to make sure everything in the BOH gets done.


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

I don't think I have seen this much bull**** in one post in a long time, this guy is a dreamer..........The 70's are over, sell the VW bus, and get a job...............Chef Bill


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

> I have ran dishpit many times and well.. while I am not a fan of it and have to be careful when I do it (food allergies) it is part of my job as AKM to make sure everything in the BOH gets done.


Actually, after a long night in the weeds I sometimes find washing pots and pans to be kind of a zen thing.


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

Pete said:


> Actually, after a long night in the weeds I sometimes find washing pots and pans to be kind of a zen thing.


I do too.. it's nice to just focus on what you're doing and not worry about the chaos that is going on behind the line. I'm looking forward to this weekend for that reason... normally I am either on eggs or calling board on the weekends and seeing as I work at a breakfast place eggs is the busiest station. But this weekend I am on fruits both days and I am so looking forward to it. Fruits can be hectic at times, but for the most part fruits just goes at their own pace and in between orders we work on fruit cups for the next day. Compared to eggs on a busy Saturday or Sunday fruits is going to be a nice relaxing change.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

You'll never do it by following a formula. It must come from within.


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## damack (Feb 21, 2007)

go get a job as a dishwasher and work your way up its the only way i will respect you. right now you are just a joke


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

And for me the biggest ticket to respect is that you check your ego at the door.  Come into my kitchen full of yourself like a pheasant and well... I will go out of my way to shoot you down and humble you.


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## damack (Feb 21, 2007)

learn these words and use them all the time

YES CHEF... THATS ALL THEY WANT TO HEAR, AND LEARN HOW TO MOVE FAST, WHEN YOU THINK YOU ARE FAST GET 5 TIMES FASTER THEN YOU MIGHT BE THERE...


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