got a quastion

Hi, Daniel. You may want to poke around the students' forum a bit. There is a lot of information that talks about people just entering the field, their salaries, conditions, etc. I think you will find all the answers you may need right here!

Welcome to ChefTalk and best of luck with your endeavor!

 

I got into the business 6 months ago and dropped everything yesterday. why? you start with low pay and extremely hard work. I'm not saying the hard work scared me away from it but the pay was just so low I worry about the future if I were to support a family on 15$/hr while  working 65 hrs/week.not being able to spend any time with friends and family since I would be working during weekends and holidays. I enjoyed it a lot.  I would wake up at 10am  and work till 2 am and sleep and repeat the same thing . I'm talking about linecooks. but I'm not sure about sous or head chefs.my day off would be a monday which I would spend the whole day sleeping  then work Tuesday - Saturday.

Before going to culinary school I would strongly advise going into the work force before spending a lot of money and time to find something unexpected. Also consider maybe you would be satisfied being a good homecook feeding your family and friends. 

 

wait you didnt answe to my question: what the salary in the bigining?

Depending on your area, most will probably start out at minimum wage (California $8.00/hour) or slightly above (maybe $10-$11). Don't forget, that's GROSS, not net.

what should i do be make it higher?

Learn all you can, keep your head down, work cleanly and rapidly, ask questions when you absolutely have to, say "yes Chef" when told something, get to work "on-time", etc.

now im really scary, i allways dreamed about it, and now you telling me that its low!!!

Yeah, it is low, and if anybody tells you differently, they are not telling you accurately!

what do you mean line cook, i mean every body have to start with it?

Without experience or a good, solid education/apprenticeship in culinary, you will be very lucky to start as a "line cook", more likely, you will start in the "dish pit" or, maybe, as a "prep cook" (preparing vegetables, starches, and, maybe, proteins, for the line cooks. Depending on the specific place where you are working, it might take six months or even several years to move UP to a line cook.

how can i go higher and be a sous chef or maybe an exclusive chef? (what should i do?)

With anywhere from 5-10 years experience as a line cook PLUS learning

• personnel management
• accounting
• food costing
• business law
• etc.

you, might be considered for a position as Sous Chef (basically second in command of a kitchen), another 5-10 years and you might get a slot as an Executive Chef.

My advice? Get a job in a local, independent restaurant, you'll probably start in the "dish pit" and you'll do a lot of dishes and cleaning. You'll have  chance to see what happens in a kitchen and you'll have an opportunity to learn a lot!

If you are thinking of "culinary school", think very hard. Unless you go to a community college, you are looking to spend something in excess of $25,000-$60,000, probably student loans, to get a minimum wage job.

At least, that is MY opinion!

 

IMHO, an Associate or Bachelor of Science/Arts will have little or no impact when you enter the workplace in the culinary world. Cooking, despite all the hype and hoopla, is a "TRADE", not a profession.

Will an Associate or Bachelor degree benefit you? Absolutely! Just not in the classic food service business.

"Making good money" in the culinary world is somewhat parallel to becoming a MLB/NBA/NFL  player, for every one that "makes it to the majors", there are probably, oh, 10,000 that have to find a second job to pay the bills.

IF you have the talent AND the drive AND the determination AND the passion AND are willing to "work your way up" for the next 20-30 years, you MIGHT get an opportunity to earn "good money".

If you are looking at a culinary career as an avenue to "good money", I'd encourage you, no TELL YOU to look elsewhere.

If you:

• Love to cook and
• Love to see people enjoy your creations and
• Are willing to sacrifice your personal life for 10-20 years and
• Are passionate about cooking, much as an artist is passionate about their art and
• Do not really care about material things that money can buy
   

then jump in with both feet, we'd love to have you "on-board"!

 

Well, you could earn your Bachelor's degree in Business Management, that would give you the "book learning".

You could also watch and listen and ask questions while you are working.

Remember, a Sous Chef or Chef/Executive Chef is responsible for running a "business", far more responsibilities than simply "cooking"!
 

 

Tell ya what, Daniel,

You ever remember your Dad or someone telling you, when working with screws or bolts, it's "righty-tightly, lefty loosey?"

O.k. now, in the kitchen it's like this:

In the Kitchen, a cook is judged by what s/he puts on a plate.

A Chef is judged by how they manage thier resources.

What's a resource?

-Time

-Money

-Labour

-Product

-Equipment

No intelligent Restaurant owner is going to hire a Chef* without first knowing how the Chef managed his/her previous kitchen.  Education will only get you so far, and experience will carry you the rest of the way.

If you want to earn serious money, get into sales, cook at home, and use your spell checker.

I'm serious about this.

There's waaaay too much competition in the restaurant business, and everyone's shaving dimes to pay the bills.  One of the first things to get shaved is employees salaries.

Waiters get tipped 20% of the entire bill, cooks get a verbal compliment.

Reality sucks

Hope this helps  

*Chef, as in my description in the 5th line of my post,   NOT cook

 

To the best of my knowledge, no one with no experience has ever been hired as a "cook"! There might be some who excelled in culinary school that might have been so hired, but I would be surprised if it was more than a few.

You probably will have to start as a "go for" or "dishwasher" and, as you gain experience, see what goes on, ask questions and listen to the answers, you will begin to advance. Next step will probably be "prep assistant" or "prep cook", i.e. washing, peeling, and cutting vegetables and fruit.

It might take two years to be allowed to "touch" a stove, then again, if you are a quick learned with a great "work ethic", it might only be 6 months, or less.

In any case, work in a restaurant for a year or so BEFORE committing to a culinary school. DON'T SPEND OR BORROW THE MONEY TO GO TO SCHOOL UNTIL YOU ARE CONVINCED BEYOND ANY DOUBTS THAT YOU WANT THIS LIFE!

 

IMHO, that IS a "prep cook", an assistant to the line cook(s), BTWDIK
 

 

Right now, I'm reading "I have no experience, I want to make lots of money".  You're not going to get hired by anyone without proving yourself.  You cannot prove yourself without doing the job.

Cooking in a restaurant has almost nothing to do with cooking at home.  I make a pretty decent spaghetti sauce and can boil noodles and feed my family of 4 with no trouble.  They eat when *I* say dinner is ready.  In a restaurant, you not only have a table filled with people who aren't eating the same thing, but they all expect their food at the same time.  Likewise, the 8 tables behind them want their food now too.  Oh wait, you got that table of 8 up... oops, the server forgot to tell you no onions... RE-FIRE.  The other 7 are going to "die" before your re-fire is complete.  Your "system" has just been kicked in the shin.  When my wife cuts herself at home, she can scream, cuss, complain, wash it, bandage it, get hugs and kisses from the kids -- in a restaurant, you toss on a glove and keep moving.  You MIGHT have time to put a bandage on "now", but the executive chef ain't coming to kiss your finger.  Hot grease burns, doesn't it?  Yep, hurts like heck... "order in".

At 17, I expect you to be able to handle the cuts, bruises, burns and such with a reasonable amount of ease.  However, you don't get to stop and regain your composure.  The restaurant doesn't stop for you and if you stop, you're in for a horrible night.  You have to work multiple burners and possibly other pieces of equipment simultaneously.  

Assuming you're still in high school, go get a job at McDonalds cooking.  I'm not joking.  The menu is "dumbed down", but speed and accuracy still matter.  After a rush, you know you've worked.  You still don't have to worry about "real" restaurant kitchen duty -- getting everything up, hot, and correct at the same time.  After about 6 months, if you haven't quit, gotten fired, or committed suicide, start applying at big chain restaurants like Chili's, Olive Garden, Fridays, etc.  Next step would be a steak or seafood chain.  Once you've done that, you can start looking at a restaurant with some actual good food.  You may have to work through a few to get into a place you're proud to work at, but even then, you're working at a nice place, but not a place that pays the exec chef well.  If you want to work at a "hot" restaurant and be all artistic and inventive, you're going to have to work your way up.  You will not get rich in the process. 

If you have a rich father or rich uncle who wants to own a restaurant, you might get to skip some steps, but restaurants have low profit margins and are in business to make money, not to make you rich. 

If all else fails, if you're in a big city, find one of the "15 minutes of fame" celebrity chefs from Iron Chef, Chopped, whatever, and beg and plead.  They might have mercy on you, but they still aren't going to pay you the big bucks. 

 

do you know a web site where i can find out the experiance, qualifacations, the hours and the salary a cheff gets a year plz i have a school report on my carrear choice and need any help

 

Yes, that information can be found on google.