Question to All the Chefs Out There

[Stalbet]

you are just out of culinary school(LCB lets just say) what is the avrg. hourly pay a chef gets?

[wsmith1234]

Usually you don't become a chef directly after school, usually you are a grunt in a kitchen working you're way up the ranks. On the east coast the average is Min. wage to $8-$9 an hour depending on where you go.

[ChefJen]

depends where you are and where the kitchen is what kind of kitchen and position but fresh out of school..

I can see you around 8-10 dollars

[RedBeansNRice]

Or why go to school? Get paid 8 to 10 dollars, work you way up thru the ranks, and have nothing to pay off. Often times it's the same.

[foodpump]

When I hear the word "chef", I get wrinkles on my forehead. For me, and the world OTHER than N. America, a cook is some one who prepares food, and a "Chef" means the boss, the manager, the guy who instructs the cooks how to cook and prepare, who makes the menus, gives the sales rep's grief, and makes money for the business. These are all skills a cook needs to become a capable Chef, and they are not taught in schools. I get very P. O.'d when I see adverts in the cooking mags for "Chef's Schools", and even more P.O.'d when I visit schools and they refer to their students as "Chefs".

Whatever path you choose, you have many opportunities to educate yourself: Libraries, bookstores, ethnic food markets, restaurant supply stores, small dairies and farms, etc, will all give you a knowledge advantage over the "next guy". In other words, learning is infinite. If you're smart, you'll never stop learning. How you process this knowledge and apply it, will determine your success.

[Azer]

8 - 10 is the average I have seen, aswell.

Foodpump, I like to compare students coming out of culinary school calling themselfs a "chef" to someone after their first day of boot camp calling himself/herself a "battle hard veteran". Both are far from the truth, but most of those food shows that the general public watch don't help people understand that at all.

[big dog chef]

David;

Out of 4 total posts on these forums, three of them have been about how much money you're going to make. A career in culinary arts, or any other career for that matter, is about passion for what you do. It's not about money. If the only reason you want to go to "Chef's School" is to make the big bucks, I would suggest you pick another career.

If it's about money, go to "The Blue Ribbon School of Theatrical Arts", graduate, call yourself an actor, and start commanding 5 million a picture.....

[WYchef]

I think everybody deserves a fair wage but I agree totally with big dog. I also think you cook because it's where you fit in the world, I always tell my externs that this is more of a lifestyle than a job.

[JewelsQ]

While I completely agree with Al's comment on 3 out of 4 of Stalbet's posts...let's give the new guy the benefit of the doubt...

In his job he's a loan officer. Perhaps his questions come from a pragmatic standpoint, money is more of a bottom-line issue for him and perhaps he's trying to understand if the potential financial income (or lack thereof) is enough to fill his needs...

Many of us in the professional culinary field lament about how folks go to culinary school thinking their gonna earn a lot of money. Here's a guy who's asking an honest question.

When I went to culinary school, I had no clue about the money I could or could not make and that didn't matter. (Of course I also had very little life experience, no spouse, no kids and certainly no mortgage!!)

Deep down, I knew about the hours I would put in but put very little thought into it. Good thing I was young and naive...Now I'm not so young

[cheztom]

Short answer is...not much. Ever. But it doesn't matter if its what you enjoy and what you were meant to do. Well, er, the money mostly doesn't matter.

[Silverfox]

Perhaps the "real question" he was asking was:

"How much more pay will I get by attending culinary school versus working my way up through the ranks in a kitchen"?

Sadly, the consensus appears to be, not much, if any.

Perhaps that is a way to "rank" culinary schools, i.e. what is the pay differential for a certificate and does it vary by the name of the school on the certificate?

[Randy]

if you can go into my kitchen an make me lunch in less that 15 minutes it's $8.....$10 if it's good

[chefelle]

I saw some ads on a job bank for THE high end resort in my area and it posted a list of kitchen jobs as well as their hourly rate of pay. The pay was quite low, but I think that is understandable. The experience that you would get working for this place is worth more than any dollar figure. To be able to put that particular chef and kitchen on your resume would be worth its weight in gold...AND they only ask you to commit a summer to them as they are only open during tourist season. Just that one summer and the reference you would obtain from it would help you immeasurably in both the kitchen and salary options.

In my opinion the salary is only one way in which you will receive pay....and I would factor that in to my decision.

[kenbowie]

I took a pay decrease and rank decrease to be where I am...similar to what Debbie is talking about I think. Sometimes experience is worth the $$ loss.

[RedBeansNRice]

I don't think there is anything wrong with asking about pay. Where one can argue it's all about the passion, I do not agree. It's great to love your job, my wife is a little sick with my love and love of talking, and exploring, and eating food, but it's okay as well to think if you have a certain bit of aptitude for something you think you could go far in, and be a sucess, to do it for the money. Take cubicle workers. I can't narrow down the details of these jobs enough, but often times the pay isn't outstanding, but no one is telling them "Hey you have a family to feed, if you don't have a passion for small compacted spaces maybe you should be doing motion pictures instead."
It's common knowledge alot of people in the restaurant occupation change jobs frequently. Most places I have worked at where big money was possible, they wanted to pay anyone that came through the door the bare bones the first year rate. Why? They want to see how committed you'll be to their business. It costs alot overall to find, train, and then lose guys/girls repeatedly. And quite often just because you dangle the big money to start instead of dangling it for 6 months from now, seems like the new guy is even less likely to stay. Great pay does not gaurantee permanence. I do not know how many times I have seen cooks working bad paying jobs, to find a great pay place, to start, to work a week, while looking hardcore anywhere to be able to put down on their aplication that they are making great X pay, and how they want even more, just to quit in 5 days to parlay that into something else.
I think it all depends on your longe range goals.
Do you want to the Executive Chef at a Casino Resort Hotel?
Do you want to own your own catering business?
Do you want to be a Nutrition First Chef at a Retirement home?
Do you want to be the proprietor of an excellent Italian Restaurant?
Do you want to be Regional Manager of Jack in the Box?
None of these are silly questions. Each one has choices and directions to be made now, sacrifices and such, to best stock your resume, and eventually allow you to succeed.