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Restaurant industry

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jake99

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Anyone have experience cooking or working in front of the house in restaurants ? im trying to become a chef............i finished culinary school and now work the pantry in the casinos in ac.
Its definitly a tough job , being on your feet 10 hours straight having the executive chef yell at you while you have about 10 orders to do at once
 
Yes,I do have experience working as a manager/cook its tough work, unforgiving but can be rewarding if you enjoy cooking (which I did). my longest and hardest working week was 81 hours. I have recently (2.5 years ago) switched jobs and am no longer in the service industry. Best of luck!
 
I never went to school for cooking, so I would just be a cook, I was in charge of the kitchen and staff in the kitchen, food ordering, menu, and the equipment (it was a long list) It was a locally owned restaurant small maybe 300 cap.. There was a huge hotel across the street that we got tons of customers from. I was actually offered by the owner (him being around 60) to finance the restaurant, but i was also offered the current job I have the same day. I miss the biz sometimes, and i believe that you can make a lot of money doing it.
 
Do you think if i finished culinary school and now im starting off on pantry in restaurant in casino that i can eventually move up to line cook and maybe someday even a real chef ?
 
If you've graduated culinary school, you should be starting as a sous-chef, not in the pantry or as a line-cook.


I've worked in the industry since I was 14 (almost 10 years now). I grew up in a wine-producing area, so almost the only employers in our area are: wineries, cafes/bistros, colleges. I've done everything from dish-wasing, busser, pantry, desserts, line-cook.

For me, working in restaurants is the most fun job I've had. The money can be shitty at the lower levels, and the hours and grueling nature of the job are hell, BUT if you find a staff that you fit in with, it makes the time fly by. The depravity of a kitchen can hardly be matched anywhere else.

If you want to work in a nicer area than New Jersey, I suggest you move to upstate NY. Come to the finger lakes region. Restaurant jobs are plentiful during the summers, the people are chill as fuck, and the natural beauty of the area is unsurpassed in the north east US.
 
I have 2 friends who are in the food industry. One's a chef for an absurdly expensive restaurant named dresslers in our upscale part of the county, and he makes 100K+ a year after working there only 2 years but it's a no bullshit kind of job, he HAS to do shit right or he's gone because it's one of those perfect restaurants where they use silver tools to scrape crumbs off the table in front of you and waiters wear tuxs lol. The other is a caterer and she cooks pretty much anything, and I never really would have thought, but she makes a shitload of money. I'm talking 5-10k per party(including food and all that shit, but still) and she does 2-3 parties per week. I'd love to have that job
 
Somehow I doubt she "makes" 5-10k per party. Maybe that's what she charges, but then she has to pay for everything.
 
If you've graduated culinary school, you should be starting as a sous-chef, not in the pantry or as a line-cook.

Why would they start you off as Sous chef if you only have experience in school , not in the industry ?
 
Because there's no difference between cooking in class or in a restaurant, besides time sensitivity. If you can cook you can cook. You're never gonna learn ANYTHING working in a restaurant... you just make the same menu items consistently all day.
 
Coolio said:
Somehow I doubt she "makes" 5-10k per party. Maybe that's what she charges, but then she has to pay for everything.
Click to expand...

that's why I said with food and shit but still it's got to be atleast 20% so like 5k a week is defintely not bad to be your boss and that's really low as she owns the business and no one works for her. i was just saying it's a good thing to start out making twice as much as most other jobs, plus the benefits related are great.
 
no difference between cooking in class or in a restaurant, besides time sensitivity. If you can cook you can cook. You're never gonna learn ANYTHING working in a restaurant

Its a lot different when you have 3 hours in a class to make one dish than when you do hundreds of covers in a restaurant in a few hours ! And i think most chefs learn from working in a restaurant , not from school , they just do the school to get a degree
 
It's not a lot different at all... the time pressure doesn't change anything.

Most chefs learn from culinary school, because what the hell are you going to learn in a restaurant? Most restaurants, especially ones that will hire people who don't have training and experience, have very simple, boring menus that you can't learn much from while preparing.
 
Also, most restaurants don't really have time to train someone to cook, they expect you to adapt to their menu rather quickly as they can't stop serving things because your inept.
 
true , but its not easy when you are in middle of a rush if you arent used to that !!!! can be real nerve wracking......................So you saying many executive chefs arent even that great of cooks ?
they just know how to run stuff in the kitchen ?
 
That's not at all what anyone said. The executive chefs didn't learn what they know from WORK, they learned it because they probably watch cooking shows, went to culinary school, cook for themselves and their families, and discuss cooking with other chefs. Their job is where the knowledge is put to the test in a high pressure environment.
 
So if i still dont know as much as i need after culinary school , isnt working the next best way for me to get experience ? i mean how else am i gonna do it
 
I dunno, I haven't been through culinary school but I thought after graduation you ought to know 'everything'...

I mean, what cooking skills/techniques are you imagining require more experience than culinary school provides?
 
You have the culinary school experience.

I have the kitchen experience.

You basically asked for my opinion, then you ignored what I said.

I'll say it again, since you didn't seem to get it the first time:

You should be a sous-chef coming out of culinary school. Going to culinary school and being a pantry chef is like getting your PhD in History, then being the janitor of the History department at a college. You aren't expected to work your way up from janitor to tenured professor; the same as you shouldn't be in the pantry if you've been to culinary school.

You tell your boss you're quitting if you aren't promoted to sous-chef. Then when they say "you're fired," you pack your shit up, move to a touristy area (like the Finger Lakes, California wine country, etc...) and you walk into every restaurant with your culinary degree and say, "I'm applying for the sous-chef position."

Why am I saying this?

I've had two friends go to culinary school. One worked in the pantry with me (where I started, with no experience) before he went to school. He came out and was instantly hired as a sous-chef making $60k a year in a rural area of NY. That's a lot of money here. The other friend come out of school, started making the same money as a sous-chef, then quit because he sucked at it. Up to you which path you follow.
 
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