I don’t know why, but many people tend to think that a chef’s life is extremely glamorous. This is not the case about 90% of the time. I realized that way too much people are watching the food network. I mean come on people wake up!!! On TV they can make a janitorial job look so good that everyone would want to do it, but when your actually there it’s way different.
Oh children and culinary students, they don’t understand that getting a degree in the culinary field will not make you an executive chef without any experience. The truth is that in this business its all about the ladder and climbing it is a pain in the butt. Trust me I would know because I am climbing it. We’ll get back to me climbing this mysterious ladder a little bit later. Anyways shall I continue?
Now let’s get back to that executive chef and glamour idea. The reality of it is that being a chef is a job with HUGE responsibilities. This is how it goes, the chef usually comes in around 7:30-8Am he then makes sure everybody is setting up their stations (just to check up on things) later he has to come up with a daily special. After this the food distributors come in and bring the produce, meats, mushrooms, seafood. Keep in mind that a different purveyor brings each of these. The chef’s job is to make sure food cost is down, so he makes deals with these people about prices and such. After that is all said and done, customers come in wanting to do parties and banquets, weddings etc. Now the main focus is on meeting with the client and understanding what they want, how they want it, and when they want it. Do you remember that old crappy saying? The customer is always right. In this case sometimes an aggravation fee is included. Anyways as I was saying, after the meeting its shift change, and now chef needs to make sure all stations are properly switched from lunch to dinner (did I mention keeping an eye on the prep cooks?
Oh yes the prep cooks, they don’t like line cooks and line cooks don’t like them, but im not gonna get into that right now. That will be in another blog, be sure to read it. So now it’s about 4:30pm and the owner of the restaurant comes in. Most of the time they are pretty chill about things, but sometimes you get those annoying pricks that think they know more than the chef himself. Now while expediting or cooking on the line the chef has to make sure that all of the food being prepped tastes excellent and also making sure that safety and sanitation procedures are being followed.
Now before closing he must look at everything that needs to be cooked or ordered for the next day. Then make a prep or to do list. There is a lot more I can just keep going and going. This is all in a 14-15 hour shift sometimes 5-6 days a week everyday no holidays
off. Does that sound glamorous?
off. Does that sound glamorous?
