I’ve read Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, so I’ve read all sorts of bizarre horror stories about the behind-the-scenes world of restaurants. I have friends who have worked in the industry, but mostly as servers and bartenders. I cook all the time at home, for myself, but I know the experience isn’t even comparable. And I’ve never attended culinary school.
So now, I seek stories from people who have worked as cooks in restaurant kitchens. I’m sure it’s hot back there, the work is fast and intense and high-stress, and the hours often suck. But I’m curious about what it would be like to work at, say, a neighborhood Italian restaurant, or a big chain like Cheesecake Factory, or a somewhat more upscale place. And most importantly, do you have a chance in hell of getting hired as a cook (even a prep or line cook) with no professional experience in the restaurant business?
I suppose you’d get a different answer from everyone as every restaurant is different. I spent a summer as a busboy in a local Italian restaurant in my town and my experience was essentially unremarkable.
This may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but I worked in a medium-upscale pastry shop. We sold product direct to the public and had quite a few big name accounts.
The atmosphere in our kitchen was WAY laid back compared to what Bourdain describes, but don’t get me wrong- there was a lot of pressure. Don’t even think about fucking up a huge batch of pastry cream or danish dough, or heads will roll. You’ve got to have an eye for detail, know how to manage time effectively, and learn economy of motion.
There were 3 women in the kitchen, two in the decorating room (one was the owner), so sexual harassment wasn’t an issue. I would have welcomed a little just to cut the tension… women are just so bitchy sometimes.
The work itself was a lot of fun, but physically demanding, fast-paced, hot, and at times monotonous (scooping cookie dough, ugh!). Bourdain asks kitchen personnel to show their burns… I’ve still got scars on my forearms from taking heavy sheet pans out of the oven.
Overall, it was an enlightening experience for me. I discovered that I like to cook much more than baking, but I wouldn’t DARE venture into a professional kitchen again. Too much stress for me. But I still wear my wild chef’s pants.
And no, I had no prior experience in food service. I was hired because I had passion, a very good grasp on technique, and the owner’s husband was convinced I would become his wife’s prodigy. Too bad she didn’t agree… Oh well, the pay was shite with no benefits but I learned a lot. Fair trade.
It is really hot. Really stressful. You get zero respect until you’re the Executive Chef. You stop cooking outside of work. Outside of work? Ha!
Semi-stream of conciseness
I work at a chain of upper-middle price range southern Italian, the average ticket price is about $200, they have “family style.” It’s not 5 star, it’s not flipping burgers. I had no formal training and had not ever worked in a kitchen other than fast food. I had read Bourdain’s book, which perhaps gave me a too idealistic view, in general he speaks the truth about restaurants but his experiences also are of a formally trained cook. At my restaurant I am the only native English speaking line cook, and this can cause me a great deal of stress as i don’t speak Spanish or Portuguese. The hours for me absolutely suck. I work from 3PM till midnight, go home, eventually go to sleep, repeat. I have an extremely limited life outside of my job, but that’s not always the case for every cook. The orders come slow sometimes (that’s bad, time crawls), and sometimes they come as fast as they can say the words (that’s good, time flies, yet can be very, very exhausting). There is no rest for the weary. I work my shift straight through, on a great day I get to go to the bathroom twice. I am losing some feeling in the pads of my fingers from picking up hot pans. I have burns on the back of my hands and forearms. For awhile I had much less hair on my forearms. Cuts are a fact of life but become less and less and knife skills get more practice. I burn my feet every once in awhile by dropping a little hot oil into my Birkenstock clogs, that’s no fun! I have to clean and keep a rotation of uniforms, which after awhile makes my room smell like old oil/pasta. Cleaning the house suddenly becomes not a big deal, when you have to break down broilers, flat-tops griddles, many, many ovens, deep-fryers, steam tables, etc. everyday. Sometimes I get to man a “pasta station” and make it to order, right in front of the customer. this is usually pretty nice, but sometimes I’m treated like “help.” Which means they look through me. That gets to me.
I would say, yes, there is a very good chance that if you show enthusiasm they will give you a job. This probably means non-gourmet restaurants, but if impress the Chef, and don’t mind washing dishes, who knows, you could be the next Iron Chef. I had very little training before I worked, and all my practical learning came on the job, which can be frustrating, but can be a great motivator. I did not have to spend 6 months - 1 year washing dishes, which I am grateful for, but I would suggest not getting a restaurant job in November, as December/January is a little busy. If you like cooking at home, I would say just do that. buy some cookbooks, go to town. Every once in a great while I will do it up and cook all fancy at home, but most of the time I eat PB&J or pop-tarts. Cooking at home, for myself, has lost a little of it’s magic.
Why do I do it? I’m not really sure. It is certainly not for the money. You will never get rich working as a cook, Chef, perhaps, never as a line cook. Someday i dream of making $10/hr. (in Boston mind you), I could go somewhere else, but loyalty is a biggie of mine. Eventually, I will learn what I want to know and I can call myself a cook. I feel I am good at what I do. The job will quickly let you know if it’s for you.
There are only two types of people who work in kitchens: those who do it for love, and those who do it to live.
I vacillate between the two.
Hope this is enlightening, and not too confusing. There’s more, but I need to sleep, it’s 6:30AM.
I should add: the restaurant I work at seats about 350 people in the regular dining room and 250-300 more people in the seperate banquet area, which has it’s own seperate kitchen.
On a good regular Saturday we’ll get 800 people fed. When it’s really, really, busy 1300+. That’s in 6 hours. The restaurant does about $10 million/year.
The main kitchen on a regular Saturday night has 10 line cooks:
3 in Pasta (Pasta - two stations, busy, fast & easy, lots of oppertunity to burn yourself, 12 10" burners)
1 in Saute (Chicken and misc. items prepared on the flat top - busy, hot, rapid fire)
1 in Broiler (Fish & Meat - slower, but must keep on top of things, can’t burn too many $50 steaks! Really, really hot standing in front of the 500 deg. broiler)
1 in Saute-Broiler (helps both stations get through the bumps)
1 in Appetizer (Deep-fried things - extrememly busy, hot, deep-fryers are no fun to clean)
3 in Pantry (Salads & desserts - these guys have it smooth - fast, cool, easy.)
3 Co-ordinators, they are “advanced” line cooks, they read the tickets, collect the food, make sure the servers don’t get to pushy.
1 Sous Chef, or Executive Chef to over see things, and make sure things go smooth.
Add in 5 night prep guys, 7 dishwashers, and a few others. That’s one packed kitchen.
Then there is the day crew. Those guys don’t work, they just stand around and cut things. :rolleyes: haha.
70+ cooks/dishwashers make up the Back-of-House.
Now add the servers, bussers, food runners, managers, and a carry-out service. The place is pretty hectic. It’s kind of fun though, you have to experience it to understand.
I started off in Pantry, worked through Pasta, Broiler, Saute, App, and now I’m in the Banquet kitchen training to become a co-ordinator. This has consumed about two years, though I’m moving faster than many before me. Eventually I’ll get offered sous-chef advancement, and at that stage I’ll have a well-rounded but informal training. The company will help me go through Culinary School to further my career, but you got to do the time before that takes place. My situation is just one, every kitchen is different. Smaller kitchens wouldn’t have as many divisions, then again, they might not be serving 1000 people.
I spent 20 years in the kitchen. At 15 years I went to culinary school, and worked my way up to Sous Chef at a 3 star restaurant. I have worked every aspect of food service from fast food up to a 4 star restaurant.
Yes, it’s hot, loud, dirty, stressful, sweaty long hours (easily 100 a week). You can make decent (but not great) money. Of course, the only place you’ll spend your money is at the bar after work because you won’t have time to go anywhere else. You are on the opposite schedule from the rest of the world - you work while most people play. If you are young and single, it’s ok. Not such a great arrangement if you’re married with kids. I only ever saw my family at breakfast.
Can you get a job cooking with no experience? Absolutely. There are only 2 requirements for getting a line cook job: a heartbeat, and enthusiasm.
Laughing Man has it right. ( So does Bourdain, taken with a grain of Salt).
Your reward, Each day, for working in Hot, Stressfull, Strenuous Conditions is… You get to do it all again, Tomorrow!
It all depends on how busy the restaurant is. Laughing Man is at the high end of
the scale.
Loosing your enjoyment for cooking at home is a very high probability.
I can’t really fathom why anyone in their right-minds would get into it. You hafta
do it for the love of the sport. You have to want it. Pay is not that great. You aren’t
gonna get many “Atta-boys” on a daily basis.
Throw in an Owner/Chef who’s, Shall we say…Quirky :eek:
Thank you all for the insight. Keep it coming! I am anticipating a major career and life change in the near future, whether I want it or not. I’m thinking about things I can do with my law degree, and running away from anything law-related while screaming seems to be high on the list. I like to cook, and I feel almost guilty I’ve never had to work in the food service industry (because most of my friends did, etc), so it’s just something I was thinking about.
I have an acquaitance who was a pastry chef for a high end restaurant.
She loved it, but she didn’t work weird hours. She came in during the day, prepared the desserts, was in the restaurant with only her assistant, went home before the restaurant opened. It was sort of the opposite of working as a line chef.
I was a cook in the kitchen of a very well established seafood restaurant in the town where I grew up (the restaurant had been there about 35 years). I started out busing tables, got moved over to prep work, and ended up as kitchen manager and cook. All of this while in high school and college. As someone said, its easy to get a job at the bottom and work your way up if you have the personality and develop the skills.
Yes, it is hot (I passed out beside the convection oven one night in August, still have the bump on the back of my head from where I hit the floor). Yes, it is stressful (Mother’s Day is the worst. No one gets the day off on Mother’s Day). Yes, it is sometimes dirty. It is also a hell of a lot of fun and you develop a relationship with your fellow kitchen help - sort of “us against the no-good, idiotic front of house staff.” There’s nothing quite like getting the entire kitchen into that groove on a busy night where everything is flowing. It is almost like a dance.
Then, the dance is over and everyone goes to the front of the house and sits at the bar and gets hammered.
