Haha! I remember a chef in France that killed himself because he got a bad review. He still retained his 3 Michelin Stars, but it wasn't a perfect review. Yeah you got it. I gave up being selfish when i got married. Well i tried giving it up... it's a hard habit to break.
Forget opening your own place. You will wind being married to the restaurant and not your wife. Or broke and not married.
I was in a similar place at one point. I was working in 5 star/Michelin starred type establishments. And I was poor. And I had no benefits. And I worked like a dog. And never saw family. I almost never had time for dates. But I was loving learning and cooking and being a slave.
But at one point I started to think of my future. Money became important So I made a choice.
This is just my perspective, but I think creativity is the least important aspect. The fact that they want so much, is just going to suck you dry, until you have no more ideas, and then you will start hating work. When you hate work you will wind up getting fired or leave on your own. And because they want so much you will have to work harder and give less time to your family
It seems that you have to balance the increased pay vs the loss of benefits. When you look at it, you are actually taking a pay cut. Personally, i would show them what you are getting now and negotiate from there. If they want you bad enough they will up their offer, if not, this might not be the place for you.
Bert M.
Why?! Because footballs don't have wheels!
I thought I replied to this, guess it didn't go through.
I basically echoed Bert's thoguhts. Creativeness is overated. Yea you definitely don't want to be manufacturing stuff like out of a plant... But if you aren't "young" anymore with family other things become priority. If you really want to be creative you work for yourself, but that can have it's downfalls too as mentioned.
Like I mentioned on another thread about being some people being stuck in the past old school, complacent comfortable, or cutting edge future ... To be really happy/successful I think you need a balance of the 3 ... Know what came before you and ALWAYS strive to be better and go where you weren't sure you could go, but know when not to move and hold the ground you're on. Know yourself at the same time and what you are capable of mentally and physically now and in the future and what you want to accomplish.
Using sports since it's widely known ... Take Jordan. He dominated with his penatration and physically abilities early in his career. Took time off and came back knowing his previous game was not the same but he could dominate in another way and still have a team built around him and carry them.
On what Brian talks about... I know the mass majority don't have any idea what one faces to be great at anything and the sacrifices one must make. If they did, and they could hack it, the great ones from the past/present would just be average.
Good luck Joe .... I would go with what Bert mentioned if you are really interested in the new job
-bryan