Cook-Line cook pay per hrs/salary

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Godslayer said:
Tips are for living, salary is for knives :p
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Haha I wish! No tips for this guy, though the servers during the day where I work pull easily over $1000 a week just off 5 days, two of those the weekend. I on the other hand just my ass all day and get $15hr! I’ve been there for almost 6 years and they need me I literally hold the place together, I can do Everything in there and I do it the Best besides a couple people. But they’ll bring a couple new people and pay them what I get that took me 3-4years to get and they Suck! One guy I Know gets more than me, $16, and he’s only been there for 10 months and got $16 within like 6 months! Pisses me off, and I would raise hell about it, but I’m doing my own farming thing so I Get a set schedule and Only work Days and 4 days a week, and get every Saturday off. So I don’t do much complaining, I just keep on trucking until the farm can pay me to leave, hopefully in a couple years.
 
I don't have a lot of experience being a professional cook (2.5 years) but I have worked in restaurants for many years in the FOH.

I did FOH in the US and I'm definitely guilty of not appreciating and understanding the chefs for what they do and how ****** they get paid.

Since then I've been working in the EU as a chef and I can't imagine myself in the kitchen in the US. Here the BOH and FOH split the tips 50%. When customers book a table here, they have it reserved the entire night. So there's no culture of turning and burning. I don't need to think about pension cause the entire country has a pension system for anyone who works in hotels, restaurants and cafes. Your employer has to pay into this as it would be illegal otherwise. It's still ****ing hard work as I put in 12 hours a day in the busy season but I always keep in mind the difference of here and the US.

Oh and also medical is just standard here as well. That doesn't even cross my mind.

Maybe some of you should look into overseas work!

I read Jon's story :) I haven't had an experience like that cause I found lesser demanding places that give me a comfortable work/life balance
 
My last job which I left and retired from the kitchen scene from I was started at $15/hr + mediocre tips.
I asked for $17.50 after one month of working there and got offered $17. I worked there for 9 months, and one morning the owner came in acting like a hot-shot and says “Pavel-I’m going to give you a raise- you deserve it!”
I come up to him and say “Jeffy, you know timing is everything right?”
He says “Yeah”
I said: “Well, my old lady got accepted for a job yesterday which pays two and a half times more per hour than what I’m making here”
His face and vibe DROPPED. I mean, I’ve never seen this happen so drastically.
He says “That’s not good for me, that’s really really not good for me.”
I said “It’s good for me, it’s good for my kids.”
He continued saying how not good for him it was.
I said “I don’t know when she starts but it’s going to be in less than two weeks, and I’ll be gone that day forever”
We stood there in silence at 4am looking at each other: Im holding a 70lb tub of prepped brisket, he’s holding his paperwork.
Wife ended up starting her job week after.
In laws watched my kids for two months while I moved back across the state and remodeled the house we owned, ended up selling it for $50k more than we were going to list it for before I even got the chance to list it. Now I hang at home with my 3 kids building electric go carts and going on adventures. Jeffy tried to pull me back to work with him once every other week in one way or another but I told him we are done and I’m having way too much fun not working. He’s a good man, but he didn’t appreciate me while I worked for him. I saved his ass many times and was there no matter what but the paltry wage I was given was utterly disrespectful. Unfortunately, owners only realize this AFTER the fact.

True story.
 
@quantumcloud509 Had a similar situation happen to me. I was working for a small kitchen in Edinburgh as sous chef. Chef was out long-term with a lung problem and some staff thievery/drug abuse led to just me and one other guy working the kitchen. During August there's a big festival, the population of the city practically doubles, and bars and restaurants go into overdrive mode. Well, me and this other fellow worked double shifts, 7-days a week, for a month, although neither of us were getting compensated for it. At the end of the month, my boss, who I liked and was a good guy put into a bad situation, comes up to me and is like 'Man, I'm surprised you didn't quit. I'm giving you a raise.' Of course, I tell him I didn't quit because I would have screwed over everybody else in the joint, but that I sure as hell was quitting now. I convinced him to back-pay me and the other fellow our raises for the month we had just worked and then I went on my merry way. Last time in a professional kitchen for me, thanks very much!
 
I'm interested in what Chef's are paying their employees around the country as a comparison. Doesn't matter if Restaurant/Hotel/Club Setting.
Seems like an older thread but full of useful competitive hiring content.

I am in Atlanta Ga in a well-known hotel brand. 300 rooms with Simple restaurant, Room service, and 22,000sq/ft of banquet space.
With that said my cooks range from $14.50/hr to $17.00/hr based on experience and my steward are in the $11.00 to $12.50 range.
My Sous Chef is non-exempt hourly and hits their target salary with a 50 hour work week. they are in the 40k to 45k if they hit 50 hour/week avg.
 
in LA right now, most line cooks are starting around $15-16 per hour and some hotels are paying cooks well into the $20 per hour range (not even lead line)
 
Whatever you make you will never pay off those student loans from chefs school muahahaha!
 
I’m on the north shore in MA and have to pay 18+$/hr for a competent line cook a few make 23-26. Can’t even get a dishwasher in this area for less then 15/hr
 
Seattle is in the $16-$20 range for line cooks. Dish/Prep $14-$18. Sous Chefs $50-$65k
Sushi Chefs $15-$30 + tips. (I so don't miss being an exec chef in the fine dining world anymore!)
 
I'm doing 3 shifts a week at $15 per hour. Garde manger/line. I'd do more shifts, but I can make as much or more money leaving some of the week open for freelance work. It's kind of shocking how low the pay to skill ratio is in a commercial kitchen.
 
I think the cook pool is diluted with mostly slackers because the good ones (due to low pay) move on to desperate places in need of leadership so they take good cooks and promote them to supervisors and sous even though they're not quite ready.
 
panda said:
What is the workforce quality/quantity over in Seattle? Do you think the higher than average salaries has improved on bringing in better staff?
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There is not enough staff and too many restaurants right now. It's even harder to find good servers than cooks. So it's not necessarily attracting more qualified staff unless you are a high end restaurant that cooks really want to work for and are paying at the top end of things. The cost of living here is stupid high so that's another reason the wages are higher. Minimum wage is $15 starting this year I believe.
 
panda said:
I think the cook pool is diluted with mostly slackers because the good ones (due to low pay) move on to desperate places in need of leadership so they take good cooks and promote them to supervisors and sous even though they're not quite ready.
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Yes this definitely happens. Even worse is here in Seattle we a getting all the super rich Amazon/Microsoft/Google folks deciding it would be "fun" to have their own restaurant to show off to friends. They then recruit some young 20 something chef with delusions of grandeur and open up some place with no focused menu and just a bunch of super trending flashy food with no soul and a management team that parties more than actually works.
 
Brandon Wicks said:
Yes this definitely happens. Even worse is here in Seattle we a getting all the super rich Amazon/Microsoft/Google folks deciding it would be "fun" to have their own restaurant to show off to friends. They then recruit some young 20 something chef with delusions of grandeur and open up some place with no focused menu and just a bunch of super trending flashy food with no soul and a management team that parties more than actually works.
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That sounds truly awful
 
Ann Arbor Michigan here. Need to offer $16 to get anyone to walk in the door. Most of the time having little to no experience. Same story here. Lots of restaurants, not enough competant cooks to staff them.
 
Great cooks don't choose a restaurant for the pay, just my opinion. Work harder then all your cooks and they can never complain :).
 
ramenlegend said:
Great cooks don't choose a restaurant for the pay, just my opinion. Work harder then all your cooks and they can never complain :).
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This is true but it doesn't hurt. I took a $15000 pay cut to work where I do now just because I believe in the chef and sustainable seafood cause. This was almost 10 years ago. Now I'm making pretty much more then I ever did as an sous chef/chef de cuisine/exec chef and I work only 4 days a week about 30-32hours.
 
To give a different side of things I do film catering. Bottom of the ladder gets 16-19, sous get 18-22 ( sometimes more) and chefs get 31-36. Overtime after 8 hours each day for everybody. Double pay after 12 hours plus health insurance, 401k and other perks for the chef - chefs are union is how all this happens. Production generally gets billed for 75-85 hours for a 5 day week, I usually work 90 hours/week. It’s not steady tho so you gotta be good budgeting your money when you make it.
 
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I love food, I suck at cooking it. Food is joy. You guys deserve more!
 
I'm working my first kitchen job at a four star restaurant in downtown Dallas, I'm currently 6 months into the job and am making $9.00 an hour. Our dishwasher makes 9 an hour plus tipout
 
CulinaryCellist said:
I'm working my first kitchen job at a four star restaurant in downtown Dallas, I'm currently 6 months into the job and am making $9.00 an hour. Our dishwasher makes 9 an hour plus tipout
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That seems low, is that typical for your area?
 
CulinaryCellist said:
I feel like I'm being slightly underpaid, but I have very little experience
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Yeah starting out always sucks, after a bit I would jump ship, maybe even post here and someone might have a lead/be hiring. I'm not familiar with texas wages or what's normal in the south. But at least you appear to be in a decent kitchen, that'll be useful when your going to the second/third place.
 
Godslayer said:
Yeah starting out always sucks, after a bit I would jump ship, maybe even post here and someone might have a lead/be hiring. I'm not familiar with texas wages or what's normal in the south. But at least you appear to be in a decent kitchen, that'll be useful when your going to the second/third place.
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I'm in a great kitchen, I feel like I can learn a lot from my chef and he's mentioned training me for Bocuse D'or
 
CulinaryCellist said:
I'm in a great kitchen, I feel like I can learn a lot from my chef and he's mentioned training me for Bocuse D'or
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Then I'd probably hold on, but ask for a raise after 6 months, if you feel it's deserved/merited. I've asked for raises three times and only been refused once. So it can't hurt
 
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