Why do we continue to cook professionally?

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We are a restaurant family. We're all in it and we're all a little nuts. It's been that way since my daughter was twelve. We laugh, love and bleed all together. We are one. I AM the luckiest SOB in the world. I will die on that line.
 
Most days, I scream internally at the fact that I'm here, at my desk working and not pursuing my passion... And I see a large number of people really doing well for themselves here in the F&B industry.

So sometimes people ask, why aren't you in it? I always tell them, i'm too old to stand for 90 Hours a week, inhaling smoke and oil only to earn 30% of my current pay.

Yes i do know the 20 or so people locally who made it really big, and are worth low-mid 7 figures (achieved within 8 years)... but I'm just not convinced I have the talent or the will or the passion to do it.

I do wish I was 15 again, and I went down that road so i could find out, but for now, I'll just keep keeping a little cash aside so that I can buy a cafe in a couple of years and get some talented young chef started on his career... Time to live vicariously through the success of an employee. Here's to hoping that i'll be lucky, successful and understanding if/when the time comes.
 
If you're going to dream than dream of your dream job. Not someone else's.
 
Salty dog said:
If you're going to dream than dream of your dream job. Not someone else's.
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Hmm, owner of a cafe is part of that dream... I do lack the skills to be the one leading the line though, unlike in your case. Right now the dream is still a financial hurdle, but at least it is in place and steadily growing.
 
One word: Recession.

They pay me to do it, and the hours are good(at my current job).

I started a business in '08, which was a TERRIBLE time to start it, but I figured I could at least get by until '11, but that didn't pan out because I had to move and had a baby. I got a job at a sushi bar, where I was mislead about how much I would be making. I made crap for pay, and worked 65 hours a week, which were the choicest hours to make your life as dull as possible. I woke up at 9:30, left for work in a hurry, worked until 9:30 pm, got home at 10, ate dinner, went to bed. Every day but Tuesday for a year. The year flew by, and I realized one day that I missed my daughter's first year almost entirely. It was, and is, my first and only regret in life. I will never jeopardize time with my family for any job or pay. I would rather be poor than miss my children's lives.

I think cooks are crazy underpaid, and don't get nearly the time off they deserve. They work all the hours when everyone wants to be enjoying a meal, are responsible for producing something we put INSIDE OUR BODIES and don't deserve to get minimal treatment like some kind of office or factory worker.
 
Bryan G. said:
We most definitely don't do it for the money. If you make any real money and have the time to spend it you either sold your soul or you're the luckiest SOB in the industry.

Like Brian mentions I feel my path changing as well the older I get. I can never give up cooking/teaching in some kind of compacity ... But doing it everyday gets tiresome.

I will say having 3 children has been both great for my career while at the same time will probably end it. You look at people in your kitchen a little different and softens up the jagged hard edges that most of us have. Gives some of that "balance" we're talking about most of us lack. By learning to be a good father am also becoming a better chef. At the same time I want to be around to be a father figure to my children more and more everyday and less and less to those in the kitchen. Double edges sword.

The Chef I work with now is by far the best chef I have ever worked with. He has a saying "You have to MAKE it your own." That's the only way you can be a chef at a restaurant that is not your own if you ask me.

On another note I am so happy to see some of the things guys like Dave and others are doing as it makes me believe some of my future plans are on track and what I believe could be poplular amoung my kitchen brethern really is the popular.

Bryan

PS... Brian mentioned drugs and booze. Am I the only guy alive who has worked in a kitchen for 15 years or so and not done any drugs or drink?
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No Brayn, I am not much of a drinker, and I did drugs when I was younger, but once I hit the cooking scene, I couldn't funtion and do the job. And I didn't fit in all that well because of it. One other vice chef/cooks have.....strip clubs/titty bars. I worked at one place where the boys all hung out there every night and dropped big $$$ chatting the girls up. Then exec (who was from Belgium and had trained at 2* Michelin place wound up marrying one....soon he disappeared under a black cloud........
 
Marry a stripper and retire. I could think of worse ways to go?
 
If you want to be happy for the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
...
An ugly woman cooks meals all the time,
She'll always give you peace of mind.
 
She told me that it was just to pay for college .:laugh:
 
I'm in it for the excitement. Cooking is somthing I'm passionate about, I love the stress of a busy night, and I love that I feel like I'll never learn all there is to learn about food and all the worlds different cuisines. I try to learn something new every day.
 
The harsh and most realistic truth is that I think (for most) a lot of people are too retarted to do anything else! I mean, what else are you going to do? People are only as faithful as their options and for most and especially the greats in the industry, they have no other options. This has been their only lifestyle, and they don't know how to do anything else, passion be damned.

MAny people talk about how some can't make it in this industry when perhaps some are smart enough to do something else and find a better quality of life for themselves.
 
phan1 said:
The harsh and most realistic truth is that I think (for most) a lot of people are too retarted to do anything else! I mean, what else are you going to do? People are only as faithful as their options and for most and especially the greats in the industry, they have no other options. This has been their only lifestyle, and they don't know how to do anything else, passion be damned.

MAny people talk about how some can't make it in this industry when perhaps some are smart enough to do something else and find a better quality of life for themselves.
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Easy there, Mr. 1 post.

Many of us are in this industry because we love it. I know of many Chefs that are university educated in fields other than food service and hospitality, including myself. The days of indentured servitude are long gone; the lord of the manor doesn't decide who is intelligent enough to join the clergy, or who is destined to be the village imbecile anymore. Chefs become Chefs because they love the intensity, camaraderie, creativity, diversity, environment and myriad other reasons this industry provides; not because we are ostracized by society or are "retarted (sic)".

I don't know...maybe you're writing from Cambodia or Somalia or the 18th century. IMHO, stop whining about being a loser and consult a mental health professional to help you deal with your poor self esteem issues.
 
phan1 said:
The harsh and most realistic truth is that I think (for most) a lot of people are too retarted to do anything else! I mean, what else are you going to do? People are only as faithful as their options and for most and especially the greats in the industry, they have no other options. This has been their only lifestyle, and they don't know how to do anything else, passion be damned.

MAny people talk about how some can't make it in this industry when perhaps some are smart enough to do something else and find a better quality of life for themselves.
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This could apply for line cooks and dishwashers, but not anyone with any creative control or managerial resposibility. Even for the menial jobs, there are more mindless, better paying careers, like operating a tow truck or working in a warehouse. Dealing with the restaurant/hospitality business is very much like an apprenticeship trade--you work your butt off for about 10 years for some guy who tells you how and when to fart, then, after that, you can do your own thing, and even if it doesn't work out, you will always have a job.
 
The short answer is --- We are morons. We are adrenaline junkies. We have a creative streak. We would die sitting behind a desk, tied to a computer. We are social misfits with no filter and prefer to call it as we see it, politcal correctness be damned.

Above all, we crave a good meal!
 
Bert called it. Except the meal part. food is over rated
 
What was said about the "food network" and others that glamorize the industry are true. But so can be said of the other industries that tv and magazines glamorize as well. Entertainment industry, Manufacturing, Technology etc... I've been on the "grass is greener on the other side" of career moves, and can only say that in my experience, it is not. It's the same struggle to achieve an end result, but only different methods.

It doesn't matter what you do in life, success comes with a price, and many give up, change direction, or just become jaded about the whole notion of succeeding. That's why I stay away from cynical, jaded, and negative people. There are so many directions one can take in F&B careers, and it does not have to always end in the kitchen. I've never seen a happy 60yr old line cook throughout my career, and I've come across more than a few.
 
Lol, I quit! After 10 years of praise, awards and promotions I gave up because I was tired of hearing "sorry we can't pay very well, this is a college town... this is a tourist town." I know there is good money like any other job but I didn't want to go corporate where the money is and I couldn't afford my own place. I do miss the work, I have worked in probably just about every position I could in such a short time and most of it is a lot of fun.


...so now I make knives instead! :D (and I'm really broke, lmao!)
 
Hey dip stick, if you are going to use derogatory and offensive words, at the very least you could spell it right! Especially when trying to convey others lack of intelligence....

Warning****the word "retarded" is not appropriate. Use it, and I will most likely eat you for breakfast!

That being said, I f been in this industry for 24 years. Most of those years were spent working doubles as a grunt on the lines. I am battle ready and hardened. I have a degree in Logistics, and have been courted by our government on many occasions to go overseas; but alas, I am a family man, and obviously a gluten for punishment. I will always think of myself as a cook. I am confident I could step on any line anywhere and hang within hours. As a chef, I realize there will always be more creative and knowledgeable individuals. The culinary world is constantly evolving...
 
A fellow that I used to work with once said,"there is no nirvana at the bench". I disagreed with him then and still do. Nirvana is where you bring it.
 
phan1 said:
The harsh and most realistic truth is that I think (for most) a lot of people are too retarted to do anything else! I mean, what else are you going to do? People are only as faithful as their options and for most and especially the greats in the industry, they have no other options. This has been their only lifestyle, and they don't know how to do anything else, passion be damned.

MAny people talk about how some can't make it in this industry when perhaps some are smart enough to do something else and find a better quality of life for themselves.
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Hey I think that's very judgemental for you to stereotype people like that. I pick this career path because it offers me challenges that I am not able to get with other jobs. There are a couple of people I know who are very successful but did not start out in this line. In fact one of them was a lawyer. Furthermore, just because someone is not able to do written tests and study does not mean that they are retarded.. Different people have different strengths.. Or have you considered the fact that some people are not so well off that they are able to actually AFFORD college education?
 
you guys make it sound like people who are chefs aren't capable of anything else as well. We aren't some kind of retarded savants; we are masochists like said before. The cool thing about this profession is part of it is mental and part is it is physical. You can go to school and learn all the basics about cooking and grasp it well, but that doesn't mean you will ever be able to make your rounds in a good kitchen on each station and carry that dexterity into a management position. That is a true chef. I have met many people who are excellent line cooks, but don't have the mindset to ever take a chef position; more depressingly, I have worked for some chefs who are so far removed from cooking and working the line, that it's not even a consideration. That's a manager, not a chef imo, even if you're wearing the fun jacket and pants. And of course we have all worked with and hired people who end up selling insurance or something 2 years later

Watch the Marco Pierre White videos from when he was chef at Harvey's to see a true Chef.
 
Hey, even managers can have some fun... I play with my knives everyday...almost as much as I organize my walk-in...

Ohh, and I have two Bachelors of Science degrees and I hope to start working on my third soon. I don't consider myself incapable of doing anything else, I just love my job!
 
“In Japan, it’s a real philosophy, not only cooking. The right question is: Do you cook because you want to give food to people or do you cook for the emotion? I cook for the emotion and also for the communication because when you cook for somebody it’s about personal spirit, not just providing food.”
 
OK guys, sorry. "Retarted" was the wrong word to say. It was meant in a very fecitious manner. I didn't mean that BOH people are mentally incapable at all. I think BOH people generally have great work ethic, work skills, and they understand what it really means to "work".

I meant "retarted" in that despite being fully capable of doing whatever, you are STUCK. You are simply stuck in your profession that also represents a certain lifestyle. Despite being fully capable, you are Stuck in your position and simply don't know how to do anything else. It defines you as much as your race, religion, or heritage. Even a lawyer would be completely retarted to stay in the kitchen for too long, and I wouod say people like that never last a good 10+ years cooking. They simply have better options. You've been around a guy that's been doing it for 10+ years, you know he's stuck and has no better options in life.

You can glamorize it all you want by saying things like "masochists", "passion", "challenge", but at the end of the day, the vast majority of people are just STUCK. And as a BOH guy myself, I absolutely stand behind what I say. The simplest most honest reason why MOST keep keep doing what they do is because they are stuck. And that's absolutely OK.
 
Stuck I don't think so .
but if you feel Stuck there's always truck driving school.
Stuck is something that is on my shoe
I don't want to work with anyone who feel's STUCK.:nono:
 
I think we alll have something called free will?? And we kinda CHOOSE the career path?? I don't believe that equals stuck.
 
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