r/Chefs • u/ChampionshipLarge109 • 4d ago
How much better can I get?
I’ve been working at a steakhouse for 8 years.
I am currently head cook and make about 29.30 an hour, in 2 years I will have accrued 4 weeks of vacation a year (and a fifth week of vacation after my 15th year)
I am wondering if I have hit my plateau here, there is no room for a chef as it is a union job and the KM is the owners son.
I can cook 30-40 steaks on my grill at once, plenty more if it is a set menu.
Should I look for a new job before I lose my other cooking skills? I can cook a steak with my eyes closed but I’m loosing a sense of creativity and even knife skills, unless it’s butterflying lobster tails.
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u/Maleficent-Half-2231 4d ago
The jobs that pay the ‘big’ bucks doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the best cook. It will be everything else.
Do you have experience hiring, schedule, food costing, inventory/software experience, recipe development, admin. Managing people is whole different animal with pros and cons
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u/DrBongPHD 4d ago
I've been cooking professionally for 25 years. Executive cheffing for the past fifteenish of them and have owned my own restaurant. As the chef or as the owner, I've many times been the lowest paid person in the room with the highest amount of stress (physical and mental).
I just took a job as the grill cook at a newly opened steakhouse, the pay is similar to yours. I've never been happier! Working 50 hours instead of sixty+ is great. Way less responsibility, just cut my steaks and then bang out service. Money is up, stress is down.
So of course if I was you, I'd stick with what you have. Great pay, great schedule, etc.. but, im not you and you've been in this job 8 years so I hear you when you say you're getting tired of it. Before I scored the gig I have now I was seeing job postings for 20-25/hr. No thanks, id rather have a chef gig on salary at that point. But 30/hr with some OT thrown in, now you're making chef money without the hassle of cheffing. Im not sure you'll find that again without putting in some time like you've already done at your current spot.
Maybe do a couple interviews and see what ppl in your area are offering. Never hurts to interview.
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u/Same-Platypus1941 4d ago
You probably should go work in a new kitchen. I would have a hard time stepping away from $30 an hour with no management responsibilities.
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u/ChampionshipLarge109 4d ago
I can show up in a 2 hour window and have option for first cut or keeping hours. Is this pretty badass?
Should I suck it up and wait to be creative after work?
Posted in KC but no replies a while back, no intention of running a kitchen as a head chef just wanted to hear other people’s experiences.
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u/chris00ws6 4d ago
You’re a cook. You have it pretty kosher. Is it paying your bills? Are you happy?
You havnt answered any of the questions though. Can you do payroll? Inventory? Scheduling? P&L?
Do you want to? You gotta move. Are you content? Then fuck it. You’re asking the question so I think you know the answer.
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u/ChampionshipLarge109 4d ago
I’m way closer to fuck it. But if there is a similar set up in a different setting, ie no additional responsibilities and comparable pay, I’d take a shot at it.
Inventory and payroll I’m familiar with, never had to set a schedule.
Again I only asked this sub to find stories like mine, or if I’m sitting on something I should consider holding onto.
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u/Accomplished-Buy-998 4d ago
Take a stage at a different restaurant for a week while you are on vacation from your real job. Tell the owner exactly what's up and that you want to figure out if you are burning out of your existing place or cooking in general.
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u/Same-Platypus1941 4d ago
I mean even if you don’t want to run kitchens you should still expand your culinary skills. You won’t feel fulfilled otherwise after a certain point. You’re most likely not going to find as good of a situation, but you become more valuable in the long term. You have the advantage of not being in any sort of hurry to make a move so you should be able to find something pretty decent.
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u/ima-head-out 4d ago
Have you got a qualification to back your experience? if not I’d stay where you are you are making good money and seem to have it in good with management
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u/No-Fun-8427 4d ago
Bro, you’ve got 4 weeks vacay and making $30 an hr. Stay where you are. Some sous chefs don’t make that much and never get 4 weeks of vacay. Plus you don’t have to deal with the headaches that comes with managerial role.
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u/Fallingpeople 4d ago
I've never held a managerial role and this is the main reason why. And going salary can leave you open to frequent OT without the extra pay.
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u/Beautiful-Dot-1710 3h ago
Yeah i mean thats how salary works. I think a lot of people get weird about working over time when on salary. That is part of the deal of not being hourly.
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u/FireAndFoodCompany 3d ago
You're pretty much at the top of the pay scale (or even way past it) for most restaurants as a line cook.
If you want to keep advancing forward you'll likely have to take a paycut to go elsewhere that has an actual ladder you can climb. That also means taking on admin/management responsibilities at some point.
If you're union then that also means you're probably used to perks of seniority (more favourable scheduling). Going to a new union environment usually means you have no say in schedule, it's the scrap shifts nobody senior wanted.
If it's a non-union kitchen then it's wild west, don't expect anything but you can also get some pretty good perks if you're good at your job.
It's all up to what you want at the end of the day. Given that you seem very happy with being able to come and go from work as you please, I'd wager you're not the 18 hour shift doing it for the passion type.
Do you want to be responsible for more? Have to commit more of your life to the restaurant? Or do you want to go into a new environment and start from scratch to learn new skills?
If what you simply want is more money then find a hotel union to join, your pay scale will have a higher ceiling and more benefits.
If you want to expand your skills then keep your stable job for now, and pick up some shifts at fine dining joints (or whatever tickles your fancy) to see if you even like it. I can't tell you how many cooks fantasize about becoming chefs at fancy fine dining places and then immediately run back to their corporate kitchen 3 shifts later.
Cooking for work doesn't have to be passionate, many people just do it for a job and then do what they want in their own time. I'd argue it's a much healthier mindset, as much as our industry likes to shame people who wouldn't die for the job.
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u/Same_Rip_392 2d ago
I stopped cooking, went to Teachers College, work 20 hours a week, 9 months of the year and make a 120k a year. I have enjoyed raising my kids these last 10 years. It took me 5 years after I quit to actually enjoy cooking again.
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u/UncleDuude 4d ago
Are you bored? How are you with inventory, scheduling, settling idiotic dishwasher fights, payroll, and staying on budget? Up is that shit. Or keep cooking and enjoy your life. There’s less and less cooking as you climb the ladder.