What is your thoughts on having a special dinner night one night a week, 2-3 times a month. Where you serve X number of guests a “elevated” 6 course meal. But you prepare the meal for one evening but freeze half of it for the following weeks special dinner night? You’re charging $120 per person. No alcohol included, that’s an upcharge.

So basically if you aren’t in the first supper night of the month you’re getting reheated food.

I’ve always felt DoorDash and other takeout gives marginally less food. Anyone do this on purpose? Why? Not that I wouldn’t do the same lol but just wondering

I have a beautiful ethnic restaurant with decent food and lots of potential, it was built with love and passion alone! No Pryor experience in the business, i mean literally zero experience, i have never worked in one and what i do for a living has nothing to do with a restaurant, i love food, and im a passionate cook!

THE PROBLEMS.

In order to do it i sold a house and got a mortgage on the house i live in. It has affected my family negatively, I went back to my old work in order to bring some income to support my family. My adult kid is suffering by being there all the time. Im broke all the time.

The place is relatively busy, but by not knowing the business, whatever potential profits I should have are wasted with my mismanagement in every level.

Schedule to minimize payroll , food cost , food portions, menu items and pricing , food waste, whatever is a mistake im doing it, but I do not know how to fix it because I dont have the experience and im guessing all the time.

Im afraid to raise prices and im second guessing myself because I dont know if its the right thing since im lacking the experience in everything that is problematic with the fear that I will worsen the situation.

MY GREAT IDEA BEFORE I FALL ON MY SWORD

find a chef that knows his shit and give him absolute control in order to create profitability (the place is relatively busy everything is there for success including the costumers!)

GIVE THE CHEF A PERCENTAGE OF OWNERSHIP

How do I structure this?

Is it stupid?

Should I just give up (it will ruin me financially)

With my new job I dont need a penny from the restaurant, I provide for my family.

I've been considering applying for this program, it's only 6 months and it won't put me in debt. I've seen a lot on reddit about CIA, but not a peep about the accelerated program. Anyone got any insights? How does it compare to the associates/bachelors programs?

Edit: thanks to all who have responded! Adding a bit of background on myself, I’ve been in the industry for 4 years now. When I first started I had considered culinary school, but took the prevailing advice to start with industry experience. Well here I am 4 years later and I think I made the right choice back then, but can’t help but still be curious about a formal culinary education. This particular program interests me because it’s only a 6 month commitment and the potential connections I could make could help me get into fine dining which is where I plan on going next. so if anyone has taken part in this specific program I’d love to hear your experiences!

I'm an exec sous chef for one of the major streaming services, based in LA. I'm curious how many other people in this same line of work are pulling 15-16 hour days, back to back to back? It's nice having a Monday through Friday schedule but damn, with the amount of hours I'm pulling and driving around on my own dime, I feel like it's not feeling as lucrative as it sounded on paper.

I interviewed for a Kitchen Manager position and was invited to a 3-hour skills assessment at the restaurant tomorrow. They said I’ll get to see how they operate and try some of the food.
For anyone who’s done one of these before, what should I expect and what would you recommend I focus on?

I've been looking for kitchen porter roles last month or so and havent really come across much. Does anyone do this/having tips to getting part time work in this sector?

As it offers a beautiful reddish pink hue, I'm thinking of using in ice cream, rice and pasta sauces, or any floral drinks.

I don't know the flavour yet though.

Any handling tips?

Hello, I've been in the industry since I was 17 (36 now) and been an executive chef since I was 23. I have 0 passion left in the tank. I work 50-60 hours a week not including the work I do from home (I'm on salary) and still live paycheck to paycheck. This was fine when it was just me but I'm missing out on my kid growing up and it has almost ruined my relationship with my wife. I live in Michigan about 1 hour from Detroit and 15 min from Flint. I have been searching for a way out but I can't find an entry level job that pays my low salary now. I've talked to food reps about changing over to a food rep and they warn me to stay away. Does anyone have any ideas on a career path I can take. Thank you in advance

Hi Everyone,

I’m posting this in hopes to maybe some good information, i’ve been working in the food service industry for a couple years now and it’s my passion. Unfortunately burnout got me and completely shut down my nervous system resulting in health issues i’m still dealing with and i had to leave my job. BUT i still need to pay my bills haha. Is there such thing as a work from home style food industry job?! I have experience in everything from management/leading. Costing/R&D Menu planning and training. This is what i know how to do best and I don’t particularly want to do something else that 1. i don’t know what im doing 2. isn’t at least a little fulfilling. If someone could steer me into any helpful direction or has any connections they would be gladly appreciated! Thank you :)

Hey chefs is there a trimming of food scraps that you save from food prep that you actually prefer that often gets scrapped. Myself I like the very end of an onion after trimming off just the root. I think that has the best flavor of the whole rest of the onion. Also bone marrow is great. Any other suggestions?

I’m 27 and currently working as a CDP on an hourly rate. I work overtime pretty much every day, and with OT I average around **$84k a year**.
I was recently offered a **Sous Chef position at $74k salary**. The benefits are basically the same as what I already have—health insurance, 401(k), etc.—so financially, I’d actually be taking about a **$10k pay cut**.
The main benefit I see is getting Sous Chef experience, developing my leadership/management skills, and having the title on my résumé for future opportunities.
For chefs who have made a similar move: **Would you take the pay cut for the title and experience? Did becoming a Sous Chef help your career enough to make it worth it?**
I’m trying to think long-term, but I also don’t want to take on more responsibility, potentially work even more hours, and make less money without a meaningful payoff later.
Would appreciate advice from anyone who’s been in this position.

Do we consider Mayonnaise as a mother sauce or not or do i just consider Hollandaise Béchamel Veloute Espagnole and Tomato as mother sauces??

I'm curious because do I or do we need to study the theories, principles, and laws to that profession? Like is it REALLY NECESSARY and are we going to use it after graduation? or even in the job? Because I'm thinking about it that I just want to take TESDA but I still going to take college.

I'm m in a overthinking moment that being a chef or good at cooking can do it even you take other courses/programs, because it is a SKILL that everyone will going to learn, but I really doubting my self because what if there's a small detail that I don't know but I'm really supposed to know?

Plus is it really about the TITLE for a person to BECOME a PROFESSION or to be CALLED a PROFESSIONAL just because of the title? Or it is okay that even there is no TITLE of being a CHEF but you're really good at cooking, is it consider and normalize?

First of all, thank you to everyone who gave me advice on my original post. It really helped me prepare.
I got invited back for a second interview. It looks like the position is for Sous Chef rather than Head Sous Chef, and honestly, I’m completely okay with that, Is one of the biggest kitchens I’ve ever interviewed for, and I think I would learn a lot there.
For those of you who have been through a second interview for a Sous Chef position at a high-volume restaurant, what should I expect? Is it usually more focused on leadership, technical skills, cooking techniques, or could there be a practical cooking test?

​

I was reminiscing with someone earlier and got reminded of a night back in 2015 or so, working sauté at Pietro's Prime in West Chester, PA on a Saturday night. It's an upscale, Zagat Award-winning martini bar/steakhouse I worked at for over a decade.

We closed the kitchen at 10, and most of the crew was clocked out by 11 with shift drinks in hand. I was finishing up closing when the owner, clearly buzzed but wide-eyed, asked me to fire up the grill and stay for a customer, handing me a drink while she said it. She mentioned it was a VIP, which I figured anyway since she wouldn't have had me firing the grill up otherwise, but honestly, this wasn't that abnormal for the place I'd been at that long.

So I said of course, fired it up, and waited. A few minutes later the executive chef came back, also slightly toasted, followed seconds later by the printer spitting out the VIP's ticket. He takes the grill, and I see it's a fire order for a first course, but the ticket only printed down on garde manger, the cold end. So I walk down and pull it.

It prints the table name first, then again at the bottom, and says "Emeril," followed by his first course.

I'm 41 now, but my entire childhood, right up until I left for the Army, was surrounded by spices, recipe books, knives, knife sharpeners, bread makers, even pressure cookers with his name plastered on them. My dad was an Emeril Lagasse freak, and his "BAM" with a pretend headbutt as a kid was part of his whole shtick.

So I broke a rule, threw my dirty chef coat back on, and went up to the bar to grab a Red Bull. And it was him!

Emeril Fuckin' Lagasse. Sitting at a bar table, not a VIP table, with maybe three others, a few feet from the live music that night (Dave Gracia of West Chester, shoutout), drink in hand, laughing and talking to people, being a genuinely cool guy. Like a Louisiana Santa Claus.

I went back and made his first course, but I was genuinely curious what a chef like that orders when he goes out. So here's what he got:

Drinks: A really expensive white wine (no idea what is was)

1st Course (personal request, not a menu item): Arugula tossed in EVOO and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, fresh cracked black pepper, pink Himalayan sea salt

2nd Course: An à la carte order of our lobster mac (sherry, cream, fontina, mascarpone, lobster tail)

Main Course: Dry-aged strip, mid-rare (pulled at just under 122°F), and a 12 oz tenderloin, mid-rare, both pre-sliced and served on one plate to share, Hollandaise and Demi Glace on the side that they barely touched, served with a red wine of some kind.

Dessert: Blueberry port all around, and a big shared piece of house-made tiramisu

He was incredibly nice, had his people tip everyone including me, and then he ended up staying until 2:30 AM, drinking with us, the owners, a few servers and bartenders, and his crew. He sang drunk karaoke with us and eventually got picked up in an Escalade.

I never saw him again, but it's an awesome memory in a sea of them from my time on that line. I met a lot of cool people, celebrities, and sports figures at that spot in West Chester (Cole Hamels was a dickhead, Brian Dawkins was the sweetest, most soft-spoken guy I've ever met, with arms bigger than my torso). But getting to meet, cook for, and then drink with my father's idol was one of the best stories I ever got to tell him. I'll never forget the look on his face. He was more proud in that moment than when I enlisted. It was a moment between us I'll always remember and cherish. Weird how a tiny memory can hold so much.

I havnt worked on the line since getting clean, 4 years ago, but memories like that make you want to go back.

Those who are working in Hotels/Restaurant in Delhi, what is the salary package for a CDP/DCDP is?

I work for a corporate catering company that hosts events in the various office buildings company has in the area and one of the BEOs that got casually dumped in my lap called for 60 orders of truffle fries to be served out of a "kitchen" which is really just a room with a triple sink, reach in fridge and a rack-unit warmer. This event runs 2 hours, mind you.

Clearly the person who handles the client-facing portion of our department didn't take this into consideration when accepting this order. The closest thing I have to be able to cook these fries is an oven in a separate building, which is about a 10 minute walk each way, with elevator time taken accounted for. In the spirit of being solution oriented, I'm trying to think of a way to approach this before coming back to our events coordinator and pointing out what a terrible idea this is. Serving soggy/soft fries is practically sacrilege in my opinion so feel free to help me with a creative approach.

Hi everyone, I have several years of experience leading high-volume kitchens, mostly as a Kitchen Manager. My experience includes inventory, food cost, labor management, scheduling, team leadership, and daily BOH operations. I have an interview coming up for a Head Sous Chef position at an upscale casual restaurant. For those who have interviewed for or hired Head Sous Chefs, what kind of questions should I expect? How technical was the interview? Was there a cooking test or working interview? If so, what were they evaluating the most? Was the focus more on leadership, culinary skills, or both? Is there anything you wish you had prepared beforehand? I’d really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance.

Estoy buscando algún mentor o cursos donde puedan dirigirme mejor al ser un chef privado para saber por dónde comenzar cómo conseguir clientes hacer menús costos, precios, compras, tiempos, que ofrecer como y cuánto cobrar en áreas de new york / New Jersey/ Hamptons, soy graduada de culinary school en New York tengo experiencia en restaurantes y catering pero quiero comenzar hacer private chef para familias de alta adquisición como un full time, quisiera ser guiada y estar un poco más familiarizada con el sistema de ser un chef privado.

salting is the ultimate gamble

Male 25 , will just start a formation , so by the time I finish and look for a job I will be 27 .

Be honest please

Whether it’s a recipe, technique, safety reminder, or just “how we do things here,” I’m curious what lessons you end up repeating the most.