Working as a professional chef is very different than it appears on TV or in the movies. There are long hours of grueling, high speed work involved. It isn't enough to be a good home cook; you'll need professional training to master all the skills required to turn out a hundred meals a night like the pros do. You will also have to learn the ropes, starting as a prep chef and working your way through many years up the kitchen hierarchy until you reach the exalted rank of executive chef. As most professional chefs like to say, ''You don't do this for the money, you do it because you love food!''
Ready to be a Chef?
You’ve watched them on TV programs like Iron Chef and Food Network. Now you’ve decided to become a professional chef. Here are a few things you’ll need to know if you’re determined to find a career in the “pressure cooker” world of professional cooking.
First of all, there’s a big difference between being a good cook and being a chef. Professional chefs must be prepared to turn out a tremendous number of meals in a very short time, taking care to make sure each serving (or “plating”) matches the restaurants and the customer’s high standards. Even single plating involves the work of many chefs working as a team behind the scenes, each handling some important aspect of preparing the meal.
There are a great number of chef jobs in every kitchen. At the lowest rank, preparation chefs must peel and prepare tons of vegetables, chop meats and clean seafood just so that the raw materials of the meal are ready to go. Prep chefs who show promise hope to move up to the position of garde managers—cooks who prepare simple items like appetizers, garnishes, and the all important spices, condiments and raw cooking materials used by the next stage of kitchen chefs. These are the line cooks—each dedicated to preparing one aspect of an overall menu. Line cooks include specialists in different types of preparation (sauté cook, grill cook, pastry chef, dessert chef), or even types of cooking (meat, fish, fowl, etc). After many years of hard work and 50-plus hour weeks, these line chefs move up to the head of the kitchen as all powerful executive chefs. Besides being in charge of the entire kitchen, these chefs are responsible for all the other chefs’ performance, as well as creating the menus for each nightly meal.
Not All Chefs Are In Restaurants
In addition to the many levels of chefs to be found in every high-end restaurant, there are a number of areas where chefs are employed. Hotel chefs are responsible for providing service not only to customers who may visit the restaurant stationed inside a hotel, but must also deal with preparing and delivering food to guest’s rooms, or catering events that may take place in the hotels conference and ballrooms. Club chefs work to prepare meals for customers who attend clubs and entertainment events. They must be adept at everything from snacks and other rapidly prepared meals to accompany bar drinks and dancing, to luxury meals to patrons who may have hired out the club for an event or special occasion.
Head chef jobs can also be found in very private situations; very wealthy people often retain chefs to prepare meals for them—these chefs must not only be good at satisfying their clients very particular demands, but must also be able to provide meals for large parties or even massive social events. Corporations and companies also require chef services to feed their workers and clients—some of these company meal services are quite elaborate, providing gourmet options as well as fast food.
Pastry chefs are another important aspect of the profession. The skills of the pastry chef are very different from those of a line or executive chef. While most restaurants have a pastry chef to create desserts, pastry chefs also are employed to make wedding or other specialty cakes, confectionery treats, and dessert trays. These creations can be found in everything from hotel buffets to coffee shops. Because the field is so specialized, many pastry chefs operate on a freelance basis, creating desserts and confections for a widely varied clientele.
Working Conditions
Forget about the antiseptic kitchens of popular TV shows. While good kitchens are always kept scrupulously clean, they are also noisy, crowded and packed with dangerous hardware. There are hot stoves, sharp knives and many potentially lethal bits of preparation tools all around. Hours are long, start early in the morning and end late at night. If you have problems with loud noise, lots of yelling, flying tools and cookware and a high pressure, non-stop atmosphere, kitchen work won’t be for you. But for those who enjoy the camaraderie and teamwork of a kitchen, there’s nothing better.
Qualifications
In the past, most chefs came up the hard way—they started as prep chefs (or lower, as kitchen garbage men) and worked their way up through years on the job training. However, in the past decades, a preponderance of cooking schools evolved to provide the basic skills needed to become a good professional chef. These schools can be found all over the world, although in the United States they tend to center around major metropolitan areas like New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. These programs run anywhere from two to four years, with courses in preparation, cooking, pastry, desserts and other specialty areas. But make no mistake; even with this training, chances are as a new grad, you’ll still be starting as a prep chef no matter where you end up.
Earnings
While executive chefs who own their own restaurants can make as much as $100,000+ a year, typical media wages for chefs and head cooks were $34,370 as of 2006, with the top 10% making $60,730.
Employment Outlook
Openings for chefs and related professions are expected to remain high through the next decade, with a high competition for top positions in metropolitan markets. Most openings will come from the high turnover rate in this demanding profession.
