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whats your longest time at one kitchen???

#1
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9/4/09 at 11:14am
  • Joined: September 2009
  • Location: portland oregon
  • Post Count: 102
i've been here at my current job for 15 years!!!!! i think that must be a record in this industry. I must say that the private club industry is a bit less stressful than alot of other segments......
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#2
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9/4/09 at 12:43pm
  • Joined: August 2009
  • Location: Hamilton, ON Canada
  • Post Count: 530
Three years and I still miss the place. It was a really small cafe (seating only 25) and I was the only cook. It got crazy in the summer because we had a patio and pretty much doubled our seating with that, but I loved every minute of it. I do like where I am now too and I can see myself staying there for a very long time.
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#3
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9/4/09 at 6:02pm
  • Joined: April 2006
  • Location: Australia
  • Post Count: 106
About three years now, and I can't wait to get out. Never worked in a place with so much bitching from management & FOH. It's just ridiculous. My kitchen team is fantastic though. I'd take them all to a new place if I could, including the kitchenhands.
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#4
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9/4/09 at 6:10pm
  • Joined: August 2009
  • Post Count: 44
i'm usually good for 3 years or so. by that time i usually get bored and start looking to upgrade my situation.
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#5
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9/5/09 at 3:33pm
  • Joined: August 2008
  • Location: Diamond Springs, Calif.
  • Post Count: 15
My longest was over 12 years ...
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#6
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9/5/09 at 5:40pm
  • Joined: December 2004
  • Post Count: 280
Seven for me, although I've been with the same company for 10 (7 in the first one and then a few in their other properties).

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle

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#7
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9/5/09 at 6:17pm
  • Joined: March 2008
  • Post Count: 23
One of the cooks I work with has been with the restaurant for over 25 years.
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#8
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9/6/09 at 12:02am
  • Joined: September 2009
  • Post Count: 3
I know it all depends upon different situations for different people but generally how long should one individual stay with a particular kitchen? I see the first response was from someone who is working at the same kitchen for over 15 years as a sous chef. If you're approaching 10 years with a kitchen and haven't reached Executive, don't you think it's best you go somewhere else? Not to ridicule anyone but I am just really curious to know myself.
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#9
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9/6/09 at 6:44am
  • Joined: July 2009
  • Location: PA
  • Post Count: 33
I was a line cook in the same restaurant for 5 years, then with the help of my other friend who is the head chef in a restaurant got me a job as his sous chef...I worked there for 2 years and a line cook at another place for the same amount of time (talk about no time to yourself) then recently moved to be the chef de cuisine at a restaurant out in pittsburgh, only been there 2 months though.

So 5 years in the same place as a line cook, 2 years at the same place as a chef.
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#10
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9/6/09 at 7:05am
  • Joined: July 2000
  • Location: Sydney Aus
  • Post Count: 867
Longest time, 4 years in the one kitchen, lately in an agency 150 places in 5 years.

"Nothing quite like the feeling of something newl"

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#11
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9/6/09 at 7:11am
  • Joined: October 2007
  • Location: Eureka, CA
  • Post Count: 1,018
Speaking only for myself, I've always enjoyed being second in charge.
Nice to have someone to learn from, to bounce ideas off of.
As long as the money's good, Sous is fine for me.
And you know how they say the "stuff" always rolls downhill?
Well, an awful lot of it sticks to that first guy before it continues rolling.

I've been here just over 7 years, which is my record by about 2 1/2 years.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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#12
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9/6/09 at 1:57pm
  • Joined: August 2008
  • Location: Midwest
  • Post Count: 529
I was with Disney several years. There were several others in my kitchen that had been there fifteen years when I left. My last visit was about fifteen years after I left and many of them were still there.

I think the most wonderful thing in the world is another chef. I'm always excited about learning new things about food.
Paul Prudhomme

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#13
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9/6/09 at 2:24pm
  • Joined: August 2009
  • Location: Hamilton, ON Canada
  • Post Count: 530
I love Disney! As a diner even the "budget" places have pretty amazing food. We were last there three years ago in December and the food was amazing. Which restaruant were you at or did they rotate you between places?
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#14
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9/8/09 at 8:19am
  • Joined: September 2009
  • Location: portland oregon
  • Post Count: 102

if you really want to know.......at this club the sous (me) works mostly a day shift, great for the family, the pay is great and as sous i really don't have to deal with the membership much. we have alot high maintenance people around here and i prefer to be a doer and not a talker. 100% paid meds and dental, 4 week vacation, in the winter i work about 32-38 hrs a week, free golf........hmmm why would i want to be the chef. I am there to support him 100%, whatever he needs i will do but i like where i'm at.....thanks
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#15
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9/8/09 at 9:02am
  • Joined: October 2007
  • Location: Eureka, CA
  • Post Count: 1,018
Makes perfect sense to me fryguy

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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#16
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9/8/09 at 9:07am
  • Joined: September 2009
  • Location: portland oregon
  • Post Count: 102

thanks jim
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#17
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9/8/09 at 1:45pm
  • Joined: August 2009
  • Location: Hamilton, ON Canada
  • Post Count: 530
Fryguy your choice makes perfect sense and you're doing what's best for you and your family. I agree with the comment about the stuff rolling downhill when it rolls but the guy at the top gets hit the hardest and with the most before it comes down the hill.
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#18
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9/8/09 at 5:35pm
  • Joined: October 2005
  • Location: Vancouver, Canada
  • Post Count: 1,650
Longest place I ever worked at--other than my own business-- was where I did my apprenticeship--3 years....
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#19
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9/8/09 at 6:38pm
  • Joined: June 2004
  • Post Count: 333
1.5 years. Early in my career I moved around alot to learn and absorb as much info as possible. Unfortunately later in my career I took a few risky positions in upstart businesses, both of which had money issues... Granted, I'm still fairly young, so taking risks is no issue to me - though I wouldn't mind settling down in the near future.
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#20
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9/9/09 at 5:20pm
  • Joined: July 2009
  • Location: Vancouver, BC
  • Post Count: 38
3 years .. seems like the average, for the most part, from the replies
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#21
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9/11/09 at 8:13am
  • Joined: March 2009
  • Location: Mountain Home, AR
  • Post Count: 66
7 years at one place. I worked my way from the bottom to the sous chef. It was my first real kitchen. Probably never happen again, but I learned a lot.
tyler
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