Time Spent?

I am new to this culinary world but am very interested. I love to cook and always try my best, even if it is just for my wife and family. I am now looking to take some cooking courses and to become a chef. My questions is this, what kind of hours does a chef put in? Are the days long and stressful? Or are they just stressful?

Long and stressfull!! I usally put in a 10 or 11 hour day, exept in the off season, which varies from coast to coast. If you love the job the long days usually go by pretty quick, and you can tell from other posts that we all have different ways of dealing with the stress. Hope this didn't turn you away, if you love the culinary field like most of us, GO FOR IT!!

An additional question. What kind of pay can I expect when I first come out of school? I am currently making a good sum of money and am scared of a large pay cut.

As an extern right out of school I got $7.50. I don't know what the rate is now but you won't make $40,000 by any means. Just remember that the family should come first.

[Pete]

As both Andrew and I have stated before, make sure you know what you are in for before heading off to culinary school. The love of cooking does not translate into love of being a chef. They are long stressful hours that envolve many other duties besides cooking. As for the pay, if you have a family make sure your wife is working or you have money saved. Most young cooks that I hire out of school get paid around $8 per hour. Three years later I took my first Sous Chef job at $25,000 per yr. And 8 years after I first went to culinary school I am still making less than $40,000.

Not to put a cloud over the topic but be smart and keeping cooking as a hobby. It is not a glamourous job, you will work harder and longer than anyone you know. The money will not be there for many years and it will be difficult to balance your business and personal life.

I love my career choice and enjoy going into work everyday and every hour. Perhaps if I had done something before this, my feelings would be different. Just wanted to give you a heads-up. It's nothing like Emerial Live and if you've never done it before, it will be a shock to the system when you take your first step into a professional kitchen.

[This message has been edited by Nicko (edited May 08, 2000).]