Just got a new job.....

[ChefInTraining]

Hey everyone, I just got a new job with a private, reputable catering company. I left the corporate restaurant world I would say on bad terms...... I didn't give a two week notice. I was there for a total of 7 months, and this was my first ever restaurant job. I told the manager yesterday before my shift that it was going to be my last day, but for the past month they knew I was looking for another job. I start bright and early tomorrow morning at 6 A.M. and thank god I have a two week break before school starts in the fall semester. I'm real excited about this new job, when I went for the interview I asked Chef if he could give me a quick tour of the kitchen and they had a beef stock going in the steam jacketed kettle, that's something you'd never see in a chain restaurant kitchen. I'm very excited to learn new things and of course take them with me if I ever decide to leave. I'm planning to stay there for a year or so, you know I'm young in my career and I feel I need to gain experience from different avenues of the food service industry, wether it's corporate restaurants, catering, hotels, country clubs, hospitals, and so on and so forth.

[Jim]

Best of luck with your new venture. You'll have to keep us posted on how it goes.

One caveat... be careful with that "no notice" stuff. Things like that can come back, and often do, to bite you. Even when a situation is bad, try to take the high road. Not preaching, just some insight from an old dog.

[chef_oz]

right on! Seems like you have a good attitude don't hold back! Sound eager to learn and it seems like you can sponge off of the others. gl...

[Bakerlady29]

Hey Chefintraining Super grats on your new job. I wish you nothing but the best. God Bless, Bakerlady29

[piracer]

have fun on your new job, im actually thinking whether i should quit my weekend part time job or not, seems to be interfering alot in my life and i dont really want to be a chef now a days, not that i mind the work, its good since i learn skills and i reckon being a chef makes you tougher then most people.

[jfb1060]

Since I'm new to the culinary field for the most part this thread brings me to a question that I have been curious over.

Why does there appear to be such an excelerated rate of turnover and much of the time with no notice? I saw an experienced cook do this recently and was puzzled by it.

There also appears to be the element of an individual maybe not showing up for a shift and you just never see them again. Is this normal in the culinary field for the most part?

There may not be that much turnover when compared to many other fields of endeavor but it just appears that way. Maybe its just me.

Joe

[Blueicus]

The turnover thing is definitely a prevalent part of the business. The restaurant where I work has remarkably kept a relatively stable crew for the past two years with a few people coming in and out over that time although the upstairs kitchen and the dish pigs are a veritable revolving door of crew. I think the whole no notice and "disappearing act" is only common in the lowest positions of the business (like the dishwashers and prep or lower positions of the line) where you probably won't be expecting people of the highest qualities of work ethic (not to say they don't exist, we all work from the bottom up, afterall) and people who don't see the job as the be all and end all of their lives.

[Cheech]

Originally Posted by jfb1060

Since I'm new to the culinary field for the most part this thread brings me to a question that I have been curious over.

Why does there appear to be such an excelerated rate of turnover and much of the time with no notice? I saw an experienced cook do this recently and was puzzled by it.

There also appears to be the element of an individual maybe not showing up for a shift and you just never see them again. Is this normal in the culinary field for the most part?

There may not be that much turnover when compared to many other fields of endeavor but it just appears that way. Maybe its just me.

Joe

Yes turnover is a part of everyday life in this business, but i look at it like this. In a lot of instances, you are dealing with less than highly educated individuals, many of them under the influence of one or more substances. A little extra stress, and the promise of a few cents more down the street is reason enough for many a cook to hit the dusty trail.

In the last few years of my career, I've seen less turnover than in other places, but I still think it happens more than not...

[Clove]

I was also surprised by the rate of turnover in this industry when I first started out, but I think I have seen a few things to explain it in part.

Some of the restaurants and other work places are so small that there isn't always a place to move up without changing employers. Most chefs want to see a variety of experience on your resume - not three years in one restaurant doing the same type of food. Experience in high quality, volume, with a variety of chefs or maybe some different ethnic cuisine can add a lot to your skills.

But, on the flip side - in certain areas of this industry it is an incredibly small world. A lot of my co-workers have part-time jobs and word spreads quickly from one kitchen to the next. I just heard from a cook/friend that moved from CA to NYC, but ended up in the same kitchen with a chef from San Fran that I also know. It is just a small world and sometimes reports of bad behavior follow you far, so be careful!

[jfb1060]

Clove;

Thanks for your insight.

If other kitchens and chefs are looking for a wide array of past exposure to different cuisines then this would certainly lend itself to alot of travel to different kitchens over the period of a career.

I have done some additional reading on a good many chefs within the last day. They do appear to move on quite a bit with the mean threshold being approx. 2 to 3 years.

If one is determined to slowly and progressively move up the ladder of success, so to speak, is this then a unavoidable consequence within our industry???