Tough decision

Here is what I'm doing; as with anything, take what works and leave the rest:

- I'm in a rent-controlled apartment. As a cook, obviously I fit the income guideline requirements. :p

- my building is near my workplace. I'm in a city with a lot of really nice restaurants, and all are within walking distance. Current commute = 2 blocks.

- no car, but no need for one thanks to our bus system

- I do temporary contract work through an agency which places culinary people all over with catering outfits, corporate cafeterias and such. Which means working on my days off, or doing doubles going from gig to full time job, sometimes to the tune of starting at 5am to do a breakfast shift, and not stopping until 11pm and my real job is over. Typically the work is very boring, but it pays somewhat better. I stop for awhile when I'm too tired.

- I have a private gig where I am a personal chef for a neighbor. This is a once a week thing which pays pretty well. Some PCs cook a month's worth of meals for a client in one day; if you get a customer like that, you'd be doing even better than me in terms of time management.

Having been in debt myself, and only recently totally cleared it, and also knowing myself well enough to know that I need work which is fulfilling, working part time and private gigs while keeping your job with the celeb chef would be what I would choose. It would kill me to go to a corporate place full time, and in fact, was why I left a more lucrative career to cook instead; I hated what I used to do that no matter how much it paid, I couldn't save a single cent.

Good luck, I hope you find something that works. Debt really, really sucks and creditors are the scum of the earth.

Pat

I would move on. Put your experience to good work and more money.

How long have you been working professionally?
How long have you been at your present position?

At first I was going to say that if you are still learning new things, then you should stay.
Chasing the money this early can hurt you later, as your learning curve starts to flatten out.
But you stated that you're piling up some debt.
If it's not out of control, if it's something you can work on by rebudgeting, then I would still recommend staying.
Perhaps it's time to talk to the queso grande about a raise.
A little more money would seem to solve your problem.

If you pass up this opportunity, keep an eye on your friends place.
Chances are that if he wants you now, he'll still want you later.
Or he could end up gone in six months, which would probably mean that you also would not have the security you seem to have where you currently are.

If it were me, I would stay where I am at, let the boss know of my opportunity, and see what they do.
The results of that conversation would go a long ways towards making up my mind.

China Jim has some very good suggestions, especially asking for a raise at your current place and seeing what happens at your friend's place in 6 mths from now. The final nail on the coffin (for me, at least) is the commute. True, $800 seems like a considerable amount, but when you factor in the gas, the maintenence on the vehicle, and the sheer odds of something happening to you on a highway 3 hrs a day, 5 or 6 days a week.

you should stay at least a year at your current place. yes, it's a bounce around kind of business, and that's how you learn, but when i see a resume with bouncing after only a few months, i toss it in the reject pile.

Have you looked for a non-food service part time job? Money is money.