im a nurse but i want to be a chef! :D any tips? - Page 2

I meant no offense of course and I'm not implying that being a chef is easy because we all know it isn't.  All of this stress stuff is relative of course, I mean my girlfriend gets "stressed out" playing Mario Kart.  I've worked in a large hotel both in the restaurant and doing banquets--I'd argue that your job is more stressful in the slow season when you are NOT doing 1500 covers and hours are being cut and people are being fired.  1500 covers a day is a great problem to have.  1500 sick people is not.  Of course you are right that both can be stressful, but I personally wouldn't deter anyone from going into professional cooking because of the stressful working environment.  IMO its no worse than most jobs.

What makes America great is we all are entitled to our own opinions.

Another point to consider. You say upon retirement  The future of the chefing business as we know it today is bleak. Kitchen food managers are the future and is being done as we speak. With labor cost as they are, management is cutting down an going into mass produced prepared items made in 1 central place and shipped out. Therefore each unit will have cooks or dish out guys only. There will still be a few good places, but not enough for all chefs to work.

     In your nursing career I am sure you see that nurses per floor have been cut down as well as others. A central desk where sensors will moniter ALL the patients and instead of nurses checking patients TV and sound devices and various hook-ups will, like ICU units do now

    For all owners and corporations'' Labor Savings'' is the name of the game which inturn  equals more profit at everyones expense.

I have to respectfully disagree because in my bleak sate of Michigan, where we have been in a recession longer than the rest of the country, there aren't nursing jobs. There are graduates with honors not being able to find a job. The flip side is that food service jobs are actually on the rise here because Michigan is becoming known for a food and wine destination. The facts are that machines are not going to replace cooks and chefs in the whole country. People might be poor but they will never stop looking for delicious meals.

It also reiterates the statement that you don't go into cooking for the money, because its not going to happen fast. My instructor has many friends that own restaurants and catering businesses and they are actually millionaires, and they are NOT on tv. They just work their tails off allllll the time.

My final point is this. I have not even graduated yet and I have been asked personally by 2 people in 2 different restaurants if I want a job. Meanwhile there are no jobs for nursing or radiology in Lansing, as I was trying to go for an xray tech before switching to culinary. I am not aspiring to be a cook, I aspire to be a chef. I will work my way to that title and it will be an amazing and humble journey!

Quote:

Originally Posted by chefedb 

Another point to consider. You say upon retirement  The future of the chefing business as we know it today is bleak. Kitchen food managers are the future and is being done as we speak. With labor cost as they are, management is cutting down an going into mass produced prepared items made in 1 central place and shipped out. Therefore each unit will have cooks or dish out guys only. There will still be a few good places, but not enough for all chefs to work.

     In your nursing career I am sure you see that nurses per floor have been cut down as well as others. A central desk where sensors will moniter ALL the patients and instead of nurses checking patients TV and sound devices and various hook-ups will, like ICU units do now

    For all owners and corporations'' Labor Savings'' is the name of the game which inturn  equals more profit at everyones expense.

Candy CLC , Send all your nurses here to Florida where they can name their own price.  RNs and LPNs are in short supply here. $50 to $85,000.00 year here shoud not be a problem.

For what it is worth here is my two cents. After being in the business for around 15 years, running ChefTalk for over 10 now and hearing this statement so many times here it goes.

You are tired of being a nurse and now you want to be a chef? Why? Why are you tired of being a nurse? Ask yourself why did I become a nurse in the first place and how will becoming a chef be any different? As many of us who have been in the business or are still in the business it is not glamorous at all. It is filled with hot days, hard work, and many days, nights, and weekends away from loved ones. 

What is your passion? Find that and do it and you won't look for another career. Otherwise you will become a chef/cook, work for 2-3 years like most of the people I know who attended culinary school with and end up going back to being a nurse. Seriously most of the guys/gals I went to school with were French teachers, Attorneys, Accountants, Poly/Sci majors, you name they were it. They tried cooking and realized how little they got paid and how they had to work 3X as hard as they did for half the money and ended up returning to their old careers. 

Do not go to culinary school. Go work in a restaurant, catering company, etc for a minimum of one year and see what it is about. And, make sure if you work for a cake decorating shop, catering company, restaurant, that you work for someone who is profitable. Someone who knows how to make money at the business. Opening a restaurant or any kind of food related business, anyone can do that. Opening up a restaurant or food related business and making money at it there are only a few that do that well and that is who you want to learn from and watch.

Hope that helps.

Ditto what Nicko stated.

If you're looking for income, take the 60k (for culinary school) and buy lotto tickets, you'll probably get a better return on your investment!

Cooking is a TRADE for heaven's sake! IMHO, I would NEVER pay more than 3 months starting pay to get entry level training for any trade. That's around $4,000-$5,500 for culinary workers. If you really have to "go to school", look to community colleges first.

Oh wait, you want to OWN a restaurant? Forget culinary training, you can always hire line cooks and kitchen help, Get educated in business, business law, accounting, personnel management, marketing, advertising, business finance, labor law, not necessarily a degree but the KNOWLEDGE.