Chef Forum banner

Aramark advice

2K views 6 replies 7 participants last post by  monte alto 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

I'm a sous chef at a high volume upscale casual restaurant. I'm getting ready to make the next move in my career and I'm thinking about trying to get a corporate job. I feel like the hours would be right and I think I would thrive in a more structured environment. The is an opening for a "chef manager" with Aramark. Has anyone worked for them in this capacity? Would you be willing to share your experience? I'd like to know how does their salaries compare to the national average? do they promote from within and if so is it hard to get promoted? Assuming I stayed with this company for a long time what is the lolly career path from this position? What was the interview process like? Is there anything else you feel I should know before applying? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
I currently work for an Aramark competitor. In all likelihood, your pay and hours will be a bit better. Corporations don't like paying overtime but they are typically obligated to so they make sure you are out after eight hours. 

     It isn't about the food as much as it's about the paper work. If the food is generally being produced on time within the budget constraints, no one questions the production process too much. Sanitation standards and Haacp controls are paramount, which means filling out temperature records daily. Discipling recalcitrant employees involves creating a paper trail, which can be a long, torturous process. 

Promoting from within varies depending on location and people involved. In my brief tenure so far, politics seems to play a sizable role in what happens. 

 Not sure there is a likely career path with any company. Once you decide whether or not you like the company and get to know the people involved and understand the companies expectations, then you can make a better assessment. 
 
#3 ·
I worked there for almost a year. It was however a job I left recently. It was not a bad job I loved dealing with the same consumers everyday.( it was in a call center) . However for me to move up was verrrrrrry difficult I worked externally hard and the people who got recognized were the ones that were " friends with the boss " . I have heard similer stories with ARAMARK have to be buddies to move up in the ranks. I hated the waste from the corporation.. But honestly overall it was not to bad. Everything was kept clean.. I left on a bad note because i had a great opportunity somwere else.

conclusion ? Depends on what you enjoy.. The higher positions tend to be desk jobs over cooking. So whatever you like to do i suppose.
 
#4 ·
Most food service accounts deal with recipes that need to be followed for proper food costs.

Benefits are a 40 hour week. You can have a life with a family and go places and do things.

The downside is that you will never grow as a Chef in a place like that.

If you could cuddle up to the manglement and get yourself in the kitchen that cooks for the VIP's then you'd have a chance for some real cooking.
 
#5 ·
I've been working for Aramark for over 3 years now and a lot of what they said is true. It depends on what's more important to you, the cooking passion of constantly being able to tweak recipes because, cook with high quality ingredients and overall have a little bit freedom vs the bennies, steady hours, good salary etc.

For all that being said I work more than 50 hours a week as a Chef Manager for my location, my hours can vary sometimes but it's almost always the same days a week (unless another department needs help). There are definitely chances to move up, one of the nice things is that you can move up but at a different account. So if you are ready to move on and your Direct Report agrees sometimes they will help you locate a job (if you're willing to relocate, which sometimes the company will compensate for) in another city, state, etc. Salary I'd rather not post but I feel like I'm getting paid well for what I do.

One of the other things is that yeah I don't work with lobster, filet or clarified butter anymore but that doesn't mean I don't try and put out as much scratch food as possible. There are some things that with the volume we do it's just impossible, but not too many. I jokingly call my lunch "Chef Diet" because that's a good part of my day just walking around tasting things, working with cooks to put out the best possible meal I can.

@Chefross I kind of disagree that you can't ever grow as a chef, yes there is only so much you can learn from a corporate job like that but depending on how much you know already you can learn something from any job.

I definitely like my job (if you couldn't tell /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif) but there are definitely times I miss being able to just jump on the line, bang out a dish without having to worry about following a recipe. The paper work can sometimes be a pain, but it also depends on how large a volume account you're going to. My account is decent size and so there are other managers at my specific kitchen that help with all of that.

Feel free to PM me if you have some more specific questions.
 
#6 ·
Hi all, thought I would comment a little as I worked for Aramark for several years earlier in my career. As a corporation, I would place them as a better example of this type of cooking. I worked at a large convention center, and after 3 months as a Public Foods Chef, I started traveling to other facilities to work on Huge events 8000 - 10000 guests for as much as a week or more. I thought this opportunity to travel to other cities was great, but the hours were a monster, sometimes as much as 100 hours in a week. I believe the position you are discussing is more of a on site chef position than mine was. So, is Aramark a good employer ? Yes, but I would suggest you see them as a stepping stone to other things, not necessarily a place to retire from. There is an endless amount of paperwork to deal with, and a lot of corporate bean counters (literally lol) will be poking around in your kitchen.
 
#7 ·
Hi all, I worked for ARAMARK Offshore division in Aberdeen U.K. and travelled the world as a ARAMARK employee, have even been to the ARAMARK building in Philadelphia. I was the Offshore catering, and  personnel movement consultant, on the Installation phase of the Hibernia Oil production Platform on the Grand Banks. I had been 6 months in Canada working at Bull arm, and in the office at St John's. I spent two weeks on board the Platform on final location, then returned U.K. job done. After That I spent 2yrs working in Baku, Azerbaijan. I also was sent to Japan as a Consultant to AIM Services, for the Iwaki project this was

Japans first Offshore Gas Project, Fukushima. that was back in 1987. other places I worked for ARAMARK, were Brazil, Hainan China, Equatorial Guinea, West Africa. Norway Offshore,  I hold a Norskie Foreign seaman's book. I retired from ARAMARK 3rd March 2006 after a enjoyable and interesting 32 yrs. 

People I knew     

Mike Collins.

Barry Hay

Charles Willis

Takashi Wada

Joe Roposa     
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top