[blizzard49]

I'm planning to attend the chef program in the college but I wander it's a wise choice.

Right now I'm living in the Kingston Ontario and planning to take culinary management program in the future for get proper job.

Are they paying well? and is it hard work?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

the culinary school i went to required 6 months of working in a restaurant before you could be accepted into the program

if you have not worked in a restaurant do not spend money on classes for the job unless you know you can deal with it

cooking school basically lets you skip a few of the prep cook years of training on the job and lets you start out as a grill cook or a sautee cook, but even thats not a promise, it depends on you and the quality of the education. the management classes will eventually be valuable but it will take a few years ( possibly a decade ) of working before they are relevant

the business is hard, you will work nights, you will sweat, you will cut and burn yourself on a regular basis

you will never go out on a friday or saturday night, you will regularly celebrate that new years eve 12 oclock moment while mopping or taking out the trash or scrubbing a stove. you will not go out for valentines day dates. you are more likely to be carving turkey for 300 strangers than you are for your family on thanksgiving

look at what is available in your area on craigslist, or whatever the Canadian equivalent is, and use that as a measuring stick compared to your expectations on pay.

the same culinary management classes can be used for making your way into the Front of the house and you may get to restaurant manager or GM faster by staying in the dining room and out of the kitchen but the day to day schedule is the same but less burns and more unruly customer interactions come in that trade off.

this may have come off as negative, if you love it, all of those things dont matter

 

[parallax]

Don't do it. Learn a few basics. Lie your way onto the line at a decent restaurant with moderate to high volume. If you can handle a twelve hour shift pirouetting like a barefotted balerina over hot coals, whilst going full on shinobi on crack through veggies and proteins with a vast array of knives whilst maintaining cross contamination awareness, perfect sanitation standards constantly practiced, can find you way out of the shits both without and with accurately accurately communicared needs, never once being concerned about your break, etc, then yes.

If not, well, retail is always seeking good help.

 

[foodpump]

Ummm....

Don't lie your way onto a cooking line.

If you have to lie, you aren't ready, if you aren't ready, you are going to screw up big time. Best case scenerio, you P. Off the owner and crew. Worst case scenerio? We won't go there.......

 

[foodpump]

Or, you could seriously screw up the service, cost the owner lost business, cost him even more in comps, resulting in only getting your ass fired, but getting blacklisted for every restaurant in a 20 mile radius.

 

[chef claire]

Hi.  My lecturer at cooking school used to say -  don't do it - not if you want to live long!  LOL!  He decided to teach people how to do it, instead!  

 

[chefbillyb]

Waking up at 4AM.......NO

Going into work and finding out your breakfast cook didn't show up.....NO

Cooking on the front line and kicking butt getting the plates out fast...........YES

Working with evening cooks and setting specials menu...............................YES

Working through dinner kicking butt and watching what you created come to life........YES

Going home, kicking off your shoes and having a beer. Looking over all the years it took to get here you wouldn't change a thing.

This business isn't for everyone but, it was the best choice for me.

 

[chefboyog]

1. Waking up at 4, if your getting off work at 2 pm, awesome.

2. Waking up at 4 because you have PTSD, NO.

That line between 1 and 2 is the difference from cook to chef.

 

[dantesdishes]

If you value sleep, free time, 'normal' social life, and easy advancement... Stay away. If you love what we do, do it.