Well, I am a corporate chef. The are pros and cons to my position. Namely, I have a well-grounded position that pretty much guarantess my employment. Furthermore, I get all the medical, dental, stock, insurance, etc. benefits that are available. I also get to paticipate in groups with other area chefs to disucss just about anything (kind of like the Inside Scoop... only face-to-face). The food at my account is a little different than atypical corporate dining accounts, in that we do an extreme amount of high-end catering for high profile clients; I enjoy putting on really interesting food, versus the same, day-in, day-out.
The drawbacks - there is sometimes travel, usually for meetings and/or to work at unit openings; not necessarily a terrible drawback as meeting new people and observing other operations can be good. The pay isn't always the best in corporate dining (generally varying by geography).
All in all, I have worked in several independent restaurants, catering operations and with corporate contractors. I can honestly say that I enjoy my 5-day-a-week, 10 hour/day (usually) position. There is room to grow and there is pretty organized structure that seems (for now) interested in teaching me more to advance my status with the company. I know, I know that not all corporate operations are the same, however, from my own experience, I get treated a lot better than in independent operations.
