jmcquown wrote:

> notbob wrote:
> > You should do a Google groups archives search. This subject has been
> > flogged to death over the years by this and other food groups. The
> > consensus is, if you've got money to burn, go for it. Go to a
> > prestigious cooking school. But, it will get you only a slight edge
> > on all the other hard core chef wannabes that can't afford to go or
> > went to other less high profile schools like college and community
> > college programs. What's the count now? Over one thousand cooking
> > schools in the US, alone. Your starting wage in the real world will
> > still be at the burger flipper/fry cook level and you'll still have to
> > put in several years apprenticing to tempermental chefs to get real
> > world experience and build a resume. You have to remember you are
> > competing with people who want to be chefs so badly, the will
> > apprentice for free.
> >
> > You say you have restaurant experience already. YOu may want to
> > consider cutting to the chase and using it to find a beginning
> > position under an established chef and starting there. Save you a lot
> > of time and money.
> >
> > nb
>
> No joke, nb! Nothing says experience like experience. No way would I
think
> I could walk in with a degree and command a great salary and work less
than
> 75 hours a week.


No kidding. This culinary school thing is getting to be a real racket...


> I can't tell if the OP means he/she is willing to work that many hours
*or*
> if he/she is ready to stop working those types of hours. News which is
not
> news - professional chefs work incredible hours and until/if you run your
> own restaurant you aren't free to just come and go. You're there
overseeing
> everything from morning to night.


All too true. A few years back a chef friend finally got her "dream" - her
own restaurant. Got great reviews, had a good business, had a great
location (in Chicago's Old Town). She was lucky if she got one day a week
off. The jig was eventually up when a neighborhood restaurateur - real
estate mogul bought the building and leased it to a pal - no more resto for
my friend :-|

The attrition rate for new restos is *very* high, in her case the real
estate factor came into play. So even if you have a successful place, there
is no guarantee it will last...

She now works for an established independent steak house; she still works
very hard but she gets two days a week off, plus great pay (profit sharing)
and benefits. It's stable, and in the f&b bizz that counts for a LOT. Her
bosses love her and allow her plenty of latitude for "experiment", e.g. she
can try out new dishes if she wants...


> Purely IMHO, age 35 is a bit late to be getting into the professional
> cooking game. The OP mentioned Emeril and Rick Bayless; they didn't just
> spring from the foam and come out cooking. Whatever your opinon of these
> folks and those who went before them, they put in a lot of hours in the
> school of hard knocks before anyone ever heard of them.
>


Cooking is one of those "fire in the belly" type of things, you gotta have
that drive or you'll be verily disappointed...

Just because you "enjoy" cooking doesn't necessarily mean that it would be a
wise career move (I mean just because you're good in bed doesn't mean that
you should do sex for a living, right? ;-)

One chef (in NYC, forget who) wrote that some of these new cooking school
graduates (mostly middle - aged men who had left lucrative professional
careers to attend culinary school) would come onto the job the first day all
bright - eyed and bushy - tailed. At the end of that first day he would
look at some of them and as he said "You could look at their eyes and tell
that the dream had died...".

To anyone contemplating a culinary career I'd recommend getting a dish -
washing gig in a restaurant, ANY restaurant. If you can hack it for six
months only *then* should you consider a cooking career...

--
Best
Greg