Any actual "Chef's" here?

[JoeT]

Johnson and Wales 1987 grad here (associates), with a BA in Business and Psychology.

I worked in restaurants from the age of 14-32. In September of 1999 I was having another bad day at the restaurant (there are a lot of them) and got into sales. I have only sold to restaurants and hotels so I'm still "in the business", kinda.


Here is my suggestion, as mentioned above, Have him get a restaurant job (not waitering, but in a kitchen). If after 6-8 months he still has a passion for food (and I use the word passion for a reason, if he's not passionate about cooking, it's a shitty job with long hours and shitty pay) culinary school may be a good choice.

While cooking in high school and college we use to laugh at the culinary grads that have the classroom knowledge but couldn't work a line to save their life.

Another thing for him to consider. . . .for every Gordon Ramsey he sees on tv, there are thousands of culinary grads microwaving food at applebees.

If he (or you) have any other questions, or if he wants to spend 1/2 a day in my car visiting chefs and picking their brains, feel free to send me a pm

I typically see 5-8 chefs a day, ranging from super talented to mouth breather


oh, and I can't stress enough that the hours are long!!! When people are home with their loved ones on Valentines day, New Years Eve, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc he'll be working a 12-15 hour day. My average work week in the restaurant business was 70 hours. There were days that I'd get in at 7:00am be ready to leave at 6:00pm and realize that a cook didn't show, and not be home until after midnight. He'll miss his kids birthdays, school plays, baseball games, etc. Most of us are drug addicts or drunks for a reason (I'm dry almost 9 years)

Now for the good. . . .Chicks dig a guy who can cook!! he'll be banging waitresses on a regular basis. Additionally, The business has been good to me financially. We live pretty good off the selling and preparation of food

[Mtn.man]

Ah, the dream of banging a waitress.

[BPTactical]

Ah, the dream of banging a waitress.

The crack of Dawn aint safe with this kid!

[StagLefty]

My son's GF finished 2 yrs.culinary school in NY this past year.She moved out here from Boise and is working in a bakery in Golden that supplies hotels,restaurants etc.. Long crazy hours and holidays and a student loan to repay. I hope for her sake it all works out.

[Marlin]

Ah, the dream of banging a waitress.

Been there,, done that... and I wasn't a Chef...

[Mtn.man]

[sniper7]

Been there,, done that... and I wasn't a Chef...

It started out with "excuse me, flo"

[TFOGGER]

I was a chef for ten years and work at the Loews Denver hotel which had a 4 star restaurant "Tuscany". I did not go the paid culinary school route. I did a apprentice program through the ACF
http://www.acfchefs.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home6

This is 6000 hours (3 years) of on the job training. When I finished the 3 years I had 9150 hours! You also attend classes one sometimes two times a week at night. In my opinion this is a better way to go unless you already have lots of experience or disposable income to pay for school.
Culinary schools can look great on your resume but if that is all you have it can be hard to get your foot in the door in a high end restaurant.
The chef I worked for was chef of the year in Colorado the year I started. He hired a few people straight out of culinary school. Out of the five he hired while I was there only one lasted more then six months.

I guess in the end either a culinary school or the apprentice program, you will get out of it what you put in. I know people that did go to school route and they are very good chefs to this day.
Sometime I miss cooking.
Mike

I was wondering when you'd chime in....

[funkfool]

File this under the heading:
"Why did it take this long... "

I am not sure that "Chef" is a real, actual person...