I believe there are a few things culinary school either doesn’t tell you or misleads you to believe (whether intentionally or otherwise).
Ignore, for a moment, my pomposity and consider these points, which I consider to be rather serious. Some students, or prospective students, may already know this if they have had any experience in a restaurant, but to those that don’t, I hope I can provide a service. I would never discourage anyone from going to culinary school, if that is where their passions lead them, but make sure you know what you’re getting in to.
I was dumb (and impulsive – I made the decision to go to c-school a week before classes started) and took out the whole balance in education loans. Culinary school is freakishly expensive, and if I hadn’t been lucky enough to land the job before I had to start repaying the loans, I’d be completely screwed.
Being a good home cook and big foodie is perfectly respectable, but the comfort and leisurely pace of your kitchen, Food Network shows, or culinary schools for that matter, does not exist in restaurants. It’s a hot, brutal, juvenile, chauvinistic, alpha-male (or female), dead serious environment most of the time, especially on busy service nights.For some reason, nearly every instructor I had during school liked to tell us “work smart, not hard!” when we’d be caught doing something contrary to logic and common sense. While I appreciate that mantra, and it definitely helped me think about multi-tasking and working as efficiently as possible, I think my version is better. Working hard is great, your chefs and other people above and around you will appreciate it. Working smart is better, you will be noticed, seen as a potential leader, and will be more likely to get the promotion when the time comes. Working harder and smarter is best – if you can get more prep done faster and more efficiently than those around you, you will be noticed.
This all ties in to working smarter and harder. Communicate clearly and concisely. Move quickly (but safely) and decisively, don’t ramble around the kitchen when you’re rounding up your mise en place, you’ll only piss people off. Always be willing to ask questions if you don’t completely understand something. Always offer help (if you have time) to someone who needs it, but be willing to run people over and do it yourself if that’s what it comes down to.
I repeat, a culinary degree does NOT make you a chef. It makes you (hopefully) a well-trained cook who is (also hopefully) on the fast-track to becoming a chef. Only your place of employment can bestow upon you this title. Some will require you to be certified by professional organizations like the American Culinary Federation (ACF). “Chef” really has nothing specifically to do with cooking, it’s the French term for “Chief” and indicates that you have more responsibilities than just banging out prep, cooking through service, cleaning up, and going home. Eric Ripert put it rather eloquently when he said – "A cook and a Chef are different entities. “Chef” is a title… But when you are a cook, it is who you are. It is your spine and your soul." Strive to become and excellent cook, and the promotions will come to you in due time, then you will get your recognition.
The people who last in this industry are the people who love it down to the core of their being. It can take quite a while to get to the point where you are taking home a good chunk of change. As a salaried sous chef, I have the luxury of knowing exactly what I’m going to be paid every payday, but if I was still hourly and working the same number of hours I’d be making at least twice what I am making right now…and the restaurant would be bankrupt…Illustrating this point perfectly is food writer extraordinaire Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl in her blog: “Do you know how much restaurant cooks in Minneapolis earn? Between $8 and $15, with most fine-dining cooks earning a mere $10 or $12 an hour. Do you know how much itinerant grape-pickers in California, those symbols of contemporary repression, earn? I read an article last week that jogged my memory: Grape-pickers in Napa Valley earn $11–$13 an hour for the lowest status positions, and in the $20 an hour range for supervisors.” Dara’s post also mentions the chef I work for (Don Saunders), and the project that we’re starting this fall (The Commodore).
