Chef Salary Expectations And Realities
If you are coming fresh out of culinary school and are looking for a job, you may be wondering what you can expect for your starting rate of pay. This will depend upon the kind of position you are able to get and where you are able to find employment. Will you look for work at a big corporate chain, a unique popular dining spot, or an institution like a school? Where you look will determine what you can expect.
Most people starting in the culinary field will come in at the bottom of the range although that bottom is different for small restaurants than it is for large corporate hotel dining rooms. Smaller restaurants will tend to pay less as they have a smaller paying client base.
As you move up in responsibilities from line cook to sous chef to chef you can expect your compensation to increase as well. While a beginning food preparer may expect to be paid from twelve to twenty thousand dollars annually, an executive chef salary at a large corporate restaurant can be near 100,000 dollars a year.
Salary is not the only kind of compensation one can expect from restaurant work however. Different companies will offer different kinds of benefits including health coverage. Because kitchen work can often be dangerous, it is important to have access to health care to take care of any cuts or burns received while at work.
Vacation time is another kind of compensation that you should be aware of. Usually, smaller restaurants will not offer paid time off, but are fairly flexible with scheduling. Larger organizations can offer more formal vacation packages, but are less likely to accommodate schedule changes.
Restaurant work is also the kind of job that gives its employees entry into a unique community. In regions like the American West Coast, for example, the fresh local and organic movement has become an establishment. Culinary workers take part first hand this kind of progressive action.
