Considering the career of a chef is in the top 15 most stressful jobs, assumptions can be made that a lot goes into this career, it isn’t just about making hot food at a fast rate. Any chef can tell you that it is so much more than that, it can feel like a career where you give so much but receive very little.
Spending countless hours in the restaurant perfecting their craft, attempting to please the masses, creating new and exciting dishes with whatever they have on hand, and battling the tide of this pandemic while trying to keep the business afloat, are just the start of the list of challenges a chef today faces.
The Grind
There is a grind when it comes to working as a chef. Often, they are the first staff in, last out, eat very little throughout the day, and can find only so much time to practice self-care in their personal time. It is something they do day in and day out without complaint, and if they do complain it’s formed as a joke. They battle the tide of endless orders, endless problems, and endless complaints to continue growing as an individual, team, and business.
The lingering pandemic has made it that much harder to hire individuals who are looking for work, because, as stated in a previous piece I wrote, the pickings can be slim. There are the individuals who want the job with the least amount of responsibility, or the ones who are so chuffed about themselves they believe they deserve a position with the chef title. It is a constant battle, and more chefs than not feel like they are at the mercy of those who apply.
The Love
Yes, there are applicants who are so confident they believe they deserve a chef position in that establishment. But what is the real difference between a line cook and a chef?
Well, a line cook is someone who does their job, they meet the requirements, they clock out, go home, and that is it. They can leave the apron at the door until the next day.
A chef? They live in their career, it is constantly on their mind, they put their heart and soul into it, and they care deeply about everything that happens inside and outside the restaurant. They are constantly looking for ways they can grow, and how they can apply new things that will make the customers happy. It is a pure love for what they do, not chasing down a title.
While an education can give you the tools and prior knowledge, it is well known within the industry that you can only climb the ladder as an active member of the trade. It is extremely unlikely that you will be able to jump into a chef position straight out of culinary school because you simply do not have the skillset you develop while on the job. Everything a chef knows is based on what he learns and develops inside the restaurant and in his own time at home. It is a constant desire to learn everything he possibly can while continuing to hone the skills he already possesses.
The Stress
There is a lot of stress that comes with this career, much like many others. The chef is not only responsible for taking care of an entire team, each with their own set of needs and requirements, but also being able to manage perishable goods, profits, losses and feeding hundreds of people every single day while limiting the number of issues that might occur.
Imagine the stress, if you will, of walking into your cooler and seeing that your food order had not arrived, so you must figure out how to feed the customers with what little you have on hand. Stressful, right? With the job shortages going around, delivery drivers for food purveyors have been hit quite drastically, and this can greatly impact the performance of numerous restaurants, and that brings its own stressors.
So, the next time you go to a restaurant, maybe take the time to pay the back of house team a compliment, it would just as easily make their day than anything else. Chances are that is exactly what they needed to hear to make it through the rest of the night.
Culinary is an extremely stressful, and often under-appreciated career, but without it restaurants simply wouldn’t exist. Pay it forward, and they will do the same for you.
