So in my further years I hope to become a chef/good sou chef, a good enough chef job to pay the bills
But I have a few questions of where to start.. Heres my experiece:
In highschool I went to a trade school and took Culinary arts 1 and 2
This January I will be starting Culnary arts 3 and a spanish cooking class at trade school
Then I hope to get into a good chef school
I've worked in McDonalds kitchen for few months breakfast/day shifts
I am ServSafe certfied
Make dinner every night for 8- 9 servnigs great meals and healthy as well, Can make with fat etc but who wants that?
Every meal I eat i cook etc


Done with fastfood:
I quit my job at mcdonalds recently Because I felt they didn't deserve me and I was sick of alot of things there such as:
unprofessional
The cleanliness, everything is cross contaminated/and chemcials everywhere and bugs around its very un sanitary
Unapealing to be around such filth when im Certified for the safety of food
Doesn't take much skill to make that crap food

What I'm asking is this:
I will be applying my ass off soon at very possible restaurant/ more professional kitchen or cook area that's hirng
Now I kno alot of cooks start off as dish washers rights? then go prep cook and keep advancing over time?
So when applying should I apply as dish washer n try to move up if i get the job?
Or should I apply for prep /cook/line?

I kno fast food and culinary experience is great to start just lmk if your a experienced well cook/chef
Thanks

Also during Culinary arts 2 we did good amount of catering events for 40-50 people each time

I've got lots of experience working and managing various different restaurants, and let me tell you that you will not get a job as a line cook at a good restaurant with the experience you have now. You'd probably be better off applying as a dishwasher and work your ass off for a promotion. You don't have any real restaurant experience and school doesnt mean much if you dont have the experience to back up the knowledge you get from school.

Be prepared to work extremely hard for very shitty pay, this is not an easy career choice.

Fix the problems instead of just saying "i'm better than this" and running from them.

Advancement will come if you stick with it, and put in the work.

achievement and advancement breeds achievement and advancement no matter what the starting point may have been.

This post was edited by ClancyBrown on Oct 3 2013 12:09pm

This is mcdonalds were talking about. Maybe he should have gotten a new job before quitting mcdonalds but if he wants to be a chef mcdonalds is not the place to work at.

A couple of Mcdonald's franchises could afford him the means to do whatever he wants in the industry.

What about a prep cook? And thanks will put this in consideration


cro
Yea like i said it's not a good enviroment i don't like how many rules they break with sanitation and serving food safely


Ik that but they really don't

This.

During your interviews ask if there's any room for advancement.

Kitchens are awful to work in, been in one for 5 years and I'm glad I'm out. (Making the same amount now if not more than I was in a kitchen even after 5 years)

Shitty hours, low pay, if it's a small group kitchen breaks are few and far between. Probably one of the most stressful jobs/environments you'll ever be in.

If you like cooking as a hobby and you want to keep it that way, I suggest you stay away from being a cook. If you want to be a CHEF, that's different than a cook. You'll need business courses most likely to go along with culinary.

first of all I'm 22, I've been to culinary school and I have lots of experience in high-end cooking. I've been the sous-chef at a high end catering/banquet company doing multiple weddings etc, I've worked for a national museum(s) doing banquets for the very wealthy and sometimes famous/royal, I've worked for the best chef in my city....among more

being a chef is not glamorous...it's often low pay, very long hours with little breaks, cut-throat, low job stability, very little chance in getting a pension or benefits, very stressful, evenings/weekends/holidays.

I love cooking but I enjoy the finer things in life (such as nice "toys", nice cars, eventually a nice house, etc) and with a career as a chef, there isn't much hope in having those things. to be a chef your entire life takes a special kind of person (some say you need to be a bit crazy). I recently got out of the business to try some new things and escape the bullshit for a while.

with mcdonalds as your only experience you'll be lucky to even get a job as a dishwasher at any real restaurant...maybe a cookie cutter chain type restaurant that doesn't even make food. expect a grueling grind and multiple different jobs before eventually getting a real cooking position somewhere...it's all about the skills/knowledge you have and to get lots you need to work at different places. some people are naturals and are cut for the business but very few are.

culinary school will give you a very good edge, but I warn you...it doesn't even remotely prepare you for the real world of cooking.

I feel like I'm rambling and missing the point. lmk if you have more questions.

edit: 1 point I was going to make but forgot is probably the only good one. the only way being chef/serious cook is if you have no commitments in your life and are prepared to drop everything to travel the world and work abroad. I was offered a job in Bermuda for 2 years, even went down for a week to check out the place and tour the island. In the end I chose not to go as I had lots going on and my career took off at home very shortly afterward. I still do wish I went just for the experience but I have no regrets

This post was edited by Tylenol on Oct 3 2013 03:04pm

like others said, its a difficult road, but if thats what youre set on, it can be rewarding too. financially, too, in some cases, but only at the top. most chefs are grossly underpaid.

your mcdonalds experience is just this side of worthless. same for cooking at home. unless youre a genius and already have the commercial background to know how things would translate, cooking at home does not prepare you for cooking in a restaurant/caterer. just look at masterchef. even if they do well when cooking at their stations for challenges, etc, they generally fall to pieces when put into real-world cooking situations.

the culinary arts classes, on the other hand, could be good experience, depending on exactly what you learned. if it taught you knife skills, then keep working on those, and forget about dishwasher. see if you can get a job somewhere at a basic restaurant (ie a real restaurant, not mcd's, but nothing high end, theyre unlikely to hire you) doing prep like peeling potatoes, cutting veggies and other basic stuff. i think youd have a chance at that in such a restaurant. if youre able to, you could even say youll work for free or little pay just to get the experience. if you can afford to not get paid for a while, thats a great way of getting a foot in somewhere. if you can show that youre really able to handle stuff, they may even start paying you. if nothing else, though, its a good resume builder.

culinary school is a good thing to have as well, though not entirely necessary. youll definitely be paid less without it, though. like tylenol said, though, it still doesnt compare with real-world experience. one restaurant i was at had a guy come up from georgia to do a one week stint after having just finished culinary school, and within five minutes of being there he had cut himself. granted, that could just have been nervousness, but overall he didnt really seem to know all that much in other ways as well. none the less, if youre determined to be a chef long term, you should look into culinary school after you graduate. (high school im guessing?)