is it normal for chefs to not get scheduled 1 hour breaks?
My brother just got a job as a chef at a fairly prestigous restaurant (its his first real chef job) and they dont have breaks there. everyone just takes ’smoking’ breaks for like 10 mins. So for 10 hours he got a 15 min break cause everyone is sooo busy. But he gets to bring home free food lol. is that normal? isnt it illegal not to give breaks?
Yup, I’ve worked in several kitchens over the past few months. Most big name restaurants will probably demand their employees to take breaks to avoid lawsuits… But most restaurants, good ones even, don’t really have scheduled breaks for everyone. A lot of times, it would be up to each cook or chef to just find time to have a small bite here and there and/or have a cigarette break. It all depends on how busy it is and how much we have to do. Maybe for someone who’s worked in a normal 9-5 job or the like, would see this as inhuman, but for people who work in a kitchen, its normal.
In my experience, getting a 35 minute break makes me lose my momentum in working. It also makes me sleepy. So I’d rather keep going and get short breaks instead.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Depending on which restaurant that sounds about normal. Most people already know about the hustling in the food service industry. Slow periods & preparation time is something like a break, but when there’s food to cook, the chef must work.
References :
February 1st, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Yup, I’ve worked in several kitchens over the past few months. Most big name restaurants will probably demand their employees to take breaks to avoid lawsuits… But most restaurants, good ones even, don’t really have scheduled breaks for everyone. A lot of times, it would be up to each cook or chef to just find time to have a small bite here and there and/or have a cigarette break. It all depends on how busy it is and how much we have to do. Maybe for someone who’s worked in a normal 9-5 job or the like, would see this as inhuman, but for people who work in a kitchen, its normal.
In my experience, getting a 35 minute break makes me lose my momentum in working. It also makes me sleepy. So I’d rather keep going and get short breaks instead.
References :