Chef Jobs And Training

Why would a chef or any other cook be lecturing in Australia?

Im a junior in high school and I have decided that I want to be a pastry chef when I get older. Im thinking about going to J&W culinary university , is this a good school choice and is it hard to get into? or Should I go to a real college first and then culinary school? Is there anything I can do right now to get practice? Can anyone who is a pastry chef tell me where they went to school/learned to be a pastry chef, about their job and what its like and, if they dont mind, how much they earn? What would the salary of a pastry chef be at a hotel? Thanks!!

I will assume you mean Johnson and Wales University. I hate to break your bubble, but J&W is a REAL university. They offer Bachelors degrees in several academic disciplines.

I would choose them over CIA simply because anyone can get into CIA it is all about money.

I was a chef or many years and held the title of Executive Chef for most of my 30 plus years in the business.

Now for the real world. I really wouldn’t recommend becoming a chef to anyone. It is one of the hardest most time demanding fields in the world. The hours rank with those put in by physicians. I had friends who would talk about deadlines in a week or a day.. I always laughed. I had a deadline every 30 seconds and if I missed one the whole night could come tumbling down.

I am a rare drinker, because I saw so many of my chef friends who became alcoholics. I am not 60 and I have attended the funerals of four close friends who drank themselves to death, all but one was younger than I am.

I know only one chef who isn’t divorced. I wouldn’t have been but I had a tragedy in my life. My wife loved the businees as I did.

The hours a pastry chef works are even worse then normal since many start at 3 AM.

Now for the good parts. The money for a GOOD pastry chef in a major hotel ( and upper end major, like the Fairmont Orchid or the Four Seasons in Hawaii) would be in the range of 80,000 and up. The is the Chef as in the deptment head.

If you really want a career in cooking don’t limit your thinking to just pastry. You may find it is just a start, and the Excutive Chef will always be paid the higher salary and there is a ladder to go up, on to F&B Manager and up.

I loved and missed the creativity of the kitchen but I don’t miss the hours or the politics.

I hope this helps, if you want to know more about the real business feel free to email me with your questions.

as a verbal agreement, i’m allowed to have 2 days off every week. but then he changes the schedule and demands all the chefs to work 7 days straight because he just fired 2 chefs. is this legal?

There is more than one issue involved here. Yes your employer can change your schedule without notification.
No you do not have to work seven days a week there are laws that govern not only minimum wages and overtime pay, but regulate days off.
I do not have all that information at my finger tips, but the fact that you are salaried does not exempt your employer from following wage and hour laws, in all but a few exempt industries you must receive at least the minimum wage and receive time and a half for overtime. If you are salaried you employer can pay you more that what you would receive under those laws but not less.

Currently I have no culinary experience, I just love cooking.

a cooking school of some sort would be ideal… but if you could get picked up as an apprentice or sous chef at any nice restaurant, that would help more than culinary school, but it depends on who you know to be able to get that type of opportunity.

Can anyone help me, I am looking for a Qualified Chef, pref, experience with Italian cuisine, and a general cook, Any assistance would be most appreciated, I don’t really want to use an employment agency.
Thanks

Depending on your location, check the local culinary schools. Most instructors are professional chefs that often moonlight at below market rates. Some are retired with many years of services. You can even check out their top grads. The culinary schools are a great source to get recommendations.

My wife is thinking of taking a patisserie course & becoming a pastry chef.

At the same time, we’re also planning on having a baby, and when I talk to others about becoming a pastry chef, all I hear is about the long & weird working hours, the hard physical work standing all day in a hot & stuffy room, the pressure of getting everything perfect, and to top it off – the low pay esp. for starters. Is this all true? Other than these hardships, what are the rewards of this job?

The rewards can be great but your home life can suffer from the odd hours. Some people really love the early morning shifts, and by early I mean 3 AM, because you can tag team parent the kids, but the bakery is a really hard place to be pregnant. The smells can be overpowering so when you add in the super sensitive nose of mom-to-be it’s just sickening! There is also a lot of heavy lifting in a commercial bakery and women can have a harder time finding work.

Best advice I can give you is before taking the course and shelling out the money, get a part time job in a bakery, any job all all, just to get a feel for the inner workings of the job. It’s no where near the shows you see on TV but a great job if the hours, heat, and general stench don’t bother you.

Good Luck!!

Im a junior in high school and I have decided that I want to be a pastry chef when I get older. Im thinking about going to J&W culinary university , is this a good school choice and is it hard to get into? or Should I go to a real college first and then culinary school? Is there anything I can do right now to get practice? Can anyone who is a pastry chef tell me where they went to school/learned to be a pastry chef, about their job and what its like and, if they dont mind, how much they earn? What would the salary of a pastry chef be at a hotel? Thanks!!

I would look for a culinary program at a public college (probably a community college) in your state. Pastry chefs are in high demand in many cities and in places like resorts, and the employment outlook is food. Salaries vary widely, but entry level is above $25,000 a year and can go up to $100,000 for top chefs. Many also open their own businesses once they have a good reputation.

The major thing about a pastry chef is that usually (depending on the setting) have to get up really early–many start around 5 am or earlier (and that’s certainly true for new chefs). There’s a certain rote to the job, but when you move up you have more creativity in your position.

Certainly explore schools in your area, and double check any private schools–you don’t need to spend the money to get started. Find out where the school places graduates, and quiz them on their placement record.

how much a hour should you be makeing ?

it depends on where you live, what type of restaurant you are working for. how much experience you have. those are all big factors. a good salary would be $50,000 a year for someone in a smaller market. that’s probably a little low if you are in new york or los angeles or miami though.

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