Jobs

[Montegriffo]

I just heard about some vacancies at a local TV celebrity chef's restaurant 30 miles down the road. I wasn't really looking for a full time job as I have 4 inquiries about weddings for next year but I am tempted to apply. I could learn a lot there, not just about cooking but also about becoming a success, If I can only stop pissing about on here and find time to apply I might give it a shot......

[SuburbanFarmer]

Try it out, and quit if you don't like it.

[Montegriffo]

Looking it up on Instagram right now........ quit interrupting

[Montegriffo]

Here's an article you can read on it if you are bored
https://www.theguardian.com › Lifestyle › Restaurants
I'm going to pop off an email. It all depends whether they want an experienced chef or some wet behind the ears cannon fodder like Jamie Oliver employs. He puts people on short term min wage trial periods and kicks them out after 6 months if they start asking for more money.

[Speaker to Animals]

You should move somewhere you and your mates could run a food truck profitably.

[Montegriffo]

You should move somewhere you and your mates could run a food truck profitably.

To be honest I do that mostly for fun. I only do juggling festivals and weddings for mates these days ( which are profitable but not very regular ) I spent years taking my cafe around music festivals but those degenerate hippies don't want to pay good money for good food. And there's only so many times you can see the latest version of Hawkwind before you get bored of them.
The food regulations at big events nowadays are crippling and you spend more time with a pen in your hand than a knife. Somewhere like Glastonbury you have to pay over £10k in advance, buy all your ingredients on site and fill out a 30 page book on health and safety requirements (cheers Brussels).

[atanamis]

You seriously just pointed us at the Guardian home page... So are you a trained chef, or self taught? Is catering for weddings something you can just do on your own, or do you hire on help when you do them? I'm not at all certain how much working for a TV chef is actually about sound business practice and good professional development vs making an entertainment product. Like you mentioned, if some chef's just hire newbies and treat them as disposable I'm not sure whether it will be great exposure or not? Anyway, seems worth a try. Good luck!

[Montegriffo]

You seriously just pointed us at the Guardian home page... So are you a trained chef, or self taught? Is catering for weddings something you can just do on your own, or do you hire on help when you do them? I'm not at all certain how much working for a TV chef is actually about sound business practice and good professional development vs making an entertainment product. Like you mentioned, if some chef's just hire newbies and treat them as disposable I'm not sure whether it will be great exposure or not? Anyway, seems worth a try. Good luck!

No I'm not expecting to get on one of his TV shows but he has a chain of restaurants trading off his fame as a farm to fork TV personality. I did go to catering college but only got the basic knowledge there. Most chefs learn on the job really, the better and more varied places you work the more you learn. I just filled out an application form for a different job which gave two small boxes to put your experience in . I listed a few but explained I would need a small book to list them all. Hope that wasn't a too smart arsed thing to say but hey it's in the mail now so too late.
I vary the size and knowledge of my team depending on what job I do, for a wedding I can have most of the food prepared in advance but for something like an international juggling convention lasting up to a week I take a small army and hardly get a chance to cook anything myself at all.

[Speaker to Animals]

Most chefs I have known went to a culinary academy. Cooks learn on the job. Chefs are educated. They usually started as cooks and decided to go to school to become a chef.

That said, the majority of restaurants have no chef on sight any longer. A chef designs the menu and various processes, and a general manager tries to make the cooks follow those things.

Only expensive restaurants even maintain a division between kitchen and floor, with a heiarchy of chefs running the kitchen.

[Montegriffo]

Most chefs I have known went to a culinary academy. Cooks learn on the job. Chefs are educated. They usually started as cooks and decided to go to school to become a chef.

That said, the majority of restaurants have no chef on sight any longer. A chef designs the menu and various processes, and a general manager tries to make the cooks follow those things.

Chef is a pretentious French word meaning boss any way, I am happy to call myself a cook.