Within this section, I’ll tell you all about the different aspects to becoming a chef. We’ll examine the different levels of chef, salary expectations and the pros and cons of working in various environments. Finally, we’ll explore the biggest benefits of working as a chef, and how the reality differs from celebrity and TV glamour.

WHAT IS A CHEF?

The majority of people will simply say that a chef is someone who cooks food. While they would be correct in that assumption, the role of a chef is far more varied and important than simply cooking great food. Modern chefs come from a diverse range of backgrounds and experience levels. While there is a greater deal of training required to become a modern chef than in the past, there are also less obstacles. With the right work ethic, anyone can now become a chef, regardless of age or gender. For example, it is now extremely common to see women working in kitchens, where 10 years ago this would have been considered unusual. Women are swiftly becoming an integral cog in successful kitchens, and this shows no signs of slowing down.

When employed as a chef in any establishment, you will be a part of the kitchen brigade. This is the name for the system of hierarchy in a kitchen, and helps to streamline the process of putting food on plates. Below I’ve outlined the basic structure of most kitchen brigades:

The structure of a kitchen brigade:

Head chef

The role: Overall running of the kitchen. Can consistently produce high quality dishes when under pressure.

Pros: Freedom of expression to put your own stamp on the menu.

Cons: Lots of paperwork, and dealing with issues within the team, such as sickness or holidays.

Experience needed: 15+ years.

Key responsibilities:

The Head chef will have overall responsibility for daily operations of the kitchen. He will be Liaising with companies for food orders, maintaining and raising the profit margins on food.

Other responsibilities include:

Producing menus and new dishes;

Managing, training and recruiting a brigade of chefs.

Sous chef

The role: Running the kitchen alongside the head chef.

Pros: Start to express creativity and flex your talents.

Cons: Very high pressured job.

Experience needed: 10 – 15 years for a good quality restaurant.

Key responsibilities:

The sous chef will be running the kitchen when the head chef is away and Ensuring the brigade has high culinary standards.

Other responsibilities include:

Managing food purchases and storage;

Maintaining a safe and hygienic kitchen environment;

Helping to create new recipes and menus.

Chef de partie

The role: Working under the Head chef and Sous chef whilst running a section.

Pros: Being inspired by working closely with the sous chef and head chef.

Cons: The prep you still need to do – like picking spinach.

Qualifications: You will need to have completed an NVQ / SVQ level 2 college course (at the very least) and spent 3 - 4 years as a commis chef.

Key responsibilities:

As a chef de partie you will be preparing, cooking and presenting dishes within your specialty, and the day to day managing and training of any demi-chef de parties or commis who are working with you.

You will be helping the sous chef and head chef to develop new dishes and menus.

Other responsibilities include:

Ensuring that your team have high standards of food hygiene and are following the rules of health and safety;

Monitoring portion and waste control to maintain profit margins.

Commis chef

The role: The starting point as a chef, you may have been to college or even moved up from a kitchen porter position. You must have an interest in food.

Pros: Seeing how things work in the kitchen, finding your feet.

Cons: The hard dirty work, heavy lifting, keeping on top of deliveries.

Requirements: A keen interest in food; and a team player.

Key responsibilities:

The commis chef will be preparing the ingredients for more senior chefs and maintaining high standards of hygiene. Commis will need to measure a dish ingredients and portion sizes accurately.

Other responsibilities include:

Dealing with delivery and stock rotation.

EXPECTED AVERAGE CHEF SALARY FOR THE UK

Here are the average salary ranges for chef roles in the UK. The salary depends on the style and location of the establishment. For instance, a head chef in a Michelin restaurant in London would expect £70.000 or more, due to the quality of the restaurant and its location.

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THE PROS AND CONS OF DIFFERENT WORKING ENVIRONMENTS

Becoming a chef is a great choice of career. However, you must be willing to start on a basic salary, even after finishing a college course. Entry-level jobs will provide you with the foundations to build a long and successful career as a chef. You also need to be willing to work evenings, weekends, bank holidays and even Christmas in a lot of places. The biggest bonus of this is that when you are in a good team you will have a great social life, and a rewarding working life. These benefits will make working at certain establishments far easier to deal with.

Hotels

Overview:

Hotels have many different types of catering. Generally you will have a breakfast menu, restaurant menu, a bar menu, a room service menu and there will also be conference and banqueting menus. Hotels may also have smaller function rooms for buffet lunches, and large function rooms for weddings and Christmas dinners. The majority of hotels will have a lunch service and a dinner service, with the bar/room service menu open all day.

Pros:

One of the key pros of many hotels is that they will have a staff house. This is an accommodation house that will be for staff at a reduced rent rate, and is a great way of meeting new friends in new areas. Living in a staff house means you can work in certain area’s without the hassle of finding accommodation.

In hotels you will be learning broader styles of catering, from breakfast menus all the way through to Sunday lunch menus. You will also be able to get staff rates on using the gym, dining in hotel restaurants and even staying at sister hotels.

Hotels are very business minded, and you will have the opportunity to learn about GPs, menu costs and how to achieve your target budget, also being a great place for ongoing training with various options available.

Cons:

There are a lot more politics in hotels and there is also a lot more paperwork based around health and safety regulations. You will be working mostly split shifts with possible early starts if working the breakfast shift – 6am start.

You are salaried, and therefore are expected to work extra hours unpaid.

Restaurants

Overview:

Independent Restaurants can vary in style and quality, serving many different types of food. There are a lot more straight shifts in restaurants, as they can be open the whole day, and this day can be broken up into 2 shifts. Whilst working in high-end restaurants, it is not uncommon for shifts to cover a whole day, with only a short lunch break.

Pros:

There are many different styles of restaurants and they will have good quality-working conditions, it’s possible to work in any type of restaurant: brasserie, fish, vegetarian, european etc…

The best buzz is in restaurants. They are busier and more intense and the menus are more focused; you don’t need to worry about conferences and banqueting, breakfast or room service menus.

Cons:

There can be a high turnover of staff in some restaurants and there will be limited extra benefits if any.

Event catering

Overview:

Event catering is the broad term for catering at events, which will include canapé receptions, private dinners and wedding dinners. There will be a main base location where the food is prepared, before it is sent out to specific venues to be served.

Pros:

Within event catering there will be more sociable hours – typically 7-3 with a couple of evenings at busy times and mostly weekends off. You may also have Christmas off at a lot of event caterers.

The working environment is less stressful as there is less pressure on services, this makes for a more relaxed working environment, with all extra hours being worked paid for.

Cons

There is more emphasis on the prep and therefore you do not get the buzz of a restaurant service. You could be working in very small areas, on jobs with limited equipment, thus you will have to work with only what is available.

It is harder to find full time jobs, as there is a low staff turnover due to the good hours etc… Mostly event caterers are based in cities and you will have to have good experience under your belt to gain employment.

Gastro pubs

Overview:

Pubs located in affluent areas, using good quality ingredients at affordable prices. These are not your average boozer, and will have high food standards and high health and hygiene levels.

Pros:

There are a lot less politics within gastro pubs and it is possible to gain a promotion quickly.

Cons:

You could be working in compact kitchens with very little room, which can be irritating with chefs moving around in limited space on a busy service. Can also involve working a lot of extra hours when a chef leaves, due to having a small team.

National Agency Work

Overview:

These are quality agencies with experienced rosette standard chefs who work all over the country, in every kind of establishment.

Pros:

Chefs will be travelling and working all over the UK and will have every working hour paid for and at a higher rate than the full time staff.

All travel and accommodation will be paid for and you will be able to work when you want to.

Long - term assignments are common, you could be working from one week or in an establishment for an ongoing period. This type of work is a great way for saving money.

Cons:

This is a more seasonal job so work can be slow at the start of the year and some accommodation can be basic. Generally you will not receive any holiday pay or be entitled to sick pay, and it can also be challenging being away from your friends and family.

WHAT’S IT REALLY LIKE?

Television shows often portray chefs as having a glamorous and exciting career, but this is not always the case. There is a lot of pressure on chefs to keep their standards high, and to maintain a healthy budget. In some establishments, if you are not at a senior level, then the hierarchy can be extremely intense. Normally this depends upon how well the service is going, and if mistakes are being made. The higher the standard of food, the more intense the atmosphere is going to be. Kitchens can be a very stressful place to work when a service is going badly, and an awesome place when it is running well.

The heat can get extreme in some kitchens, but nowadays the extraction fan systems are a lot better and kitchens can be kept at a more reasonable temperature. Regardless, it’s a good idea to drink plenty of water and keep yourself healthy. Burns can also be a hazard, and safety is paramount in today’s working environment. Modern chefs are trained extensively in first aid, and every establishment should (and will) have first aid equipment readily available should the need arise.

Customers will occasionally complain, which can be a real pain when you have been working hard to prepare their food, but try to listen to their complaints. You should always aim to go above and beyond in order to satisfy the restaurant clientele. There is no better feeling than the whole team pulling together to produce fantastic dishes. Remember that a great dish has the power to stay in a customer’s memory for the rest of their life.

SAMPLE PLAN OF A RESTAURANT KITCHEN

This plan of a restaurant kitchen shows the various sections within the kitchen and how a flow of a service will run. There is a description of each section and the level of chef that would be working each position.

The pass – This is the point at the front of the kitchen where the different elements of the dishes will come together to be quality checked and plated. The head chef will be working at the pass, along with the sous chef;

Hot section – The hot meal elements will be prepared and cooked here; such as meat, fish, sauces, stocks and garnish;

Starter section – Starters will be prepared along with some cold starter plating and salads made, along with garnish for mains;

Pastry section – The sweets will be prepared and plated here. This section contains a pastry oven and a stove.

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imageHead Chef – Running the pass, calling orders, sending dishes.

imageSous Chef – Quality control and plating.

imageChef de partie – Sauce section, meat, fish cooking, finishing sauces.

imageDemi chef de partie – Sauce section, garnish for mains.

imageChef de partie – larder section, hot starters.

imageCommis chef – Cold starters, salads, garnish.

imagePastry chef – All pastry work and plating of sweets.

The kitchen needs to be laid out so that it will run smoothly for service, and follows health and safety procedures.

WORKING HOURS

The working hours of a chef can vary depending on the style and quality of the restaurant. On an average 40-45 hour a week contract, at an average kitchen, you may find yourself working extra hours. This could be down to anything from busy periods to holiday cover, or even chefs leaving. Thus, you should expect to work at least 10-20 hours of overtime on top of your regular time. In high-end Michelin star restaurants, this can be up to 14-18 hours per day and you are expected to work days off if required. You will need an exceptionally high level of enthusiasm, passion, skill, fitness, mental strength and drive to be able to work at this level, as it is the best of the best.

Event catering working hours are a lot more friendly, mostly consisting of 7am until 3pm working days, with a couple of evenings a week and the odd weekend when needed. You will be mostly paid for extra hours worked, but this can vary depending on the caterer.

A TYPICAL WORKING DAY AS A CHEF

I have identified the time frames and the jobs to be done by a chef within a typical working day. A working day will vary depending on the type of establishment you are working in, here I have detailed a typical event chef and a typical restaurant chef’s day.

Event Chef: Day schedule

As an event chef, you need to stay one day ahead with preparation, so you are always preparing for the following day.

7am:

Arrive at work and put away the deliveries from the early suppliers, checking deliveries against the invoice and check quality of items.

Next; take a walk around to check the temperatures of the fridges, fill out temperature logs and report any issues.

Other action points:

Sanitise all touch points and surfaces;

Go through the day’s functions and preparation work, and detail jobs to specific chefs in their areas of the kitchen.

7:30 am until 10am:

All the food preparation needs to be finished for food to be sent out at 10am, during this time there will be deliveries arriving and quality control will be carried out.

Other action points:

Record quality and temperatures of meat and fish deliveries as they arrive, and store correctly;

Check dry goods delivery after it has arrived;

Staff lunch will need preparing, ready to be served at 12 noon.

10am until 12noon:

This is the time to start the following day’s preparation.

Other action points:

12 noon - Walk around fridges and log temperatures.

Preparation can include:

Types of jobs that may need preparing for:

Canapé receptions;

Breakfasts;

Sandwich lunches;

Hot/cold buffets;

Private dinners;

Wedding meals;

BBQ;

Boxed lunches;

Outside café foods;

Tasting menus.

12noon until 12:30:

All the staff within the company will be having a 30 minutes lunch break.

12:30 until 3pm:

Carrying out further preparation for the following day.

3pm until 3:30pm:

Towards the end of the day shift the stock needs checking and a preparation list needs to be ready for the following day.

Other action points:

Placing food orders needed for following day’s work;

Keeping staff levels as required, ordering agency chefs if needed.

Evening function jobs when needed – chefs as needed:

4pm:

Loading refrigerated vans with equipment and foods for evening function, checking all items when loading from a checklist.

4pm until 5:30pm:

Staff, food and equipment will be travelling to the function venue, and the unloading of the vans will commence once arriving.

Other action points:

Meeting staff and setting up kitchen as needed;

Confirming timings for the function.

5:30pm until 7:30pm:

During this time all the equipment will be turned on and the service area organised with the final touches to food before service, main course plates placed in the hot cupboard.

Other action points:

Warming of the foods and sauces

7:30 until 8pm:

At this point we need to start thinking about the service of the starters, therefore jobs needed to be done will include:

Plating up cold starters;

Warming breads.

8pm until 9pm:

This is the time for the three course dinner to be served, starting with the serving of the breads and completing any final touches to the starters.

Other action points:

Final touches to main courses; and serving main courses;

Plating up desserts and serving.

9pm until 9:45pm:

Finally the kitchen area will be cleaned down and the chefs will leave the area as it was when they arrived.

Restaurant chef day schedule

As a restaurant chef you are responsible for producing fresh food each and every day, and therefore you will need to work efficiently and be extremely organised.

Generally the lunch service will be quieter than the evening service, so you will need to do as much preparation as possible during the morning.

8am:

Chefs will be starting work on time and all deliveries will need to be stored away correctly. Next all chefs will check their sections and go through their prep lists.

Other action points:

Have a clear action plan in mind to get all preparation work done for lunch service.

8:30 am until 11:00am:

This is the main working time for the preparation of all foods needed for lunch service. In the morning the salad and vegetables will need washing and preparing, other jobs will include:

Meats / fish need preparing;

Getting the stocks on – veal, fish, chicken if needed;

Soups and sauces need making;

Desserts need making;

New staff will need training on sections.

11:00am until 11:55am:

All the sections will need setting up for the lunch service and be well organised.

Other action points:

All section fridges stocked and organised;

Finishing off the prep work.

12noon until 2:30pm:

Lunch service begins at 12 noon with all the prep needing to be ready for the service of the meals. May also be testing out new specials that can be used for dinner service.

2:45pm until 3:30pm:

After the lunch service has finished the kitchen will need cleaning down and reorganising for the afternoon.

Other action points:

Make a prep list for evening service;

Start any prep work.

3:30pm until 4pm:

The evening shift will be starting so we need to hand the section over to the next chef.

Other action points:

Finish for the day or go for an afternoon break if on a double shift.

4pm until 6pm:

This is the final prep time for the evening service, prep work has to be fully completed.

Other action points:

A bar menu will still be available, but will mostly tick over slowly.

6pm until 9:30pm:

This is the evening service and the busiest part of the day with the restaurant orders needing to be organised at the pass.

Other action points:

The kitchen has to understand when items are needed;

Good communication is essential, as restaurant staff need to understand where the food is going.

9:30pm until 10:30pm:

At this point of the day the service will be concluding with final starter and mains being sent out, the desserts will be in full swing and still being served.

Each section needs to write an order list that will be phoned to the suppliers for next day delivery.

Other action points:

Kitchen needs to be thoroughly cleaned.

HOW TO PROGRESS

There are many opportunities for progression as a chef, but in order to take them, you will need to believe in yourself. As a chef, it is imperative that you have the belief to push yourself forward. Remember that this is a role which requires great determination and commitment.

Make a plan for yourself, listing all of the goals you want to achieve and how you want to achieve them. Write it down and refer to it along your career journey. Never lose sight of your vision, and go for it!

If you believe you are better than the position that you are currently working in, then apply for jobs at the next level up. Whether that is the next position up at your current restaurant, or a completely different restaurant, make sure that you put yourself out there and let the employer know that you want the job. If you wish to work at a higher standard of restaurant, you may sometimes need to drop down in level, and work your way back up again to your previous level of success (at the higher establishment).

Ultimately, if you want to be a successful chef, you need to take control of your own career and earn it. There are no easy wins in this industry, and you should never stay somewhere that you feel you’ve outgrown, simply for sentimental reasons. Likewise, don’t make snap decisions when taking jobs. If your instinct says no; then hold out until you find the opportunity that you are looking for. Ideally you should be aiming to stay in one place for as long as you can, so make sure that the location you are working in suits your needs. If the head chef of your current establishment is leaving, then there is nothing wrong with following him/her to their next place, and possibly gaining a promotion at the same time.

Remember that there is always a job out there that will suit you. If you are willing to travel then you will have no problem finding your perfect job, in the perfect restaurant.

Training For Youngsters

Since 2014 in the United Kingdom, it has been compulsory for school children as young as 8 to have cooking lessons taught to them at primary school. Cooking is a great skill to learn from an early age, and will give youngsters a basic knowledge of cooking. The lessons learned will incorporate the following fundamental elements:

How to prepare and cook a healthy balanced meal;

How to combine ingredients to produce simple healthy food.

Secondary school students will learn a range of cooking methods, so they will be able to master several different meals, including baking. Experts in health are warning that a rise in childhood obesity and dietary-related diabetes are being fuelled by busy parents, who are failing to provide their children with basic cooking skills or food knowledge. Health experts have welcomed the proposals, which have already been incorporated into most national curriculums.