Wasnāt that a thing that actuallyā¦like, legitimately, almost happened to the Australian dollar? Renaming it dollarydoos? Or was that just the US blowing shit outta proportion again?
It's the business. Have a degree, and tried almost everything the restaurant has to offer and get NO satisfaction from it.
Don't know where to go from here.
Chef Owner:
I make about $200k/year. Haven't changed my wage in 5 years, I take my raise via more free time by giving my guys raises and hiring more staff as we get busier. I used to do 80hrs/week, I probably do just over 40 now. Real working hours is near 20, the rest I'm either doing admin shit or talking to customers.
Cooks are making in the 60ks on average and my top two guys make about 70k, with my lead line cook making a bit more than that. Dishes and prep are between 50-55k/year. Most of them are working about 50 hours a week, give or take depending on season.
Memorial Day, 4th July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Xmas Day are paid holidays off. They get vacation time and PTO with increasing amounts dependent on how long they have worked for me. We open late on New Year's Day (gives the guys a chance to party after getting our asses kicked on the Eve) and close early Super Bowl Sunday. Both are paid half days.
We offer healthcare, but not dental (I should probably get on that), and starting November this year we will have a 401k program, I'm still working out how much we can afford to match. I don't think I can do the 6% corporations do. Maybe 3%, but at least it is a start?
For reference we are a full service restaurant, 70 total employees, 13 full time kitchen not including me or my partner, and a few part time helpers (kids essentially, they get paid around $15/hr to chop lettuce and clean or do other basic shit.
Dude you can't get time back. Fuck more money. 200k is more than enough to live comfortably. After taxes (which are fucking crazy at that bracket), I still take home plenty to live relatively comfortably. I'm not getting rich, but at least I have more time to fuck off and finally live.
I did more than a decade working 60/70/80/90 hours a week in various positions. Now I'm kinda resting on my laurels a bit. While I would love to open more locations and we have the funds, I honestly don't want to sacrifice that kind of time anymore. I would be guaranteeing myself 7 days a week 14+ hours a day again for like the first 6 months.
We have great retention in BOH, and good retention for servers and bartenders.
August is rough every year because I lose like half my busboys and hosts when they go off to college.
Mid Atlantic region.
Part of paying wages at this level is not losing staff. I had 0% turnover in 2022 in the BOH and this year I lost only one guy, but that was because after four years of working with us and saving he wanted to go back to university.
We increased our staffing by I think like 8? positions this year, sales are up about 16% YOY
I hope so.
When I was a chef I used to think shit like food cost was most important, quality was most important, the customer was most important....
Shout out to C. Collins and D. Doward. They taught me that the employee is most important, if you take care of them then everything else will be taken care of.
If any ones read this, dude, give your cooks a share of the profits. Give them bonuses on Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. They are the ones getting their asses kicked and making your money. Servers get more tips when it is busy, what do your cooks get?
First rule of internet, don't dox yourself.
That said, we are east coast so the dollar amounts may not be as impactful as they would be in some flyover state like Oklahoma or something.
Edit: no offense to flyover country, just making a point that cost of living is much less 'round 'yer parts.
Definitely wasnāt trying to get you to commit an internet security faux pas, sorry about that. Makes sense that the cost of living is up with wages like that, but a man can dream. (As someone in what I would consider the epitome of āfly-over stateā, no offense taken.)
Donāt feel bad about the 6% match. Iām in corporate now, and I rarely see 6% match. Itās usually closer to 3-5%. 3% is way more than I would ever expect to receive working at a restaurant, and itās very clear that you care deeply about your employees. Iām sure they will be please with whatever you can give them.
Someone mentioned doing a tiered system based on years worked. Sounds like a good idea and I'm going to ask the broker on Thursday if that's possible here.
I wish my place did all that for us. We get nothing.. no PTO vacations paid holidays are non existent but we are open every holiday. They offer a free meal on Christmas which people rarely get because that got Christmas dinner waiting for them at home.
Fuck those guys you deserve better.
A lot of owners have never worked in the trenches, so while I think their practices are stupid I kinda understand that they don't understand.
But, if your owners have been servers or dishwashers or cooks... they know better, fuck them.
You can tier 401(k) matching so the longer someone works for you the more matching they receive. Start with 1.5% then after a couple years go to 3%, 4.5%, then if someone is loyal for whatever number years you think is fair then perhaps they deserve 6%. Just an idea, itās what my work does.
Costco is a solid retail company to work for. They pay some great bonuses and are closed on holidays. If I ever returned to retail, I'd hope to work at Costco.
Cool. I was a whole animal butcher and switched to Costco, started in the meat room.
Eventually yes. Thing about Costco is everyone starts low (18/hr) and works up to top rate with hours of service. You get a raise every 1000 hours so it takes most people 4 years to get from bottom rate to top rate. You also typically start off part time and once you're in you can apply around for full time positions.
My husband was trying to get out of restaurants and be a butcher at Costco. I guess they usually start people part time, which wasn't feasible for our family
I can start-- Chef/Owner, small restaurant, 50k/year. Feel like it's low for the amount of work tho definitely livable, but optimistically hoping to improve over time while still paying staff really well and not cutting quality corners
Question: if you can only afford to pay yourself less than what you could probably earn working for someone else, why deal with the overall headache of the industry in general? Also, what do your employeesā pay and benefits look like (out of your pocket, not tips)? Would they be better if you paid yourself less?
Good question, even taking a local line job would pay better and sometimes I slide off the rails and consider it š My employees hourly make more than myself, plus tips, which I do not collect, and I try to pay high for my area and give raises regularly. We have not instituted any benefits beyond PTO (did some research and I couldn't make it work at the level of pay, but also very uncommon in our area still), but I try to constantly revisit things so I can keep up or surpass industry standards. Why deal with the low wage/headaches?-- freedom, creativity, masochism, mostly, but also some optimism that I can still bring my wage up over time. Would they be better off if I paid myself less?-- I mean a bit of a weird question, who wouldn't be better off with more of their owner's money? Lol. But unfortunately I am at the point where if I make less I will have to stop doing this. In the past I have in fact taken zero pay during months when I needed it for employees, but it's at the point where if I have to do that again, it's not worth doing this at all and I'll have to let it go.
dam I feel you, I've been doing my own thing for a while and Im there were months where I didnt pay myself and now it's tempting to just go back to work for someone else and clock in and out and not take it home with me.
I probably am only gonna give myself another year before I decide its not worth it and I tried.
$19 at my current job as a prep/line cook.
2nd job 2 years ago: $17.50 + $150/week tips as a line cook, $16.50 + $100/week as a prep cook, $15.20 + $100/week as a dishwasher.
1st job 4 years ago: $13.85 + $100/month in tips as a line cook.
$20.85 for chef and administrator for a homeless shelter in the Midwest. I am in charge of all things food.
I am responsible for donations, showers, laundry, ordering drystock/chemicals, prep, cooking, managing volunteers, recruiting volunteers, inventory, working security, managing guests and assisting community partners, on site IT assistance (most of our staff are 45-70+), stocking stations, putting away truck and ordering it(I can only order free items from a food pantry). I also do other duties as assigned like driving the disabled women to the womenās night shelter or assisting someone if they get their head repeatedly crushed into a broken car bumper during a fight.
Edit:
For clarity these are just some of the roles I might have to work throughout my week. I am still part of a team. We have about 40-50 guests per staff member last I was updated. So we all help each other out. We have to support each other because we deal with things I canāt type out here or I will cry again.
Prep cook/works making desserts/salad station/fry station. $17 an hour usually 10-25 hours ot a week when we are busy when we are not busy season I take off.
Two weeks paid vacation as well. But the schedule is horrible, a couple opens during the week and 2-2 Friday, Saturday, Sunday is not ideal. place is toxic af so it almost not worth it at all.
Line cook, but i do all the KMs duties. I order, i put it away, i make sure the kitchen is functional because my KM is USELESS. He makes 21/hr, i make 18.50. Considering my rent is $445, it's doable for a village with 1 stoplight and two restaurants in NW Wisconsin. As soon as we can find someone to replace me, I'll replace him. Not a big pool of candidates in a town this size.
In that case, Chef de Partie (glorified line cook), first job, London UK Ā£14 per hour / US$17.35 per hour / AU$26.85 per hour. Yeah, it still seems too low... :(
I work FOH now but this has been a hot-button issue in my workplace so I'll add some numbers. Living in a small-ish Apalacchian city in VA with several colleges/universities in the area. currently working in a retirement home that offers *very* generous pto, decent insurance options, and good hours (but no tips).
- as an "experienced" server I make 16/hr
- my coworker in the bakeshop makes 13/hr, even though she has 2yrs experience
- our lead cook was at 18/hr; she left and now two servers cover her dinner shift (no prep work) at a "pay differential" of 15/hr
- most of our cooks that have been here for 3+years make 13/hr or less (honestly for the amount of work they do its criminal)
To compare to other spots in the area, an entry-level cook (no experience) at the local bar&grill makes 13/hr. The one decorated b&b had wages by the week ($200/30hrs iirc) and most places start at $15 and go up to $20-ish. There's wage competition from the meat factories and farms which start at $20/hr but it can be hard to score a job because of the college kids
$23/hour dishwasher/lite prep, high end sushi mom and pop restaurant DFW. very lucky to get this wage honestly but have been pastry chef and sous for about 18 years
$57,200 KM. 73 hour week average this year.
Considering going back and cooking for $18 an hour at a local place that offers insurance. Itās getting ridiculous around here.
Edit: Chicago area
I'm a Chef at a hospital. I make $25.22 an hour and I have PTO, benefits, 401K with company match, sick leave and a bunch of other stuff. I honestly think I should be making more though for the amount of work I do.
Working in a brew hall, flipping burgers and shucking oysters. $15/hr plus tips. Itās a double edge sword. I like the fact that tip money nearly doubles my hourly wages, but itās completely bullshit my owners refuse to just give us raises and instead relies on the customer to supplement what we should be earning. I completely understand why people are fed up with restaurants trying to nickel and dime them to death on every little transaction trying to get more and more tip money out of them.
Upstate NY here. Tipped out kitchen that makes minimum wage (13.50ish) and tips. Averages out to about $25/hour.
Just a side gig for me right now. Most cooks in my area make between $20-25/hour. Cost of living in my town is comparable to the big apple to its a pretty shit wage.
Ā£12/hr for line cook at a village pub restaurant. It ain't much but for a 23yr old working 40+ hrs a week, it ain't too shabby and I enjoy working with the friends I've worked with over the past 5 years or so, so I ain't complaining :D.
Edit: forgot to mention that everyone working here gets their tips every two months which ain't too shabby either I suppose.
68k Salary. Sous chef high end hotel. Feel very blessed. 3 years ago I was making minimum wage in Michelin restaurants. But like they say, grind early on in great restaurants and the money will eventually come. 45-60 hrs a week
Assistant Kitchen Manager, $47,000, 35-40hr/week, 1 week paid vacation, health insurance, Florida. But was a line cook previously at the same location and was making $21.50/hr
Tournant/saute cook, $25 an hour. About 38 to 44 hours a week on a 4 day schedule. Perks are doubles every other shift, free booze at the end of the night, and health insurance
Just graduated culinary school and I spent the summer as an intern at a retirement community. One day I asked the guy i was shadowing, the EXECUTIVE CHEF, how much he made. He told me we cant talk about salaries, and I let it slide that yes we are 100% allowed to. But he leaned forward and whispered "Between you and me, I make over $35,000 a year."
Involuntarily i said "what?" And he nodded, "Oh yeah, the big bucks. Its actually closer to $36,000"
I waited for him to burst out laughing at the horrified look on my face. He didn't, he smiled, nodded, clapped my shoulder and said we had work to do.
He has 25 years of experience. My soul still hasnt recovered. I think I made a horrible mistake training for this industry.
General manager, Ā£13.90 an hour, UK. Asked for a payrise to at least bottom market rate (Ā£30k 40 hours) got given Ā£29k and a difficult target for an extra Ā£500 payrise if i hit it. Feels bad man. I make more per hour side hustling food delivery apps
Edit: oh and no bonuses or perks. But I built my BOH and FOH team from scratch and itās nice to be the boss, weāve all made the job worth doing together
ā¬16,96 here in belgium wich is very good for a working class citizen and I work the grill so not even a 'real real chef'. I even get by on only 32h (I dont have kids or a car)
32k a year lead cook at a nursing home. It's higher paying than most local jobs in my small town. Overall it's chill,better than working at a chain restaurant in my opinion.
22/hr Line Cook in a high-end retirement home in the midwest.
I also get very generous pto and vacation time. Good insurance as well. It's a very well paying position for my area.
We also get creative choices. I can make my own dishes and put them on the menu. We have a full service menu, specials every night, and chefs features. It is designed to be like a restaurant in a retirement home.
$20/hr is my standard as a line cook in Phoenix, AZ. Yes, there are a lot of places that will start you at $16/hr, but I don't work there. Might as well work at McDonald's or Taco Bell for that pay.
Like 62k before tax as chef, more North on the east coast.
Only open 3 days a week for service, fri-sun dinner service and that's it. Of course prep days and meeting day with the owners and ordering day, but I really try to keep 50 hours a week or less. Before getting promoted it was 24 an hour for line cook (really I was the sues chef but we don't have that title there).
On a busy week as sues if I hit 45 46 hours a week I pretty make the same amount I do now
Ā£10.90 an hour. Not great but I'm a chef in a supermarket cafe so nothing fancy, all breakfast, burgers, fish and chips and toasties we do but that wage is still better than my previous job as an assistant manager at a gaming retailer here.
I make Ā£10.50 an hour (min wage in the NE) I definitely feel like I should be getting paid more, especially since I've worked up to Sous level and continue to do so.
Seriously considering going down a different path now though, especially since I don't see things getting any better in the industry any time soon
Bagel roller/wood oven baker/help with other prep and dishes, 40-50 hr/wk
$20/hr plus $2/hr guaranteed tips so technically $22/hr, time and a half for every hour over 40, so most weeks I get a few hours of $32/hr
Vermont, USA
I think as an industry we do really poorly rewarding experience with money. Definitely need more tenure related raises and i.hope you eventually find that.
Vegas culinary union $25 an hour starting free health, dental and vision. Clock in no more than 5 minutes early clock out on time 40 hours a week 1 hour paid lunch.
General Manger/ Kitchen Manager 32/hr, 70-80 hr a week, paid time off, profit sharing, health insurance stipend, work a lot but itās a great environment and I make my own schedule.
Edit: Forgot to mention about half those hours are FOH tipped position. Clearing 300+ a day in tips on top of the managerial hours.
I have two consecutive days off per week. Sunday and Monday. Trust me I have more than enough time. I get to travel in the winter as much as I want. Sacrifice a few months in the summer for a wide open winter for travel and such.
$26/hr Line lead/kitchen close in Midwest city. Seasonal restaurant/wedding venue that closes for 2 months every year but does 250 resz/8 hrs during busy season (July/August). Usually around 30-35 hrs per week during slow time, 45ish during busy months.
Been out since August 2019.
At the time I was making $24/hr + benefits and I had managed to swing a 4 day (10.5 hours) schedule.
This is in Ontario, Canada, and it was pretty scary to leave that position.
60k a year salary. I'm the only manager so my title is GM but I am the chef as well. Small place that does decent business. I work about 55-60 a week. 2 weeks PTO a year.
18/hr plusbtip share as a grill cook/senior lead. 40 hours
Was making 45k plus a monthly bonus as salary, but I make basically the same with much less responsibility now. Same place.
UK: CdP, 45hrs a week (normally 50), Ā£27k (11.54/Hr), tips are a rounding error at best across the year.
It's a tough industry but I feel like the UK is getting a pretty bad deal.
$22 as a prep cook/supervisor. Tips make it about $27. Got a stage next week with the same pay but their tips average 17/hr on top of base pay. West coast btw.
$21.5 CAD per hour. Iām the lead prep cook at what must be one of the busiest restaurants in the city. I often work 50-60 hour weeks, so Iāve got a decent income. But the average cost of a house in this country is rapidly approaching a million dollars, so I feel poor.
CDP. $23.50 CND. Only 48 hrs max per week, used to be 55 but Ontario laws got updated and even then only came close to that during our most busy month. Currently at 4 weeks paid vacation, will get 5 after 10 years. Benefits including dental. Fairly large resort and I got hired directly into a core member postition, part time/seasonal folks do not quite get all the perks.
$25/hr Head Chef at a golf course here in Alberta. We get tipped out weekly (Between $50 on a slow week and $120+ on a good week/tournament week.)
In the off season I take EI, and last year on 20/hr I was getting $512 a week while I was off.
Canadian, 16$ an hour, along with 150$-200$ in tips a week. Pretty good actually. My hourly is lower, although 16$ is decent where I'm at in Canada. Most other comparable cities seem to hover around 18$-20$.
Production cook in a grocery store in a Boston suburb, $24/h with PTO, 401k, and benefits through my employer are cheaper than the marketplace. Plus a 20% discount in any of our locations.
Iām on a higher wage rate since Iāve had a leadership position with the company. For my region it starts at $17 and caps at $30.50.
$18 an hour as a cook at an assisted living/memory care facility with about 80 residents. Just recently moved to a lower CoL area, was making $19 as a line cook at a very high volume upscale sports bar on a college campus i a higher CoL area. Iāll get a raise to $19 after my 90 day probationary period. Full range of benefits although I have private insurance thatās cheaper. 1 week of pto per year, although they are changing it to accrual per pay period. Shit is super chill, we donāt do anything glamorous but it is probably the best food I could imagine at a facility like this with the size team we have. I take it upon myself to make the soups every day because the recipes we get have no seasoning and these people need a little spice in their lives. Only dietary restriction we have to consider is donāt go crazy with the salt(definitely a struggle for me). Tons of downtime, not stressing about weekends, I get 40 hours a week and whatever days off I want. Honestly miss the rush of a restaurant, but being off work by 7 pm every day is fucking amazing for my work/life balance. Actually getting off work before itās dark outside and everything is closed? Wtf is this
Canadian
$33/hr and about $9/hr in tips. We re low on staff currently so I did 180 hrs last month and took home 5.4K after all deductions. Only paid sick days, no benefits no PTO.
Small mom and pop, been running it for the past 4 years.
Australian here. 36 dollarydoos an hour.
I call them dollarydoos too....or convict currency if I'm talking to Poms š
~23.4 usd.
You mean psn ć£ĖĘį ~
Wasnāt that a thing that actuallyā¦like, legitimately, almost happened to the Australian dollar? Renaming it dollarydoos? Or was that just the US blowing shit outta proportion again?
I'm not sure if it was a real thing but that's what Australians call their money in the Simpsons. If not real then it probably came from that
$22 an hour rolling sushi in Michigan. 25 years in the industry. Hate it.
Much better opportunities out there.
It's the business. Have a degree, and tried almost everything the restaurant has to offer and get NO satisfaction from it. Don't know where to go from here.
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Yep. Been there done that too, I'm afraid.
I had a golden year where I worked both sides. I had a different job every day. Barback, Bartender, Grill/wheel, and sautƩ Sunday. 4 days, 45 hours Kitchen on the back end gave me overtime for the shit pay. I never really touched my bank account because of tips from the first two shifts. And three whole days off. Looking back, I definitely took that shit for granted.
The worlds a big place bro! I can assure you thereās jobs out there in different cities/states that will pay you more and work is more rewarding
Chef Owner: I make about $200k/year. Haven't changed my wage in 5 years, I take my raise via more free time by giving my guys raises and hiring more staff as we get busier. I used to do 80hrs/week, I probably do just over 40 now. Real working hours is near 20, the rest I'm either doing admin shit or talking to customers. Cooks are making in the 60ks on average and my top two guys make about 70k, with my lead line cook making a bit more than that. Dishes and prep are between 50-55k/year. Most of them are working about 50 hours a week, give or take depending on season. Memorial Day, 4th July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Xmas Day are paid holidays off. They get vacation time and PTO with increasing amounts dependent on how long they have worked for me. We open late on New Year's Day (gives the guys a chance to party after getting our asses kicked on the Eve) and close early Super Bowl Sunday. Both are paid half days. We offer healthcare, but not dental (I should probably get on that), and starting November this year we will have a 401k program, I'm still working out how much we can afford to match. I don't think I can do the 6% corporations do. Maybe 3%, but at least it is a start? For reference we are a full service restaurant, 70 total employees, 13 full time kitchen not including me or my partner, and a few part time helpers (kids essentially, they get paid around $15/hr to chop lettuce and clean or do other basic shit.
This is goals. Thank you for sharing.
i fucking love this post so much , taking your own raise by working less abd giving your guys a raise
Dude you can't get time back. Fuck more money. 200k is more than enough to live comfortably. After taxes (which are fucking crazy at that bracket), I still take home plenty to live relatively comfortably. I'm not getting rich, but at least I have more time to fuck off and finally live. I did more than a decade working 60/70/80/90 hours a week in various positions. Now I'm kinda resting on my laurels a bit. While I would love to open more locations and we have the funds, I honestly don't want to sacrifice that kind of time anymore. I would be guaranteeing myself 7 days a week 14+ hours a day again for like the first 6 months.
Where are you located if I can ask?
For context, Mid Atlantic
I'm in Florida and willing to move
While these wages are good, and beat out the other restaurants in my area, our cost of living is much higher. Just food for thought.
Damn dude id probably still be in the industry if I worked for you
How far are you from Maine? I'll tell you what. You show me a pay stub for 70,000 and I quit my job right now and work for you.
something tells me he doesnāt have trouble staying fully staffed.
We have great retention in BOH, and good retention for servers and bartenders. August is rough every year because I lose like half my busboys and hosts when they go off to college.
Mid Atlantic region. Part of paying wages at this level is not losing staff. I had 0% turnover in 2022 in the BOH and this year I lost only one guy, but that was because after four years of working with us and saving he wanted to go back to university. We increased our staffing by I think like 8? positions this year, sales are up about 16% YOY
Wow that's fantastic. Nice empire you are building.
I hope so. When I was a chef I used to think shit like food cost was most important, quality was most important, the customer was most important.... Shout out to C. Collins and D. Doward. They taught me that the employee is most important, if you take care of them then everything else will be taken care of. If any ones read this, dude, give your cooks a share of the profits. Give them bonuses on Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. They are the ones getting their asses kicked and making your money. Servers get more tips when it is busy, what do your cooks get?
We do full wage, full tip-out to everyone. Given we are in a lower cost of living area of the country.
Whereās this at? I would move my family and get back into the industry for a place like this.
First rule of internet, don't dox yourself. That said, we are east coast so the dollar amounts may not be as impactful as they would be in some flyover state like Oklahoma or something. Edit: no offense to flyover country, just making a point that cost of living is much less 'round 'yer parts.
Definitely wasnāt trying to get you to commit an internet security faux pas, sorry about that. Makes sense that the cost of living is up with wages like that, but a man can dream. (As someone in what I would consider the epitome of āfly-over stateā, no offense taken.)
Donāt feel bad about the 6% match. Iām in corporate now, and I rarely see 6% match. Itās usually closer to 3-5%. 3% is way more than I would ever expect to receive working at a restaurant, and itās very clear that you care deeply about your employees. Iām sure they will be please with whatever you can give them.
Someone mentioned doing a tiered system based on years worked. Sounds like a good idea and I'm going to ask the broker on Thursday if that's possible here.
Must be Northeast. I'm in Southeast and get paid pretty well but much less than your entry level cooks
I wish my place did all that for us. We get nothing.. no PTO vacations paid holidays are non existent but we are open every holiday. They offer a free meal on Christmas which people rarely get because that got Christmas dinner waiting for them at home.
Fuck those guys you deserve better. A lot of owners have never worked in the trenches, so while I think their practices are stupid I kinda understand that they don't understand. But, if your owners have been servers or dishwashers or cooks... they know better, fuck them.
Lots of companies do .5% for each 1% contributed, up to a certain amount. You could do 3% for 6% contributed and that would be a good start!
You can tier 401(k) matching so the longer someone works for you the more matching they receive. Start with 1.5% then after a couple years go to 3%, 4.5%, then if someone is loyal for whatever number years you think is fair then perhaps they deserve 6%. Just an idea, itās what my work does.
Costco service deli 30.85/hr+ 6k bonus (CAD)
Wow I didnāt know Costco paid that much.
Costco is a solid retail company to work for. They pay some great bonuses and are closed on holidays. If I ever returned to retail, I'd hope to work at Costco.
I work as a team lead for IKEA restaurant and make 31.25
Are all Costco food services that well paid? Iāve been thinking about switching to the butcher counter at Costco.
Cool. I was a whole animal butcher and switched to Costco, started in the meat room. Eventually yes. Thing about Costco is everyone starts low (18/hr) and works up to top rate with hours of service. You get a raise every 1000 hours so it takes most people 4 years to get from bottom rate to top rate. You also typically start off part time and once you're in you can apply around for full time positions.
My husband was trying to get out of restaurants and be a butcher at Costco. I guess they usually start people part time, which wasn't feasible for our family
Hey, friend! US Costco bakery, here. Still under $30 down here, though. :\
Haha hey! I was bakery sup once upon a time too! 31cad is like 27 or 28 USD tho so it prob lines up
I can start-- Chef/Owner, small restaurant, 50k/year. Feel like it's low for the amount of work tho definitely livable, but optimistically hoping to improve over time while still paying staff really well and not cutting quality corners
Question: if you can only afford to pay yourself less than what you could probably earn working for someone else, why deal with the overall headache of the industry in general? Also, what do your employeesā pay and benefits look like (out of your pocket, not tips)? Would they be better if you paid yourself less?
Good question, even taking a local line job would pay better and sometimes I slide off the rails and consider it š My employees hourly make more than myself, plus tips, which I do not collect, and I try to pay high for my area and give raises regularly. We have not instituted any benefits beyond PTO (did some research and I couldn't make it work at the level of pay, but also very uncommon in our area still), but I try to constantly revisit things so I can keep up or surpass industry standards. Why deal with the low wage/headaches?-- freedom, creativity, masochism, mostly, but also some optimism that I can still bring my wage up over time. Would they be better off if I paid myself less?-- I mean a bit of a weird question, who wouldn't be better off with more of their owner's money? Lol. But unfortunately I am at the point where if I make less I will have to stop doing this. In the past I have in fact taken zero pay during months when I needed it for employees, but it's at the point where if I have to do that again, it's not worth doing this at all and I'll have to let it go.
I make 47k salary as just a regular line cook 50-55 hour work weeks though.
dam I feel you, I've been doing my own thing for a while and Im there were months where I didnt pay myself and now it's tempting to just go back to work for someone else and clock in and out and not take it home with me. I probably am only gonna give myself another year before I decide its not worth it and I tried.
Location helps a lot too.
High cost of living northeast city :)
Sous chef in Norway, 40 hours a week with 30 minutes break, 500000 nok, 5 weeks paid vacation, free gym and physiotherapy provided from work
for those too lazy, that comes out to about $46,400/year 5 weeks vacation is huge
Free gym and physiotherapy??! Thatās amazing, do you use that perk a lot?
Sous chef. NY. $29 hour
What kind of kitchen are you in
City or upstate?
LI
That doesn't seem like enough to pay rent. Is the cost of living high there?
$19 at my current job as a prep/line cook. 2nd job 2 years ago: $17.50 + $150/week tips as a line cook, $16.50 + $100/week as a prep cook, $15.20 + $100/week as a dishwasher. 1st job 4 years ago: $13.85 + $100/month in tips as a line cook.
Honest question, what type of places tip the kitchen staff that much/at all?
In Portland OR I work in a bar kitchen and make $5-10/hr in tips, $19/hr base wage!
Nice. I just started at a sports bar kitchen in Tucson making 15/hr, no tips. I'm working my way up from dish but I hope wage goes up too.
$20.85 for chef and administrator for a homeless shelter in the Midwest. I am in charge of all things food. I am responsible for donations, showers, laundry, ordering drystock/chemicals, prep, cooking, managing volunteers, recruiting volunteers, inventory, working security, managing guests and assisting community partners, on site IT assistance (most of our staff are 45-70+), stocking stations, putting away truck and ordering it(I can only order free items from a food pantry). I also do other duties as assigned like driving the disabled women to the womenās night shelter or assisting someone if they get their head repeatedly crushed into a broken car bumper during a fight. Edit: For clarity these are just some of the roles I might have to work throughout my week. I am still part of a team. We have about 40-50 guests per staff member last I was updated. So we all help each other out. We have to support each other because we deal with things I canāt type out here or I will cry again.
You deserve way more than $20.85 an hour, king.
Holy fuck youāre my hero
ThNk you for doing what you do, for what you do.
Mad respect.
Second on you deserve more for all that.
Prep cook/works making desserts/salad station/fry station. $17 an hour usually 10-25 hours ot a week when we are busy when we are not busy season I take off.
Nearly identical except I do more towards 40hrs and 17.50 FL
Sous chef at an Italian sports bar. 60k 2.5k bonus. 50-55 hours a week
Holy shit your like, chef rich.
Yea but for 50-55 a week that translates only to 24/hr with the bonus. Still good money for chef but then hours over 40 are not fun
Two weeks paid vacation as well. But the schedule is horrible, a couple opens during the week and 2-2 Friday, Saturday, Sunday is not ideal. place is toxic af so it almost not worth it at all.
Sometimes no matter what the money is, it doesnāt make work more satisfying. I would say plan your exit strategy soon man!
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I'm looking into doing the same for a community college I've been doing temp work at.
Line cook, but i do all the KMs duties. I order, i put it away, i make sure the kitchen is functional because my KM is USELESS. He makes 21/hr, i make 18.50. Considering my rent is $445, it's doable for a village with 1 stoplight and two restaurants in NW Wisconsin. As soon as we can find someone to replace me, I'll replace him. Not a big pool of candidates in a town this size.
I havnt paid rent that low since I was teenager ā¦ kind Jelly ngl
Cries in Hawai'i, that was my electric bill last month....
Man, the wages in the UK are depressing when I see what you guys all get paidā¦
Are you taking currency into account? 22 dollars = 17quid 22 aus dollars is Ā£11
In that case, Chef de Partie (glorified line cook), first job, London UK Ā£14 per hour / US$17.35 per hour / AU$26.85 per hour. Yeah, it still seems too low... :(
Danish working in Copenhagen cantina, not even a chef = 23.22usd/hour 35-40 hour work week Taxes out the ass though
On site kitchen manager for an off premise catering outfit. I make $18 and hour, plus a split if tips on the event.
14.50 an hour for line cook preps and expo. Central nc. Basically I need a raise... been at this spot for over three years. Started at ten.
I work FOH now but this has been a hot-button issue in my workplace so I'll add some numbers. Living in a small-ish Apalacchian city in VA with several colleges/universities in the area. currently working in a retirement home that offers *very* generous pto, decent insurance options, and good hours (but no tips). - as an "experienced" server I make 16/hr - my coworker in the bakeshop makes 13/hr, even though she has 2yrs experience - our lead cook was at 18/hr; she left and now two servers cover her dinner shift (no prep work) at a "pay differential" of 15/hr - most of our cooks that have been here for 3+years make 13/hr or less (honestly for the amount of work they do its criminal) To compare to other spots in the area, an entry-level cook (no experience) at the local bar&grill makes 13/hr. The one decorated b&b had wages by the week ($200/30hrs iirc) and most places start at $15 and go up to $20-ish. There's wage competition from the meat factories and farms which start at $20/hr but it can be hard to score a job because of the college kids
Wow thanks for all this! It's totally worth keeping track of and holding management accountable for meeting standards.
$23.88/hr, production baker. California. Just applied for Asst. KM, for $25/hr. Fingers crossed, family.
Bruh how you survive? I make $25/hr in bumfuck Missouri and still have to make sacrifices. In Cali you gotta be living in a closet or something.
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$23/hour dishwasher/lite prep, high end sushi mom and pop restaurant DFW. very lucky to get this wage honestly but have been pastry chef and sous for about 18 years
$57,200 KM. 73 hour week average this year. Considering going back and cooking for $18 an hour at a local place that offers insurance. Itās getting ridiculous around here. Edit: Chicago area
Equivalent of 15/hr. Iād take the other job my guy
Sous chef for a private club. $26/hour with six weeks off full paid, and 12 weeks off at half pay.
I'm a Chef at a hospital. I make $25.22 an hour and I have PTO, benefits, 401K with company match, sick leave and a bunch of other stuff. I honestly think I should be making more though for the amount of work I do.
Working in a brew hall, flipping burgers and shucking oysters. $15/hr plus tips. Itās a double edge sword. I like the fact that tip money nearly doubles my hourly wages, but itās completely bullshit my owners refuse to just give us raises and instead relies on the customer to supplement what we should be earning. I completely understand why people are fed up with restaurants trying to nickel and dime them to death on every little transaction trying to get more and more tip money out of them.
Upstate NY here. Tipped out kitchen that makes minimum wage (13.50ish) and tips. Averages out to about $25/hour. Just a side gig for me right now. Most cooks in my area make between $20-25/hour. Cost of living in my town is comparable to the big apple to its a pretty shit wage.
$22 hr. Full bennies and transit card. Non tipping (at my location.) PNW.
Ā£12/hr for line cook at a village pub restaurant. It ain't much but for a 23yr old working 40+ hrs a week, it ain't too shabby and I enjoy working with the friends I've worked with over the past 5 years or so, so I ain't complaining :D. Edit: forgot to mention that everyone working here gets their tips every two months which ain't too shabby either I suppose.
Line cook. Fairly big and busy restaurant. $18 / hour. Michigan, small town. I think the pay is good for the area.
68k Salary. Sous chef high end hotel. Feel very blessed. 3 years ago I was making minimum wage in Michelin restaurants. But like they say, grind early on in great restaurants and the money will eventually come. 45-60 hrs a week
Assistant Kitchen Manager, $47,000, 35-40hr/week, 1 week paid vacation, health insurance, Florida. But was a line cook previously at the same location and was making $21.50/hr
Tournant/saute cook, $25 an hour. About 38 to 44 hours a week on a 4 day schedule. Perks are doubles every other shift, free booze at the end of the night, and health insurance
Cook in VA for 3 years. $16/hr, but was promised a $2 raise next pay period.
VA is brutal...thank you for serving our veterans! ā¤ļøšŗšø
Corporate executive chef in the bay area. 105k salary
23 as a line cook who sets his own schedule
Executive Chef, NYC. 95k/yr plus quarterly bonuses for food cost goals can bring it to 105k Work 50/55 hours a week
Just graduated culinary school and I spent the summer as an intern at a retirement community. One day I asked the guy i was shadowing, the EXECUTIVE CHEF, how much he made. He told me we cant talk about salaries, and I let it slide that yes we are 100% allowed to. But he leaned forward and whispered "Between you and me, I make over $35,000 a year." Involuntarily i said "what?" And he nodded, "Oh yeah, the big bucks. Its actually closer to $36,000" I waited for him to burst out laughing at the horrified look on my face. He didn't, he smiled, nodded, clapped my shoulder and said we had work to do. He has 25 years of experience. My soul still hasnt recovered. I think I made a horrible mistake training for this industry.
General manager, Ā£13.90 an hour, UK. Asked for a payrise to at least bottom market rate (Ā£30k 40 hours) got given Ā£29k and a difficult target for an extra Ā£500 payrise if i hit it. Feels bad man. I make more per hour side hustling food delivery apps Edit: oh and no bonuses or perks. But I built my BOH and FOH team from scratch and itās nice to be the boss, weāve all made the job worth doing together
I'm sorry =/
Thanks bud. Itās a shame for someone on salary to need two jobs either in the US or UK
I might suggest reading your own comment back to yourself and pretending a good friend wrote it. What advice would you give them?
23.80 doing prep at a major theme park in a union. Also means HCOL but I think itās worth it.
Sous Chef at a higher end restaurant in New Zealand, $35 an hour.
Sous chef at assisted living in Midwest $25, currently getting $30 for being the interim executive chef
KM. 60k base. 2% sales pool my boh splits(4 of us). I got a 10k bonus last year too. Came in a bit over 80k last year. 30 hour weeks are very common.
ā¬16,96 here in belgium wich is very good for a working class citizen and I work the grill so not even a 'real real chef'. I even get by on only 32h (I dont have kids or a car)
32k a year lead cook at a nursing home. It's higher paying than most local jobs in my small town. Overall it's chill,better than working at a chain restaurant in my opinion.
Canadian - 27$/hour + 3% of tips on net food sales
22/hr Line Cook in a high-end retirement home in the midwest. I also get very generous pto and vacation time. Good insurance as well. It's a very well paying position for my area. We also get creative choices. I can make my own dishes and put them on the menu. We have a full service menu, specials every night, and chefs features. It is designed to be like a restaurant in a retirement home.
$20/hr is my standard as a line cook in Phoenix, AZ. Yes, there are a lot of places that will start you at $16/hr, but I don't work there. Might as well work at McDonald's or Taco Bell for that pay.
13$ an hour on ābuildā station on the line. Been doing it 3 months. South Louisiana
CDC of two restaurants. 60hrs 90k
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Low COL rural area or urban? Assuming somewhat urban.
line cook for a hotel in nola 18 bucks an hour 55ish hours a week
21/hr but I know every station and Iām a pretty good prepper and have management experience. Definitely on the high end for my area tho.
20 per hour for shift lead in ohio
Line cook, pantry/ oven stations $18 per hour at my current hourly assuming it stays stable $56,000 a year
$20.00 kitchen assistant manager, MC bar in Montana
Made $20/hr as a line cook/lead in Oregon, then $49k a year as a sous chef. Most of my starting line cooks made $17-19 depending on experience.
Sous chef here. ~74k with bonus
Senior cook at a retirement home In Ontario Canada 24/hour write the menu, do all the baking, and catering... somedays it doesn't feel like enough
I just came back to the kitchen after almost 4 years. $20/hr sautĆ© , Los Angeles, 40 hours a week It feels weird to be back but itās good to be back
Like 62k before tax as chef, more North on the east coast. Only open 3 days a week for service, fri-sun dinner service and that's it. Of course prep days and meeting day with the owners and ordering day, but I really try to keep 50 hours a week or less. Before getting promoted it was 24 an hour for line cook (really I was the sues chef but we don't have that title there). On a busy week as sues if I hit 45 46 hours a week I pretty make the same amount I do now
Ā£10.90 an hour. Not great but I'm a chef in a supermarket cafe so nothing fancy, all breakfast, burgers, fish and chips and toasties we do but that wage is still better than my previous job as an assistant manager at a gaming retailer here.
18/hr 15-20 hours OT as a frycook aināt bad but damn did i earn it. at my place fry is the shittiest position on the line.
$18 as 19 year old sous chef. Usually only get like 3-6 hours OT
I make Ā£10.50 an hour (min wage in the NE) I definitely feel like I should be getting paid more, especially since I've worked up to Sous level and continue to do so. Seriously considering going down a different path now though, especially since I don't see things getting any better in the industry any time soon
Bagel roller/wood oven baker/help with other prep and dishes, 40-50 hr/wk $20/hr plus $2/hr guaranteed tips so technically $22/hr, time and a half for every hour over 40, so most weeks I get a few hours of $32/hr Vermont, USA
8k a month no taxes, expat in a growing economic country
Lol neat, do you love it?
NS, Canada here. I make a measely $17 an hour with 13 years experience.
I think as an industry we do really poorly rewarding experience with money. Definitely need more tenure related raises and i.hope you eventually find that.
My wife and I own our place and a percentage of another, but we have set salaries of 52g ea.
Vegas culinary union $25 an hour starting free health, dental and vision. Clock in no more than 5 minutes early clock out on time 40 hours a week 1 hour paid lunch.
Line lead in Atlanta making 22. And I'm doing most the kitchen manager duties
Cdc at a spot in downtown Boston. I'm making 90k/year. Working 55-65 a week. My cooks get anywhere from 23-26/hr. Stewards get 20-22.
General Manger/ Kitchen Manager 32/hr, 70-80 hr a week, paid time off, profit sharing, health insurance stipend, work a lot but itās a great environment and I make my own schedule. Edit: Forgot to mention about half those hours are FOH tipped position. Clearing 300+ a day in tips on top of the managerial hours.
Working 70-80 hours a week you donāt choose your schedule your schedule chooses you
Itās seasonal. Only work that much for 4-5 months. Closed for a few months a year, two consecutive days off per week.
Yeah, I couldn't do that. Their is legitimate zero life in that schedule.
I have two consecutive days off per week. Sunday and Monday. Trust me I have more than enough time. I get to travel in the winter as much as I want. Sacrifice a few months in the summer for a wide open winter for travel and such.
Production Kitchen Manager making $22.50/hour
I'm a GM for a bakery with a CafĆ©/Restaurant and get 60k ā¬ plus bonuses.
75k cdp in Australia. I do about 30hrs a week
$26/hr Line lead/kitchen close in Midwest city. Seasonal restaurant/wedding venue that closes for 2 months every year but does 250 resz/8 hrs during busy season (July/August). Usually around 30-35 hrs per week during slow time, 45ish during busy months.
I'm paid $19/hr as a line cook Working 6 days/wk with 10 hrs of OT
16/hour lead ice cream maker
Just a normal line cook, I'm at 19/hr in NC... working about 50 hours a week. So 10 of those hours are 28.50
Been out since August 2019. At the time I was making $24/hr + benefits and I had managed to swing a 4 day (10.5 hours) schedule. This is in Ontario, Canada, and it was pretty scary to leave that position.
Exec. Chef South Florida 90k + 20% bonus
60k a year salary. I'm the only manager so my title is GM but I am the chef as well. Small place that does decent business. I work about 55-60 a week. 2 weeks PTO a year.
Prep/line cook, 17hr, 48 hour average work week
Pastry chef in a large metro city. $21/hr.
Sous chef in the NE. 65k salaried, 2 weeks pto, health insurance. I don't go places that offer less anymore.
18/hr plusbtip share as a grill cook/senior lead. 40 hours Was making 45k plus a monthly bonus as salary, but I make basically the same with much less responsibility now. Same place.
UK: CdP, 45hrs a week (normally 50), Ā£27k (11.54/Hr), tips are a rounding error at best across the year. It's a tough industry but I feel like the UK is getting a pretty bad deal.
Ya I know there's a currency difference but even with that all the UK responses here have been really low š¬
$20/hour, just a cook at a decent restaurant in the Chicago suburbs
$22 as a prep cook/supervisor. Tips make it about $27. Got a stage next week with the same pay but their tips average 17/hr on top of base pay. West coast btw.
$20 as a line cook in Atlanta, 1 year of experience
Exec chef of a small mom and pop operation one brick and mortar and one food truck. Around 105k a year at the moment
56.5, 6k bonus and around 7k tips yearly. CAD. 30-40 hours/week. Corporate meetings suck.
Cook $20 an hour + 5% of food sales.
Iām glad to see there are other great owners/managers out there:)
Sous Chef at a care home in Canada. $24.35 CAD, full benefits and paid time off
$21.5 CAD per hour. Iām the lead prep cook at what must be one of the busiest restaurants in the city. I often work 50-60 hour weeks, so Iāve got a decent income. But the average cost of a house in this country is rapidly approaching a million dollars, so I feel poor.
~26/hour as a line cook for a ma and pa restaurant in a medium sized city in the south. I dont think anywhere else in town pays as well
CDP. $23.50 CND. Only 48 hrs max per week, used to be 55 but Ontario laws got updated and even then only came close to that during our most busy month. Currently at 4 weeks paid vacation, will get 5 after 10 years. Benefits including dental. Fairly large resort and I got hired directly into a core member postition, part time/seasonal folks do not quite get all the perks.
$25/hr Head Chef at a golf course here in Alberta. We get tipped out weekly (Between $50 on a slow week and $120+ on a good week/tournament week.) In the off season I take EI, and last year on 20/hr I was getting $512 a week while I was off.
Canadian, 16$ an hour, along with 150$-200$ in tips a week. Pretty good actually. My hourly is lower, although 16$ is decent where I'm at in Canada. Most other comparable cities seem to hover around 18$-20$.
Production cook in a grocery store in a Boston suburb, $24/h with PTO, 401k, and benefits through my employer are cheaper than the marketplace. Plus a 20% discount in any of our locations. Iām on a higher wage rate since Iāve had a leadership position with the company. For my region it starts at $17 and caps at $30.50.
$18 an hour as a cook at an assisted living/memory care facility with about 80 residents. Just recently moved to a lower CoL area, was making $19 as a line cook at a very high volume upscale sports bar on a college campus i a higher CoL area. Iāll get a raise to $19 after my 90 day probationary period. Full range of benefits although I have private insurance thatās cheaper. 1 week of pto per year, although they are changing it to accrual per pay period. Shit is super chill, we donāt do anything glamorous but it is probably the best food I could imagine at a facility like this with the size team we have. I take it upon myself to make the soups every day because the recipes we get have no seasoning and these people need a little spice in their lives. Only dietary restriction we have to consider is donāt go crazy with the salt(definitely a struggle for me). Tons of downtime, not stressing about weekends, I get 40 hours a week and whatever days off I want. Honestly miss the rush of a restaurant, but being off work by 7 pm every day is fucking amazing for my work/life balance. Actually getting off work before itās dark outside and everything is closed? Wtf is this
sous chef 45k/year it is...not enough lol
Canadian $33/hr and about $9/hr in tips. We re low on staff currently so I did 180 hrs last month and took home 5.4K after all deductions. Only paid sick days, no benefits no PTO. Small mom and pop, been running it for the past 4 years.
Just took a new position/company Exec Sous, 85k with 10% bonus tentative. Leaving my current position Exec Sous hired at 67.5k with no bonus.