# Cook-Line cook pay per hrs/salary



## tienowen

Hi guys, I new to this forum and me current not back of the house anymore. I just switch to sushi prep/cook for 9 months. I just wondering how much cook make per hrs and bonus. Also, any line cooks work at the high-end restaurant or open kitchen pay would be like.
My current job work around 8 hrs and 5 days per week, the extra will be overtime 1.5 and I get 20% tips work at the sushi bar. My duty just prep rice, fish and vegetable and I miss the old days work in the hot kitchen. I think I make more income this year and a lot to learn.
Thank


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## lobby

I have no idea what work is like in hawaii, but far away in DC a cook with a couple years experience can expect about $14-15, more experience or someone like a broiler cook that nails temps every time can command higher pay, $20+. Cooks don't get tipped out here, so i cant speak for that. 

If you're prepping high dollar proteins and fish, I would ask for more.


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## Godslayer

15-20 here, 6th day is 1.5x pay 7th is 2x, after 3 months I got medical, a year for dental, free meals 3x a day and reduced housing, I rent a one bedroom for about 500, which in jasper is about 1/2 price including heat and lights, etc. but 15 is probably what the average person is going to get, a smidge more if your handicapable, less for a general cook/commis


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## tienowen

Godslayer said:


> 15-20 here, 6th day is 1.5x pay 7th is 2x, after 3 months I got medical, a year for dental, free meals 3x a day and reduced housing, I rent a one bedroom for about 500, which in jasper is about 1/2 price including heat and lights, etc. but 15 is probably what the average person is going to get, a smidge more if your handicapable, less for a general cook/commis


I currently make almost 18 per hrs plus tip, benefit ex: holiday, sick leaves. After a year I do have 2 weeks pay vacation and 1 free week stay at any their hotel. The living cost little more expensive more than California, but I get a chance to learn a lot in here. I think work in Japanese restaurant I can use the full potential of Japanese knife and techinique, never stop learning like Jiro. How to improve every day!


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## Chuckles

18 plus 20% tips sounds really good. What kind of sales totals are your tips coming from? I might be in the wrong line of work.


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## SousVideLoca

40k, tipout, meal comps, 2 weeks paid, 5 sick paid, gas stipend. Tips work out to another 3k a year.


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## tienowen

Chuckles said:


> 18 plus 20% tips sounds really good. What kind of sales totals are your tips coming from? I might be in the wrong line of work.


It depends on the days and tip pool of customer give us, The busiest day around 1k total for the restaurant, I get around 60~80 buck top. Usually, every paycheck I get 300~400$ but when the holiday season comes I heard my sushi chef we will do at least 200 covers a night plus sushi omakase, I guess will more money than regular with a bonus per years. I save around 10~20% of my tips for knife addiction funds.
For four~five hour work at dinner service will be a lot busy and hard work.


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## spoiledbroth

that 20% thing isn't too uncommon at sushi places I hear


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## Godslayer

Tips are for living, salary is for knives


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## tienowen

spoiledbroth said:


> that 20% thing isn't too uncommon at sushi places I hear


I don't know how this hotel work, my co-worker sushi 1 get 30%, the tip pool when guest eating at sushi bar different also.


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## tienowen

Godslayer said:


> Tips are for living, salary is for knives


I wish i can make tips for living but i think it might happen when holiday season the restaurant going do 200 covers up per night or buy out private dinner for group.


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## cheflivengood

"fancy" restaurants start you at about $115 a shift for shift pay back when that was legal (12+ hour shifts). Over time was funny, something about the more overtime you incurred the less $ per hour the overtime pay was hahaha.


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## Jacob_x

Have heard working hours are pretty good over in the states - in London 16-17 hour days are pretty standard in good restaurants, half hour break if you're lucky. Most places will be 4 or 5 days a week, 20-25k per annum for a cdp. No tips (service charge generally goes into your wage).
Xmas makes you weep, if you still remember how.


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## JBroida

i could do 16 hours, 5 days a week... a lot of places here when i was still cooking were 16 hour days, 6 days a week and thats the pace i got used to. Europe was even crazier for me... one place i worked was open 7 days a week and we worked 7 days a week for 3 services each day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)


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## Godslayer

Jacob_x said:


> Have heard working hours are pretty good over in the states - in London 16-17 hour days are pretty standard in good restaurants, half hour break if you're lucky. Most places will be 4 or 5 days a week, 20-25k per annum for a cdp. No tips (service charge generally goes into your wage).
> Xmas makes you weep, if you still remember how.



That's f'd my worst week was 75 hours, last December I had one day off. Wicked paychecks but it wasn't even worth it. Only time I've hated my job.


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## Jacob_x

Yeah if it's the pace you're used to then it's not so bad. 16x5 in a positive kitchen is fine, it's when it's an aggressive, old school, pan throwing sort of place that it's a struggle. I remember doing 40 hours straight once for new menu prep, with an hours kip on the banquettes in between. Not any more mind you!
(sorry for the thread jack)


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## Keith Sinclair

I made about 45K a year top union scale pay. Never went management because of the long hours & I made more per hour carving ice for other hotels. Only reason was able to save is ice business put me in diff. tax bracket so used max 401K at work & IRA's to keep my taxes down over 30 years. 

As A registered nurse Janice made close to 70,000 a year.


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## CutFingers

Not enough ever...


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## tienowen

JBroida said:


> i could do 16 hours, 5 days a week... a lot of places here when i was still cooking were 16 hour days, 6 days a week and thats the pace i got used to. Europe was even crazier for me... one place i worked was open 7 days a week and we worked 7 days a week for 3 services each day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)


That crazy Jon, your job remind me when I was join the cruise ship as cook when i graduate culinary school. I was work 5 month straight no day off for 9~10 hrs per days. Did the job more than a years and so glad switch to sushi restaurant. Avoid the heat from the kitchen but a lot faster pace for customer order, 2 mins per sushi roll, sashimi plate, etc.


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## JBroida

yeah... we would work until the chef looked at us and thought we were going to die... then we got one service off (i.e. off for lunch, but working dinner)


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## jklip13

Working 17x6 in a Kaiseki kitchen now, I forgot my sister's name for a few seconds last week. Brain is fried.


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## JBroida

lol


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## Fedusa

A few years back it was $15+ an hr and 25% tips from servers and 20% from the bartender minimum 3 days/week and meals. The owners were a little stingy, the place was small and sushi made up about 75% of orders and were often in the weeds since it was just two of us and every person ordered a roll or more and the head sushi chef would often be busy making sashimi or sushi plates and special orders so it was really one person cranking out the whole floor.


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## Keith Sinclair

Was there any help available when you got in the weeds. Teach a busboy to help with the rolls. Cooks are under paid but rather be busy edge of being in the weeds than slow.


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## tienowen

I think around 60~80 cover we can handle, 3 sushi cook and a chef plus kitchen food also. If more than that we ask help from different location chef. It was long days a lot of prep but the food extra a lot we ate all them for our dinner meal, Sushi nigiri can't leave overnight. Not much of sushi roll, a lot thin slice fish with sauce per dish, per person. Food cocktail style.


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## partykrew

man, i dont know how some of you guys survive. I would die working 16 hours a day. worst i ever had to do was like 13x6. 

my current pay is $15/hour untaxed for easy catering work. It's not steady, but that's perfect for me since im also doing school. worst pay i ever had was working at the place i did 13x6. I got $75 at first, then $80 a day. it was under the table and it was easy work, but still sucked.


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## Bacon king tone

I work at a very high end French restaurant in florida the max we pay our cooks is 14.50 a hour but during season (about 6 months of the year) they work about 70 hours a week. It's definitly a livable wage but people always give me trouble when I tell them the pay rate haha. Not my restaurant not my choice


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## DamageInc

Haha

The human defibrillator haha


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## panda

man, struggle really is real in this biz. especially once you go salary. i just did a stretch of 80 hours and trying to enjoy my day off but my landlord had guys come and replace the front door at 8 in the morning while i was trying to sleep. #$%#$#@[email protected][email protected]#$^^


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## Sleep

panda said:


> man, struggle really is real in this biz. especially once you go salary.



For sure. Salary sucks when it's busy. This past spring/summer/autumn has been really hard. It feels like a huge kick in the teeth when retard FOH casuals are earning more p/w but putting in less than 1/2 my hours. Then I hear them whinge about being broke and tired! They have no idea what it's like to have kids and a mortgage.


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## TEWNCfarms

Godslayer said:


> Tips are for living, salary is for knives



Haha I wish! No tips for this guy, though the servers during the day where I work pull easily over $1000 a week just off 5 days, two of those the weekend. I on the other hand just my ass all day and get $15hr! Ive been there for almost 6 years and they need me I literally hold the place together, I can do Everything in there and I do it the Best besides a couple people. But theyll bring a couple new people and pay them what I get that took me 3-4years to get and they Suck! One guy I Know gets more than me, $16, and hes only been there for 10 months and got $16 within like 6 months! Pisses me off, and I would raise hell about it, but Im doing my own farming thing so I Get a set schedule and Only work Days and 4 days a week, and get every Saturday off. So I dont do much complaining, I just keep on trucking until the farm can pay me to leave, hopefully in a couple years.


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## donhoang14

I don't have a lot of experience being a professional cook (2.5 years) but I have worked in restaurants for many years in the FOH.

I did FOH in the US and I'm definitely guilty of not appreciating and understanding the chefs for what they do and how ****** they get paid.

Since then I've been working in the EU as a chef and I can't imagine myself in the kitchen in the US. Here the BOH and FOH split the tips 50%. When customers book a table here, they have it reserved the entire night. So there's no culture of turning and burning. I don't need to think about pension cause the entire country has a pension system for anyone who works in hotels, restaurants and cafes. Your employer has to pay into this as it would be illegal otherwise. It's still ****ing hard work as I put in 12 hours a day in the busy season but I always keep in mind the difference of here and the US. 

Oh and also medical is just standard here as well. That doesn't even cross my mind. 

Maybe some of you should look into overseas work!

I read Jon's story  I haven't had an experience like that cause I found lesser demanding places that give me a comfortable work/life balance


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## quantumcloud509

My last job which I left and retired from the kitchen scene from I was started at $15/hr + mediocre tips.
I asked for $17.50 after one month of working there and got offered $17. I worked there for 9 months, and one morning the owner came in acting like a hot-shot and says “Pavel-I’m going to give you a raise- you deserve it!” 
I come up to him and say “Jeffy, you know timing is everything right?”
He says “Yeah”
I said: “Well, my old lady got accepted for a job yesterday which pays two and a half times more per hour than what I’m making here”
His face and vibe DROPPED. I mean, I’ve never seen this happen so drastically.
He says “That’s not good for me, that’s really really not good for me.”
I said “It’s good for me, it’s good for my kids.”
He continued saying how not good for him it was.
I said “I don’t know when she starts but it’s going to be in less than two weeks, and I’ll be gone that day forever”
We stood there in silence at 4am looking at each other: Im holding a 70lb tub of prepped brisket, he’s holding his paperwork. 
Wife ended up starting her job week after.
In laws watched my kids for two months while I moved back across the state and remodeled the house we owned, ended up selling it for $50k more than we were going to list it for before I even got the chance to list it. Now I hang at home with my 3 kids building electric go carts and going on adventures. Jeffy tried to pull me back to work with him once every other week in one way or another but I told him we are done and I’m having way too much fun not working. He’s a good man, but he didn’t appreciate me while I worked for him. I saved his ass many times and was there no matter what but the paltry wage I was given was utterly disrespectful. Unfortunately, owners only realize this AFTER the fact. 

True story.


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## tgfencer

@quantumcloud509 Had a similar situation happen to me. I was working for a small kitchen in Edinburgh as sous chef. Chef was out long-term with a lung problem and some staff thievery/drug abuse led to just me and one other guy working the kitchen. During August there's a big festival, the population of the city practically doubles, and bars and restaurants go into overdrive mode. Well, me and this other fellow worked double shifts, 7-days a week, for a month, although neither of us were getting compensated for it. At the end of the month, my boss, who I liked and was a good guy put into a bad situation, comes up to me and is like 'Man, I'm surprised you didn't quit. I'm giving you a raise.' Of course, I tell him I didn't quit because I would have screwed over everybody else in the joint, but that I sure as hell was quitting now. I convinced him to back-pay me and the other fellow our raises for the month we had just worked and then I went on my merry way. Last time in a professional kitchen for me, thanks very much!


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## MartinT

eye opener


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## Tim Rowland

I'm interested in what Chef's are paying their employees around the country as a comparison. Doesn't matter if Restaurant/Hotel/Club Setting.
Seems like an older thread but full of useful competitive hiring content.

I am in Atlanta Ga in a well-known hotel brand. 300 rooms with Simple restaurant, Room service, and 22,000sq/ft of banquet space.
With that said my cooks range from $14.50/hr to $17.00/hr based on experience and my steward are in the $11.00 to $12.50 range.
My Sous Chef is non-exempt hourly and hits their target salary with a 50 hour work week. they are in the 40k to 45k if they hit 50 hour/week avg.


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## JBroida

in LA right now, most line cooks are starting around $15-16 per hour and some hotels are paying cooks well into the $20 per hour range (not even lead line)


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## Chef Doom

Whatever you make you will never pay off those student loans from chefs school muahahaha!


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## M1k3

99% of places hiring in L.A. just wants someone that can listen, work, and not cut themselves very often.

Need bodies


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## JBroida

So true


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## Wdestate

I’m on the north shore in MA and have to pay 18+$/hr for a competent line cook a few make 23-26. Can’t even get a dishwasher in this area for less then 15/hr


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## Brandon Wicks

Seattle is in the $16-$20 range for line cooks. Dish/Prep $14-$18. Sous Chefs $50-$65k
Sushi Chefs $15-$30 + tips. (I so don't miss being an exec chef in the fine dining world anymore!)


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## panda

What is the workforce quality/quantity over in Seattle? Do you think the higher than average salaries has improved on bringing in better staff?


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## Evan Estern

I'm doing 3 shifts a week at $15 per hour. Garde manger/line. I'd do more shifts, but I can make as much or more money leaving some of the week open for freelance work. It's kind of shocking how low the pay to skill ratio is in a commercial kitchen.


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## panda

I think the cook pool is diluted with mostly slackers because the good ones (due to low pay) move on to desperate places in need of leadership so they take good cooks and promote them to supervisors and sous even though they're not quite ready.


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## Brandon Wicks

panda said:


> What is the workforce quality/quantity over in Seattle? Do you think the higher than average salaries has improved on bringing in better staff?



There is not enough staff and too many restaurants right now. It's even harder to find good servers than cooks. So it's not necessarily attracting more qualified staff unless you are a high end restaurant that cooks really want to work for and are paying at the top end of things. The cost of living here is stupid high so that's another reason the wages are higher. Minimum wage is $15 starting this year I believe.


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## Brandon Wicks

panda said:


> I think the cook pool is diluted with mostly slackers because the good ones (due to low pay) move on to desperate places in need of leadership so they take good cooks and promote them to supervisors and sous even though they're not quite ready.



Yes this definitely happens. Even worse is here in Seattle we a getting all the super rich Amazon/Microsoft/Google folks deciding it would be "fun" to have their own restaurant to show off to friends. They then recruit some young 20 something chef with delusions of grandeur and open up some place with no focused menu and just a bunch of super trending flashy food with no soul and a management team that parties more than actually works.


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## panda

Brandon Wicks said:


> Yes this definitely happens. Even worse is here in Seattle we a getting all the super rich Amazon/Microsoft/Google folks deciding it would be "fun" to have their own restaurant to show off to friends. They then recruit some young 20 something chef with delusions of grandeur and open up some place with no focused menu and just a bunch of super trending flashy food with no soul and a management team that parties more than actually works.


That sounds truly awful


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## Ryndunk

Ann Arbor Michigan here. Need to offer $16 to get anyone to walk in the door. Most of the time having little to no experience. Same story here. Lots of restaurants, not enough competant cooks to staff them.


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## ramenlegend

Great cooks don't choose a restaurant for the pay, just my opinion. Work harder then all your cooks and they can never complain .


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## Brandon Wicks

ramenlegend said:


> Great cooks don't choose a restaurant for the pay, just my opinion. Work harder then all your cooks and they can never complain .



This is true but it doesn't hurt. I took a $15000 pay cut to work where I do now just because I believe in the chef and sustainable seafood cause. This was almost 10 years ago. Now I'm making pretty much more then I ever did as an sous chef/chef de cuisine/exec chef and I work only 4 days a week about 30-32hours.


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## Cashn

To give a different side of things I do film catering. Bottom of the ladder gets 16-19, sous get 18-22 ( sometimes more) and chefs get 31-36. Overtime after 8 hours each day for everybody. Double pay after 12 hours plus health insurance, 401k and other perks for the chef - chefs are union is how all this happens. Production generally gets billed for 75-85 hours for a 5 day week, I usually work 90 hours/week. It’s not steady tho so you gotta be good budgeting your money when you make it.


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## Dhoff

I love food, I suck at cooking it. Food is joy. You guys deserve more!


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## CulinaryCellist

I'm working my first kitchen job at a four star restaurant in downtown Dallas, I'm currently 6 months into the job and am making $9.00 an hour. Our dishwasher makes 9 an hour plus tipout


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## Godslayer

CulinaryCellist said:


> I'm working my first kitchen job at a four star restaurant in downtown Dallas, I'm currently 6 months into the job and am making $9.00 an hour. Our dishwasher makes 9 an hour plus tipout



That seems low, is that typical for your area?


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## CulinaryCellist

Godslayer said:


> That seems low, is that typical for your area?


I feel like I'm being slightly underpaid, but I have very little experience


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## Godslayer

CulinaryCellist said:


> I feel like I'm being slightly underpaid, but I have very little experience



Yeah starting out always sucks, after a bit I would jump ship, maybe even post here and someone might have a lead/be hiring. I'm not familiar with texas wages or what's normal in the south. But at least you appear to be in a decent kitchen, that'll be useful when your going to the second/third place.


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## CulinaryCellist

Godslayer said:


> Yeah starting out always sucks, after a bit I would jump ship, maybe even post here and someone might have a lead/be hiring. I'm not familiar with texas wages or what's normal in the south. But at least you appear to be in a decent kitchen, that'll be useful when your going to the second/third place.


I'm in a great kitchen, I feel like I can learn a lot from my chef and he's mentioned training me for Bocuse D'or


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## Godslayer

CulinaryCellist said:


> I'm in a great kitchen, I feel like I can learn a lot from my chef and he's mentioned training me for Bocuse D'or


Then I'd probably hold on, but ask for a raise after 6 months, if you feel it's deserved/merited. I've asked for raises three times and only been refused once. So it can't hurt


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## CulinaryCellist

Godslayer said:


> Then I'd probably hold on, but ask for a raise after 6 months, if you feel it's deserved/merited. I've asked for raises three times and only been refused once. So it can't hurt


Thanks for the advice Godslayer


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## CutFingers

Salary is a scam. If the salary does in fact pay you more, think about the hours you work.

Making more money...can essentially be bad...more taxes, less free time.

Sell your labor short and the house will cheat you...it's their money...When you can be hourly and have a steady schedule you are lucky in this business.

Work more for more money...salary is a great way to take somebody with skill and have them average hourly for a song.

Don't be a stooge.


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## CulinaryCellist

In your experience, What do line/prep cooks typically start out at with little to no training in your regions?

Just want a comparison to what I make hourly


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## Milkman420

I make 17.50 hr plus tips which is an extra 100 minimum ot at 1.5, 60 hrs double time I only work 50-54 a week tho. I get medical n 1 week paid now but next month go to 2nweeks. I’m in Pittsburgh area


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## CulinaryCellist

Milkman420 said:


> I make 17.50 hr plus tips which is an extra 100 minimum ot at 1.5, 60 hrs double time I only work 50-54 a week tho. I get medical n 1 week paid now but next month go to 2nweeks. I’m in Pittsburgh area


How long have you been in the industry?

I'm only part time while I go to culinary school, I'm hitting around 36-40 hours per paycheck


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## labor of love

CutFingers said:


> Salary is a scam. If the salary does in fact pay you more, think about the hours you work.
> 
> Making more money...can essentially be bad...more taxes, less free time.
> 
> Sell your labor short and the house will cheat you...it's their money...When you can be hourly and have a steady schedule you are lucky in this business.
> 
> Work more for more money...salary is a great way to take somebody with skill and have them average hourly for a song.
> 
> Don't be a stooge.


I started a new gig that’s salary. For the past 2 monthes I’ve been getting away with working just 45 hours or so per week. Just waiting on the other shoe to drop.


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## Keith Sinclair

tgfencer said:


> @quantumcloud509 Had a similar situation happen to me. I was working for a small kitchen in Edinburgh as sous chef. Chef was out long-term with a lung problem and some staff thievery/drug abuse led to just me and one other guy working the kitchen. During August there's a big festival, the population of the city practically doubles, and bars and restaurants go into overdrive mode. Well, me and this other fellow worked double shifts, 7-days a week, for a month, although neither of us were getting compensated for it. At the end of the month, my boss, who I liked and was a good guy put into a bad situation, comes up to me and is like 'Man, I'm surprised you didn't quit. I'm giving you a raise.' Of course, I tell him I didn't quit because I would have screwed over everybody else in the joint, but that I sure as hell was quitting now. I convinced him to back-pay me and the other fellow our raises for the month we had just worked and then I went on my merry way. Last time in a professional kitchen for me, thanks very much!



Know that feeling hang on because you don't want to screw up everybody else. At least you hung in there when it counted. 
Unlike other hotels I worked at Kahala was like family you get in the weeds say the word & you get help.

We just had a Kahala Hilton reunion party. Some of those people had not seen in years. Danny Kaleikini sang the national anthem. There were people who had started at the Hotel when it opened in 1963. The oldest guy there was 94. Chef Martin Weiss hired me because they needed a Ice carver at the hotel, I retired from Kahala after more than 25 years the longest by far at one job.

They are talking about raising the min. wage to 15.00 in Hawaii. Many people here work two jobs it is almost the norm. Then you have the homeless many who don't work at all. Some are mentally ill, but others are just meth addicts and alcoholics. Hawaii is a pretty liberal & do not seem to have the political will to address the homeless situation that is worse per capa in the nation.


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## Tim Rowland

CutFingers said:


> Salary is a scam. If the salary does in fact pay you more, think about the hours you work.
> Making more money...can essentially be bad...more taxes, less free time.
> Sell your labor short and the house will cheat you...it's their money...When you can be hourly and have a steady schedule you are lucky in this business.
> Work more for more money...salary is a great way to take somebody with skill and have them average hourly for a song.
> Don't be a stooge.



Sorry to say but you may be trying to work in the wrong kitchens. Have you thought about high end hotels or resorts?
I avg. 50 to 55 hours a week and make a very comfortable living. Salary in the right setting can be great but remember it's up to the chef to hire/train/lead a great team to where they don't have to work 14 hours a day.


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## WildBoar

Keith Sinclair said:


> They are talking about raising the min. wage to 15.00 in Hawaii. Many people here work two jobs it is almost the norm. Then you have the homeless many who don't work at all. Some are mentally ill, but others are just meth addicts and alcoholics. Hawaii is a pretty liberal & do not seem to have the political will to address the homeless situation that is worse per capa in the nation.


Hey now, it's hard to feel bad for someone who gets to live in Hawaii, even if they are homeless


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## podzap

I don't know how you guys do it. I used to live in the USA in the midwest. I had a job doing catering and got paid 12 dollars an hour. I thought that was ****** pay, so I switched to painting steel at oil refineries and that was 20 an hour plus time and a half working 14-16 hour days (pulling in around 2000 bucks a week after taxes). That was in 1987.


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## Chef Doom

Those were different times. The age of union work and an anti-monopoly agenda has left politics. For a good portion of the 1900s America hated monopolies. 20% of the market share of any industry was asking to get broken up. Major companies were more invested in worker pay, compensation and training as a means of avoiding taxes.


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## dwalker

CulinaryCellist said:


> I'm in a great kitchen, I feel like I can learn a lot from my chef and he's mentioned training me for Bocuse D'or


If you are learning every day in your great kitchen, then think of it as being paid $9/hour to go to school that you would normally pay $$$ to be at. When you have experience and have nothing left to learn, flip that into something better, and so on and so forth. You are an apprentice. It used to be apprentices didn't get paid at all. You are getting an education. Make yourself so valuable that the owner / manager can't imagine working without you. Then roll that into more $$$ there or somewhere else that you are appreciated for what you bring to the environment. Just my .02 as a business owner.


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## CulinaryCellist

dwalker said:


> If you are learning every day in your great kitchen, then think of it as being paid $9/hour to go to school that you would normally pay $$$ to be at. When you have experience and have nothing left to learn, flip that into something better, and so on and so forth. You are an apprentice. It used to be apprentices didn't get paid at all. You are getting an education. Make yourself so valuable that the owner / manager can't imagine working without you. Then roll that into more $$$ there or somewhere else that you are appreciated for what you bring to the environment. Just my .02 as a business owner.



I understand that 100%, I feel I'm getting adequate pay for my experience and on the upside I recently got a raise


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## dwalker

Congratulations.


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## SilverSwarfer

Tim Rowland said:


> Sorry to say but you may be trying to work in the wrong kitchens. Have you thought about high end hotels or resorts?
> I avg. 50 to 55 hours a week and make a very comfortable living. Salary in the right setting can be great but remember it's up to the chef to hire/train/lead a great team to where they don't have to work 14 hours a day.


This. 

Take control of your career and make good decisions. I spent many embittered years proving myself. But I learned so many valuable lessons; I now confidentially command my career. I still have a lot of stress and struggles- part of the job that’s much easier to abide when I’m not struggling with pecuniary wage woes.


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