08.24.06
The Financial Consideration
In a previous post, when I spoke of my decreasing salary, I had some responses from people asking about the compensation that arises from the life of a chef. I guess this is a hard issue to tackle if only because there are a lot of different considerations to be taken into account.
First off, I am not going to say how much I make here since that would probably be improper considering that other people in my position may use this kind of information as leverage for their own positions, or who knows, maybe even coworkers are reading this… Just know that the $1/hr pay cut was a significant percentage of my salary - not something that will just “not be noticed” at the end of the month.
Secondly, there is the realization that for those who go straight into the culinary industry in their careers, this is not a low salary that they are dealing with. This is the starting point for working in the business. It is like any other industry, you start at the bottom at a low salary, and then climb up from there. In fact, what I make now is EXACTLY what I was making when I first started working at my old job. You know, the one I left to become a chef.
 No. This is NOT going to be you. Get this idea out of your head. Credit to Dennis Cox for the Illustration. |
(In short, to start this career is starting all over for me - and that is how all my fellow second-career types should be thinking about this. Think about the salary you earned right out of college, (assuming you didn’t get one of those ridiculous consulting gigs) and that is probably about what you will be earning when you start as a chef.
The catch is, if you are doing a “start over” career path like myself, it is hard to get used to the thought that you will have to go back to spending like you once had to before. Or not spending as the case may be. I think what makes it harder for a second career type like myself is that now there are more financial considerations that I can’t change in my life that I am part of. For example, I am now paying off a mortgage, which I was not doing when I first came out of college. Additional things like cable TV and my cell phone (grr) also make it so that I have regular bills to pay that I did not have before. And so while I may have the same thin slice of pie that I lived off before - it now has no “crust” if you will.
 Hmm… an apple pie with no crust is just…applesauce, huh? |
(I am hoping to win a nomination for “worst food-related metaphor” for that one…)
Working in my favor, I have a wonderful and supportive wife who makes a good salary and is able to make sure we don’t fall into any sort of financial ruin in this “lean” period for me - though I am making sure I keep up my half of the household expenditures. So far at least…
But absent such a safety net, what is one to do in such a situation? Well, my advice is to take this part of the change in your career very seriously. You are going to be making a lot less than you are accustomed to (I am in the neighborhood of making only 25% of what I did before…) and so I would draw up a budget. Some things you spend money on now on a subscription basis are going to have to go. Some examples:
- Cell phone/blackberry/huge number of minutes plan
- Expanded cable TV with on demand and internet package
- Tivo
- Netflix
- Regular manicures (trust me, nothing will make your hands look good)
You get the idea. Draw up a budget now. No really, do it. Without taking into consideration how little you are going to make when you start off, you are never going to afford it.
And it really would be a shame to not be able to live your life’s dream simply because you need the money for rent.
Stumble it!
Robert said,
August 25, 2006 at 9:49 am
The financial considerations really are significant, for me. Along with lifestyle changes that aren’t even associated with money.
I started working in D.C. about six years ago — my first job as a reporter paid 25K, which isn’t much at all in this city. I think I was making more by waiting tables at the time. My salary now is not quote double that, to be honest. Which of course still isn’t a lot of money in D.C., but is a number I’m comfortable with.
Assuming $10/hour and assuming 40 hour a week and assuming 52 weeks a year … it’s about 20K a year. (And I’m well aware the hourly can go lower and the hours/week mostly goes higher, but you know…)
So that’s a real concern. Of course.
But I’m also really at this point where I’m committed to learning about food. I want to know more, to understand better, to really get into it all in a way that the Art Institute’s diploma program (which I think is a decent ‘primer’) probably won’t.
And I’m starting to wonder if I can really accomplish these things, learn what I want to, understand what I need to, without working in a restaurant. Maybe it’s something I just have to do, high-rent and student-loans and all.
I’m still really apprciating your honesty in this blog…
Matt said,
August 25, 2006 at 7:50 pm
Well to be honest, you sound just like me Robert. I want to know it all too, and I was worried as hell about the changes. The moeny is tight, and you are definately thinking in the right salary range as far as where you will be.
There is one thing you are not taking into consideration though. A 40-hour work week is not realistic. I just finished my first full week of work: 59 hours. Maybe this is better or not for you, but at 60 hours per week at $10/hr, and you are more like $30k/yr….
But of course then you have to take into consideration that that is a lot more work, and all at hours when you are now used to having fun with friends.
I am going to write more more on this later, but to respond directly to your comment - the simple fact is that you learn only about 1/10 of what you need to know about working in restaurants from culinary school. The rest you learn real fast on the job through a series of missteps and painful burns. But at the same time, there is the fact that cooking in a restaurant is different from cooking yourself and “knowing about food”. Again, this is a topic I plan to cover in the future.
Anyway, having just done 59 hours on my feet in 100 degree heat this week for the fiirst time ever, I think I will now go to sleep for about 3 days.
Alejandra said,
August 27, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Wow…I can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like. I think it’s something I always kind of knew though and it’s definitely the reason why, when people ask why I’m not working as a chef (since I did attend culinary school) I reply that while I love cooking, I know that the life of a chef is not for me.
I went to school for my own personal edification and for that of my friends/family/significant others. I love cooking at home and will occasionally cater a party, but I know that I wouldn’t be able to cut it (pun intended) long-term in a restaurant kitchen. I do however, want you to know that I really admire what you’re doing and wish you the best of luck…
Swan said,
August 31, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Wait–since when has cable TV been an expense for you?!