How much $$$ do high-end Chefs make? And how difficult is it?

$$$$$$$$$

I'm sure they make a lot of money, but remember, in any area there are people who are INCREDIBLY good. I'm sure it takes a lot of work and natural talent to be a good chef, just like it does to be a good runner, lawyer, plumber, painter, etc. Also, you probably have to work your way up, unless you are just a poet in the kitchen.

You should probably try cooking some on your own before you invest any money in pursuing it as a career, if you haven't already.

That being said, if you think you would like it and are ready to really work for it, then good luck!

Not very many make much. It's a really hard way to make a living.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/us/08default.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

For most chefs, the pay is bad and the hours long.

open ur own restaurant. my parents did it in a small town of 2500 n only for 7 years. just a family diner. made bank.

make ur own menus and whatever food u choose. hire ur own ppl. tons of hours tho. tough with a family. but really good money if u have business sense

In the last couple years, the "high end chef" restaurants were the first to go out of business. This tells me they make very little money. The problem is that they have a very small amount of customers that can afford to eat at high end restaurants and if just a few stop, the bills start piling up.

All the really rich food guys are from "low brow" food doing national chains. Mike Illitch never served a gourmet pizza.

I am a talent agent and on the breakdowns had a casting for a professional chef for a new cable show coming out thought it was pretty cool I don't usually see stuff like that. pay is $2500 per episode.

As the child of someone who's parents have owned a restaurant for over 30 years, i'm very surprised someone in similar circumstances would recommend that to someone. My parents (though close to retiring), have owned a restaurant that can sit around 400 max capacity since 1979. If it's your dream to work over 80+ hours on any given week, have very little work-life balance, etc, then open one up.

I seriously wouldn't recommend opening up a restaurant at all; especially in this economy.

Taco/Burrito/Pizza truck.

"Soul of Chef, The Journey Toward Perfection" by Michael Ruhlman. Gives a glimpse into the world of 3 high end chefs. It isn't just a profession, it is a lifestyle and quite near a religion to these guys, none of whom appear to be in it for the money.

He also has "The Making of a Chef" that came out before this one, but I have not read it.

If you're looking for a profession in which you have to work harder and make less money than a professional runner, you've found it.

Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" is a good perspective on the year's it takes to get to the top even though he seems to be embellish some things.

A good friend of my brothers is a head chef in New York. I heard (second hand) that his waiters can break 100k a year. This is a place that serves $1500 bottles of wine mind you. brother said most experienced waiters actually make more than the head chef.

whatever you do, it pays to be good, I guess.

Skilled chefs at high end restaurants make more than the postman, but less than the plumber. A lot of the people that do the actual cooking at high end restaurants these days are Mexicans. I do not know why, but Mexicans can cook anything, and do so brilliantly. And, they are willing to work for cheap.

The only way to make a real living is to either be a head chef (sets menu, manages kitchen operations, suppliers, etc.) or to be a restauranteur (the owner of the restaurant). If you can do this right, you can make some very good money (more than an associate at a big law firm, less than a heart surgeon).

Don't you ever watch TOP CHEF?

Alot of the chefs are above average chefs who are head chefs or own their own restaurants and it sounded like they were starving artists making $30K or something depressing like that.

My brother has owned several restaurants and has made a crapload of money by working ungodly hours. It's a stressful profession.

He's taking a break right now and raising his kids. (Wife is a doctor.) He caters events 1-2x/week and makes a killing doing that for only a few hours' work.

Owning a restaurant is very different from just being a chef at one. Being a chef doesn't require any business sense.

Whatever you do, DON'T GO TO CULINARY SCHOOL! That'll be $80k+ sunk into a useless degree in a field where you'll be lucky to break $40k.

oragne an alppe wrote:

I'm interested in food and nutrition, and was wondering how much money high-end chefs make. Not just fry cooks, but skilled chefs at very nice restaurants. Also, is it really difficult to become a high-end chef?

thanks

The path to becoming an executive chef is one of the more difficult ways to make $20K-$80K as you move up. You are on your feet, around heat, have long hours, a lot of pressure, and a staff to manage.

Seeing and hearing about famous chefs is like watching the NBA and thinking if you dribble and shoot a basketball with great intensity for a few years, you'll be rich. Nope. I know more six figure waiters than six figure chefs. Most chefs who do well are in the $75K to $100K range and work harder for that amount of money than most people who make that money in other fields.

For the best chefs, it's determination to work hard for years plus special artistic and inventive skills. It's not that your family and friends or the first restaurant that you work at telling you your food is great. A 100,000 or more chefs nationwide hear that every day, but they are miles away from being one of the top 100 or top 1000 chefs making the big money. Most every time, there is nothing most all of the other 99,000 can do to break into the top 1000. It's like runners who have trained for two or three years, who run a mile in the 4:50s going on to become sub 4 minutes milers. Sub 4 (rich chef) rarely happens at all and when it does, it's someone supremely talented and new (sub 4:20 first year) who passes most every chef in their city in their first year with creativity and sheer excellence.

I live in a city with over a 7,500 restaurants and the best two chefs are far ahead of the others, year after year. A few others have emerged and went to other cities for better opportunities for getting enough customers year round who care about the higher skill and will pay the money for Tuesday night meals that make a chef very rich. The second of the two best is rather new in the city(less than 5 years) and got that acclaim and business after probably 100 chefs tried and failed to be as good as number one. Lots of chefs are good or very good, but special is hard to reach across a menu, year round.

Most country clubs have very good executive chefs, better than most public restaurant chefs in the community around the club. Virtually all country club executive chefs make less than $150K annually and most are under $100K. If a typical nice club in a typical nice community advertises in trade publications for an executive chef for $80K, the club will be inundated with talented chefs applying for the job, all who design really appealing menus, run a kitchen well, and plate consistently very good food. Why? Because they have been doing that for several years at less than $80K.

It's not a way to make a lot of money. It's a way to get paid for what you love, if you love it.