If you love watching cooking shows, you will agree that a chef is like a ritualistic and just watching him on the “hot seat” directing things in the kitchen is nothing short of a wonderful dream. It’s marvelous; he or she is like a multi-instrumentalist playing percussions, wind instruments and stringed instruments all at the same time. If you have attended one of those high-end restaurants in New York, you know, where a morsel bursts into fragments of flavor when it hits the tongue and sends your taste buds singing hallelujah, well, you know very well what a chef can do. If you would like to be a chef, you definitely want to know the career prospects in the market. Read on.
What does a chef do?
A chef does not cook as opposed to what many people wrongly think. Rather, he or she oversees the cooking in the restaurant or any other establishment that serves food. In this light therefore, it is not hard to find chefs lamenting lack of good cooks. Mostly, when people hear that, they wonder why the chef cannot do the cooking himself. A kitchen works like an orchestra and the chef is its head to make sure that everything works very well in its place.
The chef plans the menu, checks that the ingredients are correct, develops recipes, ensures that the kitchen is kept to the highest standards of hygiene, inspects the cooking equipment and hires as well as training the cooks.
Job prospects
Data shows that by the year 2020, employment opportunities for chefs will be high specifically by November of the same year. In addition, 78% of the chefs get fulltime jobs. However, compared to other industries, a chef will work about 42.6 hours in a week on average while other industry professionals work 40 hours in a week. Unemployment level for chefs is at average. With many restaurants coming up in New York and some of the existing ones expanding, chances of a chef getting work in New York are above average.
The level of education that a chef may need in New York is Certificate III or IV. At least, about 49% of the chefs go for that.
What is the expected career growth? Sadly, not as high as careers in the other industries. The projections for 2008 to 2018 show that the career growth for chefs will be 6 percent.
The working hours for a chef are long. It is just how the industry is.
How much does a chef earn?
In the upscale restaurants in New York, a chef will definitely make more money than say, a chef who works for a smaller establishment in Boston. Today, a restaurant chef makes more than $40,000 a year. However, some really upscale chefs can make even more than $70,000. In addition the law allows the employer to deduct money for meals and uniforms that the chef may have taken in their establishment or even accommodation. However, this varies depending on the employer and some offer everything free of charge.
New York has many opportunities for restaurant chefs. However, the pay varies depending on the establishment that you will work for. If you are really talented, word gets around fast and you will never lack work.
There are a number of restaurant out there and there are different chefs who are working harder to bring taste in your lives. Being a chef is a talent only few people can have such a talent to bring magic into lives with their taste.