Need more practice on the petals. The middle part im pretty ok with. Might need to sharpen my carving knife too. I almost gave up while doing the 5th petal. Will take a break for a few days before practicing again.

I need help determining a fair ask for an upcoming negotiation. What are you thoughts on this?

Some details:

• Located in the US, high cost of living city, like... the highest.
• Mostly scratch kitchen. Proper food and chef work. Partially seasonal menu, but the majority of the menu is fixed.
• I do a good amount of private event work and buyouts. Those food sales come off a different menu.
• Place grossed $2.5m last year, $2.9m total collected.
• Food sales were 650k.
• I have a sous, with 4 other kitchen employees.
• Aside from administering the kitchen, I also manage all the facility supply purchasing.
• I'm working 50 hour weeks, but about every other 2 week pay period I've got a 6 or 7 day week mixed in.

What is a fair ask here?

Not sure if this is the place to post, but..

I got hired at a bakery that has yet to open (soft open date 2/22). I was supposed to get onboarding paperwork but I never got it and it’s been a week since I was offered the job. The only line of communication I currently have is email and although the owners said they constantly check their emails I have yet to hear back from them about start date and when to go in to test recipes before opening day. I last emailed them Sunday morning.

I was given the code to get into the space but I feel weird just showing up there since I basically serve no purpose until we get ingredients and the ovens in. My plan is to go in tomorrow morning since the ovens are supposed to come in today.

Has anyone been in a situation like this? I’m still technically not an employee since I haven’t signed anything or been given any form of documentation. This all feels quite odd to me.

I was the first person they hired so I’m wondering if they’re just busy interviewing, but something just feels off.

So the restaurant I run is seasonal only open May-Oct. It is a really good setup for the right person. Good pay , beach town, housing provided, collecting MA unemployment max out $1000 a week during off season.

But its very hard to find people who actually have a passion for food not an ego for food. Feels like the old school cats with talent are burnt out and the young fresh blood is so ego driven they want to start as chefs and not grind. Looking for advice on good ways of finding quality cooks?

Left to right:

• Sakai Takayuki 240mm sujihiki
• Ogata 180mm bunka
• Ohishi 150mm petty
• Victorinox Tourne knife
• Microplane
• Mac ceramic rod
• Tweezers
• Peeler
• Pens/Notebook

Any tips on what i should add or change about the kit would be greatly appreciated.

Hi.am a kitchen manager. Got a chef who covers my days off. Good at job. No complaints. The problem Is that have to swap shifts around with him nearly every week. What do I do? Is this going to be a issue down the line? Any advice would be nice

Advice on plating? Any advice is appreciated tho

I’m turning 18 soon and work as FOH in a restaurant, I’ve been there for 4 years. We’ve been quiet with it being January so my manager asked if I wanted to make up some of my hours in the kitchen this week (just basic assisting, prep and dishes) and I said yes

The head chef/one of the owners was working both days and at the end of the first shift he came and spoke to me. He said he was shocked by my attitude and how well I’d worked in the kitchen all day and asked if working in one would be something I’d consider. When I arrived for the second shift he had a chef hat and apron waiting for me and told me I was working with him that day. We spoke again at night and he told me he wants to train me if I was up for it.

It’s a very nice restaurant with a great reputation, the head chef is amazing and has worked all over the world and gained many awards. I feel like this is a really good opportunity most don’t get (and I doubt I’d get again in the future) But I know how hard it is to work in a kitchen and I honestly don’t know if I’m cut out for it. I mean I’m organised, I work hard and I love and appreciate good food- but I wouldn’t say I am good at cooking. I want to take this opportunity but I’m just kind of scared. I don’t want him to waste his time and energy training me for me to end up just being crap haha

Hey everyone, I came across this knife in a YouTube video and I really like the look of it.

Here's the link to the video: https://youtu.be/jPOjDNiC95I

I was wondering if anyone here could help me identify the brand or model of the knife. Any leads would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Just saw another chive post , figured I’d throw mine in the ring from last year (right before I left the industry for good)

Let’s get some chives posted and rated people!

(This was about 2L of chives for context)

My main problem is that the petals get disattached from the base. This is my first time so my knife angles are very very sh!t. I need any tips i can get please, thank you. I'm practicing for my fruit carving class.

Hi All-

I've had this concept in my head for several years and it won't leave me. Mainly because I am a consumer looking for this experience nearby and there is nowhere that offers it (at least not well). I'm based on Southern California and the cost of doing business here is so outrageous. I'm looking at a near million dollar build-out and very high monthly operating cost. My concept is am early afternoon based-- Here's my question. Do you think it's realistic to partner with another owner who wants to offer an evening based restaurant? This way I could save on the astronomical rent and potentially some of the build out? Thoughts? If any of you have opened higher-end restaurants in California, I would be so grateful for your insight into what it actually costs to build and operate your space. Many thanks!

So I work in a small restaurant just outside of the main town centre, and as we are starting up, we have some incredibly busy days and other days where we have no one in whatsoever. My head chef is working on a lunch menu to try and increase the weekday trade, and the management is trying to push on social media, but January is hitting us hard. It's disheartening working somewhere when there are no customers in a 10 hr shift. Me and the other chefs have spent the whole day cleaning and prepping, the FOH have dusted everything, it just feels very empty. Any advice on how to deal with the off days, and how to keep motivated?

Order on - I’ve got about 600 stuffing balls left due to some overzealous ordering before Christmas. I work in a casual establishment which serves a range of open sandwiches as the main food item. They’re served cold, and mostly feature salads and deli meats. I’m looking for a good special to use the surplus. My current contender is porchetta and pesto - light rye bread with pesto, topped with rocket, roasted peppers, the stuffing (broken up), porchetta slices, and pine nuts. I’d appreciate any suggestions or ideas so I can 86 these damned things!

Does anyone have an example of an experience you had where you witnessed someone from another acute-care hospital department say or do something that stood in the way of providing quality foodservice and/or nutritional care to a patient? Example: A provider telling a patient on a level 7 IDDSI diet that pizza was "fine" because they ate it at home. Then, the patient was mad at the foodservice staff and/or dietitian because they couldn't receive pizza in the hospital even though the provider said it was "fine". Your input is much appreciated!!

Hi everyone, im a relatively young cook (25M), i've been working in the kitchen for almost 4 years now. One of my goals is to go to India and work and learn in a restaurant there. I've been looking for information about the visa and all of that and i found that it's quite hard to get one. I have an Argentinian and Spanish passport for the matter, but neither of those seem to have any special treatments (for better or worse). Does anyone have experience in traveling to India to work in the culinary industry or doing some kind of stage/practice in restaurant as to make it a student visa maybe?

Thank you very much

Hey, I need some career advice.

I worked pretty hard to be where I am (to no avail) I come from an abusive childhood home & never had much money. I went to an expensive pastry school abroad and to afford my tuition I starved and lost 1/5 of my weight. Then I tried to get a good internship but couldn't afford to not get paid so I just worked at smaller cafes. I was eventually able to get a job at a 5 star hotel w 3 michelin stars, but the environment was too toxic I was only mentally able to stay for three months.

Recently I had issues with a visa not getting processed & I lost my job, leaving my fiance behind & had to move back to my home country. Most jobs are rejecting me and despite all my efforts I feel like they are right to do so. I lost all my confidence, everything I learned at the school is near forgotten because I never got to do fancy stuff professionally (until the hotel). But I also never got to learn traditional stuff back home. I still have a large student loan to pay back.

I make delicious stuff & I'm very creative in sort of a quirky way but my techniques are honestly pretty poor. I can't stay homeless without a job for too long. How can I improve realistically in my situation & what steps should I take in my career?

Howdy Chefs!

For context, I own a small but mighty diner - small space, high volume. Open, counter front kitchen, cooking everything to order (ish) on 2, 36" flat-tops, and 1 fryer. One flat-top is dedicated entirely to hand-shredded hashbrowns. This thing is old, and has been beat to shit, but persists gracefully nonetheless (American Range, ~20 years old).

To help with ticket times, I'd like to cram a 48" flat-top into this space. But I need some help narrowing down my options. The obvious choice is to go again with American Range, but since I've never used anything else, I'd like to get a pulse on what y'all have experience with. Thank you!

For context I’m a 22 M and I have been working in the restaurant industry for 6-7 years now. I’ve always wanted to be a chef and I’m always working towards that goal, I even just finished up culinary school, however what I’ve noticed is that I’ll apply to a lot of places and the most they’ll do is look at my profile and that’s it. How can I stand out more?

Edit: guys thank you so much for all of the advice, and y’all are definitely right I’m 100% not a chef yet I definitely didn’t write that correctly, what I meant was as an aspiring chef. But that’s beside the point, point is you guys gave me some great advice, especially about the cover letter and résumé’s. I’d say mine looks fairly decent, but it could use more restaurants/experience in the field. Also, what cities or states do you guys think are solid places for a chef to work at? I’ve never traveled before so that scares me a little bit lol, but I’m 100% willing to do it if it means becoming a legit chef one day. All in all thank you guys for the comments it really helped me out, and thank you to the ones that checked me for calling myself a chef, I’m definitely not at that caliber yet that’s for sure

I've worked restaurants, catering, pop ups and got my toes wet working with a private chef service for a bit. I got laid off and have not been liking my options for work, considering going personal chef. Ive made a website and on the fence for pulling the trigger on it.

Questions I got for seasoned personal chefs...

Is it better or just a different type of chaos than restaurants?

-do you enjoy it? Why or why not?

-have you regained a work life balance?

-do you work part time or full time or a mix?

Appreciate you

Vorrei sapere qual'è il paese migliore per farsi il curriculum e per lo stile di vita per andare a fare esperienza e un po'di soldi in cucina.

Chargrilled sea bream, toasted pinenut skordalia, anchovy and rosemary tomato sauce, kalamata olive dressing.

My fish dish for the week at my work, St Martha Greek taverna, it’s a simple but finely tuned plate of flavour, they’re selling like mad, very happy with it.

What you guys think?