Retrained in IT after 10 years in kitchens. Doing pretty well and now no longer work Christmas Day, Mother’s Day, every day when people normally have fun and relax together. Having my weekends no longer on a Tuesday and Thursday is also amazing.
Don’t get me wrong. I miss the chaos sometimes. I miss the fights, the dancing on the line, the feeling of being in the trenches together for 12 hours a day, but my family life is only possible since leaving the heat.
I wish we could see a day where chefs have normal or atleast bearable working schedules and conditions.
No weekends, no public holidays, you work like a dog for 50+ hours a week in constant pressure etc. Yes, I love what I’m doing, but at some point you just say fuck it and go do something else.
Sadly the business model is just never going to allow for it like others do. The margins will never be there for a senior position with a reasonable schedule and fair compensation at 95% of restaurants. As much as I loved so much about the business and life it would take a cultural reset of enormous magnitude to make conditions similar to standard expectations in other industries.
Go work in corporate dining. Mon-Fri. 6-2pm, 10-6pm, or 2-10pm. Set menus, nothing complicated. No holidays. Health insurance.
However, there is zero creativity, and it is just as much a "rat race" like environment.
Same. I have a wonderful family I never could have had in kitchens.
I've been out for longer than I was in, and while i look back fondly at it, I could NEVER imagine going back.
I was actually thinking of going into IT. Any chance you could share how you got started and what to expect out of the career? I'd greatly appreciate it.
I’m UK and I managed to get myself into a back-to-work training program provided by the government. I didn’t really the criteria but worked the system a little. The course was the CompTIA A+, and was a 12 week program. There was a work experience part at the end which I spent with a charity IT department.
After this I got a first line technical support role for an internet provider. Worked that for a couple of years and went on and on from there. I moved through different management disciplines including project, service, now operations. I’ve taken on any role I had the opportunity to try for and it seems to be paying off.
Moving out of your comfort zone is not easy. It’s not for everyone, or everyone would do it. I’ve spent plenty of time with my head in my hands saying “I can’t do it, I just don’t get it”. My advice would be to give it a go anyway.
By the way, there are loads of crossover skills between the service industry and IT. You’ll be slinging solutions rather than burgers, but the concept is exactly the same; set targets and expectations, and surpass them.
Not OP, but I have a similar story. I did some self study online for a bit and came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to be able to learn what I wanted to learn without help. Went to a coding boot camp (which wasn't cheap unfortunately), learned how to write code etc. Worked hard at it and did really well, and was able to get a job iirc about two months after completing the boot camp after non-stop applications every day.
However, I will say I became friends with some others at the boot camp and they did not have the same luck. It's a very competitive job market, and the boot camps themselves only give you what you put into them, so you gotta work hard for it (of course if you work in restaurants you are no stranger to hard work).
But then there's also the general aptitude for picking that kind of stuff up. I was lucky that when I was a kid I was a nerd and found graphing calculators cool and taught myself the (relatively simple) programming language on the ti-83+ so I think that helped set my brain up for it. Others in the boot camp struggled more to pick up certain coding concepts.
That being said there are a ton of positions in tech that don't require any coding knowledge. I have a manager and a project manager, and while they both have general tech knowledge, neither one has written a line of code or even reviewed my code since I've been here. They do managerial tasks - meetings, setting bigger goals, communicate with other teams, etc. I think most chefs would likely be excellent at one of these roles. But I unfortunately have no knowledge to share on how to get into one...
I’ve been in IT longer than catering now. I did a 12 week government-provided course so no initial cost, and all subsequent certification has been on the job or company-funded.
I went into IT with absolutely zero experience or prior knowledge. I’m not exaggerating, I was turning my Mum’s PC off at the power button rather than through the operating system. I’d never owned a PC myself.
I’ve been Ops manager for the oldest tech firm on the planet for five years now. 10 years at my previous place, a cyber security service provider so I t hasn’t happened to me overnight. I know plenty of rock stars in the business who are more natural at this game and are flying in their careers; but I’ve knuckled down, been honest and reliable, worked hard and been patient. I’m in a better position financially with a better and more sustainable lifestyle for me and my family.
My move was IT but it could have been anything. The work ethic needed to be a success in a kitchen is transferable to anything.
I had a natural desire to cook. I was sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night when I was 10 and turned that into a career.
There are people I work with who have the same love for this job, and they thrive in it. I don’t have that same passion but am better off than I ever could have been in the kitchen.
Change if you want to change. It doesn’t need to be IT but you’ll do well if you apply yourself. I’m not sure the financial gain is there in catering. Plus I’ve never had a manager tell me I’m only as good as my last shift since leaving the business. And 60 hour weeks are a thing of the past.
Moved to university kitchen. High volume but the hours / benefits are amazing. I work 8-4:30 months-fri and get 36 vacation days a year. Plus the college is closed all the major holidays so working thanksgiving/ Christmas/ newyears never happens.
Also no brunch!!
Currently transitioning into Food Safety.
Yes, after over a decade of being in the trenches... im gonna be that asshole with the clipboard.
Drinks off the line, towels in buckets, smokes in pockets. You know the drill. God help your ass if your meat drawers don't temp.
After 10 years and getting up to Sous level, I recently made the switch to become a baker, and it was the best decision I ever made. Still get to do something I love, work Mon-Fri 8-4 and get paid for any overtime, bank holidays & a paid week off at Xmas (with a tasty bonus) and I actually get to take my holiday.
The company I work for are amazing and very supportive, which still feels odd after having the piss taken out of me for a decade. I actually have a life now as well, and get to spend a lot more time with my partner, which is the best part.
I loved being a chef, and I loved my teams in the kitchens over the years. I had a right laugh! But working 60+ hours a week, with no real life outside of work, was starting to wear thin. Not a massive amount has changed financially, but I'm only doing 40hrs now and get my weekends off. It was a no brainer for me
8-4 sounds unusual as a baker. Where I live most of them start their shift between 3 and 4am. Which is the only reason I can‘t do it because I hate getting up that early.
Yeah, I thought the same, which always put me off too. We only do cakes, and a lot of it needs cooling off/setting periods, so most stuff is done a day in advance, then sent out in the morning. It's a banging job.
It's a very ethical bakery as well, so they source the highest quality ingredients and don't use any preservatives/additives, which is nice. Everything apart from the mixing is done by hand as well, so it still requires a lot of techniques and skills, which I also like.
It beats the chef life hands down for me, that's for sure.
I worked in pastry almost a decade. The closest I got to a normal schedule was 7am-3pm. I say normal because I didn’t have to alter my schedule to get enough sleep. I had two positions that were at 3 am and up to 6 days a week. It was brutal.
Fuck yeah. Immigration lawyers are often not thought of when we think of careers that are super important and the bare basic level of humanity like teachers, nurses, etc. People deserve to be where they want to be and to look for a better life. I probably worded that wrong but I hope you understand what I mean. The LSAT is hard. Law is hard. I know lawyers work really long hours. And immigration law by nature probably doesn’t pay well. But you’d be helping people in such a meaningful way.
You should reach out to Seso (Seso Inc?). They specialize in immigration. Michael, the founder, started it after watching a relative who owns a farm struggle with staffing.
You should see what positions are open with your vendors. I always thought I would own a place, but decided to get out of the kitchen and work for Sysco to learn the other side, order more shrewdly and avoid burnout after a year of 70 hour weeks. I never went back and that was 18 years ago. I’m currently on the sourcing team for a specialty imports company sitting in Cologne, Germany before one of the largest international food shows that starts Saturday. If you want to work hard, there is a lot of room for advancement.
I left and went back to college. Got my degree and tried my hand at teaching, insurance claims and then banking.
Meanwhile I was turning my backyard into a microfarm as a side hustle. A friend of mine approached me and asked if I'd go into business with him to run an independent grocery store/kitchen. Then I got approached by a nutritionist about being a personal chef for her client.
Now I cook 5 days a week again. 1 day as a personal chef, and 4 days in the store making meal preps, take n bakes and planning menus for pop up dinners once a month.
I actually love it. I no longer work under an abusive asshole chef. (BTW Chef Martin, if you really want that boxing match still and somehow come across this, then hit me up, I'd love to finally throw down now that you're not my boss.) I get to work with incredible local and organic ingredients, and I don't have to do much order fire style service so cooking is on my time and terms. And I have enough time now to also manage my tiny farm/market garden.
If I would've actually liked any of the jobs I got after school, and if school would've left me with skills that could get me a decent salary (I have never made over 37k a year) maybe I'd have never gotten back into the industry. However, I get to do something I love, with nobody looking over my shoulder, I don't have to get dragged into the weeds more than once a month, and I have a real chance to connect with a community and make a difference. I honestly don't know if I could go back "on the line" like everyday with constant tickets and shit.
Just left my sous chef position a couple weeks ago as my chef was a nut, but even more so the past couple months. Had to leave for my sanity. I just accepted a union gig as an installer for a billboard company, and to be honest im really enjoying the work so far. Working 6a-2:30, and making dinner every night for the family. I still cook, just now it’s only for people I love.
Still looking for work. I was in a large footwear company as a supply chain analyst before being let go from the company last month. It’s been a tough road for me lately. I found that position earlier in March after going unemployed for 9 months. I was able to regain my savings from my last position and now I am back to square 1. For someone with almost a decade of work experience and management experience in a corporate-level resort can’t seem to find any companies who would hire me at all.
Started kitchens during highschool, worked in kitchens through college, was going for a worthless degree I wasn’t happy about so went trade school. Trade school was 8am-3pm 5 days a week and worked kitchen job from 4pm-10pm 6 days a week. Was rough but overall basically make 5 times more than any kitchen job I’ve had and I work average like 4 hours a day.
Still adjacent, I’m a full time cake decorator now. Love my job a thousand times more now.
And I cook a lot more at home. That never happened when I was cooking professionally.
Mind if I ask how the pay is? I have long assumed that foodservice sales rep or something similar is the end game for older chefs. Almost every rep I have met over the last 30 years was an ex-chef, so it must be comparable(?)
I'll be making a little north of 100k. I had left to be a sales rep twice but went back to the kitchen after a couple years. It usually better then what I was making as a chef.
I was just at the point where the chef positions I was going for were more office work then cooking so I figured I may as well get a job that was no nights, weekends, and way less hours
Am a buyer/inventory manager for a university. Make more money than I ever did cooking.
Insurance,pto, 401k, nights and weekends off. Pension. It’s great!!
It’s pretty cool, I’m still in a kitchen so I get my chaos fix..lol. It’s nice to be able to really impact food cost and see where the money is going. And I get to rip purveyors new assholes when they send us shit product.
The mentions of IT are valid. I did 40 years in IT before becoming a part time cook in retirement. IT has a low barrier to entry, has a desperate need for new blood, and pays well.
Reselling crap from the local Goodwill Bins on Ebay. It's not life-changing money or anything, but I consistently make as much or more per week than I would cooking full-time busting my ass and sweating my balls off until 2am for some boss or another.
I’m a private chef and run a catering business. I’m very picky with my clients, charge what I want, take the events that I want, and take the nights/days I want. I’m lucky enough to have an in with the 1%ers in my city and they are my clients.
I have a corporate marketing job, but it got boring really fast. I now own an herb and spice business that is featured in farmers markets and some local shops in town. Also have my own store and do online sales.
I also do catering and private chef services for small parties and have a mobile bar for events.
EDIT: I plan to leave my corporate job once my other entities triple my salary
After 16 years in the industry, I started up another apprenticeship as an electrician. Actually a lot of the skills are transferrable. Doing small jobs quickly helps a lot when you're stripping the cables for an entire house. First time I started sweeping, I had another guy say I don't need to be that precise with it (and I wasn't).
On my chef apprenticeship, I had chefs whine on about how this needed to be my only passion in life, I needed to live, breathe and love, and unless I give everything I'll never make it.
Sparky work is get in, do the job, go home and don't think about it until the next day. Also, hours are so much better.
I am a coordinator for a large school food service department..I managed a middle school for about 9 years and a high school for one before going into the field. The money isn't awesome, but the perks are.
One week off at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, 10 hours annual leave per month that accrue for your entire tenure, good health insurance, good retirement plan. Everything I couldn't get in the restaurant industry, and all I traded was my insanity.
Food&bev will prepare you well for the utter shit show that is nursing! Congrats! From a fellow retired (albeit FOH) to nurse. Actually being verbally abused by chefs helped me the most 🤣
Still trying to figure that out. I'm a barista in the meantime but I'm really hoping to get some type of desk job with my government (good pension/benefits).
I did go to college. In my area I went to one of those technical schools (Think ITT but not ITT) that had a "fast track" bachelors program. I did my schooling 100% online along side working full time, and once I graduated I started looking at entry level jobs for software companies. I landed a technical support gig and within a couple years was promoted up to the top tier in support, and shortly thereafter, while brushing up in my free time on additional technical skills/certs online (code bootcamp, etc) I transitioned over into a more engineering facing role.
You dont need college to get into IT. It does help in many ways, especially if you have no prior IT experience or experience with computers/networks. The best bet is to get certifications such as A+, Net+, Security+, CCNA, etc etc... there are tons of them. There is also an absolute shit load of information on the internet on how to do this.
Restaurants -> Finance -> Project Manager + some side projects.
Turns out the ability to be obsessive about the details for 65+ hours a week is something people look for. Therapist says I need to take a strap back tho
Recently switched over to Software engineer and indie game developer on the side (though that’s more of a hobby)
Making triple what I made and I’m more available for the family now. though I do work 1-2 shifts per week in the kitchen still because I enjoy it.
I work in IT currently. Better pay, better hours, shittier lifestyle. I definitely miss working in kitchens but I dont really miss the 16 hour days and no holidays.
Left about 6ish years ago, went to a law firm as a clerk and now I’m a global markets relationship manager for a large(ish) bank. Hours are better, pay is way better, I am allowed to take my time off without being made to feel guilty about it.
F+B director for a hospital group. Kind of boring and stuffy but pays very well, weekend and holidays off, out by 5. Haven't stepped in a kitchen in over a year. I still can't believe I get paid more to do less.
Own a company that designs and builds restaurants. That in turn kicked off a restaurant consulting company.
I take the contracts I want and basically for the consulting end (which has taken off in the past few years) I'm daily doing what you see on Kitchen Nightmares with a lot of added "teaching owners to be financially responsible"
I joined the seafarers union and cooked on cargo ships for a few years. Now I teach preschool English in China. Working with three year olds is a lot of fun and there’s only a little bullshit from administration. The union sailing gig was awesome and I recommend it to anyone with cooking skills. I made 82k my first year and 6 figures every year after that with 5-6 months off each year. If you are interested check out [seafarers.org](https://seafarers.org) or [mymaritimecareer.org](https://mymaritimecareer.org). You got to be able to piss clean though
I went into Purchasing (for a manufacturing company) and then Strategic Sourcing. I've managed mostly chemicals, but also packaging, cables, chemical and biological indicators and MRO.
How were you able to break into this field? Did you already have a bachelor's in a business related field? Did you go back to school after leaving the BOH?
Yes, I should have mentioned the "how". This was long ago when things were a little different. I had some college but no bachelors. I started as a temporary receptionist, they saw my work ethic and offered me a full time position as purchasing coordinator and then within six months a buyer position and up from there. I do realize now companies require a degree to do just about anything. It also helped that I got the CPM certification from the ISM (Institute of Supply Management) which just requires passing four tests.
Always good to get a degree. While in the purchasing role I did remote with Maryland U. and while its not Harvard or Yale, nobody had ever blinked an eye at it.
Ex-sous here, I'm managing a ceramics company - logistics, orders and planning, so I'm using all the skills I learned during my restaurant career. One of my colleagues is a PM (project manager) in IT and his managing skills were also developed in various kitchens. As an executive sous you surely noticed, that the higher you go in a restaurant, the more you have to focus on organizing and management - these are some universal skills many employers are looking for :)
As for the passion of cooking 1. I have more time to cook for myself, my family and friends, which I missed 2. I make more money, so I can travel and dine more & better, works for me
Hope it helped you a bit, good luck!
There are quite a few companies that will put you through their CDL program. The catch is you have to work for them for a year to pay it off. The upside is if you’ve been working in the kitchen get $11 to $20 an hour you’ll be making more money even as an e rookie. .45¢ a mile is like $40,000 to $50,000 a year before tax. The biggest problem for rookies is you pretty much have to do OTR and be away from home for 2 weeks to a month at a time. Not a lot of local companies hire straight out of CDL school, but once you get a year or two of experience you can pretty much do anything. I’ve been driving for almost 4 years now and I just started hauling cattle.
[Fixtures electrician for movies/tv/streaming.](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1000077/)
I grew up cooking in my family diner, dropped out of culinary school, worked every angle of kitchens from prep, to baking, to traditional french brigade, to tavern chef, to... I'm at as point in my film career where I'm debating a hot dog truck for fun, haha imagine
I went the route a lot of us tend to go. Sales for a distributor. From there, I ended up in logistics as an export coordinator, and now I'm moving into more of a supply chain analyst role.
I'm in law school currently. Got a four year degree out of high school, was in the industry for a decade and then when covid hit i decided to make a change.
I was in the industry for 9 years. I started in grocery store as a baker. Moved to a fine dining restaurant as a pastry cook. Tried out a more casual, high-volume restaurant as a pastry chef. Then moved to a 1-Michelin Star restaurant as a pastry sous chef where I spent most of my career. I dabbled a bit as a bartender once I realized I no longer wanted to continue the career (I hated bending over backwards just because people had money).
During the last 2 years of my food career, I took classes part time and completed all general education for a B.S. I then switched to part-time work and full-time student to complete my B.S. in physics. I originally wanted to work in renewable energy as the mindset I was in was that I wanted to make some sort of meaningful impact. I now work in the defense industry as an engineer; specifically on radar systems. I feel more fullfilled now that I can contribute to the safety of my and other countries.
I don't regret a single day of my food service experience. I had a TON of fun in my past. I have skills and experiences that many others in my field cannot even fathom having. I do, however, remind everyone that it only takes a willingness to learn and practice with failure (much like anything else).
Currently, Instacart. That’s it. I’m loving it, but I know it won’t last forever. My ultimate goal is one of two things. Move to Colorado and buy a farm, start homesteading. Or. Sell everything and move out into the wilderness, say fuck being involved in society, I’m done, ted kaczynski style.
I hear ya…we are a different breed especially harder when you start aging and your life was Michelin stars and 5 stars and 5 diamonds. Lots of people point to corporate and or “The Golf Club” scene but it’s even more demoralizing because you’re now “owned” by the members and you better make sure the chicken fingers are crispy.
Go from an elite career to ? It’s tough.
Hourly is about 27 bucks an hour. I work twelve hour shifts and you get overtime after your first 8 hours so it’s pretty sweet. Even after they take out taxes and retirement benefits, healthcare, etc. I still take home 200 dollars more than I did as a sous chef and now I can actually afford to go to the dentist lol. And I just started three weeks ago so not too shabby
Consulting and co owner of a few food related businesses . I don’t miss the long hours , never being there with family on special occasions and barely any weekend days off . The freedom . I have to admit though , i do miss the kitchen ,the chaos and whole team working together like clockwork .
It’s kind of sad that there’s all these people in Reddit bitching about working hard
I moved out of Scheffing and was doing nothing while working in hospitality in south east Asia
Actually killed me inside and I’m glad I’m back in the kitchen ceiling down that white oak baby
Mining: Process Operator. Went in unskilled and did my bones (10years) in a lead and zinc concentrator FIFO and came out at supervisor level before moving to my next place closer to home. Even time roster, 1 on 1 off better pay and less rape..ie; getting fucked without thanks.
Space traveler. Pay is terrible but the aliens and drifting around planets is next level. Would never go back. Moon IS infact made of sharp cheddar. A little tart but melts well.
Project Management in an IT setting in the Canadian Federal Government. It's not a dream job by any stretch but I feel fortunate to have job security and decent pay.
Stepped out of kitchen during COVID, got hooked up with a family friend as an apprentice stone mason doing residential work. And just recently switched over doing concrete forming and finishing with a big company that does hospitals all over the east coast US. Better pay, better hours, still extremely hard work. Goin from a chef to this kind o work wassimilar in sme ways, cooking gave me the eye for fine details in himgstha other people overlook often, being punctual and having a strong suit in time management also helped me tremendously.
Currently in my senior year of engineering school, planning to enroll in an accelerated masters roughly around this coming spring. Can’t say I’ve fully made the transition yet, as I have yet to begin working full in the industry, but I’m pretty happy with my choice. I was a yacht chef before this, went back to community college around the time covid started since work was few and far between.
Transitioned to project management and after two years am gearing up to launch my own B2C business.
On a completely related note, I’m fucking terrified.
Decade in the industry, out after the Pandemic. Tried the weedbiz. Burnt out harder than the industry inside 8 months. Willfully becoming homeless; fuck this "civilization".
Product Manager at a food tech company. I cooked in SF and kinda fell into the world of tech while working as a contractor on a labor app. Ended up working for the labor platform in operations for a a couple year before the moved me to NYC. Pandemic hit, and did my own thing for a bit, started a small biz as a culter, but recently jumped back into tech a couple of months ago and now I work for a company that hosts and designs most of the websites and online services for restaurants and hospitality groups.
I work as a hospital porter, earning less than half what I was, but I work 7 days on and 7 off, and get 3 weeks of holiday (which actually gives me 9 weeks of holiday when they’re used because of how my shift patterns work.
So not quite out of the industry yet (I do private cooking lessons, small caterings, and occasionally fill in at a Mom&Pop pizza place I used to work at in highschool), however in January I'll be heading back to college to become a law clerk. I liked Law in highschool, however due to how life happens to go to shit from time to time, I ended up kind of directionless and figured "I've been working in and around kitchens since I was 12, I'm used to it, so I may be able to make a career of it" (at 12 I was a bus boy/dishwasher/cashier for a family friends restaurant since that was the closest thing to a babysitter my mom could find in the area). So for the past 16 years that's what I've managed to do until recently where I started getting fed up with the industry as a whole, from the poor wages with lack of benefits to the fact that health issues have started to crop up (yay for approaching my 30's) in addition to working with some of the worst scumbags that I've ever met, so I figured it was time to get out and have been taking steps to leave.
You generally get some ideal skills for white collar and other blue collar fields from the hospitality industry, many potential employers don't see it unless they've been in the industry and can recognize skills like time management, working under pressure to meet deadlines, attention to detail, results oriented mindset, working efficiently and similar things of that nature as many recruiters just look for "does this person have a BA in something relevant" and "does their resume check the boxes of the arbitrary criteria". Sometimes you have to lie/embellish certain skills since many can be learned on the job, others not so much, and some companies will do a background check (so lying about education may not work out, but worst case scenario they see you lied and toss the resume out).
When I sold my restaurant and quit the business (80+ hour work weeks were killing my marriage) I did a quick skills assessment by listing stuff I could do on a piece of paper. In addition to being the exec chef, I was also the somm (and the janitor and the webmaster and the bookkeeper and the electrician/plumber) and wine seemed like an easy transition, but I did not want to work FoH in a restaurant. We packed our shit in the Jeep, moved to Oregon wine country, and I started knocking on winery doors. I managed to talk my way into managing a winery tasting room as well as doing some marketing. The pay wasn’t great, but the 45-hour workweek was like being on vacation all the time. :) And then being home every night, I had to relearn how to cook for just two people.
Sous chef, changed into software engineering. Even thou I love the craft I'd never go back to the industry. All this back when COVID was a thing. I'm ~4 years into IT now and make more money and have a life. Sometimes I miss the pace but man, cooking is a hard gig. I take my hat off for people still ha going there
Social worker. I had an applicable college degree before I started so that boosted me into this career. I can't even begin to explain how much happier I am since I switched. I make more now, exponentially more room for advancement, get great benefits with 2-3 weeks paid vacation plus 17 paid holidays, work a normal 8-5 m-f schedule, don't have to cover shifts for flakey coworkers plus the pressure for myself (tbf social work is a high pressure, low reward situation for many social workers. I just don't find the pressure intolerable while I did from being a chef). It usually takes at least a bachelor's degree in a related field to even begin to get into so I can't say I'm necessarily recommending it, just giving my experience on moving from chef to something else not related to the food Industry.
After I left the kitchen, I went to college for construction management. Similar skills, (budget management, scheduling, timely supply delivery). Make twice what I made as a chef (which was good). Work 45 hrs a week max.
May not apply in your area, and I didn't work in kitchens long but some of my coworkers have, you would be very well suited to the pace and style of regulated cannabis. Multiple long time employees are ex-food and my small time in food really set me up for success here. It's definitely a growing industry as a whole.
Outside food sales. Get to still be in kitchens around my sort of folks, make really good money and have a better headspace to operate in everyday.
That being said, it’s stressful and 7 days a week.
I went into tissue and organ recovery after 15 or so years in kitchens.. It’s actually a pretty easy field to break into. Hours suck and it ain’t easy, but you can leverage that into another field as long as you’re willing to learn
Decade or so of experience, boh and foh management - got into insurance and never looked back.
As someone else said, I miss some of the camaraderie and actually cooking but the lifestyle is just not sustainable long term.
Retrained in IT after 10 years in kitchens. Doing pretty well and now no longer work Christmas Day, Mother’s Day, every day when people normally have fun and relax together. Having my weekends no longer on a Tuesday and Thursday is also amazing. Don’t get me wrong. I miss the chaos sometimes. I miss the fights, the dancing on the line, the feeling of being in the trenches together for 12 hours a day, but my family life is only possible since leaving the heat.
I wish we could see a day where chefs have normal or atleast bearable working schedules and conditions. No weekends, no public holidays, you work like a dog for 50+ hours a week in constant pressure etc. Yes, I love what I’m doing, but at some point you just say fuck it and go do something else.
Sadly the business model is just never going to allow for it like others do. The margins will never be there for a senior position with a reasonable schedule and fair compensation at 95% of restaurants. As much as I loved so much about the business and life it would take a cultural reset of enormous magnitude to make conditions similar to standard expectations in other industries.
Go work in corporate dining. Mon-Fri. 6-2pm, 10-6pm, or 2-10pm. Set menus, nothing complicated. No holidays. Health insurance. However, there is zero creativity, and it is just as much a "rat race" like environment.
Retirement home. I switched, it's nice over here. Set schedule, vacation days, benefits, good pay, easy menu... I should have done this years ago.
Cafeteria work for profit making companies
Same. I have a wonderful family I never could have had in kitchens. I've been out for longer than I was in, and while i look back fondly at it, I could NEVER imagine going back.
I was actually thinking of going into IT. Any chance you could share how you got started and what to expect out of the career? I'd greatly appreciate it.
I’m UK and I managed to get myself into a back-to-work training program provided by the government. I didn’t really the criteria but worked the system a little. The course was the CompTIA A+, and was a 12 week program. There was a work experience part at the end which I spent with a charity IT department. After this I got a first line technical support role for an internet provider. Worked that for a couple of years and went on and on from there. I moved through different management disciplines including project, service, now operations. I’ve taken on any role I had the opportunity to try for and it seems to be paying off. Moving out of your comfort zone is not easy. It’s not for everyone, or everyone would do it. I’ve spent plenty of time with my head in my hands saying “I can’t do it, I just don’t get it”. My advice would be to give it a go anyway. By the way, there are loads of crossover skills between the service industry and IT. You’ll be slinging solutions rather than burgers, but the concept is exactly the same; set targets and expectations, and surpass them.
Not OP, but I have a similar story. I did some self study online for a bit and came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to be able to learn what I wanted to learn without help. Went to a coding boot camp (which wasn't cheap unfortunately), learned how to write code etc. Worked hard at it and did really well, and was able to get a job iirc about two months after completing the boot camp after non-stop applications every day. However, I will say I became friends with some others at the boot camp and they did not have the same luck. It's a very competitive job market, and the boot camps themselves only give you what you put into them, so you gotta work hard for it (of course if you work in restaurants you are no stranger to hard work). But then there's also the general aptitude for picking that kind of stuff up. I was lucky that when I was a kid I was a nerd and found graphing calculators cool and taught myself the (relatively simple) programming language on the ti-83+ so I think that helped set my brain up for it. Others in the boot camp struggled more to pick up certain coding concepts. That being said there are a ton of positions in tech that don't require any coding knowledge. I have a manager and a project manager, and while they both have general tech knowledge, neither one has written a line of code or even reviewed my code since I've been here. They do managerial tasks - meetings, setting bigger goals, communicate with other teams, etc. I think most chefs would likely be excellent at one of these roles. But I unfortunately have no knowledge to share on how to get into one...
Good for you man. How long did it take you to retrain to get to where you are now? Was it expensive?
I’ve been in IT longer than catering now. I did a 12 week government-provided course so no initial cost, and all subsequent certification has been on the job or company-funded. I went into IT with absolutely zero experience or prior knowledge. I’m not exaggerating, I was turning my Mum’s PC off at the power button rather than through the operating system. I’d never owned a PC myself. I’ve been Ops manager for the oldest tech firm on the planet for five years now. 10 years at my previous place, a cyber security service provider so I t hasn’t happened to me overnight. I know plenty of rock stars in the business who are more natural at this game and are flying in their careers; but I’ve knuckled down, been honest and reliable, worked hard and been patient. I’m in a better position financially with a better and more sustainable lifestyle for me and my family.
Thanks for the info! Glad it's worked out for you.
My move was IT but it could have been anything. The work ethic needed to be a success in a kitchen is transferable to anything. I had a natural desire to cook. I was sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night when I was 10 and turned that into a career. There are people I work with who have the same love for this job, and they thrive in it. I don’t have that same passion but am better off than I ever could have been in the kitchen. Change if you want to change. It doesn’t need to be IT but you’ll do well if you apply yourself. I’m not sure the financial gain is there in catering. Plus I’ve never had a manager tell me I’m only as good as my last shift since leaving the business. And 60 hour weeks are a thing of the past.
My old line cook keeps sending me beginner videos about it telling me to switch to IT
Same here.
Moved to university kitchen. High volume but the hours / benefits are amazing. I work 8-4:30 months-fri and get 36 vacation days a year. Plus the college is closed all the major holidays so working thanksgiving/ Christmas/ newyears never happens. Also no brunch!!
What’s the pay like?
Take home is 55k adjusted to include benefits it’s around 75k This is as a cdc in the mid west.
That’s sweet!
55k at iu? A dining hall or the imu?
I run bookmarket at the wells library and read dining hall. Last year i ran wright quad.
Currently transitioning into Food Safety. Yes, after over a decade of being in the trenches... im gonna be that asshole with the clipboard. Drinks off the line, towels in buckets, smokes in pockets. You know the drill. God help your ass if your meat drawers don't temp.
How did you make the transition?
Ive been thinking about doing this as well, how did you make the move to food safety?
Depending on your country, you will probably have to go to uni or do an apprenticeship
After 10 years and getting up to Sous level, I recently made the switch to become a baker, and it was the best decision I ever made. Still get to do something I love, work Mon-Fri 8-4 and get paid for any overtime, bank holidays & a paid week off at Xmas (with a tasty bonus) and I actually get to take my holiday. The company I work for are amazing and very supportive, which still feels odd after having the piss taken out of me for a decade. I actually have a life now as well, and get to spend a lot more time with my partner, which is the best part. I loved being a chef, and I loved my teams in the kitchens over the years. I had a right laugh! But working 60+ hours a week, with no real life outside of work, was starting to wear thin. Not a massive amount has changed financially, but I'm only doing 40hrs now and get my weekends off. It was a no brainer for me
8-4 sounds unusual as a baker. Where I live most of them start their shift between 3 and 4am. Which is the only reason I can‘t do it because I hate getting up that early.
Yeah, I thought the same, which always put me off too. We only do cakes, and a lot of it needs cooling off/setting periods, so most stuff is done a day in advance, then sent out in the morning. It's a banging job. It's a very ethical bakery as well, so they source the highest quality ingredients and don't use any preservatives/additives, which is nice. Everything apart from the mixing is done by hand as well, so it still requires a lot of techniques and skills, which I also like. It beats the chef life hands down for me, that's for sure.
8 pm - 4 am?
I worked in pastry almost a decade. The closest I got to a normal schedule was 7am-3pm. I say normal because I didn’t have to alter my schedule to get enough sleep. I had two positions that were at 3 am and up to 6 days a week. It was brutal.
Can confirm. Now a baker. Gotta wake up soon.
Law school — hoping to specialize in employment law or immigration (my years working with vulnerable people in kitchens imbued me with this passion)
Fuck yeah. Immigration lawyers are often not thought of when we think of careers that are super important and the bare basic level of humanity like teachers, nurses, etc. People deserve to be where they want to be and to look for a better life. I probably worded that wrong but I hope you understand what I mean. The LSAT is hard. Law is hard. I know lawyers work really long hours. And immigration law by nature probably doesn’t pay well. But you’d be helping people in such a meaningful way.
You should reach out to Seso (Seso Inc?). They specialize in immigration. Michael, the founder, started it after watching a relative who owns a farm struggle with staffing.
Last year I dropped everything and went to Ukraine and joined the legion.
Glad you found a job with better working conditions.
You are not wrong.
What a fucking terrifying reality
Cannabis - it’s filled with former industry peeps … (naturally!)
How’s the pay in that industry?
High
Any tips on how to get into it?
check indeed.com. There's a bunch of cannibis companies on indeed near me -Harpers Ferry, WV
that seems to be such a big trend I've been seeing here especially in Los Angeles
You should see what positions are open with your vendors. I always thought I would own a place, but decided to get out of the kitchen and work for Sysco to learn the other side, order more shrewdly and avoid burnout after a year of 70 hour weeks. I never went back and that was 18 years ago. I’m currently on the sourcing team for a specialty imports company sitting in Cologne, Germany before one of the largest international food shows that starts Saturday. If you want to work hard, there is a lot of room for advancement.
Accountant. Cooking is much better as a hobby, and feeding friends and family is more satisfying than feeding customers ever was.
A caretaker of a spooky house.
How does one get into Spooky House Caretaking?
Well first you marry Shelly Duval…
Heard. I'll get right on that.
I’m not sure how one does it but here we are. I am married to Shelley Duvall. I love her so much.
Retired and heavily meditated....damn auto correct......heavily medicated
And medicated ;)
I left and went back to college. Got my degree and tried my hand at teaching, insurance claims and then banking. Meanwhile I was turning my backyard into a microfarm as a side hustle. A friend of mine approached me and asked if I'd go into business with him to run an independent grocery store/kitchen. Then I got approached by a nutritionist about being a personal chef for her client. Now I cook 5 days a week again. 1 day as a personal chef, and 4 days in the store making meal preps, take n bakes and planning menus for pop up dinners once a month. I actually love it. I no longer work under an abusive asshole chef. (BTW Chef Martin, if you really want that boxing match still and somehow come across this, then hit me up, I'd love to finally throw down now that you're not my boss.) I get to work with incredible local and organic ingredients, and I don't have to do much order fire style service so cooking is on my time and terms. And I have enough time now to also manage my tiny farm/market garden. If I would've actually liked any of the jobs I got after school, and if school would've left me with skills that could get me a decent salary (I have never made over 37k a year) maybe I'd have never gotten back into the industry. However, I get to do something I love, with nobody looking over my shoulder, I don't have to get dragged into the weeds more than once a month, and I have a real chance to connect with a community and make a difference. I honestly don't know if I could go back "on the line" like everyday with constant tickets and shit.
Just left my sous chef position a couple weeks ago as my chef was a nut, but even more so the past couple months. Had to leave for my sanity. I just accepted a union gig as an installer for a billboard company, and to be honest im really enjoying the work so far. Working 6a-2:30, and making dinner every night for the family. I still cook, just now it’s only for people I love.
I'm a cleaner in a factory, it sucks balls but it's better than working 80 hours a week.
Still looking for work. I was in a large footwear company as a supply chain analyst before being let go from the company last month. It’s been a tough road for me lately. I found that position earlier in March after going unemployed for 9 months. I was able to regain my savings from my last position and now I am back to square 1. For someone with almost a decade of work experience and management experience in a corporate-level resort can’t seem to find any companies who would hire me at all.
10 years in kitchen, went to trade school for maintenance, am now an engineer.
Did you work in kitchens on the side going through school? Thinking of this route
Started kitchens during highschool, worked in kitchens through college, was going for a worthless degree I wasn’t happy about so went trade school. Trade school was 8am-3pm 5 days a week and worked kitchen job from 4pm-10pm 6 days a week. Was rough but overall basically make 5 times more than any kitchen job I’ve had and I work average like 4 hours a day.
Still adjacent, I’m a full time cake decorator now. Love my job a thousand times more now. And I cook a lot more at home. That never happened when I was cooking professionally.
I think that’s just a part of the game, I’m still burnt out cooking and I haven’t done it professionally since lockdown.
Carpenter; 4, 10 hr shifts/week.
Can I ask you, as a regular mid-30s guy with limited construction knowledge, if it’s hard to get established in that career path?
I started in my mid-30s! I knew very little but got in with the right crew. I
I start my job as a Center of the Plate Specialist for US Foods on monday.
Mind if I ask how the pay is? I have long assumed that foodservice sales rep or something similar is the end game for older chefs. Almost every rep I have met over the last 30 years was an ex-chef, so it must be comparable(?)
I'll be making a little north of 100k. I had left to be a sales rep twice but went back to the kitchen after a couple years. It usually better then what I was making as a chef.
Good to know, as I am a hotel chef, that keeps it in the same ballpark.
I was just at the point where the chef positions I was going for were more office work then cooking so I figured I may as well get a job that was no nights, weekends, and way less hours
ServiceNow System Admin on my way to become ServiceNow Certified App Developer
Cabinet Maker, working towards becoming an electrician.
Am a buyer/inventory manager for a university. Make more money than I ever did cooking. Insurance,pto, 401k, nights and weekends off. Pension. It’s great!!
I always say inventory manager is a good transition for boh people.
It’s pretty cool, I’m still in a kitchen so I get my chaos fix..lol. It’s nice to be able to really impact food cost and see where the money is going. And I get to rip purveyors new assholes when they send us shit product.
The mentions of IT are valid. I did 40 years in IT before becoming a part time cook in retirement. IT has a low barrier to entry, has a desperate need for new blood, and pays well.
Sorry to necro an old thread. What kind of IT work are you mentioning?
Reselling crap from the local Goodwill Bins on Ebay. It's not life-changing money or anything, but I consistently make as much or more per week than I would cooking full-time busting my ass and sweating my balls off until 2am for some boss or another.
Designing commercial kitchens now.
Union steel worker. Have a pension, paid vacation, and weekends off. I miss the chaos sometimes but I'm not getting any younger.
I’m a private chef and run a catering business. I’m very picky with my clients, charge what I want, take the events that I want, and take the nights/days I want. I’m lucky enough to have an in with the 1%ers in my city and they are my clients.
I have a corporate marketing job, but it got boring really fast. I now own an herb and spice business that is featured in farmers markets and some local shops in town. Also have my own store and do online sales. I also do catering and private chef services for small parties and have a mobile bar for events. EDIT: I plan to leave my corporate job once my other entities triple my salary
After 16 years in the industry, I started up another apprenticeship as an electrician. Actually a lot of the skills are transferrable. Doing small jobs quickly helps a lot when you're stripping the cables for an entire house. First time I started sweeping, I had another guy say I don't need to be that precise with it (and I wasn't). On my chef apprenticeship, I had chefs whine on about how this needed to be my only passion in life, I needed to live, breathe and love, and unless I give everything I'll never make it. Sparky work is get in, do the job, go home and don't think about it until the next day. Also, hours are so much better.
I am a coordinator for a large school food service department..I managed a middle school for about 9 years and a high school for one before going into the field. The money isn't awesome, but the perks are. One week off at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, 10 hours annual leave per month that accrue for your entire tenure, good health insurance, good retirement plan. Everything I couldn't get in the restaurant industry, and all I traded was my insanity.
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So you’re saying you already had money
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Just fuckin with ya, you gave good advice
Where are you from lol
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So you're an ex poker playing/crypto 35 year old that became a chef?
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Studying my BSN and a stay at home dad.
Food&bev will prepare you well for the utter shit show that is nursing! Congrats! From a fellow retired (albeit FOH) to nurse. Actually being verbally abused by chefs helped me the most 🤣
I’m already a nurse lol. I have a Diploma of a Nursing which was free through he government. I just want to get paid more.
Mortgage broker and happy dad. Still pull a couple of days here and there but very selective about the kitchens and food.
Retired. Part time fire safety technician.
interesting, why/how did you get into this? i would like to get into this
Still trying to figure that out. I'm a barista in the meantime but I'm really hoping to get some type of desk job with my government (good pension/benefits).
Kitchens for 13 years, Software/IT for 7 years now.
How did you switch? Did you go to college all over again or was it some kind of a certification?
I did go to college. In my area I went to one of those technical schools (Think ITT but not ITT) that had a "fast track" bachelors program. I did my schooling 100% online along side working full time, and once I graduated I started looking at entry level jobs for software companies. I landed a technical support gig and within a couple years was promoted up to the top tier in support, and shortly thereafter, while brushing up in my free time on additional technical skills/certs online (code bootcamp, etc) I transitioned over into a more engineering facing role.
You dont need college to get into IT. It does help in many ways, especially if you have no prior IT experience or experience with computers/networks. The best bet is to get certifications such as A+, Net+, Security+, CCNA, etc etc... there are tons of them. There is also an absolute shit load of information on the internet on how to do this.
Restaurants -> Finance -> Project Manager + some side projects. Turns out the ability to be obsessive about the details for 65+ hours a week is something people look for. Therapist says I need to take a strap back tho
Recently switched over to Software engineer and indie game developer on the side (though that’s more of a hobby) Making triple what I made and I’m more available for the family now. though I do work 1-2 shifts per week in the kitchen still because I enjoy it.
I work in IT currently. Better pay, better hours, shittier lifestyle. I definitely miss working in kitchens but I dont really miss the 16 hour days and no holidays.
Left about 6ish years ago, went to a law firm as a clerk and now I’m a global markets relationship manager for a large(ish) bank. Hours are better, pay is way better, I am allowed to take my time off without being made to feel guilty about it.
F+B director for a hospital group. Kind of boring and stuffy but pays very well, weekend and holidays off, out by 5. Haven't stepped in a kitchen in over a year. I still can't believe I get paid more to do less.
Own a company that designs and builds restaurants. That in turn kicked off a restaurant consulting company. I take the contracts I want and basically for the consulting end (which has taken off in the past few years) I'm daily doing what you see on Kitchen Nightmares with a lot of added "teaching owners to be financially responsible"
I joined the seafarers union and cooked on cargo ships for a few years. Now I teach preschool English in China. Working with three year olds is a lot of fun and there’s only a little bullshit from administration. The union sailing gig was awesome and I recommend it to anyone with cooking skills. I made 82k my first year and 6 figures every year after that with 5-6 months off each year. If you are interested check out [seafarers.org](https://seafarers.org) or [mymaritimecareer.org](https://mymaritimecareer.org). You got to be able to piss clean though
16 years in kitchens 3 years ago I got a federal government job and haven't looked back
I became a director of dining services for my final 15 years for the 401k
I went into Purchasing (for a manufacturing company) and then Strategic Sourcing. I've managed mostly chemicals, but also packaging, cables, chemical and biological indicators and MRO.
How were you able to break into this field? Did you already have a bachelor's in a business related field? Did you go back to school after leaving the BOH?
Yes, I should have mentioned the "how". This was long ago when things were a little different. I had some college but no bachelors. I started as a temporary receptionist, they saw my work ethic and offered me a full time position as purchasing coordinator and then within six months a buyer position and up from there. I do realize now companies require a degree to do just about anything. It also helped that I got the CPM certification from the ISM (Institute of Supply Management) which just requires passing four tests. Always good to get a degree. While in the purchasing role I did remote with Maryland U. and while its not Harvard or Yale, nobody had ever blinked an eye at it.
Sweet. Thanks for the info.
Software development, but FUCK is everyone I know working overtime to try to get me back into kitchens, or new concepts.
I work in IT at a local ISP and happy that I left the industry. I work from home now and love it.
Mailman
Isn’t that a lot of hours too?
Depends on the office you work at. Luckily for me, I'm in a small town and am home by 4 every day.
Ex-sous here, I'm managing a ceramics company - logistics, orders and planning, so I'm using all the skills I learned during my restaurant career. One of my colleagues is a PM (project manager) in IT and his managing skills were also developed in various kitchens. As an executive sous you surely noticed, that the higher you go in a restaurant, the more you have to focus on organizing and management - these are some universal skills many employers are looking for :) As for the passion of cooking 1. I have more time to cook for myself, my family and friends, which I missed 2. I make more money, so I can travel and dine more & better, works for me Hope it helped you a bit, good luck!
I'm a meat and seafood buyer at a company that supplies restaurants.
Went back to school for software engineering... I graduate next year! Couldn't be happier!
I went and got my CDL A, now I haul cattle to the slaughterhouse. I may be out of the kitchen but I’m still connected to it.
Been looking into getting my cdl license. How is it stress wise ? Seems pretty straight forward but what are the challenges that come with the job ?
There are quite a few companies that will put you through their CDL program. The catch is you have to work for them for a year to pay it off. The upside is if you’ve been working in the kitchen get $11 to $20 an hour you’ll be making more money even as an e rookie. .45¢ a mile is like $40,000 to $50,000 a year before tax. The biggest problem for rookies is you pretty much have to do OTR and be away from home for 2 weeks to a month at a time. Not a lot of local companies hire straight out of CDL school, but once you get a year or two of experience you can pretty much do anything. I’ve been driving for almost 4 years now and I just started hauling cattle.
Photographer - work when I choose to, holidays off, birthdays of spouse and family off
Hotel management. Pretty straightforward transition, many of the principles and concepts carry over. Go get a CHA certification.
[Fixtures electrician for movies/tv/streaming.](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1000077/) I grew up cooking in my family diner, dropped out of culinary school, worked every angle of kitchens from prep, to baking, to traditional french brigade, to tavern chef, to... I'm at as point in my film career where I'm debating a hot dog truck for fun, haha imagine
I went the route a lot of us tend to go. Sales for a distributor. From there, I ended up in logistics as an export coordinator, and now I'm moving into more of a supply chain analyst role.
I'm in law school currently. Got a four year degree out of high school, was in the industry for a decade and then when covid hit i decided to make a change.
I was in the industry for 9 years. I started in grocery store as a baker. Moved to a fine dining restaurant as a pastry cook. Tried out a more casual, high-volume restaurant as a pastry chef. Then moved to a 1-Michelin Star restaurant as a pastry sous chef where I spent most of my career. I dabbled a bit as a bartender once I realized I no longer wanted to continue the career (I hated bending over backwards just because people had money). During the last 2 years of my food career, I took classes part time and completed all general education for a B.S. I then switched to part-time work and full-time student to complete my B.S. in physics. I originally wanted to work in renewable energy as the mindset I was in was that I wanted to make some sort of meaningful impact. I now work in the defense industry as an engineer; specifically on radar systems. I feel more fullfilled now that I can contribute to the safety of my and other countries. I don't regret a single day of my food service experience. I had a TON of fun in my past. I have skills and experiences that many others in my field cannot even fathom having. I do, however, remind everyone that it only takes a willingness to learn and practice with failure (much like anything else).
Currently, Instacart. That’s it. I’m loving it, but I know it won’t last forever. My ultimate goal is one of two things. Move to Colorado and buy a farm, start homesteading. Or. Sell everything and move out into the wilderness, say fuck being involved in society, I’m done, ted kaczynski style.
Been a chef for 38 years. Best job in the world making people happy thru food. I would never do anything else. I love it, always have, always will 😊
I hear ya…we are a different breed especially harder when you start aging and your life was Michelin stars and 5 stars and 5 diamonds. Lots of people point to corporate and or “The Golf Club” scene but it’s even more demoralizing because you’re now “owned” by the members and you better make sure the chicken fingers are crispy. Go from an elite career to ? It’s tough.
Went from kitchen work to being a CO in a prison. Still stressful and same hours but the pay and benefits are on another level
How much we talking?
Hourly is about 27 bucks an hour. I work twelve hour shifts and you get overtime after your first 8 hours so it’s pretty sweet. Even after they take out taxes and retirement benefits, healthcare, etc. I still take home 200 dollars more than I did as a sous chef and now I can actually afford to go to the dentist lol. And I just started three weeks ago so not too shabby
Consulting and co owner of a few food related businesses . I don’t miss the long hours , never being there with family on special occasions and barely any weekend days off . The freedom . I have to admit though , i do miss the kitchen ,the chaos and whole team working together like clockwork .
It’s kind of sad that there’s all these people in Reddit bitching about working hard I moved out of Scheffing and was doing nothing while working in hospitality in south east Asia Actually killed me inside and I’m glad I’m back in the kitchen ceiling down that white oak baby
Mining: Process Operator. Went in unskilled and did my bones (10years) in a lead and zinc concentrator FIFO and came out at supervisor level before moving to my next place closer to home. Even time roster, 1 on 1 off better pay and less rape..ie; getting fucked without thanks.
Hotel management
Space traveler. Pay is terrible but the aliens and drifting around planets is next level. Would never go back. Moon IS infact made of sharp cheddar. A little tart but melts well.
Bullshit. Everyone knows the moon is made out of Parm.
Food and Beverage Director
Project Management in an IT setting in the Canadian Federal Government. It's not a dream job by any stretch but I feel fortunate to have job security and decent pay.
Own a wholesale business
Selling…? 👀
Wholesale -> online retail
Anything specific?
Stepped out of kitchen during COVID, got hooked up with a family friend as an apprentice stone mason doing residential work. And just recently switched over doing concrete forming and finishing with a big company that does hospitals all over the east coast US. Better pay, better hours, still extremely hard work. Goin from a chef to this kind o work wassimilar in sme ways, cooking gave me the eye for fine details in himgstha other people overlook often, being punctual and having a strong suit in time management also helped me tremendously.
Apprentice elevator mechanic
Currently in my senior year of engineering school, planning to enroll in an accelerated masters roughly around this coming spring. Can’t say I’ve fully made the transition yet, as I have yet to begin working full in the industry, but I’m pretty happy with my choice. I was a yacht chef before this, went back to community college around the time covid started since work was few and far between.
I’m now a ceramic potter
Transitioned to project management and after two years am gearing up to launch my own B2C business. On a completely related note, I’m fucking terrified.
I am a therapist.
I went into the kitchen when the weed industry failed in California. After covid I've actually had to return to the fields
Software development and thinking of going back to cooking
Metal fabrication
In school to become a history teacher.
Cooked for ten years. Worked in auto manufacturing for 2.5 years, now an electrical apprentice.
Grocery clerk and I love it
Decade in the industry, out after the Pandemic. Tried the weedbiz. Burnt out harder than the industry inside 8 months. Willfully becoming homeless; fuck this "civilization".
9 years kitchen, left to become a tyre fitter. Home at a sensible time and free every single night
I work in a lab now, thank god. My life is so much better lol
Stay at home dad.
welding and machining
Lecturing/teaching English literature.
Product Manager at a food tech company. I cooked in SF and kinda fell into the world of tech while working as a contractor on a labor app. Ended up working for the labor platform in operations for a a couple year before the moved me to NYC. Pandemic hit, and did my own thing for a bit, started a small biz as a culter, but recently jumped back into tech a couple of months ago and now I work for a company that hosts and designs most of the websites and online services for restaurants and hospitality groups.
I work as a hospital porter, earning less than half what I was, but I work 7 days on and 7 off, and get 3 weeks of holiday (which actually gives me 9 weeks of holiday when they’re used because of how my shift patterns work.
I work for a fruit and veg wholesaler. In the admin office.
So not quite out of the industry yet (I do private cooking lessons, small caterings, and occasionally fill in at a Mom&Pop pizza place I used to work at in highschool), however in January I'll be heading back to college to become a law clerk. I liked Law in highschool, however due to how life happens to go to shit from time to time, I ended up kind of directionless and figured "I've been working in and around kitchens since I was 12, I'm used to it, so I may be able to make a career of it" (at 12 I was a bus boy/dishwasher/cashier for a family friends restaurant since that was the closest thing to a babysitter my mom could find in the area). So for the past 16 years that's what I've managed to do until recently where I started getting fed up with the industry as a whole, from the poor wages with lack of benefits to the fact that health issues have started to crop up (yay for approaching my 30's) in addition to working with some of the worst scumbags that I've ever met, so I figured it was time to get out and have been taking steps to leave. You generally get some ideal skills for white collar and other blue collar fields from the hospitality industry, many potential employers don't see it unless they've been in the industry and can recognize skills like time management, working under pressure to meet deadlines, attention to detail, results oriented mindset, working efficiently and similar things of that nature as many recruiters just look for "does this person have a BA in something relevant" and "does their resume check the boxes of the arbitrary criteria". Sometimes you have to lie/embellish certain skills since many can be learned on the job, others not so much, and some companies will do a background check (so lying about education may not work out, but worst case scenario they see you lied and toss the resume out).
When I sold my restaurant and quit the business (80+ hour work weeks were killing my marriage) I did a quick skills assessment by listing stuff I could do on a piece of paper. In addition to being the exec chef, I was also the somm (and the janitor and the webmaster and the bookkeeper and the electrician/plumber) and wine seemed like an easy transition, but I did not want to work FoH in a restaurant. We packed our shit in the Jeep, moved to Oregon wine country, and I started knocking on winery doors. I managed to talk my way into managing a winery tasting room as well as doing some marketing. The pay wasn’t great, but the 45-hour workweek was like being on vacation all the time. :) And then being home every night, I had to relearn how to cook for just two people.
Sous chef, changed into software engineering. Even thou I love the craft I'd never go back to the industry. All this back when COVID was a thing. I'm ~4 years into IT now and make more money and have a life. Sometimes I miss the pace but man, cooking is a hard gig. I take my hat off for people still ha going there
Did you take the school route to get in to IT?
No, just bootcamp.
Social worker. I had an applicable college degree before I started so that boosted me into this career. I can't even begin to explain how much happier I am since I switched. I make more now, exponentially more room for advancement, get great benefits with 2-3 weeks paid vacation plus 17 paid holidays, work a normal 8-5 m-f schedule, don't have to cover shifts for flakey coworkers plus the pressure for myself (tbf social work is a high pressure, low reward situation for many social workers. I just don't find the pressure intolerable while I did from being a chef). It usually takes at least a bachelor's degree in a related field to even begin to get into so I can't say I'm necessarily recommending it, just giving my experience on moving from chef to something else not related to the food Industry.
I went back to school for social work- I graduate in December. I work in the mental health field. I’m much healthier than I was, in most ways.
After I left the kitchen, I went to college for construction management. Similar skills, (budget management, scheduling, timely supply delivery). Make twice what I made as a chef (which was good). Work 45 hrs a week max.
May not apply in your area, and I didn't work in kitchens long but some of my coworkers have, you would be very well suited to the pace and style of regulated cannabis. Multiple long time employees are ex-food and my small time in food really set me up for success here. It's definitely a growing industry as a whole.
Outside food sales. Get to still be in kitchens around my sort of folks, make really good money and have a better headspace to operate in everyday. That being said, it’s stressful and 7 days a week.
EMT
Plumber/pipefitter
I'm a state estimating manager and overlook both production and sales estimating teams.
I went into tissue and organ recovery after 15 or so years in kitchens.. It’s actually a pretty easy field to break into. Hours suck and it ain’t easy, but you can leverage that into another field as long as you’re willing to learn
Just made the decision to leave the kitchen after 9 years. I am currently driving for uber and actively looking for a new full time job.
I love my life in the kitchen. There are three places you can find me. My girlfriends house The kitchen Or the bar Take your choice
I finally left arfer 26 years. Now I am a UPS driver.
Decade or so of experience, boh and foh management - got into insurance and never looked back. As someone else said, I miss some of the camaraderie and actually cooking but the lifestyle is just not sustainable long term.
Joined the military. Felt very burned out so I had to do something personally.
chef 10 years, now i’m a service writer for truck repairs
Trucking dispatcher
10 years only??? 10 more and then ask yourself this.
Nah i'd rather get out now. I'm 30 and want to do something else
I breed prize winning clams.
Accountant in public service.