If you’re someone who lives and breathes food and you’re always in the kitchen cooking up a storm, you probably dream of working as a chef, where you can do what you love every day and get paid for it.
The good news is, there is no shortage of chefs jobs to go around. However, getting a high paying chef gig is a little more challenging, It is, however, perfectly possible too. If you want to start a new career as a chef and get paid well for it, you really have two choices – work your way up the ladder or go to school.
Culinary School
A pretty common route into high paid chef work is culinary school. Yes, it can be pretty expensive, but you will learn how to cook a wide range of cuisines to a high standard and if you go to one of the best culinary schools in the country, like the Institute of Culinary Education or the International Culinary Center, it will look pretty good on your resume. That being said, if you truly are a great cook already, it might just be a waste of money, and you might be better off working your way up.
Working in a Kitchen
A lot of people who now work as highly paid chefs started out by working in kitchens as prep cooks or even just washing dishes, working their way up the ladder. If you’re serious about being a chef and you show employers that you are willing to work hard in the kitchen, they are much more likely to give you a chance, especially if you’re able to wow them with your cooking, Sure, it might take you a few years to get where you want to be, but that’s also the case if you choose to go to school and at least this way you’ll be earning money, not spending it, and you will learn a lot – perhaps even more than you would at school, when you’re in the kitchen every day.
Start a Business
I said there were only two ways you could become a high paying chef, but actually, there is a third option – start your own business. If you open your own restaurant, then you can jump right into your dream career immediately. Obvious drawbacks include finding the money to set up a restaurant and convincing customers that you’re the real deal, but if you can cook, you can win people over, and those drawbacks are by no means insurmountable.
Qualifications
Whether you decide to work in a kitchen with a view to becoming a top chef eventually, you go to school, or you set up on your own, you will need to get certain qualifications like the food handler training certification, which will allow you to work with food. If you don’t have all of the qualifications for food handlers that are required in your state, you will need to get these before you can produce food for public consumption, so sort that out and ensure it’s on your resume and that you can show the authorities when they inspect the kitchen.
Longevity
All that being said, becoming highly-paid as a chef is almost always about longevity, especially when you are working for someone else as opposed to running your own food business. For example, a line cook will earn $77,611 per year on average, a sous chef will make $55,679, and an executive chef could earn more than $86,000. Of course, salaries vary depending on the kind of establishment you work for, with high-end restaurant and private dining club chef earning far more than your average diner chef, but it goes to show what is possible and how much you can make if you’re dedicated to the chef life.
Cook Great Food
If you want to work as a chef, but you’re struggling to get a job that will allow you to spend your days cooking up fabulous creations, as well as ensuring you have the required qualifications or experience and that your resume is up-to-date, try cooking some really amazing food and convince the proprietors of the local restaurants to taste it. It might be just the thing that will win you over.
The Bottom Line
If you want to get a high paying chef job, you have to be a good cook, you must be dedicated to the job, and there are some qualifications that you must get. Other than that, hard work and time are what is needed, but concentrate on creating delicious food and your dream will be within reach.
