I’ve been a chef for a really long time and wanted to “cook for a cause”. I joined a large food bank to use my powers for good. What I found was a huge eye opener. The amount of product (that wasn’t donated) that ended up in the landfill was astonishing! We’re talking pallets on pallets on pallets of meat and produce. Every week. During the last audit there were 120 plus pallets of food thrown out. This was logged. I personally threw out at least a hundred more, unlogged. And unweighed.

This was paid for by different programs. Think private donations and federal, city, and state funds to “feed the unhoused” and kids programs.

It was staggering. The leadership team was of course apathetic and a few even laughed. I was told to not care. There were zero systems in place regarding proper storage, FIFO, labeling, etc.

It got to the point where I had to leave. I couldn’t watch it anymore.

Surely this can’t be a normal scenario at food banks.

Any insights Reddit?

I just took over an EC role at a fast casual joint. Most of my places before this have been more high end and they had much higher budgets than I'm dealing with now. And I just can't get my numbers in check, as much as I try, without working my crew to desth and simultaneously not making this job viable for them to pay their bills.

The company budgeted me a 15.5% labor (BoH only) and a 26.8% food cost. I'm hovering like .5% above each, but my cooks are lucky to be getting 25 hours a week right now.

Is this normal for this type of establishment?

​

Genuine question, not a job ad.

We run a small luxury resort in the South Pacific (max 24 guests) and we're kicking around a chef residency concept: 3–6 month stints where the kitchen is effectively yours to run as your own business. Proper commercial kitchen, accommodation on the property, full creative control — your menu, your food, your name on it. Think pop-up restaurant, but the venue, guests, and infrastructure already exist instead of you hustling for a space and burning savings on rent.

How the money works: you'd receive a fixed per-guest daily meal rate, provision from it, and keep the margin. Your income scales with occupancy and your buying skill — cook smart and source well, you do well. Staff meals are a simple weekly batch cook with its own separate budget, so they're not coming out of your pocket.

The scale: max 24 guests at any one time. Boutique, not banquet — more like running your own intimate restaurant than working a hotel line.

The honest trade-offs: it's an island, so it's not city sourcing — town and proper stores are about 45 minutes away, and there's great local produce, but you won't get every specialty ingredient on demand. You're cooking for resort guests, not a walk-in crowd. Income moves with occupancy, so quiet weeks are quiet. And it's a season, not a career ladder — you come, run your thing, build your name, and hand it back.

So, chefs of Reddit:

What would make you seriously consider something like this?

What would make you run a mile?

What would you want to know about occupancy or guarantees before you'd trust the numbers?

And for anyone who's done a residency, stagiaire abroad, or seasonal island/lodge work — what did the listing not tell you that you wish it had?

Not recruiting. Just trying to design this so it's genuinely good for the chef and not just for us. Roast the idea if it deserves it.

Genuine question, not a job ad.

We run a small luxury resort in the South Pacific (max 24 guests) and we're kicking around a chef residency concept: 3–6 month stints where the kitchen is effectively yours to run as your own business. Proper commercial kitchen, accommodation on the property, full creative control — your menu, your food, your name on it. Think pop-up restaurant, but the venue, guests, and infrastructure already exist instead of you hustling for a space and burning savings on rent.

How the money works: you'd receive a fixed per-guest daily meal rate, provision from it, and keep the margin. Your income scales with occupancy and your buying skill — cook smart and source well, you do well. Staff meals are a simple weekly batch cook with its own separate budget, so they're not coming out of your pocket.

The scale: max 24 guests at any one time. Boutique, not banquet — more like running your own intimate restaurant than working a hotel line.

The honest trade-offs: it's an island, so it's not city sourcing — town and proper stores are about 45 minutes away, and there's great local produce, but you won't get every specialty ingredient on demand. You're cooking for resort guests, not a walk-in crowd. Income moves with occupancy, so quiet weeks are quiet. And it's a season, not a career ladder — you come, run your thing, build your name, and hand it back.

So, chefs of Reddit:

What would make you seriously consider something like this?

What would make you run a mile?

What would you want to know about occupancy or guarantees before you'd trust the numbers?

And for anyone who's done a residency, stagiaire abroad, or seasonal island/lodge work — what did the listing not tell you that you wish it had?

Not recruiting. Just trying to design this so it's genuinely good for the chef and not just for us. Roast the idea if it deserves it.

I made this short film about Umberto Corteo, an Italian immigrant who arrived in New York at nineteen, began as a dishwasher, learned pizza making, and eventually co-founded the original Umberto’s of New Hyde Park.

What interested me most was not simply the restaurant’s success. It was how Umberto talks about kitchen work.

He describes employees eating together after closing, a chef named Joey becoming one of his closest friends, and the apron becoming so connected to his identity that he says he feels naked without it.

When asked why he never retired, he answers:

https://youtu.be/H34xPFiFy68

For people who have spent years in kitchens: which coworkers became more like family than colleagues?

Hey Chefs, am just a confused 23 yr old Pastry chef working in Dubai as a commis 3.I really want advices from experienced Chefs on what to do in order to learn more explore more and how can i utilise my years to build up my own self.

I want to work in different countries but wanna know if its a good move or should i just stay in dubai.Should i work in hotels or restaurants which will give me more growth.Should i be tensed about money right now Should i start saving up or will the money follow along the years because i always hear Chefs no matter what they stay broke unless they are a celebrity chefs.

I love love love making pastries but right now because am starting am just working in a buffet and my sous chefs are not really good mentors as they are not teaching me anything or like giving me proper advises nor i can look upto them as a role model because my sous chefs are still following the style of being a bitch to everyone.

I am pretty sure all of the executives reading this right now would’ve crossed the same thoughts i have right now so please if possible do help a aspiring chef right now.All my friends who did culinary are switching jobs to finance where there is more money but right now i believe i will make money same as them maybe 10years later of what they are earning right now.

I wanna work in france Italy and Australia what will be the best way to reach these places as i dont have enough money to sponsor myself to go these places and work but i wanna learn so much from everyone.Please do reply if you have the time and help if possible.THANK YOU IN ADVANCE♥️

RANT: I run the kitchen at a golf course and have menu items in the $8-16 range. We've been open for 3 years, and are consistently ranked best golf course food in our city and I'm aiming for the state. Our guests love our food so much, they make a point to come back after their rounds and tell me it's the best.

Our quality is second to none, we hand grind our burgers, cut our own steaks, and make our own hot dogs. 99% of our food is made in house and I manage those prices with a 25% food cost. I checked all the pricing in our area and we hit the median if not the low end on everything. We make money hand over fist. I call my pricing model, affordable quality. It fucking works.

He says I need to find a way to lower menu prices. I told him overall quality is the only way I can reasonably do that and I don't want to sacrifice that after 3 years of building up our brand and reputation. I feel like banging my head against a brick wall over this. RANT OVER Thanks for listening.

I want to elevate my nightly pasta game, beurre blanc as an addition to sauce is my go to at work.
Is it feasible to make a reduction of wine and vinegar (plus aromats but whatevs), freeze them in a tray so i can melt them in a pot, add butter slowly, and bobs your uncle?
Thanks for tips or advice!

I live in rural Ontario and the only experience I have is two years of McDonald’s in the kitchen, which I got fired from because some idiot put a zyn in a burger and the whole floor got fired. (Only the zyn guy knew it happened.)

Anyway my question is, how do I get a job in this field? And will my history of being fired bar me from a culinary job?

“Meaty” as it sounds. I got a meat comma just by looking at it! And (i think) this is gonna be the finalized plating! All the staff are learning as they go with this menu. And when we presented it to the Exchef, it came back clean, but he got a poker face the whole time, so we’re a bit anxious about it 😂 mostly my Jr. Sous, but all is good, all is great!

So we have 4 starters:
1. Petit tender carpaccio with truffle sauce
2. Tri-tip beef tartare
3. Beef cheek Croquetas
4. Picanha Salad

And 4 mains:
5. Picanha with vierge sauce
6. Petit tender with green pepper sc, spinach, and parsnip puree
7. Braised beef cheek with polenta, feta cheese, and parsnip crisp
8. Sharing style Tri-tip 400gr, with roasted potatoes, grilled asparagus, picada sauce, almonds.

Anyway i love my kitchen!

What do you look for in a resume? I get that experience is probably a big one, but what else would get someone across the line for an interview/trial?

Hey chefs hope everyone is doing well. About a year ago I was diagnosed with stage one grade two clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Not that bad, had a partial nephrectomy of my kidney and thought all was good. I was outta work for a couple of months but generally felt better and returned as soon as I could. Fast forward toward the beginning of July I get a pet scan because I haven’t been feeling well and it showed the cancer has metastasized to my lymph node system. Not great news but something I can handle but over the last couple of weeks work has been beating me down and with the cancer thing happening the stress and physical toll it’s had on me put in the hospital. My doctors and wife think it’s time for me to take a step back until I get better or until my immune system has a chance to bounce back. I’ve gone from some that worked alone to someone who can barely make it through a 8 hour shift. I know I need to step out but I’m not sure what else I can do. Food service is all I’ve known

I’m still in high school and I’ve been baking and cooking at work and at home for about 7 months now and I was just wondering if I could get a some feedback on how I’m doing for where I’m at! (Please be nice! almost everything I’ve made is my first or second attempt at it) (slide 7 is salt bread NOT croissants!)

So, it's been hot AF for weeks, with no end yet in sight this summer, and my friend who runs a food truck is regularly enduring 130ºF heat for hours. He actually got the shakes and went into shock yesterday and had to pause service. Would any of the active cooling vests or outer wear help? Does anybody have experience with stuff that actually works?

Looking for advice on basics for my first knife roll/ set up. I have a basic chef knife and paring knife but was wondering if anyone had recomendations on what I have listed below. Not trying to buy the most expensive but I prefer quality and something that will last..Also if there is anything I am missing or need to change I am open to any suggestions.

Serated bread knife and filet knife: I have no idea here

Knife roll: messermeir 12 pocket roll (I dont need 12 knives but need something that can also hold my other utensils. This is where I need the most help and am a bit lost).

Shears: kiya edelweiss steele japanese scissors? I have also heard its good to have a pair for meat/bones and a second for everything else.

Honer: mercer 12 in diamond steele?

Kuhn ricon for peeler

Microplane for zester

Thermapen for a thermometer

Benriner for mandolin. Is the big one worth the size? Currently have to cut most items in half to use on a standard mandolin.

Going to get a bench scraper, offset spat, cake tester, tweezers, very small wisk, and spoons.

I already have paring knife, basic chef knife, tongs, spatulas, whisk and fish spatula.

Ok so I'm hoping to get some opinions from chefs and kitchen owners.

I'm exploring a business idea around helping independent kitchens make better use of quieter periods, and I'm trying to understand whether it's something chefs would actually be interested in.

The basic concept would be:
additional prep work during quieter periods
ingredients supplied
delivery handled separately
work carried out from your existing kitchen
no change to your current business

My question is really:

Would something like this actually interest you, or are there reasons it wouldn't work in practice?

For example:
Staffing?
Margins?
Kitchen capacity?
Food consistency?
Insurance?

Or just Something I've not considered I'm just looking for honest feedback from people actually working in kitchens before taking it any further.

I’m 22 years old and I’ve been cooking since I was 17. Looking to expatriate from the US to anywhere in Europe really. Preferably France but I’ve heard it’s hard to get a job there. Beginning to learn French and I know a very small amount of Spanish but only English besides that. Mostly I’ve just been cold applying to places so far. Any advice from people who’ve gone through similar situations would be much appreciated.

Tl;DR- how to get cooking job in Europe as American

I was workin in Italian outlet for a year, then suddenly been moved to a Nikkei Cuisine outlet cause the CDC of the Nikei outlet took an interest on me, can't really defend myself since it was a CDC. Already work here for 3 days, and I can say there's a lot of interesting things to learn, should I change my path from Italian cuisine to Nikkei cuisine in the future? Is it worth for the career in the future? And are people still curious to eat this kind of things? Cause I have a plan to work in Australia or New Zealand after a few years. By the way, I'm a 24 y.o Asian boy

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I am 19, UK based and am in school at the moment for something I like but don’t love, and as my studies are all privately funded I’m not able to afford without relying heavily on family.

I have worked in simple UK kitchens for about 5 ish year from about 14, mostly working weekends, as a porter and some light prep - I now work hospitality full time as well as some prep on weekends with a chef friend for his small business. I am at a dilemma, I wanna drop out and just go balls deep with cheffing - and give it my all, but I have some questions - pretty much all I wanna do in life is travel, eat good food and be happy, I have been looking into the seasonal chef life (yachts, ski and summer seasons, working abroad, stages), and I wanna move out of the uk as soon as possible and get some life experience, is this just idealistic or is this something I can achieve?

In addition, I feel kinda awkward around my family, especially my dad as I feel like he is so locked in on me being in a ‘corporate’ job, and I don’t wanna disappoint, but at a certain point it’s my life - do anyone have any guidance and help and how I should go about and navigate any of this?

Also, my thinking would be to continue school over the next few months, mull it over, maybe increase my kitchen prep hours, and then maybe look at doing a season as a junior commis during a ski season and just seeing where the wind takes me? Maybe doing a summer season, work in France, Australia, Japan - and then maybe look at private cheffing after several years? I want to take this very seriously over the next few years and improve as much as possible.

First photo is now last was 6 months ago, brunoise cuts getting better 💪 I love the continuity with this cut, itty bitty lil cubes.

My daughter loves that I'm a chef, and thinks it's the coolest thing in the world. She also seems to think thay being a chef makes me a super hero, and qualifies me to solve anything and everything. I've heard from several people on numerous occassions that whenever confronted with some sort of problem out in the world (it could be anything from fixing a car to solvong world peace), my daughter's go-to statement to people is "my dad can do that: he's a chef", "my dad cab fix that: he's a chef", "my dad knows how to do that: he's a chef".

To all my fellow chefs out there, know that there's a little girl that thinks you're an absolute legend!