The National Restaurant Association predicts that the national median annual income for chefs will increase by almost 20% over the next 10 years, with many chefs of fast food restaurants earning in excess of $100K. The demand for cooks, at all levels, continues to grow.
Chef’s are the heart of a restaurant, and their salary depends on the size of their restaurant, how many people they supervise, and how busy it is.
The average salary for chefs in restaurants is around $56,000 per year. This includes managers who oversee the kitchen staff. Chefs who have more experience or lead larger operations can expect to make even more money than this average.
Salary for cooks in restaurants
Culinary chefs use their leadership and cooking skills to ensure that the kitchen staff work together to safely and efficiently make food that pleases guests. Learning many of their skills on the job, chefs not only prepare and cook the food, but also use their creativity to come up with new recipes and dishes for restaurants to offer. Being a chef can be a good choice if you love to cook and come up with new ideas in the kitchen, and don’t mind taking on a leadership role. How much money you can make as a chef depends on how much experience you have, the type of restaurant or other setting you work in, and whether you specialize in a particular style of cooking. Having the option to run your own kitchen or restaurant is a possibility that can increase your earnings and give you some flexibility with your work schedule.
Job Description
Culinary chefs work in kitchens to ensure that food is fresh and safely prepared and cooked. They spend much of their time using equipment to cut, grind, slice and heat food. In addition to preparing food, they often create their own recipes and menus, ensure the kitchen is properly stocked and sanitized, teach other cooks and lead the kitchen staff so that work is coordinated. Chefs who are restaurant owners also handle business tasks like scheduling, accounting and marketing.
Chefs spend long hours standing in crowded kitchens that can be dangerous, so having physical stamina and taking safety precautions are important to handle the physical work and prevent accidents. Creativity and a good sense of smell and taste enable chefs to make tasty recipes. Leadership skills and business expertise are especially helpful for head chefs and the self-employed.
Education Requirements
After earning a high school diploma, you can gain the skills required to work as a chef through on-the-job training as a cook or by successfully completing a culinary arts program. When learning on the job, expect to have an experienced chef mentor you and teach you cooking techniques. Promotion to a chef position may occur after working several years. By enrolling in a culinary arts program, you’d do hands-on work to learn to safely prepare and cook food in a kitchen. The program could also require participation in an apprenticeship to gain work experience. Optional certification from the American Culinary Federation is available for chefs with work experience.
As of May 2016, median pay for chefs and head cooks is $43,180 a year or $20.76 an hour; this means that half of chefs earned more than that and half made less money. How much money chefs earn annually varies from under $23,630 for the bottom 10 percent to over $76,280 for the top 10 percent. Chefs working for restaurants averaged $43,750 a year, while chefs working for performing arts companies did better and earned $69,150 a year on average.
Industry
More than half of chefs cook in restaurants that are often busy environments and may be self-owned. Others work for hotels, food services companies or attractions; cook for individuals in their private residences; or offer catering services. They often work with other culinary professionals in the kitchen to ensure food is prepared safely and on time. It’s common to work a full-time schedule with irregular hours and overtime. Chefs who are caterers or who own their restaurants can choose to work schedules that are more regular and family-friendly, although management tasks require additional hours outside the kitchen.
Years of Experience
Culinary chefs have opportunities to make more money throughout their careers as they gain kitchen experience or become skilled in making certain foods, like pastries or vegetarian dishes. Promotion as an executive chef, kitchen manager or general restaurant manager also leads to higher salary opportunities, as does working for high-end establishments. A look at how experience alone can affect a typical chef’s salary, as of March 2018:
- Entry-level: $19,763 – $56,728
- Mid-career: $22,068 – $54,775
- Experienced: $22,800 – $56,472
- Late-career: $24,522 – $61,042
Job Growth Trend
High turnover in the field and an increase in customers wanting both healthy and high-quality meals at restaurants provide opportunities for new culinary chefs to join the occupation. Between 2016 and 2026, head cooks and chefs can expect an above-average employment growth of 10 percent, leading to around 14,100 new positions. With the focus being on quality, restaurants especially seek experienced chefs. Those who want to work at upscale venues can expect high competition for these higher-paid chef positions.
