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Money: despite stereotypes surrounding Americans freely sharing their net worth with anyone in earshot, it’s a touchy and often verboden subject. Our recent conversations with chefs about culinary schools, however, circled back to that (green) elephant in the room, particularly the difficulty of paying off student loans on a beginning chef’s salary. When Grace Dinsmoor was at Modesto, for example, she wanted to hire a new culinary school grad for the kitchen, but he chose to keep his FOH position as a bartender at a different restaurant because it was more lucrative, and he had considerable student debt to repay. While it’s tempting to blame the industry, many chefs and restaurateurs argue that the media plays a large role in perpetuating myths that chefs in successful restaurants are living the lives of rock stars. The reality of the situation, however, as expressed by Steve Gontram, former chef-owner of Harvest and the forthcoming Five Star Burgers, is that “the food business, like most arduous, work-with-your-hands professions, is not on a white-collar pay scale.”
What is the pay scale? Back in 2008, Eric Brenner, chef-owner of Moxy at the time, was the only chef to share his salary in St. Louis Magazine’s “Payroll Roll Call” for 2006: $65,000. The more recent 2010 “Who Makes What” article listed an anonymous executive chef’s salary at $70,000 and an unknown bartender’s at $52,000. While everyone interviewed for this article demurred when it came to revealing exact numbers, ranges were provided. Charlie Downs, owner of Cyrano’s and past owner of a dozen metro area restaurants, said that executive chefs at $5-million grossing corporate restaurants may make as much as $120,000, while those at $1-million independents might make something more like $40,000. Downs went on to explain that corporate chefs generally make the most money, followed by country club chefs, and then independent restaurant chefs. Compensation is comprised of much more than salary, according to Downs and several others we spoke with; also included are benefits (often available only to management), professional development opportunities, cars, real estate kickbacks, and other perks that remain unknown to the general public.
On a national level, StarChefs.com publishes salary statistics annually. Based on surveys filled out by more than 1000 industry professionals across the country, the 2010 results illustrate trends based on geography, gender, race, years of experience, and educational background, among other categories. While one should remember that surveys such as this one are flawed, its findings offer both hard numbers and a means of comparison. In the Chef/Owner/CEO category, the salary average is listed as $79,222; in the Executive Chef category, it’s $74,891; in the Sous Chef, it’s $41,135; and the average for participating pastry chefs is $47,024—all numbers decreased from the previous year’s survey, suggesting an economy still in recovery. Executive chefs in Chicago—the closest city to St. Louis singled out on the survey—make an average of $68,714. Not surprisingly, women earned less than their male peers across the board. The average number of hours spent per day on the job was 11 for a number of positions, including executive chef, sous chef, and general manager, while that for private or country club chefs was 9 hours.
For local (Missouri) salary stats, one can turn to The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The mean annual wage for chefs and head cooks is $46,600, with those in the 90th percentile making $74,060; for dishwashers, the mean annual wage is $18,840, with those in the 90th percentile earning $23,280; and for bartenders, the mean annual wage is $21,550, with those in the 90th percentile making $31,860. Even taking into account the wide number of people and varying establishments statewide that these statistics represent, the numbers here, like those from StarChefs, hardly support the myth of the wealthy chef so often perpetuated in the media. “Like most professions, a few people do extremely well,” explained Downs in reference to the fact that the majority makes modest salaries.
In an industry in which many of its employees are paid by the hour, there are ample opportunities to take advantage of eager new chefs. Moreover, because food costs remain high and continue to rise, and margins are incredibly thin, those opportunities often keep a struggling business afloat. Many new chefs work as unpaid interns in order to gain experience and resume-building credentials, and others accept “shift pay,” which means they work for a set amount, say $100, regardless if the shift is ten hours or four. Tom Schmidt, owner of Franco and Nico, said he doesn’t participate in shift pay “nonsense,” noting it’s precisely what got Mario Batali into trouble recently. Schmidt went on to echo what Gontram expressed: restaurant work is a “hard, dirty, rough, blue-collar job.” The problem, then, according to Schmidt and others, isn’t with the industry—though one has to admit that, as in other professions, the potential for exploitation and fraud exists—but with the general misperceptions surrounding it.
Misperceptions are perhaps at their greatest when it comes to country clubs because, with their private memberships, only a select group belongs to them, leaving many in the dark. Bernard Pilon, Executive Chef at Norwood Hills Country Club, helped to dispel some of those myths. Before he chose to cook at Norwood, Pilon’s culinary experience ran the gamut: country club (first job as a dishwasher), restaurants, hotels, and Club Med in St. Lucia (where he doubled as a trapeze artist). The stability and longevity of country club chefs’ careers drew him to the position as well as clubs’ greater resources, in general, for ingredients and equipment. The “nice, neat environment” and ability to plant a garden on the grounds are other perks.
Perhaps one of the best parts of his compensation, Pilon explained, is his access to continuing education; for example, he has had the opportunity to take classes through the CIA. Ten years ago, according to Pilon, new chefs were eager to work in country clubs; however, those same clubs find themselves these days competing with “sexy” independent restaurants, thanks to the “celebrity chef culture.” Thus, perks like continued professional development opportunities remain one way to attract new hires. If they choose a career as a country club chef, Pilon was quick to note, they will find themselves putting in long days, just like their restaurant peers, debunking the “banker’s hours” myth of country club work. “Members want to see you there,” Pilon said, noting that he typically works 12-hour days, six days a week.
Once the general public understands that most chefs do not live the high life, despite what the Food Network or even some chefs’ Twitter feeds and Facebook pages suggest, it becomes clear they do what they do not for money, but for the thrill of creating an edible work of art and the satisfaction of pleasing a customer. Both Steve Gontram and Bernard Pilon noted that passion and inspiration—a genuine love for the profession—are required to work as a chef. “Without that,” Gontram advised, “you’re certainly in for disappointment,” particularly if you’re expecting instant success and a high salary. So the next time you enjoy your meal at a restaurant, buy the kitchen crew some brews, because chances are, they’ve worked twice as long as you that day, in a hot, crowded, stressful kitchen, and their pockets are not as deep as you might think.
