Ruiz1

Jose Ruiz

Professor Moore

ENGL 1301

7 February, 2019

Executive Chef

An executive chef is the person in charge of the kitchen, as well as the person that

keeps in order everyone at the kitchen and has the experience and knowledge which no other

chef working with him has. As the executive chef has many responsibilities it can somehow be

very stressful, and at times a pain in the head because of the fast pace environment an executive

chef has to work in. One of the many duties of being an executive chef is to make a meal plan for

the night. Other duties are to buy everything fresh and prepare every food beforehand. At times it

can be extremely strict because of the high expectation the customers have of the food. This is

one of many reasons the job can be stressful because there is no margin of errors. The pressure

can be real. Being an executive chef can be draining, and it can consume much of the time, but

the education, work environment and the salary that an executive chef has can be more than

rewarding.

In order to become an executive chef, it takes years of experience, knowledge, and

skills; it can also take four years of college. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, many

cooks learn from working in kitchens learning from the other head cooks, as well as practicing

and improving their skills at the kitchen (bls.gov 4). But there are many colleges or programs

that can help furthermore the education. These programs offer training, techniques, and

experience to the people that are interested in pursuing the culinary art career. Also some people

work their way up to become the head or a executive chef by starting as a ordinary cook. But
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having a culinary license, registration, or certificate can demonstrate the level of experience and

mastery a person has. Furthermore it can show the advance skills and competence a cook can

show; the more experience the cook has, the salary increases (bls.gov8). It takes plenty of skills

and qualities for a cook to become an executive chef but improving the education can help to

have a better possibility to work as well as having a better pay.

The work environment of an executive chef can be extremely jaded, long hours of

standing, illnesses and injuries, and often ensuring the billing and pay of other workers. Most of

the injuries happen at the kitchen where there is a limited amount of space; hot ovens, sharp

objects, wet floors. Every cook have to be cautious as well of being aware and focused at what

they are cooking (bls.gov3). Many executive chef work full time even taking their holidays and

working long period of time: from early in the morning to the dawn. It can be exhausting also it

can be long hours working in the kitchen but the satisfaction of having excellent review can

always be very rewarding working under the condition.

An executive chef salary is one of the reasons most people go for the studies of culinary

arts. Being a head cook can bring extremely amounts of rewards and one of them is the salary.

Majority of executive chef earn up to $45,950 a year (bls.gov 1). Working in restaurants or even

working at a high level hotel are the places where most head chef work at because of the high

pay and the work environment. Most of the head chef work full time and working up to 4 hour

per week. It can be an exhausting job but the salary at the end of the day can be satisfactory.
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It takes so much skills and sacrifices to become an executive chef and it can take years to

become one. There are many ways to work your way out in the culinary arts as well as getting

used to working in countless hours and days; holidays, birthdays, weekends. At times being the

head chef of a restaurant can be really demanding. But there is many satisfactions working in the

culinary arts industry. A working environment where it can be extremely dangerous, and injuries

can happen. Being an executive chef is one of the job where you have to take pride and let the

passion flow also a rewarding job that can leave many lessons learnt. The education , work

environment, salary is the reward of every executive chef that works hard to become the best.
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Edu: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/chefs-and-head-

cooks.htm#tab-4

Salary: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/chefs-and-head-

cooks.htm#tab-5

Work envo: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/chefs-and-head-

cooks.htm#tab-3