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What Job: Everything you need to know about how to become a chef

By Hugh Fort in Employment News, posted May 29, 2022

What does a chef do?

The tasks of a chef are mixed, depending on the type of food served and where they work. However, chefs are typically the bosses in a kitchen.

As well as cooking, chefs plan the menu, choose and examine ingredients, oversee the kitchen staff, and handle other food-related issues.

Salaries

The average pay for a chef or head cook is $53,380 per year or $25.66/hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

However, a chef needs appropriate training, which can come at a heavy cost if you go the formal education route.

Steps to becoming a chef

Step 1: Find a job working in a restaurant kitchen.
Step 2: Get a high school diploma or GED
Step 3: Go to culinary school
Step 4: Gain practical work experience
Step 5: Get your first chef job

Career paths for chefs

Your first step on the career path is to get a job working in a restaurant kitchen. You could take a position as a busser, making an average of about $9 an hour, or possibly get a job as a line cook making $13 on average.

Once you decide that you want to become a chef, here's what a common career path could look like:

Commis
Chef de Partie
Sous Chef
Head Chef
Specialize

This is most likely going to be your first job after culinary education. Here, you'll work under a chef to learn the ropes of the kitchen, which prepares you for more promotions.