When is it too late to still keep the dream of becoming a great

>>8525432
What, are you gonna die when you're 30?

>>8525449
A man can dream...

Nothing personal op, I want everyone to die.

>>8525432
You're never going to get a star or anything I'm sure but you can definitely make a name for yourself locally if you're willing to dedicate time and money into opening a place up.
You ever work in a restaurant?

Most chef positions dont require any quals. You can just turn up and they'll have you since theres a shortage.

Presuming you can cook already but just need service experience - go find a bar where all you're doing is frying shit and making burgers and see if you make it.

I also recommend getting into catering/events/banqueting/hotel work as soon as possible.
For me personally I can't work service but making 500 portions of (almost) anything is therapeutic and piss easy

>>8525432
nigga, the main chef in the prestigious restaurans i work in is 37 years old and she worked in a fucking bank until she was 31, then decided that she wants to cook and voila.
you just need great dedication and practice, you are basically a fucking kid still, you have time.

this, or nepothism i guess

>working 80 hours a week in scorching hot conditions and having to deal with cunty waitresses and entitled customers all day for $30,000 a year
Why would you want that job? Just make good food at home. If you really want some kind of formal training just check out local seminars and stuff that are offered by trained chefs.

You'll never be a celebrity chef, and everything below that basically pays shit tier. Even chefs at 4-star resorts and hotels only make like $100,000 a year, but they had to bust their ass for a long time to get there, still have to work like 80-120 hours a week, and are like the top 1% of chefs.

Sorry OP, dreams are nice and all but they're dreams for a reason. You need to be realistic. Dreaming of becoming a great chef is like dreaming of your gender studies degree making you a millionaire.

>>8526714
>inb4 hurrrr there's more to life than money
Yes, I'm aware of that, but at a certain point the work just isn't worth the payoff. Most professional chefs you talk to will tell you that being a professional chef has made them hate cooking, for the most part. When chefs go home, they don't make coq au vin or shepherd's pie. They make a bologna sandwich and drink themselves to sleep. There's a reason the food industry has a massive problem with alcohol and drug abuse.

Seriously, OP, if you really love cooking, don't make a career out of it. It'll just teach you to hate the things you used to love doing.

>>8526722
For some people just being a line coʞcook at chilis is realistically the best they can dream of. Felns and junkies and dropouts

>>8525432
Elleven

>>8525432
t. the next Bourdain, amirite

>>8526722
this
I came out of [spoiler] the army as a chef [/spoiler] which is comfy as fuck then went into service and it broke me.

In between the shit managment that can't cook but you have to do it their way, pissy customers (french onion soup but wihthout too many onions plox :D), constant rotation of staff quitting in shitty places, THE FUCKING HEAT and essentially becoming a factory worker theirs no wonder nobody can find any kitchen staff.
I was working 5 hours in the morning and 7 at night as a split shift. I would just go to the pub in the split and get tanked up for evening service. They get dominos on the way home.

Repeat for 3 months til 3 quarters of your kitchen quits.

Most of the problem is owners, managers and people in general almost don't see it as a job.

>>8528761
Most of the problem in society is owners and managers bruh

>>8525476
Kill yourself.

>>8526722
That's because STAYING low-mid kitchen staff past your 20s is a horrible thing. Anyone who wants to be a pro in the industry has to either A) become a restaurateur or B) become executive chef in a fancy place where you don't really do anything beyond organizing the menu, hunt quality ingredients and maybe oversee the kitchen process. Problem only single digit percentage of chefs actually achieve either of these.

>>8529167
In a sense. In restaurant business problem is they only see figures and don't really understand the process.

>dat feel when owner wants to join in the kitchen to "show off his skills" to friends at the table
You don't have to do that, it's fine. That's what you pay us for.

On the other hand chefs turned owners are your worst nightmare because they know how shit works and expect efficiency, quality and speed. You can never have all three at the same time.

Yes that ship has sailed and if you try to pursue you'll end up working at Olive garden being paid minimum wage for the rest of your life; you'll never go anywhere in the kitchen industry and anyone who thinks they will are delusional

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What a shit bait. At 30 you could become a chef.

I've wanted to be a chef and own my own restaurant since I was a little kid. I worked in a few places after high school, and while it gave me some good experience and cemented that I really do enjoy cooking and being in a kitchen and getting to know customers, it made me realize I SERIOUSLY FUCKING HATE working for someone else. Maybe I was just unlucky, but every owner has been a serious fucktard who constantly made dumb mistakes and fucked up their business because they didn't know what they were doing.

I've seen stats about how many restaurants fail, and it doesn't surprise me in the least. Everyone is just a fucking idiot. They open their place in a shitty location, they refuse to spend enough money on advertising, they use shitty ingredients, they hire drug addicts and teenagers for cheap, they overcharge, they get rid of popular items because they are "too popular" (seriously, wtf?), they dont keep the place clean, they waste time and money trying to keep the worst possible customers happy, and they ALWAYS act so fucking confused as to why their shitty little restaurant isn't making them a fucking millionaire, and blame it all on their staff instead of themselves.

I'm not worried about being too old, I'm just trying to figure out what other job I can do that will make me enough money so that I can then open my own place some day and run it like a sane person.

>>8529798
>I'm not worried about being too old, I'm just trying to figure out what other job I can do that will make me enough money so that I can then open my own place some day and run it like a sane person.
Silent partners. That's what you need. Guys who invest in your place in return for being to come there with their friends ands eat and drink for free. To keep control you just have to own 51% of it. Their money will make your life much less stressful. Just don't pick assholes who will show up several times a week and drink you out of business.

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>>8525432
Wendy's™ chef here. Let me give you some advice, son.

If you're under 6'4", or your cock isn't at least 9 inches long, you're not going to make it in this business. Trust me.

Waitresses will refuse to serve your food, managers won't respect you, and you'll never be able to reach the pots and pans hung at the higher levels.

>>8529845

>don't pick assholes who will show up several times a week and drink you out of business

This happened to the guy that I used to work for.

>working at a wings place
>co-owner constantly comes in and polishes off bottles of whiskey
>good whiskey isn't cheap
>cheap whiskey isn't good
>huge falling out between co-owners regarding booze consumption
>place closes within months

Good riddance too.

>>8525618

>getting into catering/events/banqueting/hotel work

Yo, catering and events is the place to be. If you're not an ugly fuck, can converse with just about anyone, and you look professional, you'll make money hand-over-fist in tips alone

>>8529898
Yeah. If you're going into business with a boozer you have to let them know if they want to drink up the profits they can only drink up what amounts to their share of them. I've seen this sidestepped in two ways: A) Owners pay for their own drinks even though they own the place, but just like customers receive buybacks at bartender's discretion and B) Only the guy running the place drinks for free because he's the one who knows exactly how much damage he's doing.

>>8529853
don't waste your time, they'll never learn