Salary Information for Professional Chef
Apr 5, 2015 | 9:00 am
The ever-present fact is that the cooking profession is growing in popularity and this means more venues are providing food for their customer, so chefs, bakers and pastry-makers are becoming in-demand workers. Finding a job is easy, if you know how to cook. However, it does remain a challenge to find a job that pays well and has promising advancement potential. If you are breaking into the culinary industry, then stop a moment and consider the professional chef salary.
A Career Glance
As you can see from a detailed account of US chef salaries, being generously compensated is all about what you bring to the profession.
Becoming well paid in the fastest way possible requires three things: a solid educational background in the culinary arts field, solid skills that can drive your career forward, and a long resume of great working experiences. Don’t expect to receive a glorious salary of $80,000 within your first five years because this probably won’t happen—unless you luck out and become a television star chef with your own show.
Additionally, it is a good strategy to carefully examine your chosen work place. What you need to aim for are venues that are lavish, independent in their management, and most importantly, exclusive. You will end up getting paid much more if you are working for someone who is independently wealthy, than if you are working for a chain of restaurants—that much is certain.
Salary Statistics
The United States has, according to the latest statistics, over 107,000 chefs. Their average salary is $45,000 a year. Among these, the lowest paid chefs receive on average $25,000, while the best are paid $75,000. Restaurants obviously hire the biggest number of chefs, but the payment they offer is far from being the best. Better paying employers are traveler accommodations, big transportation facilities that govern cruise ships and airports, and the average payment varies between $50,000 and $75,000. Amusement parks are also great providers of a professional chef salary with nearly $70,000 annually, on average. The states that pay the best professional chef salary are firstly, New York, followed by New Jersey. The bronze goes to Idaho.
When it comes down to the separate chef types, the lowest paid chefs are usually the sous chefs, followed by the pastry chefs and the sushi chefs, all three of which are within the range of $40,000 to $50,000 at the very best, followed by the chef-de-cuisine whose salary can go as high as $65,000. Of course, the 1st place is taken by the executive chef who can earn anywhere from $65,000 to over $100,000. Recent calculations have estimated that the peak has been recognized at $125,000, but this kind of salary seems only possible at the end of one’s career or in exceptional cases.
A good chef salary is the result of proper choice of location, good educational background, solid work experience and a long time of working as a chef.