Starting Salary Of A Chef Working In Florida

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Chefs are the lead cooks in the kitchen that are responsible for preparing the menu either in a restaurant setting or any other food service industry. Chefs normally supervise and manage line cooks as well as other kitchen staff that work under them. In addition, a starting salary for chef is generally higher compared to other food service workers. The report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2011, stated that approximately 90,000 chefs and head cooks are in employment in United States and this number continuously rose two years later.

Higher starting salary for chef means that they are more than capable of earning more than $46,000 annually or about $22.40 per hour. On the other hand, cooks in restaurants that work under professional chefs can only earn an average of about $23,410 annually or $11.25 per hour. Also, prep cooks earn an average of $20,950 annually, or approximately $10 per hour.

By Industry

Somewhere around 4,880 or more chefs were currently employed at limited food service businesses that include, but not limited to, fast food establishments and their reported earnings are around $35,000 per annum, which is by far, the cheapest average category of earnings for chefs for this occupation. In contrast, professional chefs that are employed by full service, fine dining restaurants, earned approximately $45,000 per annum. On the other hand, chefs employed by hotel restaurants in Florida can earn even more on average and much higher than anyone else in the profession with nearly $53,000 per year.

Professional chefs that are employed in the northeast part of the U.S. are guaranteed to earn higher salaries. The high level regional pay is led by New York with an average chef salary of almost $68,000 per annum. In New Jersey, culinary chefs are earning about $60,500 per year. Professional chefs in Florida are also earning high salaries that are actually way above the current national average. According to the BLS, the annual mean wage for Florida cooks is $51,660. In areas such as Naples-Marco Island, FL, chefs are making upwards of $26 per hour and even more in areas like Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL at $30.96.

Job Outlook for Chefs

Considering the level of the starting salary for chef, surprisingly, the Bureau of Labor Statistics foresee small or no change at all when it comes to employment of chefs and head cooks in ten years or so. The truth is that BLS even predicted a net loss of around eight hundred jobs in 2020. This forecast may happen due to the fact that there are restaurants today that replace professional chefs with low-level kitchen staff in their effort to curve the ever increasing overhead for operating a restaurant. In general, the present condition of the economy will dictate the number of positions to be lost in the coming years as well as set the trend for new starting salary for chef.

If you love to cook and want to reach your highest potential, now is the time to begin learning the art of cooking as well as the business of the profession.