Chefs Salary Survey: Who Earns What, Where, And How

Online food industry magazine StarChefs.com has released the results of their 2009 chef's "Salary Survey." The magazine surveyed over 1,400 food industry professionals, from executive chefs, to restaurant owners, to caterers, to try to get some data on how much chefs are making, who they are, and where they're working. Flip through slideshow below for the survey's most interesting finds.

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"Chef/Owners" Are The Best Paid Industry Positions

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The most lucrative restaurant position, on average, is a "Chef/Owner," making an average salary of $85,685 nationwide, while the least lucrative position is Line Cook, at $29,662 a year. (Photo from AP)

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The most lucrative restaurant position, on average, is a "Chef/Owner," making an average salary of $85,685 nationwide, while the least lucrative position is Line Cook, at $29,662 a year.

(Photo from AP)

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Comments

[Absolon]

05:27 PM on 07/26/2010

If a woman cooks, she's usually called Mom and makes no money.
If a man cooks, he's called a chef and actually gets paid.
It'll be the same thing with childcare. If a woman does it, she's called Mom/Sister/low skilled worker, which amounts to very little pay if any. If men ever get desperate enough to work at a daycare, they will be paid a living wage and be called pediatric care specialists.

[mentalasanything]

10:39 AM on 07/17/2010

Executive Chef at a country club or small, boutique hotel is my dream job.

[thenextguy]

05:26 PM on 07/13/2010

Nice picture, but I suspect Daniel Boulud makes a lot more than $85K.

[Paulski]

04:52 PM on 07/13/2010

From the heartland...
Executive Chefs with a sense of excellence are hard to find. The self taught versus the CIA graduate all have their own skills and commitment levels to the industry. Greats are extremely tough to find, goods are hard to find and the rest.....
Some are excellent producers of innovative Cuisine, some are great at controlling costs, but every now and then you find someone with the passion, skill, forsight and commitment to .. as we say in the food biz, ROCK IT! Then you know Julia is smiling down on you from heaven and all is right with the world!

[way2sunny]

11:50 AM on 07/22/2010

And those are the ones who open their own places eventually.

[sou sokhom]

01:12 AM on 07/12/2010

The chef who works in the shop can earn much more money like other people who works in other place because they staff in cooking and they how to mix an ingredient, where should they buy an ingredient, and how the ingredient good or bad, or how the tasted that customer really like even which kind of foods.
so all of the food are delicious after they cooked, but could they have some mistakes like the people who speak in the public?

[roninroshi]

02:05 PM on 07/11/2010

I worked in the trade for years...insane hours and pressure...lot's of boozing and screwing around to help keep sane...and the $ was terrible in comparison to what you put in! Finally quit after a burnout of 4 years at a Country Club in Colorado as executive chef.

[davidwayneosedach]

12:16 PM on 07/11/2010

It's hard work with a lot of hours. But it's like being a doctor: If you love what you are doing you get a lot of satisfaction.

[homecookin]

01:28 PM on 07/12/2010

I was reminded of a group of European guys I worked with in restaurant kitchens in NYC in the 90's. Mostly Scandinavians. They traveled the world in a loose pack. All the famous party cities. They were very good, all of them, smart hard workers and multilingual. They would cultivate contacts and help get each other jobs, then sublet the nicest apartment they could find for a year (yes, and all cram in it), spend ALL their money on high living, then move on. Two of the guys eventually switched to stripping because they were seriously smoking hot.
So that was a fun lifestyle for them in their 20's. The field does have certain advantages. However, I don't think ANY of them envisioned growing old in the industry.

[WPF]

09:56 AM on 07/11/2010

How much will they pay me make Grilled Cheese?

[berserk]

07:21 AM on 07/11/2010

I graduated from a culinary arts school with rosy glasses. You literally have got to be a person who do not like their family and have no other commitments in your life. Unless you are working for yourself, the culinary arts industry is BLAH. I love to cook and manage my team very well but devoting your life to a career and nothing else is foolish. Currently I work in the health care as a food service manager. The pay ain't great, but the hours are. Good luck to all of my brothers and sisters in the food industry.

[MajorKong]

09:54 PM on 07/10/2010

That's not a lot of money for the hours you have to put in.

I would think that you would really have to love what you do.

[homecookin]

06:17 PM on 07/10/2010

ANd this is why, now that I am a mother, I will never go back to work as a chef. I might be able to earn a living but the hours are so not worth it.

[Devon Sanner]

02:27 PM on 07/10/2010

Kinda curious about methodology on this survey, too. I'm thinking there's some severe sampling error if they're finding out that even in kitchens in NYC, CA, and FL are over 60% white. Was their sampling an English-only, online-only, subscriber based survey?

[way2sunny]

11:52 AM on 07/22/2010

I was thinking the same thing. It sure doesn't represent what I've seen in Texas and Arizona.

[johnnygoodwud]

11:05 AM on 07/10/2010

not a lot of 'dough' for all the hours. lots of dedication.

[palainausa]

08:51 AM on 07/10/2010

No matter what the subject, there's always white male privilege. What's a story without a villain?

[AristophanesJones]

09:52 AM on 07/14/2010

Boo hoo.

[exile]

05:37 AM on 07/10/2010

theres no way i would quit unemployment for 89k a year are you crazy.

then i'd have to buy a dvd player to record oprah while i'm at work
then i'd have to give up buying steaks, wine, and beer with my food stamps
then i'd have to take my dog to doggie day care cause he'd get lonely

i don't know, it just seems like a lot to give up to work.

[aznurse]

08:06 AM on 07/10/2010

you're silly.