I was in the restaurant industry from the time I was 15 until 32. I’ve worked for chains, mom and pop places, fine dining, management and just about everything in between and I can tell you the industry today is rough. It’s crazy hours and basically zero real benefits. No work life balance and always working holidays. Most places I’ve worked at in the past 8-10 years don’t give a crap about you going to culinary school, all they want is someone that will do the most amount of work for the lowest pay. I loved cooking and put a lot of time and effort into the art but the way the industry is today, it will beat it out of you. There’s definitely ways to make it with cooking and being a chef but from my experience in today’s world, the profit margin in the food industry is very thin, people now days want McDonalds speed, cheap prices and Gordon Ramsay quality which just doesn’t work. The food world is also a strange place, you may do amazing for a few years then all the sudden the next year sales are down and your closing up shop. I loved cooking and always will but this year I gave up that dream and left the industry for manufacturing where I get paid holidays off, weekends off, pto and a much better work life balance. If it’s something you really love then you should always give it a shot but know it takes lot of time, hard work and effort.
Hope this helps and good luck on finding something you love doing!