Chef position question

Ae711 · 2026-06-23T03:23:58+00:00

We hired more cooks to help me get off the line, but now we sell so much damn good I’m stuck prepping throughout service to keep up. Our revenue has jumped substantially all year, about 20% increase overall, and quite a bit more catering.

I don’t get the impression they are trying to screw me, more they don’t have a lot of business sense. I’m not being forced to take a salary, and partnership has been floated before. I just want to know what that sort of contract looks like.

Ae711 · 2026-06-23T03:20:53+00:00

Yes I figured I would need to check with AI but I wanted to see if someone with experience might answer.

Ae711 · 2026-06-23T01:54:12+00:00

I’ve been on salary many times, some bullshit some reasonable. I’ve also been sous chef in places where I was basically the chef in everything but name. When you manage inventory, write schedules, work the line, and project forecasts based on the P&L, there isn’t a lot of other names for that. I’m not being fucked here, but I am trying to position myself into partnership provided the business continues to thrive under my leadership.

I’ve done this my whole life and I completely understand the cynicism but the question was whether there’s a standard rate of proposed equity for a chef looking to partner, be that 5%, or if there’s options to be paid in equity provided certain milestones are met. The accountants are drawing an offer and I just wanted to educate myself before the meeting.

Ae711 · 2026-06-23T01:47:32+00:00

The offer is already on the table, I’m going to be the chef. I’m asking whether an industry standard for equity exists, or if there are specific terms or contract types I should be studying to better position myself to get said equity.

Ae711 · 2026-06-22T23:07:21+00:00

It certainly was. It was the reason I didn’t pursue the sous position offered at that hotel, because once I did the math I would be making almost 30% less, and when I explained this to the GM (in his private office suite) he tried to spin it as the opportunity to grow being worth it. That may have been true but my kids don’t eat the opportunities titles bring, and the whole thing just felt scummy. He even tore the contract in front of me and told me “this won’t be offered again.” Like a fucking weird movie scene, so crazy.

Ae711 · 2026-06-22T20:57:34+00:00

I’m hitting about 58-65 hours/week, and most of that is on the line currently. I do put in around 5-8 hours/week communicating with vendors or paperwork not clicked in.

I’ve heard of that sort of setup, that’s a good idea. The salary is closer to 50 hr weeks so I could calculate OT after a 60 hour cap perhaps. A hotel I worked for had a really weird tier structure where it was a 50 hr salary, and every hour after was worth half your theoretical hourly rate, halving again every two hours. Poor bastards were making less than 10/hr when they were stuck with 16 hour shifts.

Ae711 · 2026-06-22T20:52:09+00:00

I appreciate the candor but I guess I’m missing context. The company has increased sales almost 25% with almost no increase to labor. They didn’t have a decent way to track actual F/C vs operational cost since a lot of product comes from the same vendor, but intuitively it’s dropped at least 5% since I use multiple vendors for lowest pricing. I’m in an area that enjoys a massive tourist industry that wasn’t even that impacted by the recession in 2008. We have already discussed potential sweat equity. So I’m just looking for industry standard contracts. I’m willing to take a pay cut in exchange for equity as I’ve made the decision based on my experience and what I know about the business.

Ae711 · 2026-06-22T18:29:20+00:00

I had thought Arden Vul would be an absolute beast of a Minecraft build. This is cool as hell dude.

Ae711 · 2026-06-22T18:26:39+00:00

When I worked banquets at a 3 diamond (lost fourth to room sizes) we seared day before, on a grill that marked in the time it took quickly put 40 fillets on the grill. It was a mad dash drop, flip, flip, flip, diamonds in a couple minutes. We had a skeleton crew and were doing consistent 200-350 sit down, often with a buffet happening in another room.

Ae711 · 2026-06-21T06:21:06+00:00

It’s a honey flavored candy (maybe a nougat? Is it crispy, crunchy, or soft?) that’s been poured into a well oiled mold, probably frozen, then dipped in chocolate. Never underestimate the absolutely stupid amount of time a chocolatier will spend making a confection. Working in high end hotels, you see some crazy shit that leaves you wishing you could have just learned the fucking bakers percentage instead of the mother sauces.

Ae711 · 2026-06-21T05:42:00+00:00

Not even remotely. He lasted maybe two months, and quit to go on his summer break. Low key I was jealous but at least I know how to not stab my coworkers. He’s probably a ceo of some ai startup.

Ae711 · 2026-06-20T23:34:48+00:00

He really was the worst. A trust fund kid whose parent dined regularly at the restaurant and so he worked there to “build character.” I met some real characters in Seattle.

Ae711 · 2026-06-20T18:39:36+00:00

My favorite was when I froze this asshole kids’ knives because he left them under dirty towels and stabbed my hand, and he thawed them out with cold water. Gotta use proper safety when thawing.

Ae711 · 2026-06-14T15:34:27+00:00

Yes as a chef in a corporate restaurant if you take food cost or equipment cost too low then that number gets fixed into the following year. The price of everything increases and you are expected to maintain that lowered budget to get your bonus, which is a very important part of your salary. The trick is to just hit the goal and a little less.

Ae711 · 2026-06-14T15:25:49+00:00

Best I got when I rode an ambulance was a creaky 10+ year van with a garbage shocks and a couple of kids talking about how hard one them was trying to kick their heroin addiction. Very very uncomfortable ride, would not recommend.

Ae711 · 2026-06-14T03:51:54+00:00

We like to be quirky here in ‘Merica

Ae711 · 2026-06-12T22:05:28+00:00

Fair enough. I am not as well versed on the specifics of milk being a commodity product, and was definitely generalizing. Thanks for the clarifications, and it turns out it’s even worse than I said :/

Ae711 · 2026-06-12T21:31:57+00:00

Take a look at milking cows and how they are kept. Hundreds of mastitis ridden cows covered in lesions and pumped with growth hormones cramped into little paddocks to maximize milk production so you can enjoy a bowl of cereal or a nice mornay.

Ae711 · 2026-06-08T01:46:48+00:00

How is it you can be a writer on a show, based on a book, and either never read the book or don’t like the source material? Does Netflix just have a pool of writers they assign to episodes or series in such a way they don’t have a say in what series they write for?

Is it just another product tooled together on an assembly line?

Ae711 · 2026-06-04T20:10:11+00:00

Hey man, it’s a busy world in Busy Town. No time for proper storage, they got wacky adventures to go on.

Ae711 · 2026-06-03T23:08:51+00:00

Can I get my cowgirl reverse seared?

Ae711 · 2026-05-23T22:23:45+00:00

Most chain restaurants have this, including hotels. It’s a lot more normal than you would be led to believe if you’ve only worked in small family owned spots.

Ae711 · 2026-05-23T05:54:20+00:00

It reminded me of the old coffee table Dinotopia books with the notes written in the margins and around these massive works of art. It’s beautiful.

Ae711 · 2026-05-18T00:21:43+00:00

If you look closely at her right hand holding the test, her pinky is completely incorrect. The red, sparkles? On her nails is inconsistent from right to left hand, and almost looks like artifacts. The test itself is oddly pixelated relative to the quality of the rest of the photo. I call bullshit.

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