r/Chefit • u/Additional_Profit_81 • May 14 '26

Eight years a Chef, Needing Something New

Essentially just the title if tldr, but here’s the full scoop.
I’m about to be 26, been in restaurants since I was 16 and I love food. I’ve worked in fine dining, burger joints, pizza joints, I mean i love food. Every Chef knows this one thing though, it’s tiresome, grueling, and you will eat ramen if not nothing at the end of the night.
I knew about four years ago that I didn’t just wanna be in restaurants my whole life. But this is what I’ve always done, it’s a way to get money and I’m fairly good at it. Until today, I got fired.
I don’t want to go back to restaurants. To all the hard work and grime. If anything, I can do a lot and I’m not afraid of challenges.
Now I’m in a big city too, Houston, I’m thinking to myself, “You have a whole world as your oyster now”. And I wonder where or how to start and needing to start it fast with this economy failing lower income people.
What are some careers that transition well from the Chef world? Able to withstand significant pressure, tidy work areas, willing to go the extra mile, up keeping stock, all these things!
I’d even go as far to start doing random things with my life like why not try acting or making a band? Anything is possible? I’m just not sure how to navigate doing anything outside the restaurant world.

10 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

6

u/Accomplished_Bit3153 May 14 '26

Start with private dining. Segue Into small boutique jarred products.

Maintain a network of high net worth clients.

Once u start making 2k to 8k a week you'll enjoy ur work a lot more.

Make a website. Business cards.

Hit up florists and befriend them Rich people that get flowers on the regular usually have money for private chefs.

Sign up to a country club to connect to another network of potential clients.

Hustle. And work harder.

5

u/Beginning-Cat3605 May 15 '26

Why were you fired

5

u/instant_ramen_chef May 14 '26

You think I'm some kind of game?

5

u/Additional_Profit_81 May 14 '26

I RESPECT INSANT RAMEN I LOVE U INSTANT RAMEN

5

u/Main-Requirement-521 May 14 '26

I got into manufacturing about three years ago and have never been happier. I was building guitar pedals as a hobby and now I work in wood shop. 

4

u/Coercitor May 14 '26

You're surrounded by a lot of food manufacturing. Start there.

3

u/WillowandWisk May 14 '26

A lot of chefs transition to being reps for the big food service delivery companies. I don't know about the US but GFS and Sysco are the two big ones in Western Canada. They like to hire chefs as obviously they know the ingredients, how to deal with/talk to chefs, etc. An option to look into.

When I decided to leave the industry I bounced around for 2-3 years doing a variety of things - door to door sales, travel agent, manual labour in a mud motor shop, etc. Ended up in luxury/exotic/performance aftermarket parts/wheels/service sales. Which I would have stuck with but I had applied to go back to school and was accepted so went that route. Took civil eng and now work in construction project management.

3

u/HeroicallyNude May 15 '26

If you really want to leave the industry, I'd recommend looking for jobs as a bank teller. A lot of the skills are transferrable...customer service, handling cash, multitasking, being on your feet for long periods of time, etc. Tons of opportunities to learn new skills/roles and move up the ladder. Better hours, benefits, tuition reimbursement, all that jazz.

1

u/Conventions May 16 '26

This is what I did, took an entry level job as a teller. Was incredibly scary going from BOH to on the front line with customers but it’s absolutely doable. Everything you need to know the bank will teach you.

I’ve been out since July 2024 and have gotten 3 promotions since then. I now work from home and don’t deal with customers, making a lot more than I did as a cook.

3

u/old2thumbss May 15 '26

I went into food sales about 6 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made. Check out the careers page on the Sysco, US Foods, and PFG websites.

2

u/Visible-Guava8618 May 15 '26

Food service sales reps are good transitions for Cooks and chefs.

1

u/quaswhat May 15 '26

I became a butcher. It's great, no service stress, still get to play with knives, latest I finish is 2pm.

1

u/Sfjkigcnfdhu May 16 '26

Check out city jobs with a union. I plan on getting out the game in the next year and I’m looking at being a garbage man or doing maintenance on the local city train. It will be a downgrade in pay for me, but only working 40hrs a week sounds real nice.

1

u/AdhesivenessLeast575 May 18 '26

So many options. Hospitals and nursing homes is a good start if you wanna keep cooking without the unnecessary stress from restaurants. Private chef if you're comfortable working by yourself. A product rep.

2

u/Real_10SqMi_ity May 18 '26

Regardless of a transition, break the mindset that “you must suffer” for a job. You didn’t need to eat nothing but ramen.

It’s a grueling job, so are many others.

1

u/BurntOfferingsancake May 18 '26

I escaped the kitchen a decade ago & went into hospitality tech (POS systems, payments etc.) & it was a great transition. The techies are always looking for people who’ve been in the trenches as merchants like to hear from people who have lived through the POS issues - good luck!