Line Cook/Prep Cook, Anywhere, USA
We are looking for an experienced line cook whose mental health is on a sliding scale of ‘everything’s fine’ to ‘help me’. In this position, your primary goal will be to not fuck up. To be successful in this role, the ideal candidate will work quietly enough we forget you are present. He/she will work quickly enough to generate a slight breeze, and have an agreeable personality so we will not think you are an a-hole. Serious candidates must be able to demonstrate the ability to endure, witness or take part in racist, sexist, and/or toxic masculine behavior. Chef mind reading capabilities are a plus, but not required.
Although this is an exaggeration, a culture of toxicity (amongst other things) was the norm and not the exception in many pre-pandemic restaurants. The Me Too Movement in 2017 and 2018 may have been the industry’s canary in the coal mine. That movement shed light on rampant sexism in the back of house, and named chefs like Mario Batali, John Besh and Ken Friedman were publicly outed for alleged sexual misconduct. In 2020, the demand for racial justice compounded by the inequities exposed by the pandemic, placed the entire restaurant industry under a new light. A brighter, harsher spotlight that exposed the rest of its deep-seated isms.
Today, restaurants face an unintended aftereffect of 2020 – a massive labor shortage. According to Forbes, 1.34 million industry jobs were available in April 2021. Some workers never returned after taking jobs outside the industry when restaurants closed during the height of the pandemic. Others were over the long hours, low wages, lack of medical benefits. Many were done with the vulnerability of the industry. Despite all of this, some owners and chefs clicked the lights on, dusted off their aprons, and headed back into the kitchen. A move that has some people are asking, why? Some people like TikTok food stars.
Months in quarantine without the convenience of restaurants, people turned to social media for cooking inspiration. What they found was Gen Z. Enterprising and tech savvy home cooks flooded social media with short and creative food videos. Recipes were based more on convenience and creativity than technique, but who cared? We were all in the house and in the house bored, and all those likes and shares created a new type of food star.
In May, The New York Times ran a piece called TikTok, the Fastest Way on Earth to Become a Food Star. In the article, Taylor Lorenz writes TikTok has “[Birthed] a new generation of cooking stars who didn’t put in years in a professional kitchen…and are often showcasing recipes they find online rather than developing their own.” 25.2 billion views of food related content has earned content creators quick fame and quick fortune. Some “up-and-coming” creators, Lorenz writes, are already pulling in six figures. That is a significant difference between the average chef salaries listed on Indeed.com. According to the website, the average chef salary in Des Moines is $49,000 and $53,000 average in Chicago.
I asked four industry veterans to weigh in. How do they feel about the quick fame and quick financial success of TikTok food stars? Many of whom have neither formal training nor the equivalent in professional culinary experience. Here’s what they had to say.
Marque Collins
Mulberry Street Tavern, Des Moines
Title: Executive Chef
Culinary School: None
Time in Industry: 11 years
Average Hours (pre-pandemic): 60 to 80 per week
Current Average Hours: 60 to 70 per week
Salary: “I have been able to draw a salary before and after the pandemic with the exception of about five months when I was furloughed.”
“I think the TikTok food creators are the next in line of food “personalities”. But, they are content creators and personalities; not chefs. Cooking in a professional restaurant and running a professional restaurant requires a very different skill set. I think restaurants will always be around because of the uniquely enjoyable experience they provide both in food and service. I hardly think someone will not want to eat at my restaurant because a Gen Z star made a recipe he/she found online and made a video about it. I am of course envious of the money they are able to make, but my envy is in the same envy I feel towards Hollywood actors. I think professional chefs, food writers, TikTokers, and other food media personalities are all trying to find their space in our growing food culture.”
Chris Hoffmann
Clyde’s Fine Diner, Des Moines
Title: Chef/Owner
Culinary School: Art Institute of Chicago
Time in Industry: “Not long enough to know better than to open my own place. Ha! Kidding I love my work.”
Average Hours (pre-pandemic): 60 per week
Current Average Hours: 60 per week
Salary: “Since we opened just six months before the pandemic hit, I wasn’t drawing a salary while the restaurant got up on its feet. Then the pandemic hit and I certainly wasn’t drawing a salary then or now. Our revenue is all going to our awesome employees and everything else to keep this little place afloat! Part of ownership is taking that risk and it’s certainly nice to see the business growing back to where it was.”
(Image: Des Moines Register)
“It takes a lot of talent to present well in front of a camera. It’s a different set of skills than just being a chef, and frankly it’s not easy. I don’t use TikTok but I’ve seen some clips. It’s entertainment, and if they are able to make a living being entertainers good for them. I will say as a trained chef, it’s difficult to watch some of the errors in fundamental cooking technique. Some of the food is pretty cringe worthy from my perspective but it’s not like these TikToker’s are going to be putting real chefs out of business. As for fame and money? I think most of us that cook for a living in the restaurant setting aren’t looking for fame and fortune, it’s something we choose to do because we love it.”
Leigh Omilinsky
Swift & Sons, Chicago
Title: Executive Pastry Chef
Culinary School: Johnson and Wales
Time Industry: 20 years
Average Hours (pre-pandemic): 60 to 80 hours per week
Current Average Hours: 45 to 50 hours per week
Salary: “I had a decent salary pre-pandemic, but that was only because I was overseeing 3 different operations. Mid pandemic, I took a HUGE pay cut. I am now doing ok, but am nowhere near where I was pre-pandemic.”
(Image: No Kid Hungry.org)
“Honestly, it depends on the day. There are some days where I think “good for them. They are doing something that I have no interest in and also don’t really know how to do”. There are other times where I look at them and think “what a hack”. Mostly, I see what I do and what they are doing as very different things. Can I make something really good for the internet one time? Yes. Can they consistently make good products at huge volume in a hot, pressure filled environment? No. They can’t.”
“I think that all social media gives a very narrow view of the restaurant industry. It is a very specific person that wants to be in restaurants. It’s another very specific person that can survive in restaurants. I think that there is something that restaurants can learn from these TikTok Food Stars about marketing and how people are absorbing content. I think the other side of this is that we don’t know the staying power of these TikTok stars. Is this a “flash in the pan” type of fame? I think so. I’ve been in this industry for about 20 years, and I firmly believe that in order to have staying power, you need a firm foundation of training. Will these TikTok stars still be stars in 20 years? Likely not. All of these social media stars are not doing anything super revolutionary. They are gearing themselves to the very beginner home cook. It’s like a virtual cookbook. I just have to think of what I do and what they do as entirely different categories.”
Lynn Pritchard
Table 128 Bistro and Bar, Des Moines
Title: Chef/Owner
Culinary School: Culinary Institute of America
Years in Industry: 20 years
Average Hours (pre-pandemic): 60 to 70 per week
Current Average Hours: 50 per week
Salary: Chef has been able to draw a salary.
(Image: Iowa PBS)
“While I respect what they’re doing for both their community and audience, I don’t feel their craft is sustainable because they don’t have the framework of education or experience to make it long term. They’re appealing to a very vast audience and that is wonderful because it creating demand for that – clearly. They’re able to glean what they need to, but their craft isn’t sustainable in regards to a bricks and mortar restaurant. It’s not creating the same food memories. It’s not establishing those relationships in the community. It’s not setting down long term bonds with the people that they nourish. Their nourishment is of a different sort. It’s a voyeuristic sort; not a metaphysical one.”
