Taking On An Intern

[Malawry]

I've been asked twice in the last few weeks if I'd be willing to take on an apprenticeship by an eager student. I'd been seriously asked about apprenticeship periodically in the past, but it seems like these sorts of queries are becoming more frequent.

We've discussed apprenticeship often from the standpoint of people seeking apprenticeship, but not so much from the viewpoint of the chef.

In my case, I offer amateur private culinary education, and the catering arm of my business isn't currently large enough to require kitchen help on an ongoing basis. (I can bang out just about anything for up to 200 on my own, with help necessary only on the day of the event--when I rely on an established stable of servers, kitchen helpers and sous-chefs.) I worry about the liability I'd take on for kitchen help I don't really need, and I try to steer people to paying me for classes instead of getting free help from them since selling a few classes is a much bigger boon to my bottom line.

Is this something that I can anticipate more of in the future? Are there lots of people out there trying to do this sort of work gratis and doing it successfully? I'm not even referring to culinary students here, who are a whole other issue and who do not seem to be beating down my door.

I have several friends who have offered to work in the interest of learning and hanging out. If it's somebody I know whose cooking skills are respectable, I might occasionally hire them for a few hours of prep and feed them a nice lunch on the clock while they're around. I prefer paying them because then I can control when they come, go or take a break, they're covered under my worker's comp insurance and they're pretty much obligated to do what I ask when they're on the clock. (Not that I've experienced somebody unwilling to sweep the floor or do the dishes, but you know...it's harder to compel somebody to do that sort of thing if they're not being compensated, at least to my mind.) I've done this a couple of times in the past year with great success. I already have more demand for that sort of work than I have hours to offer, though.

I naturally find myself teaching every time I cook with or for others, and that's cool. But an apprentice? If I get asked this sort of thing periodically, I wonder how much time the people I think of as "real" chefs--restaurant chefs especially--spend on fielding and weighing these requests.

Have you taken on apprentices? How did it work for you? Are you still open to it, and how do you decide who to take?

[K8memphis]

First of all I am not a chef. I am a baker. My son is a chef.

Neither of us could handle having an apprentice 95% of the time. I mean just even when I take pictures of a process that I do to show cake-buddies or whosoever to post online, I have to add mucho time to my schedule. Sometimes there's just not enough time.

I mean it just stands to reason that you gotta keep your hands, brain and body snapping, absolutley snapping to the music to keep things at the level they need to be at to survive and be successful. It is more than intense to do 100+ covers a night or produce a designer wedding cake. I have had requests for people to come by and watch and learn and it's just a whole 'nuther job on top of the job you are doing.

When I am doing a cake and I am down to crunch time even if all is going very well as it usually does, I am powerful and devoid of any Emily Post accoutrements if you get my drift. I'm using everthing I've got to get this baby birthed. My husband knows to be very scarce when I'm in 'the zone'. Back away from the lady with the spatula in her hand and the strange distant look in her eyes.

I'm totally focused and I'm mostly non-verbal at that point.

My husband says, "You're a really nice person except when you're doing a cake." Yes that is correct.

My brother visited me during the final stages of a wedding cake and I purely scared him. He stayed the heck out of my way. I mean business is business.

I think you have a great work around type idea to offer classes. Otherwise how can you produce and drag dead weight around?

[Jakea222]

I have one now and have had many ask. Yes it does take some time - but if you are up front about things, like she said stay out of the way when I am doing XYZ. If you cater - always something to do whether cleaning cambros, cutting and prep - HOWEVER - I have a few people that are on payroll that are learning English - well, the time you explain 3 times it is quicker to do yourself after the deer in headlight look. Liability has not been an issue yet, but if you get them on payroll - it falls under workers comp - if they are FreeBees it varies adn you may need to look at a waiver. You must be doing somthing right - to be getting approached.

I enjoy it most days - but I have a very good enthusiastic person.

[Malawry]

I think it's more that I'm in an area where opportunities for culinary education are scarce, and since I write for two local newspapers my name is somewhat out there.

I said no to both people, but in different ways and for different reasons. The one who was launching her own business doesn't need me as much as she thinks she does. I offered to let her assist me at some public classes in the fall so she can get some of the nuts-and-bolts training she desires. I figure this will help me speed up my setup and breakdown process, which is good because I don't really get compensation for that time. I also figure if she bails out on me it's no biggie since I'm used to doing it alone.

The other lady, well, just from speaking on the phone I don't think she can do much for me, and as I said I don't even really need help anyway. There were a number of indicators in our conversation that led me to believe she's more interested in hanging out than anything else. Like K8 I'm a flaming bitch when I'm busy and it takes a self-starter to fit into my style when I'm catering, and I don't think this woman would be that person. So I suggested private lessons, and when she balked at the price I told her to keep a lookout for the public classes I'll offer in the fall.