Traveling the country, working along the way

[wax311]

On July 1, my girlfriend and I are leaving town in our recently purchased 1978 Winnebago and traveling around the country for 6 months to a year. Along the way, I will be staging at some very good restaurants for about two weeks at a time. I already have a couple tentatively lined up.

We have been saving up for almost a year for this trip, and while we have managed to save a significant sum, we have decided that in order to stay on the road and travel the country for more than 3-4 months on the money we have saved, we will have to work along the way. This is mostly due to the increasing price of gasoline, which we are anticipating could reach $5/gal at some point during our trip (our camper gets 10mpg, so we will be choosing our routes wisely).

The problem with staging at very good restaurants is that it is expected that it will be unpaided. I haven't really asked either of the two chefs I have spoken to (one in California, one in Maine) about getting paid for my work because of this underlying expectation.

So, here are my questions:

1) Can/should I ask to get paid as a stagiaire? Does it depend on the restaurant? Would chefs be turned off by this, even if I told them about my situation?

2) Assuming I can't get paid as a stagiaire, how else can I get temporary work (2-4 weeks at a time) as a cook in which I will both learn a lot and be compensated decently?

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

-Wax

[stealw]

Very interesting trip, take pics and update us if ya can.

In regards to your concern. Personally I do not find it fitting to ask the Chef to pay you for your stage, generally too short to even be paid and not to mention the paper work you have to do. (Though you said 2 week stage's?...quite a long time so could stir up some benefits I suppose)

Only thing that pops right into my head about earning money as you go, are catering events. Not necessarily cooking though, more on the foh serving side which they generally do hire out by day.

Good Luck

[orla]

Where in Maine? I traveled cross country for 9 months and found lots of work serving in restaurants. Quick easy cash! You could definitely find catering work in Maine in the Summertime.

[wax311]

Where in Maine? I traveled cross country for 9 months and found lots of work serving in restaurants. Quick easy cash! You could definitely find catering work in Maine in the Summertime.

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I have a tentative stage set up in Rockland, ME.

I definitely should consider serving like you folks have suggested. Would it make sense to sign up at some temp agencies that do catering events? Are there any national agencies out there? Or should I simply look on the craiglist board for where I'm heading to?

[orla]

Primo?

Not sure where wlse you will be traveling, but in Maine everything is still pretty much "small town." If you know wherre you will be at a certain time, I would maybe directly contact catering companies and let them know that you are experienced and willing to help w/ any catering jobs available at that time. It is so seasonal up here that extra hands are usually welcomed!

[wax311]

Primo?

Not sure where wlse you will be traveling, but in Maine everything is still pretty much "small town." If you know wherre you will be at a certain time, I would maybe directly contact catering companies and let them know that you are experienced and willing to help w/ any catering jobs available at that time. It is so seasonal up here that extra hands are usually welcomed!

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Great. I'll be traveling hopefully all across the U.S., spending lots of time in California during the trip. I actually don't anticipate spending a ton of time in Maine other than my two weeks at Primo (you got me), maybe another week or so but we'll be doing lots of non-work related stuff too, like WW rafting the Kennebeck, having some fun at Old Orchard Beach, ect. But if I need some money, maybe we'll spend a little more time there if we can find some well-paying events.

[Loosecanon Dolph]

So, here are my questions:

1)  Can/should I ask to get paid as a stagiaire?  Does it depend on the restaurant?  Would chefs be turned off by this, even if I told them about my situation?

2) Assuming I can't get paid as a stagiaire, how else can I get temporary work (2-4 weeks at a time) as a cook in which I will both learn a lot and be compensated decently?

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

-Wax

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C'mon, are you serious hippie?

Stage's are for you, your pay is the experience you get, you should feel lucky to have secured something at Primo, don't ask for money it will make you look like a total douche.

No one wants to hire a temporary cook, wait there is no such thing, the only thing I could recommend is to get an easy job at some middle end restaurant and then quit after two weeks taking the money and running so to speak, however, this bad karma will bite you in the ass sometime, guaranteed.

What you should do is just find the bridges and underpasses where the mexicans hang out and get some day labor, good luck wavy gravy

[wax311]

No one wants to hire a temporary cook, wait there is no such thing, the only thing I could recommend is to get an easy job at some middle end restaurant and then quit after two weeks taking the money and running so to speak, however, this bad karma will bite you in the ass sometime, guaranteed. 

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At a few of the restaurants I have worked at, there have been a handful of cooks who had been hired temporarily. Where I work now, we had one guy from Hawaii come in to ask for temporary work while he interviewed at a few places around the city for a sous chef position. We were understaffed but did have a sous chef, so we took him on as a line cook. He left after a few weeks, and shortly thereafter we hired someone good, as my chef was able to use the extra time to do more interviews and hire the best candidate.

And aside from restaurants which seem to be frequently understaffed, there are also catering companies looking for temporary help. I don't think there's no such thing as a temporary cook.