Working in a restaurant for free

[bolero]

I'm thinking of looking into a career in the culinary world as a cook but I've got very little experience actually working in a restaurant. I wanted to test the waters a little bit to see if it's really for me before I decide if I want to shell out for culinary school. I've spent summers as a volunteer at a local cooking school but was wondering if restaurants do something similar where they let people work for free. Have any of you tried doing something like this? Who should I talk to and how should I go about trying to do something like this? Thanks!

- B

[Doodad]

Yes twice now. Just approach the chef, they like free. I am supposed to be getting a stipend on this current job due to my working through a department of labor program, but that has not worked well.

Don't forget clothes and gas will cost you. Good luck!

[paul o' vendange]

Definitely doable - an old and in my opinion a noble tradition, if amounting to little more than slave labor. But if you go in with the idea that you are working and gaining an essentially free, practical and rigorous apprenticeship - oftentimes, in a place that can little afford any kind of slipshod work - it can both give you exactly what you seek, a realistic appraisal of whether this is for you, and if you bloom at your chosen place of stage, an entree into bigger and better things; all for the cost of your labors alone.

If you're young, have few encumbrances, a good heart and a clear eye, and know what you're getting into, I say, go for it. Having apprenticed to a number of folks - the last, a Japanese martial arts and zen master, while in my mid '30's (uchideshi - "live inside" student, literally, living inside the temple/dojo), I'd definitely put the emphasis on "young." Ask my now decrepit spine. At any rate, congrats on your desires, and all the best wishes for your success.

Anyway,

Edited November 18, 2010 by paul o' vendange (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I do work in a restaurant and I still sometimes approach other restaurants to ask about volunteer shifts (depending on what's going on at my job) if I think I can learn something or get experience doing something I haven't done. Most have been agreeable. I got a late start to cooking as a career and haven't been to culinary school so any learning is good learning as far as I'm concerned.

[bolero]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll probably start asking around this week

- B

[Holly Moore]

My concern, as a former restaurant owner, would be workman's comp, especially in the case of an inexperienced person working in my kitchen. In Pennsylvania, along with medical and disability costs, there are major cash penalties if a person working in a kitchen is injured and not covered by workman's comp.

I'd want an apprentice on payroll at minimum rate.

[bolero]

That's a good point. Would it change anything if I happen to have health insurance covered by the company I work at another job?

[Holly Moore]

That's a legal question I'm not qualified to answer. But my sense is that your health insurance would be secondary to workman's comp - that if the accident was traced back to your working at the restaurant, the restaurant would still be in trouble for not having you covered and you might not be insured.

[bolero]

Ok well thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind and just ask around anyways. I don't really have anything to lose I guess!

[Doodad]

Are you unemployed? I am and working through a program that pays me a stipend and covers workers comp.

[bolero]

Haha unfortunately, no...I've got a fulltime job during the week. This was something I was hoping to do over the weekends for the time being.

[Florida]

When I was in culinary school, I worked for Norman van Aiken for free. I knew someone who worked at his restaurant who hooked me up with a meeting with the sous chef and soon enough I was completing menial tasks for the kitchen. I will say, at the time I was young and still in culinary school with no real world experience, so doing this allowed me to put something on my resume. However, at this point in my life, it's hard for me to even conceive of working (not volunteering) anywhere for free. But I guess you've got to do what you've got do.

I wouldn't worry too much about the worker's comp. Considering the amount of undocumented workers in the restaurant industry, the insurance seems to work itself out.

[MattyC]

We have people come help out in the restaurant on occasion - just people in their 20's and 30's who just want to learn things, or decide if it's something they like and want to pursue a path down that road.

I definitely say just go on in or call, ask the chef, see if that's something they wouldn't mind letting you do. Most of the time, in my experience, they don't mind having someone come in who wants to learn.