Breaking into the food biz in Seattle

[Placebo]

Hi folks - haven't posted in a bit but here it is. I've been thinking for a while about treying to go into food work professionally for a couple of years now. Having been just layed off from my IT job this seems like the perfect opportunity.

So, I'm wondering if people have suggestions on how to get this started. I'm an avid home cook (never cooked progfesionally) and I've done menu planning, recipe scaling and head-cooking for parties (of friends) up to 120 people. Hell, as much as I love the summer here I was completely thrilled when the temperature finally dropped enough this weekend for me to start making stocks again.

Anyway, I'm wondering if folks have suggestions. I assume I'll start at the bottom and work my way up but I guess as someopne with no actual working experience doing this I'm not sure where to begin. My initial plan is to scan craigslist and the paper for work and then just start walking around town popping by the places I like or that interest me and making inquiries.

Any suggestions from seasoned folks out in the field would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-Amir

Edited September 12, 2003 by Placebo (log)

[thelastsupper]

Forget the papers, unless you see an ad of a place you really like. Make a good resumé, have it clean, proofread etc. Make a list of the places that you really like to eat, call to find out when the chef will be there. Hand your resumé/cover letter to him or her personally. Explain your situation if you have time. Expect to be grilled and/or laughed off the premises at a lot of the places you go to. You will do whatever they have open and do it gladly. Although if a place seems iffy, don't do it. It will seriously pay off for you down the road if your first job is a good place-- one that pushes you into good work habits and is instructive about your product/cuisine.

Do your research. Read reviews, know what's on the menu, where the chef has cooked.

If none of the places that are on your list call you back, follow up. If still nothing, start up a list of your second-tier restaurants.

Before you are offered a job, most places will have you trail, which means work a night without pay. Basically you will be doing small prep projects for people until service begins. Do these jobs as quickly and efficiently as you can, but if you don't understand something, ask first. It will save you (and them) much hassle. During service you usually observe/assist with one station for most of the night. Try to taste what they food that they put out. Ask lots of questions, but if they get busy, get out of the way unless they ask you to help. Keep an eye on the other stations as well, to get a sense of how the kitchen works, who gets slammed when, etc. Check out the walk-in: Organized? Scuzzy?

Cooking professionally is WAY different than cooking at home. Even parties don't give you an idea of the very particular set of skills you need. Try not to let stress get to you. Learn and nail your station. Be as neat as you can. Clean up messes as they happen. Taste everything. Figure out how the chef seasons food. Read. Try to move and plate food as quickly as you can. Understand what is going on beyond your station. Ask questions. Express your ambition.

[Saydee]

One of the key things, from my very limited experience, is attitude. A genuine willingness to do anything, learn anything, and a great love for food. You sound a lot like my husband (also a former IT guy - used to do systems analysis and support), who broke into the food business about a year ago. His only prior food experience was a 4-year summers-only stint at McDonald's in high school. But he has a true passion for food, and an ability to think on his feet to come up with new flavor combinations. He's darn-near obsessed, and that's a good thing. He went into a major chain restaurant in October of last year, and spoke to the appropriate managers. They admitted he didn't have much experience, but they loved his attitude and he got the job. He worked there for a while, learning how to prep food quickly for large amounts of people. This summer, he started looking for other opportunities, and applied for a job at a "restaurant restaurant" (as opposed to a chain). He talked to the sous-chef - who again admitted my husband didn't have the amount of experience they were looking for - but he said again, that he liked his attitude, so he arranged another meeting with the head chef. She talked to him, and he got the job. He's now the restaurant's dayside pantry cook (soups, desserts, sauces, sandwiches, etc.). He loves what he's doing, I'm happy to report - and, he's working with people who are teaching him a great deal.

So you might have to first cut your teeth for a while at a place like the Olive Garden, in an entry-level position, but there is hope. Also, taking a few culinary classes might help out (full-blown culinary school is darned expensive, we haven't been able to come up with the cash yet). My husband is also a member of this board (his handle is Skie, I believe) - so I'll get him to come on here and see if I left anything out of his story.;) Good luck!

Edited September 13, 2003 by Saydee (log)

[ScorchedPalate]

Also, taking a few culinary classes might help out (full-blown culinary school is darned expensive, we haven't been able to come up with the cash yet).

As someone who's attended culinary school, I can tell you that nothing magical happens there. You learn knife skills, you work in a pro kitchen, you learn safety and sanitation, you deal with food-service quantities and ordering from purveyors, and you're graded on presentation, punctuality, and execution. You work with people who have varying levels of in-kitchen experience: avid home cooks, guys who cooked in the military, kids just out of high school who almost can't boil water, and working cooks who want to get some book learnin' behind their know-how to help them make it further up the food chain. You also learn from chef-instructors who have widely varying ways of teaching (and cooking!); many are great cooks and terrible teachers, and a few are the reverse.

Although I went the "real" culinary school route, I would heartily suggest that anyone with an interest in having a similar experience with a drastically lower pricetag check out the Seattle community colleges' culinary programs. I'm relatively new to the area, but I hear that Central has a reasonably well-regarded program, and I know that North has a program, too. (Somebody will speak up if I'm misinformed, I have no doubt.) You might even be able to squeak in for fall quarter, yet.

...my 0.02 for the morning...

~Anita

edited for (the usual) typos

Edited September 13, 2003 by ScorchedPalate (log)

[Skie]

Yep, I'm Saydee's husband and am now working for a restaurant in Seattle (which the Seattle Times just rated 3 out of 4 stars) as one of their AM Pantry Cooks. I do love food and for me, going to work and 'cooking' (as much as a Pantry Cook can do) is fun (it feels great).

My Chef and Sous-Chef (at least one of them) never went to culinary school. My sous-chef even indicates that culinary school graduates / attendees have the wrong attitude about what to do in a restaurant (at least in the beginning). In his words, [Going to culinary school] "Doesn't teach you how to work the line" (which is true, how many culinary school restaurants actually put you through a 400+ cover day?)

Which isn't to say that Culinary School is a BAD thing, it's a good thing, but personally, I think that culinary school is more to help enhance your experience rather than to start you off (then again, I've not gone that route).

As for Seattle culinary schools, I'd *love* to be able to attend the Arts Institute of Seattle, but the cost is prohibitive and so is the time (2 years).

Some of the other guys working the line are attending Seattle Central (HIGHLY recommended), and a Chef at another highly rated restaurant in West Seattle is a graduate of Seattle South. Overall, Seattle Central is the one I hear the most good things about.

Hope this helps...

Skie

[nightscotsman]

I would like to add my recommendation for the Seattle Central culinary school. Their pastry program is not as good (in my opinion) as South Seattle, but I believe they are the best for savory in town. However, if you don't mind traveling a bit outside of Seattle, I would take a serious look at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. With the exchange rate, the tuition is not much more than community college, but they have a much more ambitious program and they really try to give students more of an "apprenticeship" type experience that comes closer to a real working restaurant. Also, their program is only 6 months as opposed to a year and a half, which would get you out working and making money sooner. At the very least it would make a nice trip to visit the school in Vancouver to compare and take in some nice restaurants.

[Skie]

Heh, actually being *FROM* Vancouver, I looked at the program and wondered if I really need to go to that Culinary school after gaining actual work experience. Then again, returning to school WITH experience is much different than going to school for the purpose of gaining basic skills used in a kitchen.

I think I'd like to go to Culinary school eventually, but right now, the best training I can get is on a line.

[Placebo]

Thank you all for your excellent responses. I have indeed heard good things about Seattle Central and South Seattle from a friend who was looking at going this route a year ago. I'm wondering what sort of resume I can even present, having never worked on a line before. On the other hand, all of my IT knowledge was learned on the job by being handed tasks that needed to be done and learning what was needed on the spot to make it happen. I'm not sure how to present that to people but I suspect I can figure that out as well.

I think the first thing I need to do is get my knife skills up to speed - I'm *slow* on the prep now and need to improve that even just for my own cooking, all professional spots aside. o afr all I have to guide me as an old copy of La Technique -- it's helped a lot but does not compare to what I would learn from actually working with someone who could show me and correct me as I go. That or I need to buy a whole mess of veggies and just slice, dice and chop for hours.

The other area where my interest lies (perhaps even moreso than cooking outright as far as future work goes) is making beer and cheese. I've only done a little of each so far but am planning to do much more over the fall. The trick for cheese-making is that I need a way to age my cheeses properly and living in an apt in capitol hill this is tricky. I'm looking into digging up a small used refrigerator case and making some changes to the ventilation, temperature and humidity control to get the environment I need. Hopefully when my lease runs out I can find a place with more space and, ideally, a basement or cellar. I'll be calling around next week to beer and cheese makers in the region to see if there are openings or even suggestions. That and I need to source goat milk for less than $12/gallon and sheep milk anywhere I can find it (though ideally I'd like arrangements with a specific farm or two where I know the feeding and milking patterns for the animals in question).

[tsquare]

There was a cheesemaker wanted sign on the new cheese place going into the Market (where Seattle Garden Store was.) I think they are making fresh only - but it might be worth looking into.

[Placebo]

Oh wow - I'm heading over there Right Now to investigate.

Thanks,

-Amir

[Placebo]

Just to update, I got a call today from the head cheesemaker and they want me to come in tomorrow so they can make me an offer. So, as of tomorrow I suspect I will be a professional cheesemaker.

More info once it's all confirmed.

[nightscotsman]

That's totally cool! Congratulations.

I envy your business card.

[mamster]

Amir, you are already the head cheese in our book!

Wait, that came out wrong. Congratulations, anyway.

[herbacidal]

Amir, you are already the head cheese in our book!

Wait, that came out wrong. Congratulations, anyway.

so, were you trying to say he's a Packers fan?

Congrats, amir.

[malarkey]

Just to update, I got a call today from the head cheesemaker and they want me to come in tomorrow so they can make me an offer.  So, as of tomorrow I suspect I will be a professional cheesemaker.

More info once it's all confirmed.

Awesome!! Keep us posted Amir!

[Saydee]

That's great news! Congrats!

[Placebo]

So here's the scoop on the place. It's called Beecher's Handmade Cheeses and is opening in the market in the old Seattle Garden Center space on or around Nov. 20. The guy running the operation is a career cheese-maker. He and his dad owned and ran the Bandon cheese company until Tillamook bought it up and moved production to their main factory. There seems to be a goodly amount of money behind it and they seem to have their priorities in order. We'll be starting with all cow cheeses of mostly popular american styles, (a cheddar, a jack, etc) along with farmer's cheese and spreads. I think the flagship cheese will be a chedder but it'll be another year before the base version of that is even ready. Along with handmade cheeses it looks like we'll also be making butter (mmm... fresh butter) and ice cream.

Along with the cheese-production there'll be a retail space selling the cheese as well as sandwiches and other cheese-oriented prepared foods. I'm hoping, once I'm down witht heprocess, to source goat and sheep milk and try making some non-cow cheeses. It sounds like they're prertty open to the idea (hell, it's in their best interests to run with our enthusiasm). As cheese-makers go there's the lead guy and then two of us assistants (or apprentices as I like to think of it). Depending on how the workload ends up being there's the possibility of a 3rd assistant being brought on.

I'm incredibly excited. Anyexperience, books or thoughts people have on cheese or ice cream making would be great. Once things get a bit more steeled there I'll see about putting together an eGullet event there. Thanks for all your support.

[tsquare]

Excellent report. It sounds like you accepted their offer. Get them to send you to France, Italy, Spain and Portugal to study the local curds! Maybe that suggestion should wait awhile.

[tsquare]

Placebo,

Are you up to your elbows in curds? I walked by last night and they were having a party in there! Were you working? They gave me a coupon for a cup of curds and said they open Thursday. I'm looking forward to trying this place out...fresh cheese. And the place looks great - a warm retail room and a very cool mega vat operation room.

[Placebo]

Yup - we made cheese for the first time yesterday. It was a bit hectic as we ran into couple of problems with some equipment but there's no way to fully test the process without actually making cheese. It'll get a lot smoother over the next couple of weeks as we get our work flow down and determine how and where to store various supplies to best make things available as we need them. We started with nearly 9000 pounds of milk -- most of it became curds for our flagship cheese (tune in a year or so from now to try it :) plus some curds to be sold in the store (mm.. curds that were still grass 2 days ago) and some fromage blanc that will be ready today.

The actual cheese-making was hard hard work but the day just sailed by. My big lessons of the day were to eat a good breakfast and make sure to have a bottle of water on hand to drink from as I think I was able to steal a total of 5 minutes of time to grab a drink from the retail side. The last few days feel like the first honest work I've done in years. This will definitely get me into better shape. Lots of hard work, lifting, washing, etc. I'm finding that I'm in bed before midnight (usually closer to 11) every night, which is strange for me as I tend to be a night owl.

It was a little disconcerting, at first, when we cheddarred for the first time this afternoon and I looked up to see the window inside lined with faces. I'm already acclimating to it, though there'll be another period of adjustment on Thurday when we take the paper off the outside windows and people start watching from the street as well. I think this job will do great things for my skin too - lots of milk, steam and salt. I'll post a description of a full run through the cheese-making process once I've done it a few more times and feel like I have a better handle on it. We've had the cheese-maker's father in this week (who ran the Bandon cheese company for, I think, around ten years) to help out - it's been fun workign with this father and son cheese-making team. Makes me with I'd gotten to taste their cheddar before Tillamook took over and moved the manufaturing operation to their factory.

The place does look really amazing. If you'd asked me a week ago I'd have told you I wasn't sure we'd be ready in time but the amount of ass-busting that's gone on has been tremendous. The cheese case looks fantastic - there's a whole bunch of goodies that I'm looking forward to trying. I think that at the moment there's a couple dozen artisan cheeses in stock. I'm not sure when we'll start making butter - the dasher is already in, though. Ice cream is likely a few weeks off yet.

Yesterday and today are essentially test openings for people who've been making the whole thing happen. Thursday we pull down the brown paper and open up to the public.

[edited to add butter and ice cream info]

Edited November 19, 2003 by Placebo (log)

[laurel]

What are your hours? I'll be at the market Friday morning to pick up my CSA stuff, and I'd love to stop by..

[Placebo]

The hours will be 9-6 or so, initially (I think). THere'll be some adjustments as we see how business flows. The market as a whole seems to me to open way too late and to close way too early. The fact that it's not fully up and runnoing till 10, really, and then is half-closed by 6 seems just plain stupid to me. This is the first job I'll have ever had that will allow me to actually go to the market on non-weekend days. While the open hours are swell for tourists (I guess) they are pretty useless for people who actually live here. It seems to me that 8-8 would work a *lot* better. People could actually shop after work even if they don't work right there (and those who do, should they have to work even a little late, are unable as well). I mean honestly, how many tourists are going to buy produce or half a fresh salmon? Why not aim at being an area where people can relax after work while waiting for traffic to abate? A place where people who live in Seattle can actually shop for produce and meat and fish even if they have day jobs. It just makes no sense to me. Admittedly, I moved here from essentially a 24 hour city and Seattle's generally early shut-down hours have irked me from the start. I don't know how much of it is market association politics - I've already heard from other shop owners the most ludicrous stories of petty political power-mongering by those folks.

Anyway, sorry for the rant - it's been on my mind a lot lately now that I'm spending so much time there. It just seems like such a waste to have such a great resource int he middle of the city and to feel like its crippling itself for reasons I can't begin to even guess at.

[laurel]

Great, I'll probably see you at 9 :) I feel pretty much the same way as you about the market hours. I like going before work, but at 9 everyone is still setting up..

[tsquare]

From inquiry to cheese star:

Amir!

[Steve Ramsey]

I'm a second year culinary student an I'M getting doors slammed in my face.

As to culinary "school".

Mine is a technical college, a 22 month program.

Forget the formalized pinkie in the air stuff.

This program is designed to either put out a decent working cook, or someone with a piece of paper.

NOBODY dares refuse a turn in the dish pit, or neglect to empty the greasetraps.

Don't screw off or be late for service or have absenteeism.

You can, but Chef will simply write you off as a slacker, and dispense time and knowledge accordingly.

And nobody dare call themself chef on completion, we know better.

There is no in between, and you get out of it what you put into it.

You get all the attention Chef thinks you deserve. No more, no less.

I've honestly worked my ass off for over a year. I haven't missed a single day.

I have worked every single extracurricular event, dinner, and banquet gratis. (we cater as well)

I'm 44 with a solid work history.

So when some idiot resturaunt owner demands 2 years experience before they will let me be a prep cook in their kitchen, it turns my stomach.

I hope for the best, and expect nothing, and am willing to do most anything for a chance to succeed in this business.

But it seems a harder egg to crack into than it should be.

9 weeks until the unemployment runs out.