I think that people get caught up in the glamor of professional cooking without realizing that there are far easier ways of earning big bucks than slaving away in a hot kitchen. For the average chef, of course, life is a fairly unrewarding grind, from a financial point of view - they may get to do what they love, but what they love doesn't pay. But even the biggest chefs are a little less well-off than you might imagine. Here, for example, is an article from Forbes estimating the earning power of some of the culinary world's biggest stars.
Most striking? People like Mario Batali, owner of 13 restaurants and an endless parade of marketing opportunities, pulls in $3 million. Is that a lot of money? Of course. But Batali is probably the single most famous American chef. He is literally at the pinnacle of his profession, and his financial peers can be counted on two hands. By contrast, my guess is that there are at least 500 law partners in New York who do as well or better, with a career arc at that earning level of at least 20 years (which may not be true of Batali).
Which would I rather be doing? Obviously, I'd rather cook. But the disparity signals that either lawyers are a lot better at extracting money from the people who need them, or chefs are really bad at it. From conversations with people in the industry, I suspect a lot of it is the latter.
8/12/2008
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4 comments:
People believe that they need a great lawyer for certain work, and that such work is necessary to other things they're doing. Most people don't believe that they need great food, especially not on a regular basis.
But you don't need movies or celebrities either, and they do better than chefs too. I take your point, but I think there's a bad information imbalance between chefs and restauratuers.
these chefs are SO the exemption in an industry of low paying jobs. Even with a degree I started off making $9/hour and the highest I ever made was $13/hr!!! yes, crazy isn't it? I devoted hours and hours and complete dedication to my job which gave me back lots of satisfaction and I always felt appreciated by my bosses but the pay... it was bad and it is bad for many. Even chefs and executive chefs.
Well, there's also the benefits of a guild. Almost everyone feels comfortable at some level cooking for themselves -- very few people feel comfortable dealing with the law for themselves. Movie stars aren't quite a good comparison point, because the whole point of film entertainment is that someone else do something to amuse you. This is not the whole point of eating or our legal system.
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