Doing a "stage" in a restaurant kitchen

[Robin Garr]

What do you folks think of this? Let's hear it from restaurant pros: Would you seriously consider such an application from an amateur without restaurant experience in your kitchen?

http://herbivoracious.com/2012/03/so-yo ... urant.html

I see no problem with giving someone a chance if their heart is really in it and they come ready to do the worst job in the place for 10+ hours with the hopes of some day seeing a 6 burner stove in person.

That said, I also see no problem with giving them the boot if they prove to be more trouble than they are worth.

One of the most inspiring things I have ever seen was when a friend of mine quit his well paying desk job to pursue his dream of working in professional theatre (which he has succeeded at). You can make it work if your heart is there and you have a shred of skill. All you need is someone to take a chance on you.

Nice read and very true. I know that "auditions" are commonplace in NY, Chicago, and the Bay Area, having done many of them. Never heard it called a "Stage" though. Interesting.

To those in my house this will sound like a broken record:

'I can shake your hand, look you in the eye and know where you stand.'

Chefs and Managers hire on passion- 10 or 40 hours, it doesn't matter. If you're ready to make the commitment to come in and happily gut an Opah, clean some toilets or prep 50# of potatos, I'm happy to give you the chance.

Here's the trick-

Everybody comes in as 'the best thing since sliced bread.' Very few live up to this hype. The restaurant landscape is littered with broken promises- unfulfilled expectations. Yeah, your first week is full of 'johnny-on-the-spot,' but what happens next? Greatness has to happen everyday, regardless of your personal life. You get a mulligan twice a year, if you're lucky. I've called out of one shift in 5 years, if that gives you a better idea.

I love the idea of the stage- but are you ready for the moment when things aren't going so well? There are times when we all hate this profession, when there's that little voice that says, 'walk away.' Is the stagee, ready for this moment of truth? Does the passion carry through the wrapped wheel? Or has this 'hobby' lost its charm?

That makes this a kind of risky proposal, but for the right person, I'd jump on it...

Cut and pasted from the internets, because we've had a few running around here lately, I had already looked it up:

A stage (pronounced roughly- st ah gz) is an unpaid internship at a fancy restaurant. It's usually a restaurant." stage" is a French word meaning unpaid intern/apprenticeship.

Cut and pasted from the internets, because we've had a few running around here lately, I had already looked it up:

A stage (pronounced roughly- st ah gz) is an unpaid internship at a fancy restaurant. It's usually a restaurant." stage" is a French word meaning unpaid intern/apprenticeship.

Right. And in French, a person who does a stage is a "stagiaire." It pertains to any profession, just like the word "chef," which was discussed in this forum some time ago, may refer to the manager or boss in any profession or organization.

Cut and pasted from the internets, because we've had a few running around here lately, I had already looked it up:

A stage (pronounced roughly- st ah gz) is an unpaid internship at a fancy restaurant. It's usually a restaurant." stage" is a French word meaning unpaid intern/apprenticeship.

Right. And in French, a person who does a stage is a "stagiaire." It pertains to any profession, just like the word "chef," which was discussed in this forum some time ago, may refer to the manager or boss in any profession or organization.

The term stagaire is commonly used in professional cycling to describe a rider who signs a late-season contract as a tryout for the following year.

http://www.slipstreamsports.com/2008/08/24/life-as-a-team-garmin-chipotle-stagiaire

I worked a 14 hour stage for my current job with less than a year of "professional" cooking under me. They're fairly common for any decent restaurant, not just in the larger cities as mentioned above.

I'm not a pro, but as someone outside the service industry who was successful at getting a couple restaurants to let me come in and work for them for free, the article was more or less right on. In my experience, if you are not in the industry, you need to be pretty up front about your intentions and expectations, since the awareness for this kind of thing is a little higher than it has been historically, and though kitchens always can find something for someone to do, they're not especially interested in foodies looking for an adventure.

If you are going to attempt a stage in a restaurant with no kitchen experience, I would recommend against getting a white Chef coat with your name and a catch phrase embroidered on it. A white coat will suit you a lot better without embroidery. That recommendation made me laugh, please don’t do that, you’ll be a joke.