How restaurants get cooks to work 12-hour days ...

Rumplings fits in that category to an extent, but there were other factors that led to its closure. I've offered to clear the air on Rumplings, but at this point I'm over it.

And to be clear, I don't feel undervalued by my employer. The whole notion that chefs are underpaid is nonsense. I'm a 26 year old chef, I own my car, I own a decent home, I pay my child support, I have enough left over to do what I want, mostly.

Most chefs live a pretty exorbitant life style, as far as expending their income. I've been there.

Now, as a cook in title, yes it's easy to feel underpaid, but not everybody can be on that top rung. I do my part to make sure my guys are paid time and a half For overtime, they all make well above the proposed minimum wage, etc.... But for every investment banker you have multiple clerks. Work hard, have some passion, and you eventually move up. A lucky break never hurts, I received one. Really, I'm not any better than any cook in town.

And I wasn't slamming cubicle life. We are all meant to do different things. Most of my family does some sort of desk job, be it professor, nuclear medicine, graphic design, accounting, etc.

I don't think anyone was bringing Rumplings into this, not sure where that comes from. And I do agree that reaching exec/management level of almost any restaurant is a decent living; but line cooks have not seen a wage increase in literally 20 years despite a hamburger going from about $6 back then to upwards of $15 now-so to put it into perspective, employers are in fact squeezing out a bit more profit than cost of food on the backs of line cook wages. Servers got a raise for doing the exact same job because the cost of menu went up, and I might get slayed here for saying it, but most serving is bottom rung entry level. The back of house IS getting screwed and as a chef, you should stand up and say so because it is ok to say so. (because it's true)

I mentioned Rumplings because it was mentioned on page 2.

Not disputing that BOH probably gets screwed in some restaurants. Not while I'm there, though. I stand up for cooks by leading by example. We don't hand a cash envelope over for hours past 40. You get your time and a half. We don't put you on salary to work you to death. If you're on salary, and I kill you one week, I personally work one of your shifts the next week.

Nobody cares what I think they should do with their payroll. I care about what I do with mine. Which, not coincidentally, is why cooks want to follow me, why most of my guys worked for me at a previous stop, and why I get so much effort out of them.

There's a very simple way to stop mistreating cooks... Stop mistreating them. That's the long and short of it.