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Can you imagine owning your own restaurant or becoming a famous chef serving up delectable delicacies for the world to savor? Being a chef de partie can be a rewarding and fulfilling career, but it requires hard work, patience and stamina, as well as a passion for food.
A good chef de partie doesn't consider a meal something that merely satisfies hunger. Food is nothing if not a work of art! Chefs de partie divide their time between four main responsibilities: food quality, kitchen operations (menus, supplies, costs, food preparation), customer and staff relations, and management tasks. They enjoy creating their own recipes with the freshest ingredients, experimenting with different flavors and combinations, and presenting them with flair.
To be successful, students will need to acquire a complete awareness of the tools of the trade. Students learn the basics of cooking and baking from scratch, dining room management, menu planning, food service supervision, cost controls, purchasing, marketing and computer applications for food service.
Whether working for someone else or for your own restaurant, as a chef de partie, you will depend on your reputation and abilities to bring in and keep diners. Good, creative chefs de partie will become well known for their talent, even if it's only locally.
Salaries for a chef de partie varies depending on geographic location and place of business. The highest wages are found at the upscale, fine dining restaurants, hotels and resorts. Moving down the pay scale, you will be able to find work in venues like institutional cafeterias, casual or fast food restaurants, and cruise ships.
A noisy, busy, humid kitchen is every chef de partie’s home. The staff you work with is like an extended family. Often, you will spend more hours at the restaurant than you do at home, and many of these hours will be stressful, particularly if you’re preparing for special occasions, celebrations, or large parties.
While kitchens must be well ventilated, appropriately lit and properly equipped with sprinkler systems to protect against fires, chefs de partie invariably work in small quarters against hot stoves. Additionally, chefs de partie are often under constant pressures to prepare meals quickly while ensuring top-quality and safety and sanitation guidelines are followed. As they say, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the chef de partie’s kitchen!’
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