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Chef Salaries Drop for the First Time in Four Years

Posted on 01. May, 2009 by ResumeBear in Featured Articles, Jobs News, Salary News

StarChefs.com, the online magazine for culinary insiders, just announced the results of its fourth annual Salary Survey.  According to the survey results, culinary industry national salary averages dropped significantly in 2008. After four years of steady increase, executive chef salaries were hovering at $77,611 and in 2008 we saw this drop to an average of $74,869. Pastry chef salaries averaged at $53,017 in 2007, but have taken a 13% nosedive in 2009. Still, the individual salaries of most chef/owners, executive chefs, and chef de cuisines surveyed remain well above the US median household income of $50,740. Across the board chefs reported the highest salaries in hotel restaurants.

We found that the industry continues to be dominated by men who, on average, are still making more than their female counterparts. Of those who responded to our survey, 78% were men. And according to our survey results, male executive chefs make 18% more than female executive chefs.

The women who took our survey were evenly distributed between culinary occupations. Of those who responded, 17% reported being chef/owners and 18% reported being executive chefs. Despite the stereotype that women stick with the sweet side of cooking, only 22% of our female respondents are pastry chefs or cooks.

There are few women in the industry, and even fewer minority women. Of the female executive chefs who took our survey, 88% are Caucasian, and 80% of female chef de cuisines are Caucasian.

Salary survey respondents report that executive chefs get the highest salary in New York State with an average of $81,600, but Miami is the highest paying city with a reported average of $90,333. The pay tends to be higher in major cities than the rest of the country. Glamorous as it sounds, this also goes hand-in-hand with a higher cost of living—escalated rents, utilities, and food and labor costs.  We were surprised to see Miami with the highest pay, but it makes sense in such a seasonal climate. Many chefs in Florida only work six months out of the year, so while $90,000 may be their average annualized salary, in practice they may actually be making half that. Running a restaurant in Miami also comes with a unique set of challenges, as chefs have to staff up and down each season, essentially starting from scratch every fall.

Data collected from the StarChefs.com 2008 Salary Survey reveals extensive information about the food industry. Industry salary averages are just one aspect of our findings–age, education, gender, ethnicity, and geographic location are among the many factors that comprise the complexity of salary distribution in the trade. Culinary professionals from across the US responded to the recent Salary Survey, sharing where they work and how much they make.

Check out the 2008 StarChefs.com Salary Survey Results complete report here.

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Tags: chef survey, culinary jobs, resume, resumebear