06/01/2026
Sums it up.
Except they missed the very real part where you're married to it, more than anybody else.
Your clients and friends ARE your family, even if they don't see it.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HC9e471CC/
Everyone loves the idea of being a chef until they actually work a real Saturday night service.
People think it’s just cooking, but half the job is learning how to function while you’re exhausted, burned, dehydrated, behind on prep, short staffed, and getting smashed with tickets while someone asks where table 14’s medium rare steak is for the third time.
You learn pretty quickly that surviving this industry has nothing to do with “being good at cooking.”
It’s about consistency.
Can you still move fast 10 hours into a shift?
Can you stay calm when the docket machine won’t stop?
Can you take criticism without cracking it?
Can you work next to the same crew every day under pressure and still show up tomorrow?
The chefs that last aren’t always the most talented ones.
Usually they’re just the ones stubborn enough to keep going.
Most of us have worked shifts sick, injured, stressed, running on no sleep, and somehow still had to plate food like we were in a good mood.
But there’s also something about kitchen life that’s hard to explain unless you’ve done it.
The banter.
The chaos.
The rush when service actually flows properly.
The feeling after a slammed night when the team finally sits down for five minutes and everyone looks completely destroyed.
It’s a hard industry, and honestly not many people outside kitchens really understand it.
Respect to the chefs still grinding through doubles, burns, bad knees, and late nights.
How many years have you been in the industry now?
