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Jobs for chefs – International Hotels

The best hotels normally have a number of different dining facilities. Maybe there’s an all-day coffee shop; one or two fine dining restaurants; banqueting rooms; they might also have restaurants specialising in a particular cuisine such as Thai or Italian food; and perhaps there might even be a bakery which sells bread and cakes to the public. The kitchens are normally large in this type of hotel and are likely to have a brigade of staff working in the classic hierarchical system. There may additionally be separate sections or kitchens for various functions like butchery, bakery, pastry, outside catering etc.

Often these hotels are part of international chains so as your career progresses you may be able to travel the world by being a chef. It’s very unlikely, however, that these hotels will recruit internationally for any of their more junior positions. You will need to have quite a few years of solid experience behind you before trying for this type of work.

If you’re desperate to get overseas there are a number of other routes to follow, such as cooking in holiday resorts and on yachts.

If you do plan to take the international hotel route, there are a few things to be aware of. Some hotels, despite being very posh in the public areas, have kitchens like dungeons. We could name at least one top London hotel whose kitchen would scare you. Others, of course, are state-of-the-art facilities and great places to hone your skills.

Another thing to be aware of is the hierarchical structure which is almost always in place in these kitchens. Even if bullying isn’t rife, the commis chef or junior can often be treated badly.

Standards are high and the work is physically demanding. You can learn a lot in these kitchens, but remember: “There’s no gain without pain”.

Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before accepting a junior position in a top hotel. If you give up before making good progress, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get a similar job elsewhere.

Working overseas in an international hotel can be a highly prestigious job for those with the skills and staying power to make it that far. Try it if you think you’re tough enough.




This entry was posted on Wednesday 23 January 2008 at 17:07 and is filed under Catering & Hospitality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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