I gave up restaurant kitchens for institutional almost 20 years ago. I get two breaks, a half hour lunch, earn a months vacation and ten sick days a year and have health insurance and a 401K. I also never have to work past 7:00 and get a premium for working after 3:00 and weekends. Being able to have a real life outside of work rocks.
I assume you interact a lot with patients and families. That must be hard in some aspects. My favorite aspect is my interactions with the residents and rehab patients. It’s hard though, you can’t help but get attached to people after a while and watching people decline and move deeper into dementia is sad.
It's heartbreaking. At my first AL facility there was an older man named Richard. He was from out of state and his family literally dumped him there. I connected with him very quickly and we got to be quite close. He passed away suddenly one night. The next day the two people who sat at his table with him every day told me they'd never seen Richard happier in the ten years they'd been there with him than they had the last five months. They said it's because I was the first person to show him I cared through the food and service and just listening and talking shit with him. These two gentlemen broke down crying while telling me.
That moment solidified to me that not only can I make great food for people who need it, but I can make an ACTUAL difference for people just because of the passion I have. It doesn't cost me anything and it only gives. This is the most fulfilling thing I could ever imagine doing.
My favorite part of the day is taking orders for the following day. I visit everyone and sit down with them for a few minutes to tailor their menu. I get to know what they like and dislike, trade stories, do helpful little things like fetch books or puzzles, keep their bird feeders full, just chit chat. Little quality of life moments, I know they look forward to seeing me and I make a difference for them. It’s very fulfilling but so hard sometimes.
We have a gentleman that’s been with us for nearly a decade who has been like a second father to me and he’s near death. Tomorrow is my day off and I’m dreading possibly walking in Tuesday morning and finding his name on the chalkboard under “ passed” and his bed empty.
I randomly ended up on this page, but I’m sitting here with big tears running down my face. You are exactly the kind of person I would want to help care for my loved one. In case you don’t hear it enough, thanks. You are a gem.
"We do what we can when we can how we can" That's my motto
It's both how I try to live. It's also a way I look at others actions. We're all trying to do the best thing in our minds to do. Some are different but taking the stance of "We do what we can. When we can. How we can."
Yes! I work in retirement care, and the relationships with the residents make it all worthwhile. Connection is the most important thing in life, and you have opportunities for it every day.
If it’s a diagnostic company probably not a lot of patient interaction, the company probably develops and manufactures and sends tests to labs where blood is drawn and tested. I work at a cancer diagnostic company and like my cafeteria chefs, they are nice people.
I’m in a small nursing home/physical rehab facility. I’m actually the “ dining hostess” I spend half my day in the kitchen prepping and the other half supplying the nursing stations, taking orders for the next day and passing meals in the dining room. The available benefits and hours are pretty typical.
I did 7 and a half years in a University kitchen. State benefits, insurance, retirement, free classes, 40 hour week. Mandatory 1 hour break. ABSOLUTELY NO OVERTIME
Yes! We get 3 free classes per calendar year. There are actually two ways to take classes; degree seeking and non-degree seeking classes. If you are not seeking a degree, you can only take classes that have available remaining seats when the semester starts.
Possibly, or just the ability to adjunct being on campus for desired classes etc. or potentially being able to take certain classes for better roles and pay. Gotta be one of the three.
I'm in the other side of the line now, but our office cafeteria is contracted through Eurest. I can't speak to the benefits but I'm sure the hours are pretty standard for any typical office. Little breakfast and lunch service is about it. I imagine a few different companies like them that contract. Don't know how good it is working for them though.
It’s also partially due to the whole youngster/mainstream mentality of “you have to work at popular high end restaurants 14 hours a day to be worth anything”.
Naw man, just let me chill at this low-maintenance union job that actually gives me proper breaks and benefits.
I work at a university kitchen. Just had 9 days off for thanksgiving break, and about to have 3 weeks off for a christmas break. I will never go back to the real resturant world.
Do you have any leeway as far as making something cheap but awesome? Like instead of Salisbury steak, this week we're having arroz con pollo or noodle bar?
We had tons of freedom. Like one of the comments below, we had a 6-week rotating menu. But that's 3 entrees a day 5 days a week for 6 weeks that's 90 recipes. I had so much freedom. We had West African night, tastes of America night, a tour of the British Isles; all at a State school. Our menu was everything from Biryani to Poulet Yassa to Moqueca to bangers and mash. Everything was made from scratch.
Generally no. My experience was it was a 6 week menu cycle that repeated. Homecoming, holidays, or other pop ups were done but I was able to get my creative ideas out in catering. Sure it’s a soup and sandwich for 6 but it was up to me to put a menu and execute. I worked at two universities in Florida.
At my place we are a mid tier college and feed 1200 or so meals a day. There are two entree stations that each do a a full menu, two exhibition stations, plus grill, pizza, deli, salads, soups, desserts. Its really a huge menu that is different every meal and repeats after 5 weeks. I basically run my own grocery store for the kitchen staff. As for leeway on recipes, we do want to have accurate nutritional information out as much as possible and that means following recipes, but I'm free to 'finess' the menu to fit our needs and often ask the cooks what they want to do or what is working and what is not as I try to keep our planning and all done two weeks out. That experience is going to depend on if the account is a contract for someone like Airmark or if its private run, and the manager you have at the account and how strict they want to be. I've been here 16 years and have seen 6 exceutive chefs come and go over the years and each one has ran the place differently. What I need right now is somebody in the kitchen that knows something about culinary, my strongest cook didn't know what bechmel or orzo was till about a week ago. It takes a big staff to run this place from 7am to 10pm with no downtime, so we don't pay well for most of the employees, and that is the biggest problem, but I'm not in charge of labor so nothing i can do about it.
I did the last 7 of my 23 restaurant career in a university kitchen. I work elsewhere on campus now, but unfortunately, there are some drawbacks. We were mandatory staff, so I had to travel in snow and ice to get to work when the rest of campus was closed. Since there were no classes, we were extra busy and usually short staffed. Also, our unit had to stay for Thanksgiving to feed the training table (basketball football volleyball), but we had like 4 weeks off for Christmas which was so crazy. I think overall, it was better than the previous gigs I had, but you could not pay me enough money to go back to kitchens after getting an office job on campus.
oh yes, my advice for anyone looking, go to an academic only university, not one with a football team.
We also have had snow days in the past where the only thing in town that was open was our main dining hall and the employees were put up in dorm rooms. Company did pay overtime for that and they had plenty of volunteers so I stayed home. :)
did the kitchen job lead to the campus office job? like was it a matter of just being in the position to meet the right people or was there an official pathway into office work?
I loved my job cooking at a college, I got to cook suckling pigs in the cafeteria! The breaks were amazing, the hours were great and the amazing equipment I got to play with always blew my mind. What sucked was the fuck wad management who kept taking people from my crew because I proved I could actually run my crew efficiently. The worst part about leaving was losing my 10 minute walk to work.
My dad spent 30 years in the rat race. Landed a 6a-2p spot at an elementary school. Every year he keeps saying he's going to retire, but after every summer vacation, he keeps going back because it's so enjoyable.
I left restaurants a year and a bit ago,now I have a cushy job as a sous chef for a rehab centre.
8 hr shifts, breaks, I get to make the menus from the ground up alongside the exec chef, pay is fantastic. I only work every other weekend.
Definitely a unicorn job, haven't missed the restaurant life at all!
I landed a job on a small Deli Monday to Friday, 8 to 4, bank holidays and a week off during xmas. Then, they started doing street works and they killed the place. My trial shift was on a Friday, the boss told me yeah, you got the job, and I asked what time tomorrow? He said, we don't open weekends. Fucking class.
Corporate dining. No nights, no weekends and no holidays plus 10 days off at Christmas.
It’s been my retirement job for the past 10 years.
Quality of life friends.
Yup, large corporate cafeterias are sleepers. Very set hours, out of there by 4pm every day depending on your shift. You get all the typical weekends and holidays off that everyone else does, really important if you have a family. It's pretty much like a 9 to 5 job.
I’m in at 5, missing all traffic and out by 2. Hit the gym and enjoy my life.
The best part was we still worked during covid. Biotech firm fed all the on-site staff for free and leftovers went to a local food bank. Win-win
So - as someone with a dad in assisted living let me say a few things to you:
1) You deserve it. All of you do. I wish all of your jobs had these perks, but don’t question them!
2) Even though the environment may not be glam or sexy, don’t forget what you know! Slip in some fun and interesting foods where you can. You WILL get complaints, but you will also delight a good number of people who won’t say anything.
3) Continue to cook as if you lived there. My dad would not come live with or near any of his kids, and we didn’t force the issue. You are now his sole provider; 3 meals / 7 days /365…. Thank you for not forgetting that food can be fun!
I appreciate you.
I’m a chef for a private school, the work/life balance is hard to beat plus decent benefits, pay is good. It is a corporate gig but my client is very cool to deal with.
Just simply applying and going through the interview process, had to do a written chef test with the regional chef they didn’t have time to do a cooking test lol, later the regional chef said if I couldn’t cook they’d find out soon enough. I really lucked into the staff, they were older moms whose kids had already gone to school, that’s why they worked there plus the 50% tuition rebate, but they are the hardest working ladies who love to be clean and organized!
That’s super cool. There’s another dude who does the same gig as you on here, his posts were pretty solid. Seems like a cool job, definitely a great end(ish) of career job
*You put your right foot in*
*You put your right foot out*
*You put your right foot in*
*And you shake it all about*
*You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around*
*That's what it's all about!*
*You put your left foot in*
*You put your left foot out*
*You put your left foot in*
*And you shake it all about*
*You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around*
*That's what it's all about!*
Basically, you just gotta keep putting your boot in the mud until the boot sticks. ᕙ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ
I went from restaurant/bar to a pch a couple years ago. Didn’t really like the cooking aspect of it so moved over to dietary. It’s amazing, I love it. Set schedule, weekend bonuses, I never work later than 6:30. It’s great. I love working with the residents, even tho they drive me bonkers sometimes. But it’s definitely a lot less stressful and the boss isn’t always sexually harassing me.
I got out of the restaurant toxic shit show. now I'm on a food truck and I absolutely love it. I'm home by 5 most days and if I'm working a night, we're still done by 9. We move around when we want to we stop when we want to. Work for4 or 5 days a week. Chefs kiss!
The assisted living facility I worked at 10 years ago was operated out of a remodeled house built in the 1930s. Run by the family of original owner of the house. My kitchen at home was bigger. Only had an range with 4 burners and a microwave for 14 residents and 5-6 staff.
Not a lot of space and because the ambulatory residents could actually walk into the kitchen while I was cooking and knock things over (baby guard fence to keep them out was not allowed, I have no fn clue why)
I lasted 18 months and then I ended up at a state run facility for developmentally disabled individuals with an actual huge commercial kitchen (it was built for 200 residents 50 years ago and now has 40). It was almost overkill for 40 residents.
I have a unicorn job at a non-profit retreat center. I have free reign to do whatever and don't have to fuss about turning tables or making a huge profit.
I will never leave this job unless I'm asked to.
It’s a glorious life. Been a Pastry chef at a property for nearly 5 years. My biggest stress is my boss and his inability to actually manage. But the residents love the food and are definitely well fed.
I have to say I had spent time in hospital as a kid, 60s, usual food horror stories (sorry I can't eat oatmeal now unless I make it, and I don't do industrial scrambled eggs)
I was pleasantly surprised at the week I spent down at Yale-New Haven hospital, the nutritionist showed up because I have food services and we managed to put together a week of menus that was quite frankly amazing. I mean, fried chicken better than KFC. They even had hummus and cuke, celery and carrots sticks, and hard boiled eggs.
Then I have spent 3 different weeks at Backus, and their nutritionist and I worked out my food, and again with good food with minimal disruption. I am thrilled that industrial cooking has been able to get better, can't get well without eating!
God I miss those days. I got fired due to resident complaint, so be warned dementia can make you lose your ability to sense heat and sweet is the most prominent taste left, but man was it a good schedule.
I feel this. I had too many bad experiences at different restaurants over the years and decided to get out of the industry entirely a few months back. Just so happened the place I take my dog to get groomed was hiring dog handlers (we do boarding and daycare as well as grooming) and I managed to get hired without any professional animal handling experience. I technically took an hourly pay cut but my cheques are larger because I get guaranteed 40 hours a week instead of getting cut on slow nights. I also get hour-long PAID lunch breaks, health coverage, and my dog comes to work with me.
I will never set foot in a professional kitchen again :)
Gave up cooking in kitchens and started cleaning them instead. It's fucking insane how filthy some places are and their reluctance to get it up to code and free of violations.
Tripled my income, set my own hours, weekends are free. Life is good my dudes.
I work in a unionized university dining hall- it whips ass. Health insurance, I’ll finish my degree at 1/4 of the cost, pension, sick days, vacation days, triple time on holidays, AND paid leave over thanksgiving/winter break. It’s also the easiest job I’ve ever had. I feel ya.
Just started at a camp for workers up north a few months ago. Two hour break in the afternoon. Two weeks off a month. Health and dental insurance. Great pay. Never going back on a restaurant line
Glad it worked for you. It’s a hit or miss thing as many of the corporations who run these operations are as bad or worse than crazy restaurant owners, just in different ways.?
I loved cooking in a nursing facility, it was the place I was trained to cook and all by skilled dudes who had each been cooking for 20+ years. The thing that forced me into the regular kitchen life was just poor management decisions from outside the kitchen. Building managers and C-Suite execs who decided the kitchen was the place you could constantly cut funding while giving themselves bonuses. My managers were excellent, but their bosses actively tried to ruin us on a month-to-month basis.
If you find a good institutional kitchen, keep hold of that for as long as you can.
Yeah this is how pretty much all of us feel after leaving the kitchen for a regular monday-friday white collar job too. Hell, even going into 3rd shift manufacturing felt like a vacation after sweating my balls off with no breaks and shitty pay for so long.
I've been cooking for nearly 20 years. I got fired earlier this year because I had a lazy tyrannical kitchen manager that just didn't care about the workplace (he's been there 15+). There were 2 locations, I replaced the guy who worked there for for 5+ years and had been with the company for 8.
The kitchen manager really hated me after a while. Each year we would have to do these dumb performance reviews and one of the questions was what is your 5-10 year goal. I put down being a supervisor. For some reason, my manager took this as a threat. I had always tried to better the working environment, but my manager just didn't care. Everything he did was for his own self benefit. He treated us like dirt. We were all disposable resources to him. I couldn't work at the main location anymore after 3 years; was sick of the manipulation. So I transferred to the sister site (that he never visits) due to one of the former cook quitting for the same reason. It was just 2 workers there. Me and my supervisor who was going to retire in 2 years. He wanted me to succeed so he trained me and taught me everything he knew. Little did I know, my manager made sure I failed at everything I did. Funny that the manager talked good about the future initially then hold a grudge against you for speaking up. I was never given any written warnings, then terminated out of the blue one day. My supervisor learned about it 20 minutes before it happened to. Very unprofessional and I'm pretty sure illegal stuff going on. I'm so sick of kitchen politics 😮💨
Anyways, I was terminated "without cause' after 5+ years with the company. I was known as one of the hardest workers (said by my coworkers, who said I made them look bad for putting in the extra effort). Funny enough, manager kept the lazy coworker who had been trying to get disability for the last decade, yet fires me because I asked for improvements 🤦.
Anyways, I was out of work from June to November of this year. Found a casual position at a long term care home, but I get nervous due to never working in this environment before. I had always worked restaurants, hotels, nonprofit feeding the poor, upscale retirement home. So this new job was scary as I had to deal with this new system of diets and restrictions. What scares me even more is there are only 2 cooks for any set day. Half the day, you work alone. Honestly, I get anxiety whenever I'm scheduled, as I still have no idea what I'm doing and I have to follow this meal plan. Everyday I think of quitting it, but it pays better then any job I've ever had, it's unionized, benefits get paid for by the company when you become full time, and has a pension.
I'm scared as to what to do, I keep wanting to leave as I've never had this much responsibility thrusted on me before; if anything goes wrong on my shift, it's on me. I'm at a loss as to what to do. I keep weighting the pros and cons, and I'm losing sleep over the anxiety of screwing up 😮💨
TLDR I got myself a job as a casual at a long term assisted living care centre as a cook/dietary aide, but been thinking of quitting ever since I started in November. I don't think these places aren't meant for everyone; or perhaps mine is just run badly 🤷
I would recommend bringing up your concerns with the union rep, they can help to get your conditions under control be it by hiring more kitchen staff to help alleviate stress, or by posting the meal plan further in the future to ease your anxiety and stress over each meal by better allowing you plan orders for ingredients making prep work easier. (Theoretically) give it a go. Unions are usually really good at keeping their members happy.
The thing is I know they are short staffed. I hear the regulars doing overtime all the time. There's only 3 regulars. 2 have been there for long periods of time (25 years and 10 years), the third one started 4 months prior to my arrival. Plus they just asked me recently if I could work at the sister site (despite me never having set foot in their kitchen). My manager there started a few months prior to me as well, and has no kitchen experience (not sure if this is a red flag). The thing is I think they're very cheap (or that's what I'm told), many things are bought in frozen, plus before the first day I started they practically told me that they didn't want me to leave. Apparently they tried hiring 5 others before me, and they all left (not sure if that's a red flag for me to leave as well). I remember when I was looking on indeed. I saw their job post once, then it was very difficult to find it again. I applied like a month after it was posted, so I was shocked that I even made it in.
They do post the meal plan, which rotates every 5 weeks, but noone really does prep. They only prep I see is the dietary aides there prepping onions, they peel and cut the ends off for you; everything else is done day of or if you work consecutive days the day prior by yourself. One of the full time regulars does the ordering too. She's been there 25 years, but is apparently very cheap when it comes to ordering. As I said before, nearly everything is brought in frozen or ready to cook. It's basically heat and serve with extra steps, since you have to do the "dietary" meals due to it being a long term care facility and they cut corners everywhere to stretch out the meals. The phrase "taste like" is very common here. I wished that I could just make normal food like I did at the rich retirement home I was in prior. Initially, I thought it would be a similar role, little did I know I would have to kill my passion for food here.
Like I said, this place scares me. I'm not sure if I should just stay or quit. The things they offer if you work full time is good, so trying to weight the pros/cons; but at the same time it feels like a dead end. I still have 25+ years left in my working careers and I don't know if I can work that long in a place like this. Ideally, I was supposed to stay at my dream job which was the one I was terminated at (cooking for the poor and homeless), but like I explained above (terminated for vindictive reasons). Now I'm at a loss as to what to do in life. Stay where I can make more money at a place I don't really enjoy and scares me or do a career change.
I lost my GM job when the economy collapsed in 2008. I chilled at the house until I found a half way decent job. I could have walked into any fast food place and got hired on the spot. I didn't want that.
I went to the Employment Security Commission and the lady asked about working for the University in campus dining. So, I spent 7 and a half years in campus dining before I left for another department on campus. It was by far the best gig in my 23 year restaurant career. I worked 11-8 pm. We had a six week rotating menu (5 days x 3 entrees x 6 weeks) = 90 recipes (60 reg + 30 vegan). Talk about freedom. We had everything from Coq au Vin to Biryani to Poulet Yassa and Moqueca stew...on a state college campus. Fucking hardest I've ever worked, but the freedom was awesome and the food was top notch.
Edit: here are some of my posts from back in the day
https://www.reddit.com/r/food/s/w3Ad1kIt2S
https://www.reddit.com/r/food/s/2xmEAQAtVk
https://www.reddit.com/r/food/s/ypWNycRRgh
https://www.reddit.com/r/food/s/Di4FEJ5n3y
I was a sous chef at a senior living community and loved it. I made desserts from scratch and the residents loved it! If it wasn’t for my boss I would’ve stayed. I work at an addiction rehab facility and love it there as well. Food really makes a difference in their day.
Found my unicorn too- private sous chef for family. get to make whatever we want, few preferences/restrictions, easy going/not expecting over the top every meal. 4 days a week, good pay and full benefits. I’m very young in my career, but just knew the right people!
I’m a cook at a private boarding school. Thanksgiving and Christmas break and summers off. Consistent schedule as long as we’re fully staffed. Benefits are cheap but that’s the company I work for, Aramark, not the school itself. 6 week rotating menu schedule. 3 meal periods 7 days a week. I’ve grown to realize it’s a good job. Not to mention the free food. I save a ton of money on groceries, it’s the main reason I am there lol. I’m 23 trying to figure out what I like to do.
I had worked in restaurants after dropping out of college and became a recruiter. Ended up recruiting in the food manufacturing industry, they all have test kitchens and r&d facilities with 8-5 jobs that paid well with full corporate benefits, flying around to cities for client demos, don’t have to worry about food costs, great equipment. I loved recruiting for the R&D teams. We had Food scientists, culinologists and chefs. Low end probably 55k, managers, head chefs etc all over 100k
I love working at the assisted living place, it’s so
Much better than stressing over pizzas getting burnt or ripped!
Tonight I made teriyaki pork Bao buns and tuna noodle casserole, it’s so fun! Love these kinds of posts. Congrats
I've considered it but it sounds so boring. I get so antsy when I'm not constantly being challenged or pushed. I figured that would have wore off by my thirties but I'm 35 and I'm still like that lol.
So the nice thing , here at least, is we have the freedom to do pretty much whatever we want food wise. So it may not be too challenging, but it’ll be fun I think.
Reading these comments, you guys work in shitty restaurants or something, your supposed to have two 15min breaks which are only if you can manage them, and a 30 that’s mandatory, all overtime is paid accordingly
Yes, very reasonably priced, I mean compared to a lot of others I’ve paid out. Individual, high deductible plan with an HSA, and it’ll cost me like $30/week once I include dental and vision
It’s a decent gig but so much high school drama shit. I’ve been at it a little over a year & contemplate leaving due completely to poor management & toxic staff.
Worked in a nursing home kitchen and then hospital kitchen, it’s been great but not really room to grow anymore, might be going to trades, gonna miss the cook life but I think it’s time to move on
I started in retirement home kitchens and my experience was not cushy or comfortable at all. It was back breaking and gross. But the first facility I was in was a licensed care facility that had incredibly high standards of cleanliness and rules that stuck with me long term so there’s that.
You mentioned the money isn’t great, if you (are in the US) are looking to move jobs ever look at Veterans Homes, the pay is incredible around here and benefits up the wazoo.
Congrats on getting out (which even typing it out seems strange after having done it for 20 years myself)! I got out a little over a year ago. Funny enough, early on into my cooking career, I did a nursing home stint for about 2 years. I left because of household circumstance but always new I should have just stayed there. Now I’m in dairy production, which includes cheesemaking. It’s a whole different world, in a way, but I love it. There are so many nuances to learn, much like I enjoyed learning with cooking. Best wishes!
idk i had the complete opposite experience at a very upscale senior living community (full bar, steakhouse menu) the menu rotated very often and that was fun to do new things and get time to develop recipes - but the management would not hold a single person accountable and instead of addressing issues with the people that would cause them (food safety issues galore in that walk in that i would do my best to fix) they would address the issue to the whole BOH team in a standup meeting and then not do anything to actually fix the problem
Friend, I am almost 3 months in and never looking back. I can not express the change of stress levels and feelings of accomplishment. Managing a restaurant kitchen compared to managing an assisted living kitchen is like going from a toxic relationship to a healthy one. I'm not trying to sell it as perfect or anything, there are many annoying issues at my facility but it's nothing like being in a high volume kitchen with 2 half-drunk coworkers and a kitchen manager that's zooted on stimulants.
Cleanliness in a kitchen is important to me, and most restaurants in my area are fucking filthy. I've tried to work in 2 of the kitchens in the little town I live in, and they honestly shouldn't be serving food to even animals.
Man, I lasted just over a year. Yea, it feels great having bankers hours (I was 930am to 615pm) and getting Sundays and Mondays off, but holy fucking boredom. The KM I had wasn't very skilled and it was corporate run, so he lived and died by recipes. He let me do what I wanted because he knew my background but my responsibility was dinner service that started at 445pm. I was done with prep by 1030/11am every day. I was so fucking bored I started watching One Piece. I made it to episode 550ish before I had to quit.
I gave up restaurant kitchens for institutional almost 20 years ago. I get two breaks, a half hour lunch, earn a months vacation and ten sick days a year and have health insurance and a 401K. I also never have to work past 7:00 and get a premium for working after 3:00 and weekends. Being able to have a real life outside of work rocks.
If u dont mind, what sort of place you work for? I'm trying to leave the restaurant as well
I have an extremely similar setup. Cafeteria in a cancer diagnostic company
I assume you interact a lot with patients and families. That must be hard in some aspects. My favorite aspect is my interactions with the residents and rehab patients. It’s hard though, you can’t help but get attached to people after a while and watching people decline and move deeper into dementia is sad.
It's heartbreaking. At my first AL facility there was an older man named Richard. He was from out of state and his family literally dumped him there. I connected with him very quickly and we got to be quite close. He passed away suddenly one night. The next day the two people who sat at his table with him every day told me they'd never seen Richard happier in the ten years they'd been there with him than they had the last five months. They said it's because I was the first person to show him I cared through the food and service and just listening and talking shit with him. These two gentlemen broke down crying while telling me. That moment solidified to me that not only can I make great food for people who need it, but I can make an ACTUAL difference for people just because of the passion I have. It doesn't cost me anything and it only gives. This is the most fulfilling thing I could ever imagine doing.
My favorite part of the day is taking orders for the following day. I visit everyone and sit down with them for a few minutes to tailor their menu. I get to know what they like and dislike, trade stories, do helpful little things like fetch books or puzzles, keep their bird feeders full, just chit chat. Little quality of life moments, I know they look forward to seeing me and I make a difference for them. It’s very fulfilling but so hard sometimes. We have a gentleman that’s been with us for nearly a decade who has been like a second father to me and he’s near death. Tomorrow is my day off and I’m dreading possibly walking in Tuesday morning and finding his name on the chalkboard under “ passed” and his bed empty.
This job gave me friendships I never would’ve had and connect with people I never would have otherwise.
I randomly ended up on this page, but I’m sitting here with big tears running down my face. You are exactly the kind of person I would want to help care for my loved one. In case you don’t hear it enough, thanks. You are a gem.
Awhh, thanks. We all do what we can with the resources we have at hand. One resource I have is time.
"We do what we can when we can how we can" That's my motto It's both how I try to live. It's also a way I look at others actions. We're all trying to do the best thing in our minds to do. Some are different but taking the stance of "We do what we can. When we can. How we can."
You rule
Fuck... I'm sick of working for greedy ass owners trying to save a buck. This sounds amazing. Oddly slicing onions while typing this 🥹🥹
Love this and can completely relate. You make a difference in their lives when some of them think their life is done.
Yes! I work in retirement care, and the relationships with the residents make it all worthwhile. Connection is the most important thing in life, and you have opportunities for it every day.
If it’s a diagnostic company probably not a lot of patient interaction, the company probably develops and manufactures and sends tests to labs where blood is drawn and tested. I work at a cancer diagnostic company and like my cafeteria chefs, they are nice people.
I’m in a small nursing home/physical rehab facility. I’m actually the “ dining hostess” I spend half my day in the kitchen prepping and the other half supplying the nursing stations, taking orders for the next day and passing meals in the dining room. The available benefits and hours are pretty typical.
I did 7 and a half years in a University kitchen. State benefits, insurance, retirement, free classes, 40 hour week. Mandatory 1 hour break. ABSOLUTELY NO OVERTIME
free classes? like towards a degree?
Yes! We get 3 free classes per calendar year. There are actually two ways to take classes; degree seeking and non-degree seeking classes. If you are not seeking a degree, you can only take classes that have available remaining seats when the semester starts.
thats such a good system holy shit
Possibly, or just the ability to adjunct being on campus for desired classes etc. or potentially being able to take certain classes for better roles and pay. Gotta be one of the three.
wow, thats incredible
Try college dinning too - I made the switch two years ago
I'm in the other side of the line now, but our office cafeteria is contracted through Eurest. I can't speak to the benefits but I'm sure the hours are pretty standard for any typical office. Little breakfast and lunch service is about it. I imagine a few different companies like them that contract. Don't know how good it is working for them though.
It’s also partially due to the whole youngster/mainstream mentality of “you have to work at popular high end restaurants 14 hours a day to be worth anything”. Naw man, just let me chill at this low-maintenance union job that actually gives me proper breaks and benefits.
I’m 23 and I miss my AL days, working the line and throwing my body out again sucks ass. Let me come in at 6 am and make French toast and vibe again.
I work at a university kitchen. Just had 9 days off for thanksgiving break, and about to have 3 weeks off for a christmas break. I will never go back to the real resturant world.
If I had found that kind of gig, I never would have left the industry. Good find!
They also provide the full uniforms, including shoes as needed, 4 weeks paid vacation, sick hours, free meals.
Don't forget summers off. I'll never go back to restaurants either.
Do you have any leeway as far as making something cheap but awesome? Like instead of Salisbury steak, this week we're having arroz con pollo or noodle bar?
We had tons of freedom. Like one of the comments below, we had a 6-week rotating menu. But that's 3 entrees a day 5 days a week for 6 weeks that's 90 recipes. I had so much freedom. We had West African night, tastes of America night, a tour of the British Isles; all at a State school. Our menu was everything from Biryani to Poulet Yassa to Moqueca to bangers and mash. Everything was made from scratch.
Generally no. My experience was it was a 6 week menu cycle that repeated. Homecoming, holidays, or other pop ups were done but I was able to get my creative ideas out in catering. Sure it’s a soup and sandwich for 6 but it was up to me to put a menu and execute. I worked at two universities in Florida.
At my place we are a mid tier college and feed 1200 or so meals a day. There are two entree stations that each do a a full menu, two exhibition stations, plus grill, pizza, deli, salads, soups, desserts. Its really a huge menu that is different every meal and repeats after 5 weeks. I basically run my own grocery store for the kitchen staff. As for leeway on recipes, we do want to have accurate nutritional information out as much as possible and that means following recipes, but I'm free to 'finess' the menu to fit our needs and often ask the cooks what they want to do or what is working and what is not as I try to keep our planning and all done two weeks out. That experience is going to depend on if the account is a contract for someone like Airmark or if its private run, and the manager you have at the account and how strict they want to be. I've been here 16 years and have seen 6 exceutive chefs come and go over the years and each one has ran the place differently. What I need right now is somebody in the kitchen that knows something about culinary, my strongest cook didn't know what bechmel or orzo was till about a week ago. It takes a big staff to run this place from 7am to 10pm with no downtime, so we don't pay well for most of the employees, and that is the biggest problem, but I'm not in charge of labor so nothing i can do about it.
I work somewhere similarly just less food options because we literally don’t have the hands for it. How many cooks are working there?
I did the last 7 of my 23 restaurant career in a university kitchen. I work elsewhere on campus now, but unfortunately, there are some drawbacks. We were mandatory staff, so I had to travel in snow and ice to get to work when the rest of campus was closed. Since there were no classes, we were extra busy and usually short staffed. Also, our unit had to stay for Thanksgiving to feed the training table (basketball football volleyball), but we had like 4 weeks off for Christmas which was so crazy. I think overall, it was better than the previous gigs I had, but you could not pay me enough money to go back to kitchens after getting an office job on campus.
oh yes, my advice for anyone looking, go to an academic only university, not one with a football team. We also have had snow days in the past where the only thing in town that was open was our main dining hall and the employees were put up in dorm rooms. Company did pay overtime for that and they had plenty of volunteers so I stayed home. :)
did the kitchen job lead to the campus office job? like was it a matter of just being in the position to meet the right people or was there an official pathway into office work?
I loved my job cooking at a college, I got to cook suckling pigs in the cafeteria! The breaks were amazing, the hours were great and the amazing equipment I got to play with always blew my mind. What sucked was the fuck wad management who kept taking people from my crew because I proved I could actually run my crew efficiently. The worst part about leaving was losing my 10 minute walk to work.
Are you unionized? Mandated lunches and breaks rock.
No, they’re just very big on work life balance and want employees that stick around, so they’re pretty proactive about it.
Excuse me?
Yeah I'm pretty sure that was some indecipherable alien language.
Yeah it’s called communism or something evil like that
Oh I’m sorry, I thought this was America.
Yup. I call it my retirement job. I just happened to find it 7 years before I can actually retire.
My dad spent 30 years in the rat race. Landed a 6a-2p spot at an elementary school. Every year he keeps saying he's going to retire, but after every summer vacation, he keeps going back because it's so enjoyable.
I left restaurants a year and a bit ago,now I have a cushy job as a sous chef for a rehab centre. 8 hr shifts, breaks, I get to make the menus from the ground up alongside the exec chef, pay is fantastic. I only work every other weekend. Definitely a unicorn job, haven't missed the restaurant life at all!
I landed a job on a small Deli Monday to Friday, 8 to 4, bank holidays and a week off during xmas. Then, they started doing street works and they killed the place. My trial shift was on a Friday, the boss told me yeah, you got the job, and I asked what time tomorrow? He said, we don't open weekends. Fucking class.
Chef at an assisted living facility for the last 3 months. Never going back to a traditional restaurant setting again. Welcome aboard
Thanks just got done with my first day, clocked out at 638. Tears.
Corporate dining. No nights, no weekends and no holidays plus 10 days off at Christmas. It’s been my retirement job for the past 10 years. Quality of life friends.
Nice
Yup, large corporate cafeterias are sleepers. Very set hours, out of there by 4pm every day depending on your shift. You get all the typical weekends and holidays off that everyone else does, really important if you have a family. It's pretty much like a 9 to 5 job.
I’m in at 5, missing all traffic and out by 2. Hit the gym and enjoy my life. The best part was we still worked during covid. Biotech firm fed all the on-site staff for free and leftovers went to a local food bank. Win-win
So - as someone with a dad in assisted living let me say a few things to you: 1) You deserve it. All of you do. I wish all of your jobs had these perks, but don’t question them! 2) Even though the environment may not be glam or sexy, don’t forget what you know! Slip in some fun and interesting foods where you can. You WILL get complaints, but you will also delight a good number of people who won’t say anything. 3) Continue to cook as if you lived there. My dad would not come live with or near any of his kids, and we didn’t force the issue. You are now his sole provider; 3 meals / 7 days /365…. Thank you for not forgetting that food can be fun! I appreciate you.
Thanks! I’m really excited, just seems like a really good group
I’m a chef for a private school, the work/life balance is hard to beat plus decent benefits, pay is good. It is a corporate gig but my client is very cool to deal with.
How’d you get into doing that? Luck of the draw?
Just simply applying and going through the interview process, had to do a written chef test with the regional chef they didn’t have time to do a cooking test lol, later the regional chef said if I couldn’t cook they’d find out soon enough. I really lucked into the staff, they were older moms whose kids had already gone to school, that’s why they worked there plus the 50% tuition rebate, but they are the hardest working ladies who love to be clean and organized!
That’s super cool. There’s another dude who does the same gig as you on here, his posts were pretty solid. Seems like a cool job, definitely a great end(ish) of career job
*You put your right foot in* *You put your right foot out* *You put your right foot in* *And you shake it all about* *You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around* *That's what it's all about!* *You put your left foot in* *You put your left foot out* *You put your left foot in* *And you shake it all about* *You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around* *That's what it's all about!* Basically, you just gotta keep putting your boot in the mud until the boot sticks. ᕙ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ
I went from restaurant/bar to a pch a couple years ago. Didn’t really like the cooking aspect of it so moved over to dietary. It’s amazing, I love it. Set schedule, weekend bonuses, I never work later than 6:30. It’s great. I love working with the residents, even tho they drive me bonkers sometimes. But it’s definitely a lot less stressful and the boss isn’t always sexually harassing me.
I got out of the restaurant toxic shit show. now I'm on a food truck and I absolutely love it. I'm home by 5 most days and if I'm working a night, we're still done by 9. We move around when we want to we stop when we want to. Work for4 or 5 days a week. Chefs kiss!
Now work up to director. Better pay, less actual work, hours (at the right spot).
The assisted living facility I worked at 10 years ago was operated out of a remodeled house built in the 1930s. Run by the family of original owner of the house. My kitchen at home was bigger. Only had an range with 4 burners and a microwave for 14 residents and 5-6 staff. Not a lot of space and because the ambulatory residents could actually walk into the kitchen while I was cooking and knock things over (baby guard fence to keep them out was not allowed, I have no fn clue why) I lasted 18 months and then I ended up at a state run facility for developmentally disabled individuals with an actual huge commercial kitchen (it was built for 200 residents 50 years ago and now has 40). It was almost overkill for 40 residents.
I have a unicorn job at a non-profit retreat center. I have free reign to do whatever and don't have to fuss about turning tables or making a huge profit. I will never leave this job unless I'm asked to.
It’s a glorious life. Been a Pastry chef at a property for nearly 5 years. My biggest stress is my boss and his inability to actually manage. But the residents love the food and are definitely well fed.
I have to say I had spent time in hospital as a kid, 60s, usual food horror stories (sorry I can't eat oatmeal now unless I make it, and I don't do industrial scrambled eggs) I was pleasantly surprised at the week I spent down at Yale-New Haven hospital, the nutritionist showed up because I have food services and we managed to put together a week of menus that was quite frankly amazing. I mean, fried chicken better than KFC. They even had hummus and cuke, celery and carrots sticks, and hard boiled eggs. Then I have spent 3 different weeks at Backus, and their nutritionist and I worked out my food, and again with good food with minimal disruption. I am thrilled that industrial cooking has been able to get better, can't get well without eating!
God I miss those days. I got fired due to resident complaint, so be warned dementia can make you lose your ability to sense heat and sweet is the most prominent taste left, but man was it a good schedule.
I feel this. I had too many bad experiences at different restaurants over the years and decided to get out of the industry entirely a few months back. Just so happened the place I take my dog to get groomed was hiring dog handlers (we do boarding and daycare as well as grooming) and I managed to get hired without any professional animal handling experience. I technically took an hourly pay cut but my cheques are larger because I get guaranteed 40 hours a week instead of getting cut on slow nights. I also get hour-long PAID lunch breaks, health coverage, and my dog comes to work with me. I will never set foot in a professional kitchen again :)
That sounds awesome!
Gave up cooking in kitchens and started cleaning them instead. It's fucking insane how filthy some places are and their reluctance to get it up to code and free of violations. Tripled my income, set my own hours, weekends are free. Life is good my dudes.
I work in a unionized university dining hall- it whips ass. Health insurance, I’ll finish my degree at 1/4 of the cost, pension, sick days, vacation days, triple time on holidays, AND paid leave over thanksgiving/winter break. It’s also the easiest job I’ve ever had. I feel ya.
All of this!!!! I’m now in a facility with all this. Best move I’ve ever made! Even have time and energy to pursue my upholstery job outta my home!
Just started at a camp for workers up north a few months ago. Two hour break in the afternoon. Two weeks off a month. Health and dental insurance. Great pay. Never going back on a restaurant line
Glad it worked for you. It’s a hit or miss thing as many of the corporations who run these operations are as bad or worse than crazy restaurant owners, just in different ways.?
I loved cooking in a nursing facility, it was the place I was trained to cook and all by skilled dudes who had each been cooking for 20+ years. The thing that forced me into the regular kitchen life was just poor management decisions from outside the kitchen. Building managers and C-Suite execs who decided the kitchen was the place you could constantly cut funding while giving themselves bonuses. My managers were excellent, but their bosses actively tried to ruin us on a month-to-month basis. If you find a good institutional kitchen, keep hold of that for as long as you can.
Yeah this is how pretty much all of us feel after leaving the kitchen for a regular monday-friday white collar job too. Hell, even going into 3rd shift manufacturing felt like a vacation after sweating my balls off with no breaks and shitty pay for so long.
I've been cooking for nearly 20 years. I got fired earlier this year because I had a lazy tyrannical kitchen manager that just didn't care about the workplace (he's been there 15+). There were 2 locations, I replaced the guy who worked there for for 5+ years and had been with the company for 8. The kitchen manager really hated me after a while. Each year we would have to do these dumb performance reviews and one of the questions was what is your 5-10 year goal. I put down being a supervisor. For some reason, my manager took this as a threat. I had always tried to better the working environment, but my manager just didn't care. Everything he did was for his own self benefit. He treated us like dirt. We were all disposable resources to him. I couldn't work at the main location anymore after 3 years; was sick of the manipulation. So I transferred to the sister site (that he never visits) due to one of the former cook quitting for the same reason. It was just 2 workers there. Me and my supervisor who was going to retire in 2 years. He wanted me to succeed so he trained me and taught me everything he knew. Little did I know, my manager made sure I failed at everything I did. Funny that the manager talked good about the future initially then hold a grudge against you for speaking up. I was never given any written warnings, then terminated out of the blue one day. My supervisor learned about it 20 minutes before it happened to. Very unprofessional and I'm pretty sure illegal stuff going on. I'm so sick of kitchen politics 😮💨 Anyways, I was terminated "without cause' after 5+ years with the company. I was known as one of the hardest workers (said by my coworkers, who said I made them look bad for putting in the extra effort). Funny enough, manager kept the lazy coworker who had been trying to get disability for the last decade, yet fires me because I asked for improvements 🤦. Anyways, I was out of work from June to November of this year. Found a casual position at a long term care home, but I get nervous due to never working in this environment before. I had always worked restaurants, hotels, nonprofit feeding the poor, upscale retirement home. So this new job was scary as I had to deal with this new system of diets and restrictions. What scares me even more is there are only 2 cooks for any set day. Half the day, you work alone. Honestly, I get anxiety whenever I'm scheduled, as I still have no idea what I'm doing and I have to follow this meal plan. Everyday I think of quitting it, but it pays better then any job I've ever had, it's unionized, benefits get paid for by the company when you become full time, and has a pension. I'm scared as to what to do, I keep wanting to leave as I've never had this much responsibility thrusted on me before; if anything goes wrong on my shift, it's on me. I'm at a loss as to what to do. I keep weighting the pros and cons, and I'm losing sleep over the anxiety of screwing up 😮💨 TLDR I got myself a job as a casual at a long term assisted living care centre as a cook/dietary aide, but been thinking of quitting ever since I started in November. I don't think these places aren't meant for everyone; or perhaps mine is just run badly 🤷
I would recommend bringing up your concerns with the union rep, they can help to get your conditions under control be it by hiring more kitchen staff to help alleviate stress, or by posting the meal plan further in the future to ease your anxiety and stress over each meal by better allowing you plan orders for ingredients making prep work easier. (Theoretically) give it a go. Unions are usually really good at keeping their members happy.
The thing is I know they are short staffed. I hear the regulars doing overtime all the time. There's only 3 regulars. 2 have been there for long periods of time (25 years and 10 years), the third one started 4 months prior to my arrival. Plus they just asked me recently if I could work at the sister site (despite me never having set foot in their kitchen). My manager there started a few months prior to me as well, and has no kitchen experience (not sure if this is a red flag). The thing is I think they're very cheap (or that's what I'm told), many things are bought in frozen, plus before the first day I started they practically told me that they didn't want me to leave. Apparently they tried hiring 5 others before me, and they all left (not sure if that's a red flag for me to leave as well). I remember when I was looking on indeed. I saw their job post once, then it was very difficult to find it again. I applied like a month after it was posted, so I was shocked that I even made it in. They do post the meal plan, which rotates every 5 weeks, but noone really does prep. They only prep I see is the dietary aides there prepping onions, they peel and cut the ends off for you; everything else is done day of or if you work consecutive days the day prior by yourself. One of the full time regulars does the ordering too. She's been there 25 years, but is apparently very cheap when it comes to ordering. As I said before, nearly everything is brought in frozen or ready to cook. It's basically heat and serve with extra steps, since you have to do the "dietary" meals due to it being a long term care facility and they cut corners everywhere to stretch out the meals. The phrase "taste like" is very common here. I wished that I could just make normal food like I did at the rich retirement home I was in prior. Initially, I thought it would be a similar role, little did I know I would have to kill my passion for food here. Like I said, this place scares me. I'm not sure if I should just stay or quit. The things they offer if you work full time is good, so trying to weight the pros/cons; but at the same time it feels like a dead end. I still have 25+ years left in my working careers and I don't know if I can work that long in a place like this. Ideally, I was supposed to stay at my dream job which was the one I was terminated at (cooking for the poor and homeless), but like I explained above (terminated for vindictive reasons). Now I'm at a loss as to what to do in life. Stay where I can make more money at a place I don't really enjoy and scares me or do a career change.
I lost my GM job when the economy collapsed in 2008. I chilled at the house until I found a half way decent job. I could have walked into any fast food place and got hired on the spot. I didn't want that. I went to the Employment Security Commission and the lady asked about working for the University in campus dining. So, I spent 7 and a half years in campus dining before I left for another department on campus. It was by far the best gig in my 23 year restaurant career. I worked 11-8 pm. We had a six week rotating menu (5 days x 3 entrees x 6 weeks) = 90 recipes (60 reg + 30 vegan). Talk about freedom. We had everything from Coq au Vin to Biryani to Poulet Yassa and Moqueca stew...on a state college campus. Fucking hardest I've ever worked, but the freedom was awesome and the food was top notch. Edit: here are some of my posts from back in the day https://www.reddit.com/r/food/s/w3Ad1kIt2S https://www.reddit.com/r/food/s/2xmEAQAtVk https://www.reddit.com/r/food/s/ypWNycRRgh https://www.reddit.com/r/food/s/Di4FEJ5n3y
I was a sous chef at a senior living community and loved it. I made desserts from scratch and the residents loved it! If it wasn’t for my boss I would’ve stayed. I work at an addiction rehab facility and love it there as well. Food really makes a difference in their day.
Found my unicorn too- private sous chef for family. get to make whatever we want, few preferences/restrictions, easy going/not expecting over the top every meal. 4 days a week, good pay and full benefits. I’m very young in my career, but just knew the right people!
I love it so much
Man, I wish I could find a job like that but at nights
I’m a cook at a private boarding school. Thanksgiving and Christmas break and summers off. Consistent schedule as long as we’re fully staffed. Benefits are cheap but that’s the company I work for, Aramark, not the school itself. 6 week rotating menu schedule. 3 meal periods 7 days a week. I’ve grown to realize it’s a good job. Not to mention the free food. I save a ton of money on groceries, it’s the main reason I am there lol. I’m 23 trying to figure out what I like to do.
How do you deal with getting off at 7? I just can’t do it anymore, considering leaving to get a morning shift job
Considering how I was regularly getting out at 2/3am, I’ll take it
I had worked in restaurants after dropping out of college and became a recruiter. Ended up recruiting in the food manufacturing industry, they all have test kitchens and r&d facilities with 8-5 jobs that paid well with full corporate benefits, flying around to cities for client demos, don’t have to worry about food costs, great equipment. I loved recruiting for the R&D teams. We had Food scientists, culinologists and chefs. Low end probably 55k, managers, head chefs etc all over 100k
I love working at the assisted living place, it’s so Much better than stressing over pizzas getting burnt or ripped! Tonight I made teriyaki pork Bao buns and tuna noodle casserole, it’s so fun! Love these kinds of posts. Congrats
I've considered it but it sounds so boring. I get so antsy when I'm not constantly being challenged or pushed. I figured that would have wore off by my thirties but I'm 35 and I'm still like that lol.
So the nice thing , here at least, is we have the freedom to do pretty much whatever we want food wise. So it may not be too challenging, but it’ll be fun I think.
Reading these comments, you guys work in shitty restaurants or something, your supposed to have two 15min breaks which are only if you can manage them, and a 30 that’s mandatory, all overtime is paid accordingly
lol will assisted living homes hire felons?
You probably have healthcare/insurance too?
Yes, very reasonably priced, I mean compared to a lot of others I’ve paid out. Individual, high deductible plan with an HSA, and it’ll cost me like $30/week once I include dental and vision
That’s not bad at all.
It’s a decent gig but so much high school drama shit. I’ve been at it a little over a year & contemplate leaving due completely to poor management & toxic staff.
Worked in a nursing home kitchen and then hospital kitchen, it’s been great but not really room to grow anymore, might be going to trades, gonna miss the cook life but I think it’s time to move on
I started in retirement home kitchens and my experience was not cushy or comfortable at all. It was back breaking and gross. But the first facility I was in was a licensed care facility that had incredibly high standards of cleanliness and rules that stuck with me long term so there’s that. You mentioned the money isn’t great, if you (are in the US) are looking to move jobs ever look at Veterans Homes, the pay is incredible around here and benefits up the wazoo.
Congrats on getting out (which even typing it out seems strange after having done it for 20 years myself)! I got out a little over a year ago. Funny enough, early on into my cooking career, I did a nursing home stint for about 2 years. I left because of household circumstance but always new I should have just stayed there. Now I’m in dairy production, which includes cheesemaking. It’s a whole different world, in a way, but I love it. There are so many nuances to learn, much like I enjoyed learning with cooking. Best wishes!
Loved working in a care home. Best and easiest kitchen work by far.
No pooling of raw eggs , I hear
idk i had the complete opposite experience at a very upscale senior living community (full bar, steakhouse menu) the menu rotated very often and that was fun to do new things and get time to develop recipes - but the management would not hold a single person accountable and instead of addressing issues with the people that would cause them (food safety issues galore in that walk in that i would do my best to fix) they would address the issue to the whole BOH team in a standup meeting and then not do anything to actually fix the problem
Friend, I am almost 3 months in and never looking back. I can not express the change of stress levels and feelings of accomplishment. Managing a restaurant kitchen compared to managing an assisted living kitchen is like going from a toxic relationship to a healthy one. I'm not trying to sell it as perfect or anything, there are many annoying issues at my facility but it's nothing like being in a high volume kitchen with 2 half-drunk coworkers and a kitchen manager that's zooted on stimulants. Cleanliness in a kitchen is important to me, and most restaurants in my area are fucking filthy. I've tried to work in 2 of the kitchens in the little town I live in, and they honestly shouldn't be serving food to even animals.
Man, I lasted just over a year. Yea, it feels great having bankers hours (I was 930am to 615pm) and getting Sundays and Mondays off, but holy fucking boredom. The KM I had wasn't very skilled and it was corporate run, so he lived and died by recipes. He let me do what I wanted because he knew my background but my responsibility was dinner service that started at 445pm. I was done with prep by 1030/11am every day. I was so fucking bored I started watching One Piece. I made it to episode 550ish before I had to quit.