Working For Free in Restaurants Is Worth Every Missing Penny

Welcome back to our new column, Restaurant Confessionals, where we talk to the unheard voices of the restaurant industry from both the front-of-house (FOH) and back-of-house (BOH) about what really goes on behind the scenes at your favorite establishments. This is their space to sound off on all of the crazy shit that goes down while you're busy stuffing your face. These interviews are completely anonymous to protect our sources. Oh, and yea, don't forget to tip your waiter.

Given the ferocious competition within high-end restaurants, it's more than difficult to get your foot in the door and onto the kitchen line. There's a pecking order, talent, and an insanely fast-paced kitchen language that every cook has to rapidly adjust to if you want to hack it anywhere noteworthy. One of the quickest ways to get the fly on the wall perspective in a great establishment is to accept your fate as a broke cook and work as a stagiarie, a.k.a. "stage."

This role is a sort of white collar internship for chefs around the globe that typically lasts for around three months, working in the kitchen as any other cook would, except that it's completely unpaid. These stagiaireʼs are abundantly found within the vast majority of Michelin-starred restaurants, where some hire as many as 30 at any given time.

But the position has been recently criticized by several media outlets, with food hacks proclaiming that it's restaurants' way of abusing their power by hiring slave labor. We sat down with a chef who has been a stagier in one of Copenhagen's most prestigious restaurants to ask what all the fuss was about.

Male. 30. Ex-stagier/current head chef somewhere delicious.

MUNCHIES: Why would you ever work for free? Stage: Itʼs definitely the easiest way to get into these sort of bigger and more ambitious restaurants.

Is it part of a culinary school program? No, not at all. When I did it, I was actually working at another spot and saw it as my way of getting into that sort of world. A friend recommended me and I started immediately. The position only really exists in top restaurants.

These top restaurants can be pretty rough for most, right? How is a stage treated? Like scum [laughs]. No, Iʼm just joking. They are treated nicely. It depends on who you are and what sort of skills you have, though. When I started, there were people there who had only been picking herbs for three months. Then there were other guys who were there for one day and got stuck into working service. Itʼs quite competitive. If youʼre crap, youʼll end up picking herbs. Thatʼs how it is.

Sticking leaves on things hardly sounds like cooking. I remember two guys got the honor of being allowed to join some of the proper chefs, all they had to do was put leaves in a sandwich. Unfortunately it wasnʼt up to standard. Never saw those poor guys again.

Anyone else get the boot while you were there? Well, there was this one guy who opened up a vacuum packed bag of ingredients by accident. That particular bag was full of some petals that took roughly a whole year to collect. Poor guy was punished for that, let me tell you. He didnʼt come back either. Fair enough, though. Idiot.

Do you think that restaurants abuse their power to use stagiarieʼs as some sort of free labor? No, I donʼt think so. But of course they are using it as much as possible. None of these restaurants would be able to pull off what they do without the stagiarieʼs. I genuinely believe that. If you donʼt want to be there, then donʼt. Itʼs that easy. That said, it was fucking hardcore. I was working 14 to 15 hours a day. We were standing up so long that our feet were going numb. We used to rotate stations around the table once an hour just so we could keep the blood flowing. Iʼll never forget the pain.

Some people believe that being a stagiaire is an equally worthy way of learning how to cook as attending culinary school. What do you think? No, no. Not at all. It definitely isnʼt a substitute for school. Iʼve seen some stagiaries that after three months can pick herbs like no one else, but they canʼt chop a carrot, you know? School definitely gives you an overall understanding of the kitchen and its processes.

Any words of wisdom to aspiring stagiarieʼs and cooks? Be loud. If you are quietly doing your thing in the corner, no one is going to notice you and you will get stuck in that corner for the duration.

Would you recommend it? If you want you to get into that sort of leaf-picking gastronomy, then yes, definitely. Without a doubt. That said, I would never go back [laughs].