How Much Do Chefs Really Make?

They cook up dinner, but do they rake in dough?

- THE LURE OF LAS VEGAS

Superstar chefs who have flocked to Las Vegas get much more, chefs say. "Las Vegas numbers are way above the ones here," says Fabio Trabocchi, executive chef at Maestro in the Ritz-Carlton at Tysons Corner.

As for the executive chefs, "I think it would be safe for me to say that every chef out there is making more than any chef in this city -- probably several times more," says Kinkead, who was contacted about running one of the restaurants in the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City when the property was being developed. "Those restaurants essentially have a captive audience. . . . Butts in the seats are what anybody in the restaurant business really cares about."

- LIFESTYLE BENEFITS

Some cooks and chefs get benefits such as 401(k) retirement savings plans. But the really big issue is health care insurance. More established places do offer it -- in some cases to salaried employees and in others to their hourly workers as well. "Restaurants that are under 100 seats have a hard time coming up with the money," says Cashion, whose employees get health care coverage after one year. "It has nothing to do with whether they'd like to or not."

What's particularly valued are lifestyle benefits, such as two days off a week. Another prized benefit is having a Friday or Saturday night off. Passion Food Hospitality provides a stipend to encourage each member of its culinary management team to sample food in other restaurants and to buy cookbooks or food magazines.

- THE VALUE OF CULINARY SCHOOL

There is little evidence that a culinary degree immediately pays off in higher salaries or better benefits, but some restaurateurs see a diploma as a sign of seriousness about the profession, Bajaj says.

Culinary schools do what they can to present a realistic view of the industry. "I don't want anyone thinking they'll make Emeril Lagasse money on the way in," says Barbara Cullen, director of admissions of L'Academie de Cuisine. Most accredited culinary schools require an externship in a restaurant kitchen, which often leads to an entry-level job upon graduation.

- JOB SATISFACTION

As the number of restaurants in downtown Washington dramatically increased in the past few years, wages have crept up for cooks. One way of measuring that, says Lynn Breaux, president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, is the increase in D.C. restaurant sales tax: from about $179 million in 2000 to $233 million in 2005. The growing number of restaurants has led to greater demand for cooks and chefs, and that, in turn, has boosted wages. "In the last couple of years, that's gone up considerably for a competent line cook," says Kinkead. "Five years ago they might have been paid $10 an hour. Now it's $12 to $15."

Salaries have never been the big attraction for chefs. People who are going to stay in the industry for the long term are not doing it for the money, says Cashion. What keeps you at it, she says, is loving to do it and the satisfaction you get from preparing food for other people's enjoyment and your own.

"I feel like I always have had a really high degree of satisfaction, day in and day out," Cashion adds. "We all know people who don't feel that way about their jobs."