Working in a professional kitchen can be thrilling, creative, and rewarding — but it can also be grueling, thankless, and physically (and mentally) punishing. So when u/NobodyNo5870 asked chefs, "What made you leave the industry?" the floodgates opened. From burned-out line cooks to broken bones, people from all over the food world shared the hard truths that finally pushed them to walk away:
1. "I went to culinary school and got into the industry because I liked to cook, and I wanted to have a career that I was passionate about. I worked in back of house for a decade, and I was a chef for the last four years or so of that time. When you're working in a kitchen, you're always working as fast as you can, you're understaffed, you're doing eight different things at once, and someone is probably yelling at you about something. It's unnecessarily stressful, the pay is low, and you'll always be staying late and being called in on your days off. All but one of the places I worked broke labor laws. Before I decided to change careers, the last job I had was a chef at a fly-in, fly-out work camp in northern Canada. The money was good compared to my previous work. I realized one day that I was working just as hard as all of the tradespeople I was feeding, but they were still earning almost double what I was earning."
2. "Anthony Bourdain wrote one of the best books about the unglamorous side of the kitchen. I loved Kitchen Confidential. I think most people leave the industry when they realize how much they are being taken advantage of for the lowest pay possible. The passion for the business that kept me there turned out to be unsustainable. Lots of overtime. No benefits, low pay, and repetitive injuries that make you less able to do the job as you get older. Then you realize you'll never be able to retire, and leaving the industry is your only choice. Frankly, I can't see this industry and the poor conditions and wages ever changing."
3. "I was tired of making $15 per hour and having no benefits, no time off, and no future after 20 years of experience. I wanted kids someday, and I wanted them to be able to see a doctor before they were old enough to get a job themselves. Restaurants simply cannot provide that. COVID just really drove it home how owners would VASTLY prefer their employees all die than themselves take a slight hit on profits."
4. "I started as a dishwasher, and quite frankly, chased the paycheck. By the end of my 11-year culinary career, I was sous at a restaurant owned by a multi–James Beard–nominated chef. I hated it, but it was all I knew how to do. I was very lucky to have found the opportunity and time to go back to school. And now I work a really cushy job on the beach. The campus I got my degree from is where I work, and I don't do anything related to my degree, but it is a very sweet gig."
5. "George Orwell (yes, that one) wrote an excellent, disgusting book about working at, I think, Maxim's, called Down and Out in Paris and London. It's useful to see how others have treated the subject."
6. "I had a newborn son, and my wife divorced me for not having enough time for them. So I had to find a job that would let me spend time with him. Miss the chaos, love my holidays and weekends."
7. "My body was breaking down. Turns out I had a broken foot, thyroid cancer, and an undiagnosed connective tissue disorder. Now I run sleep studies — it's far easier on my body. One of the most toxic mindsets I found in kitchen culture is working through pain and sickness like it's a badge of honor. There's nothing honorable about deserting yourself. Listen to your body, chefs."
8. "I switched to cafe life. I was working in Forbes kitchens for the past three years and was a chef in the Hamptons for 10 years. The stress, both physical and mental, is not worth the sacrifice. I began to resent cooking and food. I never had time off and had to beg for four days off to fly home and see my now husband out of the country. In the US, it's shitty enough, but I moved to Ireland and ended up in the same boat, but worse. Three hours of unpaid overtime most days, 10 days straight working most months, then one day they put me on nine days, then eight days with a day off in between — all because I had the audacity to use my allotted holiday to get married. My knees and back were fucked, and I was constantly ill from the mold, oil vapors, and carbon dioxide. They'd never get us equipment or tools when we needed them (despite making nearly £20 million in profit a year), and I was pulling the weight of my colleague while taking the blame for his fuck-ups."
9. "I worked 15 years as a cook. Never having proper time off or sick days. Being paid so little for the amount of stress and work put into the job. Drinking my face off to cope. Finally had enough one day. It took me three years of grinding while still working as a cook and getting an education. Now I am one class away from my computer science degree, and I am working full-time in IT. I can't tell you guys enough: get the fuck out of the restaurant industry. It is so much better literally everywhere else. Get this — I was sick the other day. I sent one email in the morning informing my team. Nobody was blowing up my phone. The team is staffed well enough that missing one person isn't the end of the world. I even get paid for that day. It's wild."
10. "I wanted to have a family. My dad spent a lot of time working nights and weekends, and I didn't want it to be that way for my eventual kids. So at 28, I started working on an engineering degree while working 40+ hours between two places. I'd go to school and do all that Monday through Thursday afternoon. Then, I'd work Thursday night and doubles Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It sucked so bad. But I finished in four years, had my first kid two weeks after I graduated, and now have a safe, simple upper-middle-class suburban life at 40. I have good benefits, get to drop off and pick up my kids from school, spend all evening with them, and all weekend with them. I still miss the flow state you'd get into during the rush or a good prep shift, but I don't miss anything else about it. Godspeed to all my people still in the weeds."
11. "I was only in the industry six or seven years and had to walk away recently. I had a minor heart attack in 2024 on the line after working a year straight at 70+ hours per week. I now have congestive heart failure as a result of a weakened heart muscle. I tried to stick it out as long as I could, but I went from working as a prep cook to being a sous chef after three weeks of insane turnover, and all my accommodations went out the window. Plus, my chef was an absolute asshole, and I couldn't stand working for him. I was burning the candle at both ends for so long, and this industry does not accommodate severe chronic illness well — so now I'm looking into other career options to better my health."
12. "I'm working on leaving. Tired of sweating bullets all the time, constant burnout, and catering to an ungrateful clientele. My specials have never, ever sold well at any job or in school, and I'm being aged artificially quickly from all the stress. It was tolerable before, but it hasn't been worth it in years — and I can't wait to quit."
13. "I got injured and found out very quickly that workers' comp sucks. After many years in the game, it just never really had my back. I've gone through my nest egg, and now, still busted up, I have to try to start all over in some other industry that will use my labor and spit me out."
14. "After eight years in the kitchen, at 30 years old, I stepped into the IT world. I spent two years in customer support, then switched to QA. I loved cooking, and the kitchen shaped my character, taught me how to handle different situations, and gave me lessons I would never trade for anything. But at the same time, it took away too much joy from my own life — spending long hours, many days, in places that belong to someone else. It makes you want to just chill after work. Otherwise, you feel tired all the time. Working on Christmas, bank holidays, etc. I just love too many things in life to sacrifice myself completely to one kitchen. It just wasn't for me."
"There are people who are happy living this life. Good. I'm happy for them and see them as warriors. Maybe someday I'll open my own small place.
Now I take some jobs at events with my old crew, so it's nice to come back once a month, every time in a new place. But fuck that, I wouldn't go back full-time — at least not now. I'm happy to have weekends off, to work six to eight hours where the value of your work is measured by impact, not how many hours you stayed or how hard you tried. So... I guess that's why."
15. "Ten years of cooking was fun and stressful. But with a family, it's just not manageable. Went to Papa John's for a quick GM fix. Then, to a grocery store in the meat/seafood department for a more relaxed, yet food-related environment. Now I do pest control. My net income is now double my previous gross income."
