With Fewer Pots to Stir, Competition Rises Among Cooks

[lsanderson]

A SHOW, BUT ALSO A JOB With thousands of restaurant jobs lost in New York the past few months, cooks are looking for other paths. Some 150 applicants for the next season of “Top Chef” lined up, above, earlier this month downtown.
By JULIA MOSKIN
Published: March 17, 2009

JAMES LENZI, a chef who is opening a restaurant near Columbia University, recently posted an ad on Craigslist for an assistant. Salary: $25,000 a year with no benefits.

“The résumés started pouring in,” he said. “Hundreds of them. Chefs, managers, people who’ve worked at the best restaurants in New York.”

Nine of the 300 applicants had Ph.D.’s., he said. “I can’t stop thinking about what’s going to happen to them.” More