I think there is a new standard,” said Alfred Ehrlich, a chef turned executive search/personnel consultant who heads Kitchen Maestro. “The people I represent are earning 20 to 75 percent more than normal. The pendulum swings one way or the other, and labor has the upper hand now — especially for highly skilled chefs.”
Top New York chefs can earn $300,000, while those in the Hamptons can earn $160,000, he said, adding that signed NDAs prevent him from divulging details of the deals. A chef he recently placed in Miami got a whopping $400,000 to run the kitchen, he boasted.
“If it’s the season and a restaurant wants to open, they have to pay. They can’t afford not to or they will shut down,” Ehrlich said.
Don Evans, a restaurant consultant known as the chef whisperer who is helping to produce Taste of Summer – six Hamptons food events with more than 70 participating restaurants – said there has never been a higher demand for skilled chefs.