La comida a la doce!!!

franco-da-chef

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Oct 5, 2006
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Greetings to all the good people in this message board. I am very new to this site, but by scrolling through and reading some of the threads I have already learned a whole lot. I was born in DR and I moved to the states very young, my last visit was in 1995. Currently I am a student in houston tx but in a couple of weeks i will be moving back home to NY. I study culinary arts, I am 28 years old and for a long time now I have been thinking of moving to DR once I graduate. My question is: Can I live comfortably in DR?
If someone could post the average salary for an assistant or head chef that would be great.
If anyone in this board could perhaps educate me more about working in the tourism industry please feel free to do so.
Thanx.
franco
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Welcome to the board.

Regarding your profession the easy answer is no, you cannot.

The catch is that if you can be hired by one of the hotel chains or one of the fast food chains (as a supervising chef for example) then you would be paid a fair wage.

I am sure that if you were to come here and look around (a lot has changed in 11 years) you would receive many promises of work. Fact is, they would be just that: Promises...

There are literally dozens of Italian, Spanish and other (nationalities) chefs wandering around the tourist coasts of the DR as well as the major cities, working and living...

A few have been lucky and have been able to set up their own operation and have make a go of it....

Take your time and get together some working capital and then take a look at what you can do...

HB
 

FireGuy

Rest in peace Amigo!
Aug 21, 2002
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PM or e-mail luzcace who posts on this board. He is the head Chef for a chain of hotels in the DR (three on the South Coast and one on the North Coast) and at a bare minimum should be able to give you relevant information which I am sorry to say will probably mirror what HB has already stated.

Welcome to DR1.

Gregg
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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in by befriended hotel in cabarete chef would earn a little more than the rest of the staff but still it's nothing to write home about. sorry!
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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franco, i asked, in small hotel in cabarete chef earns +/- 15.000 pesos
 

M.A.R.

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Feb 18, 2006
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Greetings to all the good people in this message board. I am very new to this site, but by scrolling through and reading some of the threads I have already learned a whole lot. I was born in DR and I moved to the states very young, my last visit was in 1995. Currently I am a student in houston tx but in a couple of weeks i will be moving back home to NY. I study culinary arts, I am 28 years old and for a long time now I have been thinking of moving to DR once I graduate. My question is: Can I live comfortably in DR?
If someone could post the average salary for an assistant or head chef that would be great.
If anyone in this board could perhaps educate me more about working in the tourism industry please feel free to do so.
Thanx.
franco

go work in NYC, I just read about Alex Urena -a Dominican chef who's been very successful in NYC.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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si, franco, this is monthly. yo no hablar espanol aun, entonces usas inglese, por favor.
this must have been very bad spanish...
anyways, my boyfriend used to be a hotel manager, he says tha 16.000 pesos a month is good, big hotels may give you more. keep in mind that a maid gets maybe 5.000 pesos a month, chefs have good wages....
sorry to ruin your dream but looks like if you want good MONIES you have to stick to posh NY restaurants and come here when you have enough to open your own place... or just come here and gave good LIFE.
 

FireGuy

Rest in peace Amigo!
Aug 21, 2002
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At one North Coast resort cooks are paid (as of a year ago):

"$5,000 - $15,000 RD Pesos per month PLUS 50% of Medical Insurance plus one meal per shift plus their uniform."

I'm not sure where a cook stops and a chef begins but I expect a chef would start near the top of that range, pretty much what others are saying.

Gregg
 

luzcace

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Aug 19, 2004
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If you mean Executive chefs, they make anything from 40k to 120k, depending on the area and hotel, cooks for example make a lot more in Punta Cana than on the North Coast.
 

franco-da-chef

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Oct 5, 2006
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.......My guess is, that more than 90 % of the Dominicans eat the
'bandera' 365 x /year.


Ha! Thats crazy....The same reason I learned to cook for myself. Lord knows I cant live without my bandera. How ironic!
 
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macocael

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Aug 3, 2004
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franco, dont surrender yet. It is true that working wages are low, and chefs certainly deserve more, as it is very demanding work. Ironically a really good chef, not just a capable one, is something rare and you would think that hotel owners would recognize that and pay accordingly to attract good talent. But the history of this place in terms of relations between owners and workers is such that the phrase "wage slave" may be taken literally here. (Btw, The best French restaurant in NYC for at least 10 yrs running is Le Bernadin. The head chef is French, but the entire crew is Dominican.)

however, Ithink if you were first to engage in an intensive internet investigation of the bigger companies along the East Coast, you might eventually connect with the right people and find slightly higher wages than those found along the North Coast. Then you could come down here, live over in Bavaro or Punta Cana and get a feel for how things are done in DR. Get to know EVERYONE in the business, because it is only through contacts that one gets ahead here. I hate to say it, but being "Dominican" in the States means nothing down here; you are in fact in worse shape than the gringos that live here, and you definitely know nothing about the country. So while you suss out the industry, you also have to reacquaint yourself with the society, history and culture of your putative "homeland." Fact is, you are American. You are going to be shocked, puzzled, bamboozled and flabbergasted at first. But eventually you will catch on, and if you like it, you will stay and master the situation. One of the things I can tell you is this: here the people who make money and get ahead are usually their own masters. there is a growing middle class of office workers and such, but their wages are still pitifully low. The entrepreneur with a flair for independence and a bit of imagination attuned to the Dominican marketplace can do quite well for himself. My wife, for example, flitted from one job to the next, always with very poor wages and no prospects. She recently took over the family business -- a mere bar/cafeteria, nothing special -- and she is making much more money than she ever did before. The business languished in the hands of her brother for lack of interest, but with her flair for buying and selling it is taking off again. If you could eventually establish a restaurant of your own, you could do quite well here. It is a tricky business. In the capital I have seen many restaurants come and go, good ones, and it is not always clear why one succeeds and another fails. But the owner of Caribbean Blue once mentioned to a friend of mine that you cannot have a "special occasion" restaurant and hope to survive. You have to offer something that might be special but that will also appeal to the masses.

One other point: 15,000 is poor wages. About 500 bucks a month. But that is good wages for many a Dominican. The headmistress at my daughter's nursery school only made 6000 a month. A friend of mine who is an editor at Listin only makes 24,000 a month. In your case, 15,000 would probably go further: I imagine the hotel might have living space for its employees (but maybe not, I dont know how these places operate), and of course meals are taken care of, so in fact if room and board are not a major expense, your 15,000 suddenly becomes the equivalent of at least 30,000 or more. Bear that in mind while you are considering the value of a salary and how far you can stretch it.