Chef Moving to Fort Collins (Denver: apartment, rent, school)

[Antphall]

Hello,

I'm moving to fort Collins in January and am pretty excited over it. I used to live in upstate Ny where I worked as a line cook. Life was good except Ithaca had little opportunity for me. So I moved to Bay Area California. Bad idea. The way of life to too "Type A". Too much hustle and bustle, rent is too damn expensive! I pay 1100 for a 1 bedroom apartment! Ouch!

I've visited Denver and boulder in the past and really like the areas. Then I started reading a lot on the FC area and liked it as well.

Is it pretty small town living out there?

My biggest problem with california is I tried to work as a line cook but couldn't due to the vast amount of mexicans out here. I'm not racist by any means but it's impossible to work behind the line out here w/o learning Spanish.
How area the lines out in Colorado? Are they more of a mix of all races or is it like Cali?

Also, what are off seasons like (college not in session) vs on seasons when all the college kids are in session? In Ithaca Ny it was nice and busy during the school year but once school ended for the term it got nice and slow and relaxing.

Any information you can share would be wonderful! Between now and January I'm saving up the cash to move out. Once I have enough, into the truck I go! I'm going in "blind" but not too worried.

[dowhatthouwilt]

Uh, I don't even know if Fort Collins has chefs. They have Sysco though!! Lots of Sysco. Might want to do more research into why people come to Colorado. It's definitely not for the cuisine!! Think long and hard. What about South/Southeast?

[cobmw]

Fort Collins will seem small compared to the Bay Area. But there are plenty of conveniences here. Lots of restaraunts so I should think you would have opportunities for work. The town is a little quieter when the college kids go home. But it's not dead. We live in the south part of town and hardly notice the difference. FC is not a fast paced, intense place like CA. People here drive slower, move slower.

If you check out the cities informaton section on this web site you will see that FC is 83% white 10% Hispanic.

[livecontent]

Much Line cook work is Colorado is done by Hispanics where the skill requirements are minimal which is most of this so called "cooking". It manners not that most people in FC are white, the majority does not work in restaurant but there will be more Hispanics in the kitchen, by percent, than the population.

Once a restaurant menu is defined and can be broken down into simple steps then the owners will hire the cheapest labor they can that can be trained, either minimally skilled whites or others. Even at high priced trendy restaurants, there may be a well trained chef and sous chef but most of the help that does line cooking, which is just simple assembly and finish work, are the cheapest that can do the job.

Do not assume it will be that much different than San Francisco, other than the wages will be lower here in Colorado. I do not think failure to speak Spanish is that much of detriment because there are many workers who do not speak Spanish and some do not speak even English, as there are other immigrants from Asia and Europe. As long as they can learn the simple tasks, work cheaper and fast--that is the requirement for support type line cooking.

A "chef" is one that is well trained which means school trained or a formal apprenticeship and has learning all methods of cooking; is well versed in many different ethnic and cultural cuisines and has additional years of experience. If you are of that caliber then your opportunities are different and the positions are fewer.

Livecontent

[Dogmama50]

So many kitchens all over the country have hispanics working in them in one capacity or another. If your goal is to someday be an executive chef in which you will be hiring and managing the staff, some working spanish will help a great deal.