香港商赫士盟食品企業有限公司台北分公司

＊You can learn a great deal. After spending a few months there, you basically understand how strict and disciplined a French-style kitchen can be. These principles are useful almost anywhere in Taiwan. On my very first day, I was already loudly reprimanded over my “standing posture” so that the entire kitchen could hear (when speaking to the chef, you have to stand at attention. I want your answer to be only “oui,” the French word for “yes”).

＊The workday is over 12 hours every day. If there is an event, sorry, but 12 hours is basically the minimum. The longest shift I personally worked was 20 hours (arriving at 5:30 a.m. to prepare and finishing at 2:30 a.m.). Therefore, with this kind of stress tolerance, I believe anywhere else will seem like a piece of cake.

＊There is no such thing as onboarding new employees. When you first arrive, no one tells you anything because everyone is too busy. Of course you can’t find something when you’re sent to get it, and then you get yelled at for not finding it... For our mise en place, each person is responsible for a huge number of preparations that the chefs simply don’t teach you. They assume you already know everything; if you don’t, get ready to be yelled at. (You really need to have some skills before going in—don’t be foolishly blinded by your dreams...) Less than a week after joining, each person is responsible for a large number of tasks. If you can’t finish them, no one cares; figure it out yourself~ Or come in early to do them. (You even have to keep track of what ingredients you need and place your own orders. The pressure is so intense R~~ The advantage is that it completely trains you to become a chef who can work independently. To be honest, it has benefited me immensely... But the pressure really is substantial, because the supervisors basically don’t interfere much. If your items aren’t ready, a dish can’t be served, and then it’s bye-bye.)

After saying all this, I just want to tell everyone that although RAW has long hours, low pay, and chefs who are all incredibly awful, you really can learn many valuable things there. I want to caution everyone: even the chef who stayed there the longest lasted only two and a half years. That tells you that this was never a place where you could work comfortably for your entire life~~ It’s more like a limited-time event in a game where your experience points are doubled~

If you don’t come here with an extremely strong sense of purpose, don’t come and try it! Your enthusiasm will quickly be worn away by the high pressure and long hours on your very first day. All I can say is that although it is strict, it’s a place you’ll be grateful for your whole life~~

＊Long hours

＊Low pay

＊Serious atmosphere

＊You really may get hit by Chef Chiang

Finally, I get to learn from Mr. Chiang, one of Asia’s 50 top chefs, and work at his “raw.”

Everyone is scrambling to make reservations—it feels so honorable~

Seriously excessive hours, but there’s always someone specifically assigned to “handle” the clocking in and out. Heh heh.

Whenever there’s an event or the menu needs changing, the customers are over the moon.

They have no idea how much blood and sweat goes on in the kitchen: it’s not unusual to work 8 to 11 days straight, finish in the early hours of the morning, and then have to come back to work first thing.

Several times, I nearly went to meet the white-bearded old grandpa on the way home by scooter.

But forget all that! It’s all part of the training!

But… hmm.

THEY DO NOT PAY OVERTIME PROPERLY!

So why are all the employees young people?

Get it?

Although the company posts full-time positions, everyone is required to start as a part-time employee after joining. It takes about one to two months to learn a station well enough to serve dishes. After passing a written test and an on-site assessment, you can be transferred to a full-time position. The starting salary for full-time employees is approximately NT$25,000–26,000, rising to around NT$30,000 once you are fully qualified at all stations. If you want to advance further, you can only wait for management positions to open. Management vacancies generally depend on whether the company plans to launch a new brand; otherwise, openings are rare. There are basically no special benefits—mostly the meal provisions and dining discounts common in the food and beverage industry. The advantage is that, because the company is under the large Hsu’s Group, you can enjoy dining discounts at most of the group’s restaurants, except for certain partner restaurants such as RAW and Le Palais.

At work, efficiency is emphasized, and almost all tasks have SOPs. As long as you follow them, there generally should not be any problems. However, if you do not understand something, you must ask the shift leader or another colleague, because if you make a mistake, you may be required to pay for it. In addition, every six months, the company hires people to conduct surprise food safety and sanitation inspections. If the standards are not met, the manager is required to write a review report, so managers are especially nervous during this period. These inspections are very troublesome; if you end up working there, you will understand. Full-time employees are also required to share responsibility for full-time duties and tasks during inspection periods. Since there are many types of duties, I will not describe them separately, but they are basically related to restaurant operations.

Working hours are recorded in whole-hour and half-hour increments. Therefore, if you unfortunately finish your work after the hour or half-hour, you can only accept the loss and absorb the extra time yourself. If business performance is good, there is a monthly target bonus, but it is not much—around NT$500 to NT$900 (I have never received more than that). The three traditional holiday bonuses are generally company vouchers, which also have expiration dates. Do not expect much from the year-end bonus, because most supplies have to be shipped from the United States. Although sales are impressive, profits are relatively thin. Moreover, aside from specific holidays and peak seasons, business is generally not very good, so last year’s year-end bonus was only 0.2 months’ salary (I heard this applies after completing one year). As for leave, you receive the number of days stipulated for the year. The company will not take away your leave, and even if you do not take it, overtime pay will be provided instead. If necessary, you can schedule days off on weekends, provided there are enough staff. The schedule is posted weekly, so sometimes the following week’s schedule is not released until Sunday. If you need to take leave, it is best to inform the manager in advance.

Overall, it is a decent company. However, if you want to improve your cooking skills, you will not learn much here. If you want to work for Hsu’s Group and do not care whether you can improve your cooking skills, I would recommend working at NAGI Ramen, because the items are simpler and the profits are higher, so the bonuses tend to be more substantial.