Q1: Would you leave a well established restaurant for a higher pay at a burger joint that actually supports you and lets ya develop recipes/menu items for them?

I work at two restaurants one is a casual “fine” dining restaurant and the other is just a burger joint that is my fun job. Now my chef at the first restaurant she is a complete bitch and I don’t say that lightly. She tends to have a grudge against me from the very beginning she got transferred to this location when the chef that hired me left. Like she would constantly micromanage me more than everyone else and give off a negative/narcissistic energy or just a bad attitude towards me and a few others too. I also get along with a lot of my coworkers and built great friendships like one of the sous chefs is my roommate. So I guess she’s jealous idk, either way I have had it with her BS since she cut my hours to the point I rn can barely survive. I’m supposed to be full time and yet she just only gave me two days for the past 3 weeks and then recently gave me morning shifts without asking me first (I prefer nights cause it is busier and I get better tips) and yesterday pretended to be all nice to me and make small talk which is very weird cause before I left she asked if I wanted to keep the two opening shifts which so I could tell she just wanted to be manipulative.

Now at the burger joint my boss is planning to open a second location and he is willing to give me the day manager position and I have already started making new sauces and eventually some breakfast items for him. Plus he also is gonna take over a bar next to the current restaurant and he asked me if I’d be interested in developing their menu and train the cooks. As well pay me a living wage which is very important factor but the only thing is I don’t want to stay in fast food but I have a supportive boss and get to be creative make recipes and see people love my food which is the main reason I wanted to be a chef in the first place.

So yeah, I know it’s obviously a no brainer but I kinda want some advice since I rather be in fine dining than fast food/comfort food type of restaurants. But then again I am planning to do private events/dinners with a friend so I can still be involved with fine dining aspect of the culinary world and no longer have to feel burnt out working in a restaurant.

Q2. Am I worthy to be called a chef?

As much as I like it I just get impostor syndrome when my friends and some of my coworkers do sometimes call me chef even though I have never been a sous or CDC at a restaurant. Most was a supervisor at an another fast food joint. Though I’ve been working in restaurants for like a decade now and even when I was little all my family members worked in restaurants since immigrating to Canada. My dad and my Aunt have/are cooks/chefs at Chinese restaurants and we had a lot of family dinners where I learned how to cook from them which is where my love for food started and it influenced me/ started the flame (pun intended) to become a chef. So idk have I earned the title even though I have never gone to culinary school or managed a kitchen team or had an actual chef call me chef. I honestly just need some reassurance as I hate to piss off chefs that I respect.

Thank you for reading and any of your answers I greatly appreciate it 😊

Update: thank you for all your kind words and encouragement, I just had a bit of doubt due to some low self esteem but I know my worth and will take the risk. Here is what I wrote in the resignation letter what do you guys think?

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Hello! I am sad to be sending this email but after a very long thought, I have officially decided to give in my two weeks notice. While I have enjoyed most of my time and most of the people I have worked with at the company in the two years I’ve been at [workplace], the reasons why I am choosing to leave is - with all do respect, I just do not feel like I have been given the adequate support I am looking for in the past few months and especially from some leaders and upper management. I really wish there’d be a better way for us to make this work but there isn’t enough time and commitment given to my own growth and development here for me to advance at all.

Therefore, I have chosen to accept a management position that was offered to me at my other job which also will pay me a living wage. But before I leave I do want to give some feedback as I found the management style here is one of the driving forces to my departure here. So I highly encourage you to take that into account for the next person replacing me and any future employees. I felt that the work environment has been very toxic since last year which comes down to the fact that I have put up with it long enough and I need to take care of my health as I have noticed my work life balance has taken a toll and it has affected my performance, physically and mentally. I also need to look after my finances too as it has been incredibly inconsistent with the constant shift cuts. I just cannot survive with how many shifts I have been given even though I have signed up to be full time hours. I really do appreciate the opportunity and the learning experiences from my time at [workplace] but I need to look after myself and continue to improve my skills with a business that would be supportive and have a more positive work environment.

There is a chance I may consider to return if given the right moment or opportunity in the future but right now I need some time to recover and fix myself mentally and physically first; I just need to get my life together.

Thank you for your understanding and I promise to finish strong for my last two weeks.

All the best,

[my name]