Seniority vs Experience
Just wanted to get other people’s opinions on this.
I’m currently working in a restaurant as a cook, and I have about 10 years of experience as a line cook and caterer. I’ve worked large weddings, quinceañeras, and other events serving as many as 2,000 guests at a time. I also have a degree in culinary arts.
My experience isn’t limited to one kitchen, either. I’ve worked in several different kitchens over those 10 years, to the point where I can usually walk into an unfamiliar kitchen, look at how it’s laid out, and have a pretty good idea of where I’m going to find produce, dry goods, equipment, etc.
At my current job, seniority determines which shifts you get and, sometimes, who gets to do what during service. I work under a lead cook who has been with the company for 25 years, so obviously this person has seniority and gets first pick. Having been there for so long, they’ve also developed a close relationship with the general managers. It’s gotten to the point where management seems to take this person’s word over everyone else’s when it comes to what’s happening in the kitchen. Their word is essentially final.
On the surface, I understand all of that. Seniority matters, and long-term employees naturally build trust and relationships with management. That happens in pretty much every industry.
But here’s where I struggle with it: what happens when that lead has spent their entire career in one place, has no formal culinary training, and regularly shows gaps in basic kitchen knowledge and competency? I’m talking about things as fundamental as proper cooking temperatures for different meats and other basic food-safety and culinary concepts.
At what point should actual knowledge, experience, and competency outweigh seniority?
I’m not saying that having a culinary degree automatically makes someone a better cook, and I’m not saying that my 10 years of experience should automatically outweigh someone else’s 25 years. Experience absolutely matters. But simply being somewhere for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean someone has developed the knowledge or skills that should come with that experience.
Am I looking at this the wrong way, or is it reasonable to find this frustrating? Because when seniority is treated as more valuable than competency—especially when it involves basic culinary and food-safety knowledge—it starts to feel less like respecting experience and more like disrespecting the profession itself