Men Losing Ground in Bartending

[Mark Minter]

Once, the kid of pretty well to do family went off to cooking school. And people thought "What?" And there response was. It was more likely he could start a business, a damn successful business that way. And even further, it is way to get out of the country. With you skills, if you went to Colombia, they would eat that shit up. All food most places is whatever the indigenous cuisine of the place. And even something like Southern Food or normal American food that people eat at home is exotic. I once went to kind of an Arab place that sold Kabobs and you couldn't get in the place. There was a 30 or 40 minute wait. And you never wait at restaurants in Colombia. So going somewhere like that or Peru or even Chile, and using low cost ingredients but cooking Cordon Bleu style, you could make a killing. You could start small in a "locale" with plastic chairs and tables, maybe even on the street. There are lots of street vendors selling food. I had this idea about doing "deep fried" stuff like they do at the Texas State Fair, Deep Fried Coke, you freeze the Coke and put like biscuit dough around the cubes and then throw it in a deep fryer. Or deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You make them with jelly and banana, dip them in egg batter, then flour then throw them in oil. Deep fried Snickers, same idea as the coke. The page of recipes is huge. And you can do right there on the side of the road where the other vendors are.

But if you saved 20,000 grand, less really, and were prepared to work at it hard you could do it. There are a lot of restaurants that are only open in the day. And close at night. Even if you only made $4000 a month, you would still be in Colombia and a guy that makes $4000 a month in Colombia gets serious trim. And employees to work with you are about $500 a month, less. And there is no sexual harassment in Colombia. You could tell a girl, your job is to wash the dishes, help with the cooking, and suck my dick.

All this stuff, anything you could think of that you would cook in your restaurant is exotic shit to them. Fucking meat loaf is exotic. Once I was in Popayan and there was this kiosk with a pizza oven in for rent for $350 a month and I walked away from it. When I thought about it and went back, it was already taken. I could have kicked myself. I could have cooked fucking biscuits, cookies, banana bread, muffins, and there were stores and offices all around it. And a fucking high rise building was in construction and is probably finished now with 100s of residences. Fuck. The internet is gold mine of recipes of shit. Those motherfucker I was Chef Mark being all exotic serving them biscuits. They never seen a biscuit before.

Yes, to me, cooking is the way out of the country and live somewhere else where the women fuck you and treat you right.

So cooking is an excellent idea. And very flexible.

 

[Veloce]

^^^You're talking about a fantasy I've had for years. I'm sort of entrenched in my job at the moment (I know I know, you're thinking "cop out") but it pays great and it's really a great job as far as chef gigs are concerned. High pay. Relatively low hours.

Every year I get closer to pursuing work outside the U.S. There's a really well known chef here in L.A. that just opened a pastry shop in Manila (his wife is Filipino). It's so popular that after only a few months they're planning on their second location.

I've got all sorts of fantasies, some probably delusional, about opening my own place overseas. Something that's only open 5 days, dinner only. Roll in, cook for some appreciative locals and/or expats, live comfortably. Somewhere with warm water and friendly women that appreciate a small business owner. It wouldn't generate a fortune but it'd be enough to live on. I know of such a place in Costa Rica. It's some guy's hut right on the beach, at night it's dimly lit and people from all over come in, eat some grilled shrimp, drink aguardiente, and listen to some live musicians. It's fucking paradise. There's no fancy garnishes or sauces, it's just simple fresh food that's not catering to high maintenance city types.

I've seen places like these in Tulum too. Little beach huts where life is slower, the sand is softer than a baby's ass, you meet all kinds of cool people from all over, the locals are friendly. Grilled fish right on the beach, cheap beers, life is good.

 

[JimNortonFan]

Dude,

What is holding you back from leaving?

I wish I had a job that would let me leave the US.

 

[booshala]

^^^You're talking about a fantasy I've had for years. I'm sort of entrenched in my job at the moment (I know I know, you're thinking "cop out") but it pays great and it's really a great job as far as chef gigs are concerned. High pay. Relatively low hours.

Every year I get closer to pursuing work outside the U.S. There's a really well known chef here in L.A. that just opened a pastry shop in Manila (his wife is Filipino). It's so popular that after only a few months they're planning on their second location.

I've got all sorts of fantasies, some probably delusional, about opening my own place overseas. Something that's only open 5 days, dinner only. Roll in, cook for some appreciative locals and/or expats, live comfortably. Somewhere with warm water and friendly women that appreciate a small business owner. It wouldn't generate a fortune but it'd be enough to live on. I know of such a place in Costa Rica. It's some guy's hut right on the beach, at night it's dimly lit and people from all over come in, eat some grilled shrimp, drink aguardiente, and listen to some live musicians. It's fucking paradise. There's no fancy garnishes or sauces, it's just simple fresh food that's not catering to high maintenance city types.

I've seen places like these in Tulum too. Little beach huts where life is slower, the sand is softer than a baby's ass, you meet all kinds of cool people from all over, the locals are friendly. Grilled fish right on the beach, cheap beers, life is good.

Seems a bit different from your job posting from Singapore as everything there is "go go go", totally different from the Colombian vibe that Mark Minter is referring to. What ever happened to that anyway, thedude? You moving over to SIN?

My family owns a few sushi restaurants in the IE whose customers are majority Latino and I have to second MM's vibe on latin clientele: very easy going, and surprisingly open to "exotic" fare.

 

[Veloce]

The recruiters that interviewed me were total tools. I didn't get a good vibe. It seemed unlikely anyway; it would take a LOT to get me to uproot my life and move somewhere as expensive as sing, and the compensation just wasn't there.

Truth be told, that paradise fantasy is more of "end game" for me. I still got a few years of hustle and bustle left in me, see how far I can take this career before settling down to something chill.