I'm the chef for the Hotel Saskatchewan. My name is Bruno Wuets. I'm originally from Switzerland.


[Typical Work Day:]

An average day is around ten to fourteen hours, sometimes seven days a week. And sometimes when it’s slower, then you stay home. Yesterday, I started at 7:00 am and then we had a luncheon for around three hundred people. And then we had to be ready at night-time for another three hundred people for dinner and cook for the party for two-fifty. You know, sometimes it's hectic.

We do all kinds of food. We make normally what the people like; you know, like beef and chicken and stuff like that, but we do fancy meals too (gourmet meals). You know what I mean? You can do all kinds of things, like specialities. And sometimes the people go for it, and sometimes they no like it. Like right now, we have ostrich on the menu. Some people go for it. Me, I eat it but I no go out and buy myself ostrich. You love food, but you [also] love to try different foods to give you different ideas all the time. You never have to forget the basics.

[Personal Characteristics & Attitudes:]

I will have a lot of patience and a lot of interest in the job. And you have to (me anyway), I think you have to read a lot about it because you learn all the time new things. Never forget what you learned before, you know.

[Education & Training:]

The process is first of all you work in the hotel. At the same time, as you work you go to school. And when you go to school they teach you all the same; you know, accounting, the whole works. And then you go around and work as a cook as a comer and you have all these lengths in the kitchen like routier, routissier, saussier, butisier. You know, and then you work yourself up. You work yourself up through the kitchen and then maybe somebody hires you as a chef later on. And if you want to be a chef for a big operation, you need around six or eight years before you can be a head chef after school.

[Skills Needed:]

Discipline is very important because you're all the time on time. If you are a breakfast cook and you come in to work around 7:00 am and you have to start at 6:00 am, you know what I mean - disaster. You have to learn discipline about hours and then you stay and do it and then it goes into your blood... and then you know what I mean, like, you really enjoy it.

You have to like people to be in that business. You have to know how to try to work with the management and try to work with the staff. You're in the middle. Like in the army, a corporal. People are too easy to…stressful. You know what I mean? I mean you have to have fun when you work. Otherwise, why work? You know what I mean. Do something else.

[Most Satisfying Aspect:]

I catch you a lot of freedom I think, you know. You can travel. You can go to companies when you no like it somewhere anymore to find you a job. You know what I mean. You can actually be quite independent. It was always enjoyable. You work in different areas in different hotels, different management, different companies. You know…it's never boring. You make a living, but you never will be a millionaire. For the work what actually... we no make enough money. But you live with it.