Feature -- by Mark Sproxton

The sounds of food cooking, pots and pans banging and the regular banter in the kitchen fills the air. Vigorously stirring a dish in one pot before quickly moving to drop some ingredients in another, the executive chef gives directions to another kitchen staff member on how to arrange a dish for serving.

Jennifer Ogle wears many hats as an executive chef.

The white hat on her head is visible, but at the same time, she's wearing many others. "I like it when everything is happening and you've got 12 things going on and you're in the zone," explains Jennifer Ogle, executive chef at Blonde, A Restaurant.

While she strives to spend as much time in the kitchen as possible using her 11.5 years of creativity and experience, Ogle also wears many other hats. "My main focus is to create really amazing food with my staff," she said. "But if the dishwasher doesn't show up, I wash dishes. If there's a problem, I have to know how to fix it." And there's also the role of educating and inspiring staff, planning menus and ordering supplies (aided by a day chef and a sous chef), ensuring food and labour costs are kept in check and thinking of ways to generate more revenue for the restaurant.

Her typical day -- although two days are seldom the same -- includes coming in before the lunch rush to ensure everything is moving smoothly, doing paper work and scheduling for a few hours in the afternoon, then preparing food for the next serving period. Once the supper hour begins, Ogle oversees the dining service, pitches in on the monumental task of cleaning the kitchen before shutting down the computer system and locking the doors for the night.

"It's 10 hour days on your feet and it's not unheard of to have a 14 hour day once a week because it's busy or someone calls in sick," she said. "But the rewards are there as far as you are able to do what you want to do." Despite the thrill she receives from working with new ingredients and creating new dishes, she finds peoples' attitude toward food frustrating at times. "I don't see a lot of people taking time out to enjoy food. That's something I would like to be a part of improving."

The hard work required and frustrations faced as an executive chef came as no surprise to Ogle. As a young teenager she started working as a bus person in a small restaurant but wound up spending much of her down time in the kitchen hanging out and asking questions. That lead to work in a bakery and eventually into the kitchen. "I wasn't always very good," she laughs. "My first batch of brownies I used salt instead of sugar."

Years of experience making different types of food, and completing a culinary program at a cooking school in France have taken Ogle a long way from that inedible dessert. She believes the schooling was important for her development, but concedes experience teaches much more. "If someone asked 'Should I spend $20,000 to go to cooking school?' I would say spend it travelling, make chapatis with the guy on the side of the road in India, or go to Japan and figure out how to cook (that style). I think you would be hard pressed to find people who wouldn't think that was better experience than going to (cooking school), for example."

That said, she recognises that hotels and other large service industry organisations require formalised training. If you do work in a large hotel chain, you may also be able to take advantage of moving around the world within that chain's restaurants.

Typically, a Chef in the professional culinary business must have a minimum basic level accredited diploma in cooking. An Executive Chef need an advanced level culinary arts diploma and management knowledge. To be a Cook, does not require formal training, but experience is desired.

To move up the ladder, those considering becoming chefs should also have a thorough understanding of all aspects of a restaurant. "It's important to know how to serve people and having an appreciation for what the front-of-house does. And then there's the whole managerial side where I get challenged in a different way than in the kitchen."

Executive chefs average in the neighbourhood of $40,000 to $60,000 a year, but that varies depending on the size of the restaurant, and the type of restaurant -- be it gourmet, family or a cafeteria. Hotels often pay more than independent restaurants. Regardless of where chefs work, Ogle said those with patience, the ability to clearly communicate their wishes and the ability to teach will have much success in the profession.

"In the learning stage, it requires a big dedication of your time. You have to be a bit of a night owl. And you have to be a good student. There's no point being a chef if you don't want to keep learning."