Start tomorrow, no degree. Long hours, low starting pay, and a real path to running your own kitchen.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
An apprenticeship: you are hired by a sponsor, paid while you learn on the job, and go to class for a few weeks at a time. Every fact here is from Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) and the Ontario government. See every Ontario trade side by side
You are paid from your first day. Over the 5,280 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $94,776 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
You are paid from your first day. Over the 2,260 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $40,567 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
Before you start: Must hold a Certificate of Qualification with Red Seal endorsement as a cook and at least one year of related work after the Red Seal.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
Still in high school? In Grade 11 or 12, with at least 14 credits and age 15 or older, you can start an apprenticeship through co-op placements and earn credits at the same time. Ask your school's OYAP recruiter, guidance counsellor or co-op teacher. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)(opens in a new tab)
Not ready to find a sponsor? Free pre-apprenticeship programs (up to a year at a college or community agency, tools and books covered, with a work placement) get you ready and in front of employers. Employment Ontario helps you apply. Pre-apprenticeship training(opens in a new tab)
Ontario sets no percentage of full pay for apprentices. Your sponsor agrees your wage with you, and it can never be below the minimum wage: $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $48,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $33,000 at the lower end to about $68,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 3 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$550 to $25,500 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$48,000
Lower end
$33,000
Upper end
$68,000
These are Job Bank's figures for chefs across Canada (2023 to 2024): $16.03 an hour at the low end, $23.00 median and $32.69 at the high end, about $33,000, $48,000 and $68,000 a year at 40 hours a week. Cooks are a separate group, with a median of $18.00 an hour, about $37,000 a year.
$15.00 to $25.00 an hour
Job Bank low and high wage for cooks, about $31,000 to $52,000 a year
Job Bank puts the median cook wage at $18.00 an hour. In some restaurants tips are shared with the kitchen in a tip pool.
$32.17 an hour
The median for chefs in the Northwest Territories, the highest in Canada
Among the provinces, Quebec is highest at $24.00, Ontario sits at $22.00, and Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are lowest at $19.00.
Roughly, all in
$550 to $25,500
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
You can skip school entirely and learn in a kitchen, which is how many working chefs came up, so the low end is a knife roll, a couple of uniforms and a food handler certificate at about $50. The high end is a two year culinary diploma at private school rates on top of the same kit. A cook apprenticeship sits between the two, costing a few hundred dollars per school block while you are paid to work. The numbers hide the years of low wages on the line, which matter far more here than tuition does.
You can skip school entirely and learn on the job, which many chefs did.
Staff meals
Nearly universal.
Health benefits
Hotels and institutions yes, small restaurants rarely.
Room and board
Remote camps and resorts.
Union pension
Hotel and hospital kitchens.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Three ways in, and they all end in the same kitchen.
Get a food handler certificate
1 day
A short online course. Most kitchens ask for it, because provincial rules require trained staff on site.
Start in a kitchen
Any time
Dishwasher, prep cook, then line cook. Many chefs started at 16. This is the real school.
Culinary program or apprenticeship (optional)
1 to 3 years
A 1 or 2 year college diploma (George Brown, SAIT in Calgary, Vancouver Community College, NAIT in Edmonton, Humber) or a 3-year cook apprenticeship where you work full time and attend school in blocks.
Red Seal Cook (optional)
After 3 years
Pass the interprovincial exam after about 6,000 hours in Ontario (5,280 on the job and 720 in school). Recognized across Canada and respected in hotels and institutions.
Move up
Years
Line cook, then chef de partie, sous chef, then executive chef. Typically 8 to 12 years to run a serious kitchen.
Hospitality and culinary courses
Offered in many high schools with real kitchens.
Math
Costing recipes and scaling batches.
Co-op placements in restaurants
Anyone can be called a chef. The Red Seal Cook certification is voluntary everywhere in Canada but is often required in unionized hotel and institutional kitchens. Quebec and some employers also recognize the Certified Chef de Cuisine designation from the Canadian Culinary Federation.
Quebec trains cooks through a DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) and its own two level cook certificate, and has a separate college diploma for running a restaurant.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP in Professional Cooking takes a high school diploma, or age 16 with Secondary IV language, second language and math. From 18, the general development test is another way in.
DEP in Professional Cooking (5311, or 5811 in English)
About 13 to 16 months
1,470 hours, called Cuisine in French and taught in every region. In English at St. Pius X and Pearson Adult and Career Centre in Montreal, and Brome-Missisquoi Campus in Cowansville.
Market-Fresh Cooking AVS (5324)
About 7 months
An optional AVS (Attestation of Vocational Specialization) after the DEP: 525 hours of charcuterie, bread, regional dishes and tasting menus. Called Cuisine du marché in French.
Food safety manager course
12 hours
Each kitchen needs a person in charge of hygiene who holds the MAPAQ (Quebec food ministry) manager certificate: 12 hours, a 60 minute exam, 60% to pass, valid for life.
Cook Level 2 and the Red Seal
About 20 months
Quebec certifies cooks at Level 1 and Level 2. Level 2 takes about 20 months of essential skills, and only Level 2 cooks can go on to the interprovincial Red Seal.
To run a kitchen or restaurant as a business, Quebec has a 3 year DEC (Diploma of College Studies) called Gestion d'un établissement de restauration (430.B0, restaurant management). It is taught at Cégep Limoilou, Collège Mérici, Collège LaSalle and the ITHQ (Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec, the Quebec tourism and hotel institute), which also teaches the cooking DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies). In English, Collège LaSalle offers it as Food Service Management.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Red Seal Cook
The main credential employers recognize.
Baking and pastry certification
A separate Red Seal trade, in demand.
Management and food-cost training
Executive chefs are managers first.
Camp and remote work
Mines, oil sites and lodges provide room and board.
Time in a top kitchen
A year at a serious restaurant is worth more on a resume than any diploma.
Competitions
Skills Canada and culinary competitions get you noticed.
Wine or beverage knowledge
Helps in fine dining.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Arrive early afternoon for a dinner service. Prep for hours: butchering, sauces, vegetables, stocks. Service is a sprint of 3 to 5 hours at high speed and high heat. Then cleaning and closing, often past midnight. Weekends and holidays are your busiest days. Institutional and camp kitchens run on calmer daytime schedules.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Remote work camps in Alberta, British Columbia and the North hire cooks on rotation schedules that leave weeks off at a time, with room and board provided.
Cook became a Red Seal trade in 1964, and the endorsement is offered in every province and territory. British Columbia calls the top level Professional Cook 3.
Job Bank counts about 64,500 chefs in Canada in 2023 and expects jobs and job seekers to stay roughly in balance through 2033. Only 27% were 50 or older.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Kitchen first, then the rest of the field. See every career in food and hospitality.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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