JOIN THE 86&co. TEAM

Different Kitchens.
A team behind you.

We're a chef-founded company that drops chefs into kitchens that need help. You come on as a W-2 employee, not a gig worker, and you take the assignments you want.

$30 to $40 an hour with overtime on top. Travel and lodging on us. Roll from one assignment into the next, or take time in between and tell us when you're ready.

SEND YOUR APP

TEXT US

Questions first? Call or text (603) 583-9289. You'll get a chef, not a recruiter.

W-2 EMPLOYMENT

LOCAL + TRAVEL ASSIGNMENTS

CHEF-LED SUPPORT

“Four years in and I still love this line of work. I get to choose where I go, and it’s always somewhere or something new. .”

CHEF JOE · WITH 86&co. SINCE 2022

Some of our crew are four and five years in. In this business, working a different kitchen every few weeks, that doesn't happen by accident.

How it actually works.

One assignment, start to finish, so you know what you'd be saying yes to.

THE LIST.

We don’t call you out of the blue and ask you to drop everything. Once you’re on the roster you see what’s open, and you tell us which ones you want to hear more about. Property, dates, the role, the money. You look it over on your own time and flag what interests you. Nothing gets decided for you.

THE DETAILS.

We send you everything we’ve got on it and get on the phone. If you want to talk to the property before you commit, we’ll set that call up too, so you hear what they expect from the people who’ll be expecting it. Then you decide.

PREP.

Once you’re in, we book it. Flight or the drive, and a room for the whole run. Paid before you leave. Nothing out of your pocket and nothing to expense back. Oh, and you get new chef gear - chef coats, pants, and Hedley & Bennett aprons.

DAY ONE.

You meet the team and spend the first day or two learning how they run. Some days you’re on the line, some days you’re rebuilding prep lists, designing menus and fixing the ordering. The chefs who love this job love it for exactly that reason.

WHILE YOU’RE THERE.

You’re not on your own out there. We continually check in with you, and if the property turns out to be nothing like what they said it would be, or they’re not treating you right, that becomes our problem to sort out instead of yours.

AFTER.

You leave a kitchen that runs better than you found it, paid for every hour including the ugly ones. Then you go back to the list, pick the next one, or take a breather. Plenty of our chefs work right through, and plenty don’t. You decide.

What you get.

$30–$40/hr

Line and support assignments start at $30.
Exec and chef-in-charge roles run $35 and up.

1.5× past 40

Where the money really is. Every hour, no games. Big weeks have put chefs well over $2,000/week take-home.

Forty hours is the floor whether the property uses them or not. You never get sent home at 28 and told that's the week.

40 guaranteed

Travel paid

Flights or mileage and a room for the length of the assignment. Booked by us.
You pay nothing to get there or stay there.

Benefits

Paid time off (80 hours to start), plus a stipend toward health insurance, and 401K options.

ServSafe

Don't have it, or it's lapsed? We'll pay to get you certified. Never a reason not to apply.

Local work

Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts - if you live up here then travel is optional. You sleep in your own bed.

W-2

You're an employee here, not a 1099 and not a gig. Taxes taken care of, overtime paid, workers' comp if you get hurt.

Most of our chefs come in at sous or above, out of hotels, resorts, clubs, inns, restaurants, or somewhere banquets ran heavy. Past that, it's less about the title than the temperament. Ideal traits:

* You can read a new kitchen fast and find where you're useful without waiting to be told.

* You work alongside the team that's already there, not over them.

* You'd rather have a different kitchen every few weeks than the same station for ten years.

* You can be away from home for a stretch, or you're in New England and want to stay close.

Who does well here.

LINE + LEAD LINE COOKS, READ THIS

If you've been running a station, picking up more every season and you know you're ready for the next thing, send your resume anyway. Some of the best people on our roster came in exactly that way. The resume gets you the conversation and that decides the rest.

WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU APPLY…

Most assignments mean being away from home for two weeks or more. The kitchens we get called into are usually short-staffed or in some kind of trouble, which is the whole reason we're there. The work changes job to job.

None of that is a dealbreaker on its own. If you're not sure whether it fits your life right now, call and we'll talk it through straight.

These are some of the kitchens.

Properties our chefs have worked since 2017. Not a client list for show. This is where the assignments are.

Send It.

Résumé and a few lines about what you're looking for. That's the whole application.

SEND YOUR APP

(603) 583-9289

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Our Director of Ops (Tony) and Culinary Manager (Tyler) read every single app. If it looks like a fit you'll get a call, and it's a conversation, not an interrogation. If it isn't, we'll tell you that too instead of leaving you wondering.