A talented line cook or sous chef can make as much as $15 to $18 an hour. Additionally, rising housing prices have pushed low-wage food workers to the outskirts of the city, where transportation costs and longer commutes negate the savings from lower rent.Īs restaurant owners, many of whom face tight margins, wrestle with the decision to slash or consolidate kitchen positions rather than pay higher wages, the cannabis industry is another way for cooks to make money with their skills.īishop said a line cook’s typical pay in Portland is between $12 and $14 an hour - though the industry-standard practice of sending cooks home in the winter months to keep their hours down makes their annual income less predictable. Now Portland chefs, who have generated a ton of money into the hospitality industry and not seen much of it trickle their way, are seeing the industry shift away from fine dining and toward counter- and “fast-casual” service. It’s over that same span that the Maine food scene acquired its clout. Like Bishop, many experienced chefs broke into the industry around the time of the Great Recession, which initiated a period of wealth stagnation from which millennials as a generation haven’t recovered. “Everything has to be perfect for these things to come out right.” The skills required to be successful in a restaurant’s kitchen are also necessary in the boutique edibles market. “There’s a science to making edibles,” said Jules Muzyka, who left her post at French restaurant Marche in Lewiston last year to make medicated artisanal chocolates, gummies and candies with Wind Hill Growers in Manchester. co-founders Sergio Hernandez (left) and Andrew Pettingill (right) and Pettingill's wife Kristen stand in one of their marijuana grow rooms in Cumberland. “Every caregiver I talk to is hiring staff and the staff is coming directly from the restaurant industry,” said Andy Pettingill, co-founder of Evergreen Cannabis Co., a grow room and caregiver service based in Cumberland.īangor Daily News Evergreen Cannabis Co. Equipped with years of training, cooks are becoming caregivers, bartenders are now “budtenders” and pastry chefs make better livings as specialized cannabis chocolatiers and candymakers. As restaurant owners in Portland and beyond struggle with a back-of-house labor shortage that they say threatens their business model, Bishop and a wave of other cooks responsible for elevating the Maine food scene over the last decade are finding better wages, less stressful work environments and greater opportunities for advancement in cannabis. “I felt like I couldn’t be the only person who is bailing on the restaurant industry.”Īs it turns out, he’s not. “If I could get the same hourly wage to cook with cannabis, it’s much more appealing,” Bishop said. Bishop became a full-time caregiver and launched Candy King, his own cannabis company, making specialty edibles and distillate. for 13 years - seven of those as head chef - but the dream of operating his own restaurant was being packed away for another. The 36-year-old graduate of Southern Maine Community College’s culinary program had worked behind the line at Street and Co. If you’re experienced with cannabis, check out our post on using raw concentrates.PORTLAND, Maine - Weeks after Portland was anointed Restaurant City of the Year by a prominent food national magazine last summer, longtime chef King Bishop left his job at one of the Old Port’s most popular dining spots.For a restaurant industry facing a statewide labor shortage, a move like Bishop’s might be the canary in the coal mine. It’s similar to using a pipe but has water inside of it. Interesting in trying something new? Check out our post on how to use a bubbler. Inhale the rest of the smoke inside of the pipe. As you inhale, wait a few seconds and release your finger off the rush. Once you have your bowl packed, grab your lighter, cover the rush (the small hole in the pipe, also called the “carb”, “choke” or “bink”, among other things) with your finger, and start inhaling on the mouthpiece while you light the bud. Pack the bowl down a little bit, but not too much or the bud won’t burn all the way through. Grab your grinder (or use your fingers and start your long journey of breaking it apart and having sticky fingers). The first thing you want to do is find a strain that you want to smoke. You’ve probably heard a pipe referred to as a bowl, but technically the “bowl” is where you are packing the cannabis. They can also be more expensive, gorgeous works of art, but that is a topic for a future post. They are usually inexpensive, small and discrete, and very easy to use. Using a glass, metal, or wooden pipe is a lot of people’s first experience with cannabis.
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