Pizza Volcanos and Ice Cream Cones: True Stories of First Jobs in Food

Did your first food job look like this? Photo: Getty

Entering the work force for the first time can be daunting, especially if you’re still in your teens and with a lot of blank space on your resume. Fortunately (or unfortunately), scooping ice cream and slinging pizza slices don’t require much skill. Maybe that’s why so many people’s first jobs are splattered with marinara sauce.

After our request for summer camp food memories turned up so many poignant stories, we had an idea for another story: first food job memories. Once again, the readers, writers, and friends we queried did not disappoint.

Read on for some of our favorite tales of mismanaged diners and kid-run pizza parlors. Do any sound familiar to you? Share your own first food job stories in the comments.

Tiffany MacIsaac, Chef and Owner of Buttercream Bakeshop in Washington, D.C.

“First job EVER was in high school. At a bagel shop. On Maui. I had no idea [that I’d] later aspire to become a chef… [but] I remember that we made a pineapple cream cheese, and it was always the first thing I’d check when I started my shift at 5 A.M. before school. Even before I knew about food, I understood that the acidity in pineapples would make the cream cheese turn quickly. No one ever checked on it! I’d even check in on my days off and remind them. Guess I should have known then I was destined to be a bossy pastry chef.”

Colleen Clark, Food Writer

“[In my younger days,] I scooped ice cream. Then the following summer upgraded my frozen treat game at Rita’s Italian Ice (though I had to once dress in a giant water ice costume and get beat up by little kids).“

Colleen Clark’s water ice costume looked just like this one. Photo: Rita’s Italian Ice/Facebook

Joel Kramer, Yahoo Food Reader

“My first job was at the Pamplemousse Grille [in Solana Beach, Calif.] I cut my finger while slicing bread at a Balboa Park Art Museum catering gig. I wrapped it up with a napkin and kept cutting, but [the makeshift bandage] didn’t last long. I realized after that I’d rather go solo and eventually started my own company — group kitchen prep can be very intense!”

Stephen Ball, Yahoo Food Reader

“[I worked at a] fried fish house at 14. Was right across from a movie theater, so I’d set up dates right after work… the smell wasn’t pleasant, and the lemon wedge showers I would take in the mop room didn’t help much. [But] it was amazing.”

Jamie Feldmar, Food Writer

“[My first job was at] a pizza joint that sold whole pies and slices to-go. [It was] run almost entirely by teenagers, plus a tough-love mother figure named Cookie. Left to our own devices, we made some really inspired creations, like pizza volcanoes [made] out of hollowed-out dough balls filled with sauce and toppings that oozed out the top when it baked. (Why is this not a thing now? I actually think it would kill it.)”

Raise your hand if your first job required you to wear something like this. Photo: davitydave/Flickr

Melissa Robin Lang, Yahoo Food Reader

“I worked at a dinky local diner (that shall remain nameless) for a few years in college. We used to peel the deli meat to make sure it was still ‘fresh.’ If there were sticky strings connecting the pieces of meat when peeled, it was time to throw it out.”

Marie Elizabeth Coyle, Yahoo Food Reader

“[First job was at] Dunkin’ Donuts, [at] 14 years old. For reasons beyond my comprehension, I was often left alone in the store, and I would invent new doughnut and munchkin combinations and sell them as the daily special (i.e. chocolate cake doughnuts with strawberry frosting).”

Alex Levin, Executive Pastry Chef at Osteria Morini in Washington, D.C.

“Worked as pastry intern for Johnny Iuzzini at Restaurant Jean Georges and Nougatine in N.Y.C. Worked from 10 A.M. to 11 P.M. five days a week, but loved every second, learned more than can be imagined. I would not trade the experience for anything.”

Michael Grass, Writer and Editor

“I worked at a Chinese take-out around the corner from my high school. One day one, my boss said: ‘The customer is never right.’ (How true that is.) I loved that job.”

Look familiar? Photo: Franklin Heijnen/Flickr

Trudi Fox Opad, Yahoo Food Reader

“I worked the cash register at McDonald’s for a short time while in college. If you sold $100 in an hour, you got a silver dollar. I got one. Running $100 on the register then was not easy! It was next to a methadone clinic, so a lot of the orders were ‘coffee with five sugars.’”

Sarah Kieffer, writer at The Vanilla Bean Blog

“Dairy Queen! The worst. Hardly any pay, lines out the door all summer, owners wouldn’t let us eat any mistakes, it took an hour and a half to clean down the place after closing, and I came home covered sauce and candy every night.”

Jessie Primakow, Yahoo Food Reader

“Working in a bookstore cafe was one of the best jobs I ever had. I got a discount on books, got to hear authors speak to promote their new books, and met some interesting people. I had this job in high school, and it was when I started appreciating coffee — it’s hard to work with coffee everyday and not figure out what you like. My favorite was a raspberry mocha. You needed to be really strategic about making it, though, because the raspberry syrup and the milk didn’t always mix well. If you didn’t do it quickly, it would curdle and you’d need to start again. Do it right, though, and it was delicious.”

Carol Blymire, Food Writer

“At age 12, I worked the concession stand at our town’s baseball field during state finals. I thought I was hot stuff recommending birch beer instead of Coke with hot dogs, and doubled candy sales in one weekend by convincing people they needed sweet with their salt: pouring M&Ms into a bag of hot popcorn so they would melt a little and make it extra scrumptious. Also loved pairing two flavors of water ice in one paper cone. That was a fun summer!”

Was your first job in the food industry? Tell us below!

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