Chef — Your Kitchen Expertise Has Real Value

Current: v2.0 · Last edited: 2026-03-23

Chef — Your Kitchen Expertise Has Real Value

Your knife skills, your timing, your instinct for when a dish is ready — that's expertise no recipe book captures.

🇪🇺 Cooks and chefs are on the European Commission's official list of critical shortage professions. Your skills are in high demand. Record them. Get paid.

The Observer Programme pays experienced chefs and cooks to record their working day using lightweight smart glasses and a wristband. You continue your normal service. We capture what professional kitchen work looks like.

How it works

• Wear smart glasses (lightweight, designed for kitchen environments) and a wristband during your shift
• Record sessions from 30 minutes up — fits around service
• Spend a few minutes after each session confirming what tasks you did
• Get paid per recorded minute. The more you record, the more you earn
• All recordings are anonymised — no faces, no voices, no identifying details

What you'll earn

You're paid per minute of accepted footage — on top of your regular income. Earnings depend on your role, your specialism, and how often you record.

€14–€21 per recorded hour

€56–€84 per recording day (based on ~4 hours)

€1,000–€1,400 per month (based on 20 recording days)

First Observers in a kitchen specialism or region earn a launch bonus. Extra earnings possible through referral bonuses and specialist recording tasks.

What we're looking for

• 3+ years of professional kitchen experience
• Currently working as a chef or cook — employed, self-employed, or freelance
• Hands-on kitchen work: knife skills, cooking techniques, plating, station management
• Smartphone (iOS or Android)

All kitchen roles welcome: commis chef, chef de partie, sous chef, pastry chef, grill/larder, sushi chef, butcher-chef, canteen/institutional cook.

We provide everything

• Smart glasses — shipped to you, pre-configured
• Full onboarding (~30 minutes)
• Dedicated contact person

About the Observer Programme

The Observer Programme by Aisthis works with professionals across 100+ trades to document how skilled work actually happens. Kitchen work — the coordination, the speed, the sensory judgement — is some of the most complex physical expertise there is.

Applications are reviewed with the help of AI. We'll be in touch if there's a match.

Quick apply — 3 questions

1. What's your kitchen role / specialism?
2. How many years of professional kitchen experience do you have?
3. Are you currently working in a kitchen?

Your expertise is valuable. Find out what it's worth.