Culinary Careers

Being a chef is about more than just cooking a good meal; it’s an art form and a specialized skill that requires extensive training at a Culinary School. Culinary Schools range from vocational and technical schools to more specialized colleges that focus on particular areas such as French food, exclusively pastries, becoming a sommelier (a wine steward), food management, and more. Whichever type of culinary school you choose at a top cooking school you will learn all the art and science behind the flavors and gain the skills you need to work in the culinary field. Culinary school is a great place to find your niche, and a formal culinary education is a must if you intend to make cooking your career. Not only will you learn a wide variety of cuisines and different theories and techniques about foods with a degree or certificate from a culinary school, but you will also likely start in a higher position in the kitchen. So good luck beginning your culinary career, and get cooking!

Baking and Pastry Careers

Often the best part of the meal is the sweet treat that comes at the end, so it’s not surprising that many who aspire to the culinary arts dream of becoming a pastry chef—also known as Påsissier. Many cooking schools now specialize in these food industry professionals, and the demand for pastry chefs is rising.

Traditionally, the pastry chef is a member of the classic brigade de cuisine in a professional kitchen (and, funny enough, even though dessert arrives at the end of the meal, pastry chefs are usually the first ones in the kitchen in the morning) and often include bakers as well.

You need a unique set of skills to become a pastry chef, baker or Påsissier, and culinary school is a critical step in learning those skills. You need to do more than just be able to bake a good cake, and cooking school will take your baking talent and hone it into a professional art that will gain you a place at the best kitchens in the world. How sweet it is!

• Culinary Academy of NY
• California School of Culinary Arts

Catering Management Careers

Becoming a chef and cooking meals plate by plate is one thing; but what about cooking the exact same meal—for three hundred people? This is the unique challenge that is faced by caterers around the world. It takes a special gift, and a distinct set of skills learned in culinary school to cope with the unusual challenges that may face a catering manager at a work site (imagine arriving to the remote site of a wedding, for instance, and discovering there is no running water!). Catering means thinking on your toes, working hard, and making sure that dinner number 297 is just as hot and tasty as dinner number one was.

Culinary school is the place where those interested in the world of catering cut their teeth and learn the one-of-a-kind skill set they need to become managers in this exciting and rewarding field. Both traditional culinary schools and vocational schools offer catering management programs, so if this is the type of cooking that interests you, you have many programs to choose from.

• The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California

Culinary Management Careers

There was a time that most restaurant managers worked their way up from dishwashers, servers, or line cook positions to run the back office. But not anymore; now, you increasingly need a college degree in Culinary Management to earn that back office management position.

A culinary management degree is typically a two-year associates degree from a culinary school or vocational school that teaches you everything you need to know about running a food-service business; from calculating the produce order every week to hiring, training, managing and supervising a staff. But that doesn’t mean that the manager spends each dinner rush sitting at a desk writing out staff schedules! Chances are you’ll find the manager taking orders, washing dishes, or slinging hash with the rest of the staff as needed as well as handling any large special events the facility has. If you love the culinary arts but also like calling the shots, this might be just the degree for you!

• The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Las Vegas
• Arizona Culinary Institute

Hotel and Restaurant Management Careers

No area of the culinary arts is expected have more growth than Hotel and Restaurant Management in the coming years. If you enjoy working with food, but also enjoy working with people, this companion area of the culinary field might be right for you. Hotel and Restaurant Management training focus on your human relation skills, as you become not just a cook (often, those that work in the field aren’t in the kitchen at all) but the manager, bouncer, bodyguard, public relations manager, and customer service representative for the facility you work for all rolled into one. This is a front and center position when it comes to dealing with the public, and is a great job for those that really love the public.

Most Hotel and Restaurant Management programs are two-year associates degrees available at culinary schools and vocational institutes, but there are more and more four year degree programs rapidly developing—so if you are serious about Hotel and Restaurant Management as a career, a bachelor’s degree might be the right path for you.

• Orlando Culinary Academy

Wine and Spirits

The old image of a wine steward or sommelier was that of a rather snotty man in a tuxedo tasting and serving wine to very wealthy individuals at very exclusive restaurants, but thanks to the recent popularity and accessibility of good wine that’s all changing. Even casual restaurants are employing sommeliers to review their wine lists, making these wine experts in high demand. Sommeliers are not only knowledgeable about the best wines, but also in wine service, wine procurement, wine storage, and wine cellar rotation. They are also skilled at pairing the best wines with a restaurants menu (something you may have noted is now popular is for good restaurants to suggest certain wines with specific dishes—this would be on the advice of a sommelier).

In order to become a master sommelier, you need to complete a rigorous course of training, usually at a culinary school, for periods lasting nine months to two years. This specialized training is in high demand and very competitive. If this is the field for you, get your application in now—spots fill up quickly!

• The Art Institute of Atlanta
  
• The Art Institute of Tampa
• The Art Institute of Washington