Tag Archive for 'food industry'

How to Make Culinary School Worth the Cost of Admission

Published
by
admin
on August 6, 2010
in Culinary Schools
. 0 Comments

cost of culinary schoolCulinary school costs can run upwards of $40,000 per year, depending on which institution you choose and the cost of living in the area. While there are less expensive options – including community college programs and short-term courses – the majority of culinary students graduate with at least a few thousand dollars of debt.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Although the culinary world can be competitive and offer fairly low starting wages, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that you get the most out of your investment.

  • Get a Degree: Diploma and certification courses are fine within the culinary world (especially when they come from schools like Le Cordon Bleu), but they aren’t very marketable when it comes to finding employment elsewhere. Earning an Associate, Bachelor, or even Master’s Degree can help you get a job not related to cooking, should you decide to someday change careers. These courses also usually have transferable credits, so you can carry your courses over to another school if you decide to change majors or professional goals.
  • Add Business Courses: Many of the highest-paying culinary jobs are available in hospitality management. To make yourself more viable in this particular market, you can either get a hospitality management degree or supplement your culinary training with business classes.
  • View Culinary School as a Step in the Journey, not a Destination: If you harbor visions of donning an Executive Chef label or stepping into Food Network stardom right out of culinary school, you might be in for a bit of a surprise. Going to culinary school isn’t the only thing you need to do to succeed; it’s one small part of a lifetime worth of work.
  • Work in a Restaurant First: Working in a restaurant – even if it’s just as a prep cook, waiter, or dishwasher – will help you get a better idea of how the food industry works and what you can expect out of a career in the field. You’ll get to know the hours, the level of activity, and the types of pay you can make right out of school. All this knowledge will help you make a better decision about how much time and money you’re willing to expend to get your education.

Culinary school doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t have to be the end of the road. As long as you know what to expect and you make contingency plans to ensure you have additional job options should your culinary goals take longer than you thought, the cost of a culinary education can be worth every penny.

Related Topics

Finding a Culinary School

Finding a Hospitality Management School

Does TV Glorify the Culinary Career?

Published
by
admin
on December 11, 2009
in Culinary Career
. 1 Comment

There’s no question that culinary schools are seeing a surge in interest in recent years. More students are applying for and getting into the culinary programs of their choice than ever before, and new schools and facilities are opening every month. However, this increase in students also means an increase in graduates.

While the food service industry continues to grow at a faster-than-national-average rate, the percentage of positions at the top – the Executive Chefs, the restaurant owners, and the celebrity chefs – remain fairly static. This means that although you might have dreams of your culinary education leading directly to fame and fortune, success in this field may not be as easy as it first appears.

Part of the recent surge in interest in a culinary education is the number of smaller fine-dining venues being celebrated around the country. Large chain restaurants will always be popular, but diners in every city are discovering more diverse palates and looking for ways to eat well on their current budgets. The culprit for this interest? Television.

Celebrity chefs like Rachel Ray, Emeril Lagasse, Anthony Bourdain, and Tom Colicchio have turned fine dining into something that even Middle America can enjoy. Their television shows introduce new ingredients and new cooking techniques to a wide audience of viewers. The result is that more and more people are clamoring for some of that good cooking.

While this is good news for culinary students interested in entering the field, it’s important not to fall into the trap of thinking that a culinary career is as glamorous or as easy as these celebrity chefs make it seem. Almost all television chefs have entire teams behind them, preparing food, adjusting recipes, and doing the cleanup work; their actual time spent in the kitchen is not always that high.

They may spend hours each day marketing, promoting, getting makeup put on, and meeting with producers. And while these types of activities can make for a good career, it may not be what put you on track to a culinary education in the first place.

There are also considerations of entry-level work to consider, as well. All the TV chefs are at the middle or ends of their careers. They may have spent years working the line, working 10 hour days, or even watching their own first restaurants fail. Most culinary students can expect to lay plenty of groundwork before the real benefits of a culinary career start to hit.

While you should never let these types of obstacles stop you from pursuing the culinary career of your dreams, it’s important to embark on your studies with open eyes. You can achieve success after culinary school. You just have to work hard to get there.