The hospitality industry employs more professionals than almost any other. In the US, the industry lands among the top three employers each year. Within the field, there is a staggering array of different jobs and a wide variety of work settings that employ people at resorts, restaurants, hotels, casinos, and essentially anywhere that people dine and lodge. Cooks and chefs also find work in a food service sector that is more institutional in nature and includes jobs at hospitals, schools, corporate facilities, and Hotels & Resorts. Any way you slice it, the field is rife with opportunity for kitchen professionals who are eager to carve out a career niche with job security and boundless creative directions. Early on, it helps to distill your culinary dreams into a manageable plan of attack that keeps your eye on the ball and defines your career direction. Education is available in any of the specialty hospitality areas that might draw you in, so answer a few career questions before you get started.
Are you an entrepreneur?
If your culinary dreams include an owner/operator role, your education should include management and accounting courses that provide the skills necessary to stay in the black. Are you all about your hands-on role in the kitchen? If you are a hardcore baker or want to shine in a specific culinary area, you’ll want to align yourself with an educational track that is loaded with internships and apprenticeships working with the best in your chosen field. Do you enjoy the security of a corporate job with a large-scale service provider? If so, consider an education that cross-trains you for the front of the housework in the lodging sector of the industry. Chef roles within large corporations are similar to other manager roles, so your mobility within the company is enhanced by possessing a broad understanding of the field.
Education for Culinary Success
Once you can envision yourself working at your dream job, the next order of business is to secure an education that will get you there. Your individual matrix carries unique components that influence your education decisions but plotting a course for success pays dividends on the job. Familiarize yourself with educational options within your chosen specialty. Your commitment might be a yearlong certificate program at AAH or a more extensive degree program at an International culinary school in Australia or Switzerland.
In general, there are 4 levels of chefs’ education that can be tackled in different ways.
Certificate III and Certificate IV
In general, there are 4 levels of chefs’ education that can be tackled in different ways.
Advanced Diploma
provides the most common educational path for Culinary Arts professionals. They are two-year cooking programs that also require core competency in English, math, and communication.
Bachelor’s Degrees
are four-year degrees issued by universities and standalone cooking schools. Culinary arts and Dietetics provide popular Bachelor’s curriculums.
Master’s level
study in the Culinary Arts is handled by the best-known culinary schools, in the form of intensive apprenticeships with master chefs.
For professionals with Cert IV or a degree, the employment landscape within the hospitality industry is vital and varied. Chefs can climb to prominent positions as supervisors and chefs/managers within the kitchen, but management roles throughout the industry are also filled by professional chefs. An Advanced Diploma or Bachelor’s would give you a solid trajectory towards any of these jobs.
Executive Chef
Manages the kitchen staff, prepares work schedules, creates menus, and computes food costs. Globally 11% of employment growth is projected for chefs and head cooks in the next decade.
Sous Chef
Assists the Executive Chef in running the kitchen. Nearly 18 times as many people are employed as cooks as head cooks & employment is also growing at a similar rate.
Banquet Chef
Manages the kitchen staff in quantity food production for banquets, conferences, and conventions.
Pastry Chef
Responsible for baking bread, pastries, and desserts.
6% of employment growth predicted globally for bakers in the next decade.
Food Production Manager
Manages the production of quality food in large foodservice operations. 11% of employment growth for food service managers is predicted in the next decade.
Catering Director
Promotes and organizes banquets and catered events.
Food and Beverage Director
Directs food and beverage service. Responsible for cost analysis, training and quality control.
If you are in the lookout for a lucrative career that will take you to different parts of the world with job security and career growth, please call AAH for a comprehensive higher education solution in the Hospitality and Commercial Cookery/Culinary Arts. Arush 0761 390 246 Duwaragan 0761 390 240 or 0766 895 896
