What if you were paid to cruise through your favorite farmer's market, shopping for the freshest poblano peppers to roast and selecting juicy fire engine red tomatoes at the peak of their perfection? What if you could have the freshest wild salmon and free-range chicken or locally crafted artisan cheeses delivered to the back door of your kitchen each week? Can you imagine the pleasure of running up to your roof garden for fresh and fragrant basil and crisp parsley or tangy cilantro?
If you can imagine this, a culinary arts career may be for you. Starting a career is not as difficult as you might think. If you've got a natural talent for making savory masterpieces or tasty delicacies from seasonal ingredients, you're halfway there. Combine your talents with culinary school and give Rachael Ray a run for her money!
Focus Your Interests
If food is your passion, a number of career paths are open to you. Some focus solely on food preparation and techniques; others require more managerial and administrative skills. Whatever your interests, you should be able to find a culinary arts school to meet your needs. Colleges and universities nationwide, both on campus and online, offer certificate programs and associate's and bachelor's degrees in the culinary arts. Perfect your knife techniques, learn how to keep your soufflé from collapsing, and master the business and accounting side of the food industry as you earn a degree in culinary arts. With the right preparation, you could become a professional in a number of culinary careers.
The Executive Chef
If you're ambitious and enjoy calling the shots, an executive chef position, where culinary creativity and expertise meets business acumen and management skill, might be a good match for you. With culinary management training, you can work your way up the kitchen corporate ladder to the top rung. You interview, hire, fire, manage, and train cooks and other chefs, plan menus, create new recipes, and order supplies. Your responsibilities might include establishing production levels and inventory controls, controlling food costs, and offering creative solutions to a variety of culinary problems. In June 2007, Salary.com reports mid-range executive chef earnings between $55,519 and $84,632. If Lady Luck is on your side, you can earn approximately 13% more annually if the kitchen you manage is in a casino.
Food Specialists
If you would rather focus more on food and less on management or administration, you might enjoy a career as a chef specialist. Specialist chefs generally work under an executive chef as a member of a team, specializing in a certain part of the menu:
- Garde manger chefs - in charge of preparing and presenting cold foods such as salads and hors d'oeuvres and creating edible centerpieces or carving intricate ice sculptures
- Signature chefs - specialists in one style of food such as Mediterranean or French
- Saucier chefs - creating sauces, stews, and hot hors d'oeuvres
Some kitchens also feature sushi chefs and all kitchens need prep chefs who slice, dice, chop, and set the stage for the culinary finery to come. Although it is possible to find chef jobs that don't require formal education or training, earning your culinary arts degree or certificate can help place you higher on the kitchen food chain. Specialist chef earnings cover a wide range depending on skills but $26,000 to $50,000 seems to encompass the mid range.
Baker or Pastry Chef
Bakers excel at combining ingredients in the perfect proportions to leave us all hovering around the oven in anticipation of freshly baked treats. While you may already make a killer coconut cake or a to-die-for crusty loaf of sourdough, getting specialized culinary training through a degree or certificate prepares you to work in a commercial kitchen and even go into business for yourself.
If the allure of culinary confections--light and airy or thick and chocolaty--calls to your sweet tooth, look for a cooking school that provides you with a pastry chef degree or certificate. Usually employed in restaurants, bistros, or large hotels, pastry chefs are responsible for planning dessert menus, ordering and pricing ingredients, and even developing new recipes. If you think your chocolate torte is good now, imagine how much more amazing it could be after earning a degree that specifically hones your sugar skills! Pastry chefs can earn anywhere from $37,567 to $60,895, with executive pastry chefs earning up to the low six figures, according to Salary.com.
Run the Show
If you're interested in the management side of the house, combine your love of food with a job that offers the chance to practice culinary management and administration skills as a restaurant manager. You would be in charge of managing staff, ordering food, developing and pricing menus, and supervising the quality of food and service provided by your establishment. A degree or certificate in restaurant management can be invaluable if you're thinking of jumping into this fast-paced and challenging career. Restaurant managers, according to Salary.com, can earn on average between $30,000 and $97,000 depending on the type of restaurant they manage.
Time to Earn
Take your interest in food and cooking off the back burner and turn up the heat! As you create tasty meals from this summer's harvest, spend some time thinking about how you could turn a hobby into a culinary career. It's time to share your asparagus risotto with the world! Get some training and make it happen.