Cooking Schools- Head Off Towards a Tasty Career

Culinary students being taught how to chop vegetables in a kitchen. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

If you wish to pursue a lucrative culinary arts career, getting a degree from a top-notch cooking school is a must. Securing a culinary arts degree is the best path to follow for a couple of excellent reasons. First, you will receive the expert skills required for a career in the food industry. Second, you will also be primed to secure a profitable and, yes, tasty culinary arts career position, where the competition can be very fierce.

What Will You Learn In a Cooking School?

By enrolling in a culinary school, you will learn the basic fundamentals of cooking, food preparation and food safety. In addition, top cooking schools for bright culinary career students will also teach you invaluable management skills, such as preparing menus, finances and inventory control. You will gain the hands-on expertise and experience that you just couldn’t gain with a mere high school diploma or time working as a short-order cook.

At one of the top cooking schools for bright culinary career options, you will learn all there is to know within the food management world. A culinary school does not simply teach you how to cook the basics and a few specialty dishes. Some of the many varied courses taught will include the study of cheeses, managing food and beverages (including wines), world cuisines, knife skills, food safety, charcuterie and butchery. The art and science that goes into the intricacies of developing flavours, learning techniques, and knowing the ins and outs of how restaurants and kitchens really work will be part of your overall schooling.

Once you graduate from a culinary arts school, you will be ready to begin a culinary arts career with confidence. And the best part of learning how to cook at a professional cooking school? You get to taste the fruits of your labor at home as well. From experienced instructors with real-world experience, you will learn the cooking trade using hands-on techniques, industrial-grade tools, and fine ingredients.

What’s the Job Outlook Like For a Culinary Arts Career?

With a degree from one of the top culinary schools for bright cooking career options, you can seek out a position as a cook, a head chef, a food service manager or a variety of other jobs within the food service industry. Let’s face it: The restaurant industry is booming right now. The food service industry is one of the country’s biggest private sector employers, with more than 13 million employees overall.

A chef can expect to earn $40,000 annually, based upon nationwide averages, but the actual amounts vary based on location. The head chef is the most skilful chef in the kitchen, in addition to being responsible for preparing the menus and managing staff. A highly experienced head chef in a top-end restaurant in California, for instance, may be able to pull in a six-figure salary. A head chef can also own his or her own catering business.

A food service manager typically earns between $36,000 and $59,000. The top 10 percent of high-earning food service managers can expect to make $76,000 annually in prime locations, such as California or New York.

There are a variety of paths a culinary arts graduate can follow towards a career in the food service field. Other culinary arts career options include a sous chef, who can average $46,000 per year, and a pastry chef, who makes $43,000 on average. A food scientist can expect to make up to $64,000 a year, though a bachelor’s degree is often also required for this type of position. A food stylist has a particularly artistic bent, as he or she prepares food to be plated for the camera, either for commercial photographs or for television shows. A food stylist can garner a low-end salary of $31,000 and up to a high-end salary of $100,000 or more.

Follow your instincts, your talents and your dreams, and the right career in the culinary arts will reveal itself.

Paris Jordan is a writer and an active contributor who loves to share useful information about education and career in culinary arts industry. Follow him to know more about cooking schools and culinary art courses.