How hard is it to be a professional chef?
May 19, 2009 by Culinary Tips and Reviews
Filed under Chefs and Cooking
Can you answer dliccouss’s question about Culinary?:
I really want to be a professional chef when I’m older! I have a passion for food and love to cook. I cook dinner for my family usually once a week when my mom is busy and I’m always making brownies or cakes. Do you know anyone who is a chef or owns a returaunt? I really want to know how hard it is to break into the buissness.
Italian Cooking Schools
I really want to be a professional chef when I’m older! I have a passion for food and love to cook. I cook dinner for my family usually once a week when my mom is busy and I’m always making brownies or cakes. Do you know anyone who is a chef or owns a returaunt? I really want to know how hard it is to break into the buissness.
Italian Cooking Schools
Culinary Feedback: If you have a culinary degree, it is not hard at all to get a job as a chef.
Start by doing research on culinary schools. You want one that grants at least an Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts.
Some of the top culinary schools are Culinary Institute of America (CIA), Johnson & Wales, and Le Cordon Bleu (Paris). There are others, of course, just Google them in your area.
Culinary Feedback: you only have to go to a culinary school for about 8 months
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Culinary Feedback: hi, are you currently working in kitchen? it is always good to start off early by getting a job in a restaurant kitchen because it definitely makes all the difference, especially if you choose to do professional chef training later on in life because you have extra knowledge and experience.i started off at 15 working as kitchen hand and doing dishes part time while still at high school studying and than i went to uni to do my Degree in Culinary Arts. it isn’t that difficult to become a professional chef if you really have that passion and drive to succeed in this exhillirating industry.
Culinary Feedback: I’ve been in the business for 27 years. It is not hard to get an entry level position in a restaurant (server, busboy, dishwasher, prep cook). However, you have to work your way up to become a chef.
Chefs are managers or owners of restaurants. They do more than just cooking. They run a business and this involves, bookkeeping, inventory, cost control, purchasing, supervising employees, etc. A chef needs to be able to multi-task and have great people skills in addition to being a wonderful cook.
Getting a culinary degree is one way to do it; but you still have to work your way up. No one is ever hired as a manager right out of culinary school. Line cooking is very difficult and stressful. Restaurants do not hire line cooks without experience. You’ll have to learn how to line cook before you can ever become a chef. The entry level postions do not pay well.
This business is very stressful. Because chefs are salaried employees, they are usually expected to work 50-60 hours per week. This includes a lot of night shifts. If you have a family, this could cause some problems.
A lot of people get into this business because of the stuff they watch on the “Food Network”. This does NOT represent the true nature of this industry. Being a chef is not a glamorous job.
If you are really interested in becoming a chef, I suggest that you get a job as a dishwasher or prep cook. If you like it, then go to culinary school. This is usually a two year degree. Plan on getting a bachelor’s in Restaurant and Hotel Management and a master’s in Business. In the food service industry, people with all three of these degrees are golden. They can get a job anywhere and recieve the best pay.
You don’t have to go this route. You CAN work your way up without an education, but in this day and age, I don’t recommend it. People with college degrees are having an easier time.
However, I enjoy it and I cannot see myself doing anything else. I don’t get paid much and its a lot of hard work, but I do get satisfaction from customers enjoying what I have prepared.
Culinary Feedback: study culinary arts first…there is one year course and two year course then its not that hard anymore as long as u have money to invest a restaurant…
Culinary Feedback: Well I hope I am able to impart some wisdom to your question, I was a classically trained chef from Canada (retired), I worked here in 8 of the 10 provinces, and while working for a Canadian Hotel chain throughout the 1980’s I also had the opportunity as I was single, to work in Singapore, Tokyo, Japan and Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The last person before me had some good advice, I recommend to anyone who is interested in a caree as a chef, pastry chef or in the kitchen to find a part-time job in a small restaurant or in a summer resort for a good look at the workings and involvments that come with the job. It is and can be a very rewarding job with lots of fun and opportunitys to see and learn, it can also be a career that involves late nights, working on holidays, a high stress, fast paced, work place and if you are someone who is artistic or creative then a job in the pastry section may be more your cup of tea, it is just as rewarding, but not as fast paced nor is the pressure there to harsh, you have to complete your work but it is not as go-go as in the hot or production kitchen.
When you are young look at the local culinary schools even a high school with a trade program, that is were I got the bug in the 1970’s while in High school, it was a technical school and offered a chance to work in a kitchen, bake shop and restaurant situation for a school subjects. Just make sure if you are going to follow this path it is something you really want and are dedicated to persuing, Good Luck, I hope you do great.
Culinary Feedback: The best way to do this is to attend the Culinary Institute of America or an equally highly-rated professional chef’s school - like Emeril did. You can attend SUNY Stonybrook and take a two-year or a four-year degree in culinary science - you’ll be well prepared not only as a chef, but to manage the business end of the restaurant business as well. It is hard work, but if you stick with it and earn a good reputation, it does pay pretty well. Oh - SUNY is State University of New York. Stonybrook is but one of the SUNY campuses - there’s also one at Canton, NY that offers studies in culinary science.