The career path of a chef often begins at a culinary arts school and leads up through the ranks of the kitchen. Eventually, after many years of on-the-job training, you could earn a spot as an executive chef.
Starting Your Career With Culinary Arts School
Although many basic cooking skills can be taught on the job, consider pursuing a higher education to improve your potential rank and salary. Following your completion of high school, look for colleges that offer culinary degrees or schools that specialize solely in the culinary arts. These programs will teach you how to prepare food through baking, broiling and other means. You will learn how to make pastries, care for kitchen equipment, adhere to health and sanitation standards, manage costs, purchase food and plan menus. Culinary arts schools may also instruct students in general management skills, such as accounting, budgeting and employee management. With a degree or certificate in culinary arts, you may be able to start a career in a kitchen without spending time in a less-skilled job. You will also have a better chance of landing a job with a high-end hotel or a fine-dining restaurant.
The Career Path of a Chef: Work Your Way Up to Executive Chef in a Professional Kitchen
As you pursue a career as a professional cook, remember that you will not become an executive chef overnight. You may begin in a commis chef position, which is a junior, or apprentice chef. The next step up is to chef de partie, or line cook. Line cooks are responsible for one aspect of the kitchen, such as fried foods or desserts. After the line cook comes the sous chef, or the chief assistant to the executive chef. After you have proven yourself as a sous chef, opportunities may arise to become an executive chef.
What Are the Average Salaries Of Chefs?
The average salary for executive chefs nationwide in April 2011 was $53,000, while the average executive sous chef salary was $49,000 and the average sous chef salary was $43,000 (Indeed, 2011). These figures vary depending on the restaurant you are affiliated with and the state or city in which you work. Salaries are expected to grow for executive chefs and other members of the restaurant business, as the future of the hospitality industry will experience an 8 percent job growth rate from 2008 to 2018 (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009).