Culinary arts program?

[LisaR]

Does anyone know anything about a culinary arts degree? My daughter is only 13 so this is a long way off but she is very interested in becoming a chef/business owner. I have been reading about some programs online just to get a feel for it and it looks like it is only a 2 year associate degree. That doesn't seem right to me. In addition, she would like to get a business management degree because her dream is to run her own restaurant. Again, she may change her mind but this is something she has talked about for years and she wanted to get some details about it. Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[CraftyMouse]

Johnson and Wales in Rhode Island has an excellent Culinary Arts program.

 

[DMickey28]

My degree is a Bachelors of Science from UMass in Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration with a concentration in Industrial Food Service. Now the HRTA program is under the Isenburg School of Management.

I also have an AS from from Cape Cod Community College and another one in Hospitality from Johnson & Wales in Providence.

I would encourage your daugther to get into a Bachelor's program. UMass, Cornell and UNLV have always rotated as the top three schools for Hospitality. I think those programs are the best route to go if you are looking for the knowledge in cooking as well as business degree. I took many cooking classes, especially for my AS's, along with all the basic business courses.

I also did an internship at WDW in their Hospitality program working in the resorts. I don't know if they still have the same programs, mine was in 1999. It was a 6 month intership rather than the shorter ones. It was awesome.

If you have any specific questions, I can try to answer them the best I can!! Once I graduated college I was a manager at the Olive Garden for about a year before I left the industry because the lifestyle was not what I wanted for the rest of my life. It's pretty much 24/7 and I wanted to be a wife and SAHM ... doesn't work with restaurant life. I'd LOVE to work in the industry again if we can start getting people to eat M-F 8-5pm. One of my dreams is to open a breakfast/lunch deli in a large corporate complex.

 

[LisaR]

My degree is a Bachelors of Science from UMass in Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration with a concentration in Industrial Food Service. Now the HRTA program is under the Isenburg School of Management.

I also have an AS from from Cape Cod Community College and another one in Hospitality from Johnson & Wales in Providence.

I would encourage your daugther to get into a Bachelor's program. UMass, Cornell and UNLV have always rotated as the top three schools for Hospitality. I think those programs are the best route to go if you are looking for the knowledge in cooking as well as business degree. I took many cooking classes, especially for my AS's, along with all the basic business courses.

I also did an internship at WDW in their Hospitality program working in the resorts. I don't know if they still have the same programs, mine was in 1999. It was a 6 month intership rather than the shorter ones. It was awesome.

If you have any specific questions, I can try to answer them the best I can!! Once I graduated college I was a manager at the Olive Garden for about a year before I left the industry because the lifestyle was not what I wanted for the rest of my life. It's pretty much 24/7 and I wanted to be a wife and SAHM ... doesn't work with restaurant life. I'd LOVE to work in the industry again if we can start getting people to eat M-F 8-5pm. One of my dreams is to open a breakfast/lunch deli in a large corporate complex.

Thanks for the great info. We live in FL and my DD's dream job is to be a chef at one of the WDW resorts. Dream #2 is to have a cooking show on the Food Network and her final dream is to own her own restaurant.

If she wanted to just become a chef, do you know what type of program this would entail? I am not encouraging that route. I would prefer she get some business management experience.

 

[Fire14]

My BFF Has a CA degree and yes it was a 2yr (officially) program. Which got her an Assoc. degree. She attend local Comm. College which has some very high ranking Chef/teachers. I know they had a fine dining rest right on site. Did several lunchon/dinner things for local bus. I also know that my HS and local career center had classes a student could take and basically have first year of classes done before graduating HS.
A lot of her friends/classmates went on to manage finer dining places in city where college is located.
There was also a F+Bev. Management course that was taught by same instucters and a lot of classes had both CA and Food and Bev Students in them.
If your DD has questions I can ask my friend for her but Jodi's been out of school for a few yrs.

 

[mum4jenn]

I think a lot of the culinary arts program are geared to working in a restaurant or school type setting. You learn the basics, how to use knives, basic terminology, catering situations, Servsafe type info.

You can probably look on websites to get a course listing and the titles of the classes should give you a better idea.

If she is wanting to be a Chef then she will need to look into someplace like CIA(Culinary Institute of America) or LeCordonBleu type places.

There was a teacher at school who has a son in one of those places and the tuition is very very expensive and I think he will go for at least 4 years if not longer. His professional knives were also very expensive.

In High School, some schools now have classes that lean toward this direction(more Vocational type) and with Home Ec (consumer sciences these days) she might want to take all those classes she can to see if she is still interested before shelling out so much money.

Have her practice at home as much as possible and when she is old enough try to get a job working with food. It is long hard hot hours. Also with all the Chef shows on TV these days it has created a huge interest in people wanting to be a chef but I read an article about this and there is a very very small percentage of graduates who actually get high profile chef jobs.

A way to start though would maybe take the VoTech route and learn enough to start a catering career. A couple of people from our town have done this and they are in high demand for weddings and other events and it gives a bit more freedom to be creative. One of these ladies also has a small bakery.

 

[mickeyboat]

Our high school has an attached VoTech school which has a culinary arts program. The students even run a restaurant.

Check to see if your high school offers such a thing, or if the program is available at another school close by. Local schools bus their kids to ours for votech classes (shop, auto mechanics, culinary, and a bunch mroe).

If your DD can get involved in something like this, I am sure there is lots of information available about post-secondary education in the field.

When we win the lottery, DH wants to go to culinary school!
Denae

 

[mtdevine615]

This is actually what I did when I changed careers. I got an AS degree in culinary arts and continued on to get my BS in Business Mgt. I started as a breakfast chef and then moved to sous chef and finally head chef. I only did this for a few years and realized like what was said earlier that I was working every night, weekend and holiday. Not the best job with a family. Now I work for a large insurance company but I still love to cook and do so all the time. But now it's for friends and family.

 

[Rogue26]

I have an AS in baking and pastry from Johnson and Wales, after that you can continue to get your BA in a variety of things, I think restaurant management is one of them. I think they have a campus if Florida also. Since you live in Florida, your community colleges may have great programs because of the tourism, so don't rule them out. I've looked into Cape Cod Community College, that another poster mentioned, and I have only heard good things about it. Not to mention they are quite inexpensive. And at 13, I hate to say, it's really not that far away. I think now is a great time to check things out.

 

[MainStMandy]

My best friend is graduating in a few weeks from the New England Culinary Institute (NECI). He has very positive things to say about it, and it was only 2 years with 2 internships.

 

[adkkev]

http://www.paulsmiths.edu/hrcm/hospitality.php

Definitely more expensive than a community college, but I highly recommend this college, not only for its hospitality/culinary arts program, but for everything that the school has to offer.

 

[lilysmommy]

Hi,
I actually teach Culinary Arts in a Vo-tech type facility. I can tell you a little bit about our program and some of the other programs around here.

We run a 2 year associates degree program which is ACF (American Culinary Federation) accredited. Our program courses are Culinary Math, Food and Beverage Service, Safety and Sanitation, Intro. to Culinary - these are the first sememster courses.

Second semester courses are Volume Food Production, Nutrition, and Orientation to Hospitality.

Third Semester courses are Garde Manger (cold foods), a la carte (cooking to order) and Basic Baking

Fourth Semester courses are Food and Beverage Operations, Advanced Baking.

We also require our students to take Regional Cuisine and International Cuisine.

I personally have a BS in FACS and several years in the industry, our second instructor has Le Cordon Bleu certification.

There are several different types of programs available for someone interested in Culinary Arts as a career - my advice look for the highest level of degree offered in your area, make sure the program is accredited either CIA, Le Cordon Bleu or ACF.

I completely agree that a business degree or associates would serve any culinary student well and I always recommend it to my students.

Hope it helps and good luck!!!!

 

[phorsenuf]

My son is heading to Johnson and Wales in the fall. The things they learn are outstanding! Its based on trimesters. 2 of them are kitchen labs only, the 3rd is academics. You take 1 class for 6 hours a day for 9 days. Then you do your project, take your final and you move on to the next class. So for 9 days he learns all about stocks and sauces, 9 days learning and tasting wines, 9 days of learning to butcher, 9 days of CHOCOLATE!! etc. They also learn how to set up and run a dining room as well as learn how to cost and such. What they learn is mind blowing. For instance one of the classes is mixology. Every student has their own bar setup and learn to make over 40 drinks. For the final they shut off the lights, turn on the disco lights and pump up the music. The teacher comes to your bar station and says I want this, this, this....etc and you have 12 minutes to make them all.

The opportunities he will have once he graduates will be incredible. They have a 98% job placement upon graduation and the places they have for internships are international. Its not your average cooking school at all. It is expensive though. $30,000 a year. One nice thing too is they have to wear their cooking uniform every day so no figuring out what to wear every morning.

Check out JWU.edu My son also did a basic and advanced culinary class in 10th grade and then did a 2 year voc class in 11th and 12th grade.

 

[Oh Kay!]

Culinary Institute of America offers a 4 year program. The school used to require prior restaurant kitchen experience, not sure if it still does. Cornell offers an excellent program in hospitality management.

 

[LisaR]

My son is heading to Johnson and Wales in the fall. The things they learn are outstanding! Its based on trimesters. 2 of them are kitchen labs only, the 3rd is academics. You take 1 class for 6 hours a day for 9 days. Then you do your project, take your final and you move on to the next class. So for 9 days he learns all about stocks and sauces, 9 days learning and tasting wines, 9 days of learning to butcher, 9 days of CHOCOLATE!! etc. They also learn how to set up and run a dining room as well as learn how to cost and such. What they learn is mind blowing. For instance one of the classes is mixology. Every student has their own bar setup and learn to make over 40 drinks. For the final they shut off the lights, turn on the disco lights and pump up the music. The teacher comes to your bar station and says I want this, this, this....etc and you have 12 minutes to make them all.

The opportunities he will have once he graduates will be incredible. They have a 98% job placement upon graduation and the places they have for internships are international. Its not your average cooking school at all. It is expensive though. $30,000 a year. One nice thing too is they have to wear their cooking uniform every day so no figuring out what to wear every morning.

Check out JWU.edu My son also did a basic and advanced culinary class in 10th grade and then did a 2 year voc class in 11th and 12th grade.

Wow! Thanks to everyone for all the great info, links and advice. My daughter has been reading them all with me and is now very excited.

Johnson & Wales has a program in Miami!

I have checked with our local high school and they do not offer any type of culinary programs. They are brand new and my daughter is only entering the 8th grade so that may be an option for her in a few years if they add something.

 

[barkley]

just a suggestion-check into what's happening in the market place for culinary arts as she gets closer to the age where she would pursue.
reason being-a few years back with the proliferation of chefs becoming media darlings the number of people entering the industry dramiticly increased. in the area we lived in (napa valley/bay area) there were hoards of people entering culinary schools. the reality hit them very hard-they learned that despite attending top notch (c.i.a. and others) schools, unless you are a proven chef, you work your way up-and working your way up does not pay a great deal/demands allot of time/does not come near to compensating for the cost of school. several bay area (san francisco in particular) newspapers have run articles about the ratio of culinary grads vs those that stay in the industry.

given current economics there is lessening marketability in some areas of culinary arts-what the future holds is anybody's guess. i know of someone who attended a top notch culinary school, had a pastery chef job at a high profile san francisco venue lined up (catered to events)-9/11 hit, people feared air travel, wedding and buisness travel plummeted-she was out of a job. so watch and see what's up closer to high school grad.

at your child's age i would suggest, if she does'nt already watch it-consider having her watch 'top chef'. i recently began watching it (and caught up on previous seasons via re-runs) and was impressed how they show the different types of jobs chefs can do and how they can command different skills. i think it's a great show as far as displaying the different opportunites that someone interested in pursing culinary arts can pursue-and how each can afford opportunites and challenges.

 

[Traveliz]

I also did an internship at WDW in their Hospitality program working in the resorts. I don't know if they still have the same programs, mine was in 1999. It was a 6 month intership rather than the shorter ones. It was awesome.

They do still have the internships - my daughter did the College Program and at one time had 4 culinary roommates - they were there for 6 months to a year. Their positions were all over the place - one in the kitchen at LeCellier, one at the main backstage bakery at MGM, one at Kona, one at Pop Century in the food courts.

Liz

 

[nataliela]

http://www.nicholls.edu/

Excellent Culinary and Business schools

 

[Figment22]

I have checked with our local high school and they do not offer any type of culinary programs. They are brand new and my daughter is only entering the 8th grade so that may be an option for her in a few years if they add something.

The culinary arts program would probably not be right at your local high school. Most counties have vocational/technical schools that the individual, local high schools "feed" into. Check with your county's school board for information. My son is currently a freshman at our regular, local high school and will be going to the county vo-tech HS to study culinary arts in the fall. It may very well work the same way where you live.

 

[LisaR]

The culinary arts program would probably not be right at your local high school. Most counties have vocational/technical schools that the individual, local high schools "feed" into. Check with your county's school board for information. My son is currently a freshman at our regular, local high school and will be going to the county vo-tech HS to study culinary arts in the fall. It may very well work the same way where you live.

I just searched online for our county and a culinary university came up as a vocational school.
I am not sure I understand what you are saying. Our county does have dual enrollment. Is that what your son is doing? I guess I always made the assumption that you could only enroll in the local community college for dual enrollment. That is where every kid I know has gone. When I went to high school, our vocational program was in our school. Of course, that was back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth!