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Culinary School, paid apprenticeship, or start out as a dishwasher (then prep cook, then line cook), what is the best way, or the most ubiquitous way for people nowadays to get into the culinary industry and eventually branch off on their own?
Anyone in the culinary industry can give us their experience?
If you do a paid apprenticeship, you are doling out lots of money, and limiting yourself to that specific menu. Do people do multiple paid apprenticeships one after the other? If you start as dishwasher, you pay nothing but no guarantee you will be moved up.
Do professional chefs take sabbaticals and go back to culinary schools to learn a new cuisine? How expensive is culinary school or a paid apprenticeship?
Some celebrity chefs know so many recipes from across the globe. Are they just reading the recipes online? Or have they worked in various establishments? I saw in interview with Gordon Ramsay, and he states he went to France, and then to Italy to learn Italian. Did he go to a culinary school in Italy?
I just found out recently that a relative had been promoted to cook after only working as a bus boy at the same restaurant. I guess they just trained them in-house. I was really surprised to hear this. I had no idea it could work this way. He was acknowledged as a good worker, and likes to cook on his personal time, so I suppose they considered it a good match. I was actually glad to hear it.
I can't offer any more advice, but I'm interested in hearing the responses.
Taking several basics courses at a culinary school will teach you the essential skills that you need in a commercial kitchen. These would start at knife skills and the like.
Culinary schools range from $8k - 50K. Personally, I have hired graduates from the CIA and Johnson and Wales over the years. Many of them are well prepared but many do not work out because they are not expecting the trials of the real kitchens. I watch some of these students preparing a single chicken in a culinary school kitchen spending an hour. That just does not work when you need to prepare 600 portions.
I have never seen anyone actually pay to work in a kitchen. I have seen paid apprenticeships where you work with a chef but you are paid for it. You have to have some skills and a great attitude. Personally, I do not like apprentices too much as few people give me as much back as they are taking up all of my time. Every time I have had an apprentice, I have found that I get home two hours later.
As for starting at the bottom, I have never seen any person who does not have plenty of chances to move up in the kitchen (except in a few unionized shops where all promotions are made by seniority). I went from pot washer to busboy to carhop to assistant manager and eventually to food service director. Of course, between all of these, I obtained a college degree.
Military service with kitchen experience is also a great way to get into the business.
Personally, I think culinary programs are a waste of money. Spending $50k to get a job that pays $15-18 hours is a poor investment.
Most of the celebrity chefs worked for a number of chefs for a couple of years and that is how they have such a broad experience base.
I am not a chef, but I have a good friend who obtained a degree in food studies, took a one year class in pastry making which got him a job as pastry chef. A few years later and several job hops and he is executive chef at a large NYC restaurant.
Another friend has recently completed pastry school and seems to be on the same path, just 10 years behind.
Spend your money to get a degree in finance / bookkeeping / business management and pay for that degree by working in kitchens, so that you can manage the business side and the kitchen side of a restaurant or food business. You need both sets of skills to be successful. Work in the best facilities you can get hired in -- restaurants are always looking for good workers and turnover is high, so there are always chances to move up, but learning bad habits from a bad chef / badly managed restaurant will set you back.
weezycom and jlawrence01 both make very good points. There are a lot of good cooks who can't manage people or business and fail because of that.
The restaurant business is not for everyone, long hours, not great pay for entry level and serious physical work. I believe that working in a restaurant is essential to seeing if it's even the career you want. If it is there are classes you can take at community colleges to learn knife skills and basics but spending $50k on culinary school to get out and basically be hired somewhere as a line cook is a waste of money. I've also never heard of paying for an apprenticeship, there are paid apprenticeships where you are paid a lower wage to learn and sometimes these are required as part of a school. It does matter who you work for, an advanced line cook an Olive Garden is going to get different opportunities and learn different skills that a pantry prep cook at The French Laundry, choose wisely.
Culinary School, paid apprenticeship, or start out as a dishwasher (then prep cook, then line cook), what is the best way, or the most ubiquitous way for people nowadays to get into the culinary industry and eventually branch off on their own?
Anyone in the culinary industry can give us their experience?
If you do a paid apprenticeship, you are doling out lots of money, and limiting yourself to that specific menu. Do people do multiple paid apprenticeships one after the other? If you start as dishwasher, you pay nothing but no guarantee you will be moved up.
Do professional chefs take sabbaticals and go back to culinary schools to learn a new cuisine? How expensive is culinary school or a paid apprenticeship?
Some celebrity chefs know so many recipes from across the globe. Are they just reading the recipes online? Or have they worked in various establishments? I saw in interview with Gordon Ramsay, and he states he went to France, and then to Italy to learn Italian. Did he go to a culinary school in Italy?
Have you ever worked in a professional kitchen? Knowing whether or not you have worked in a professional setting on any level (even in a diner or other small establishment) will help us to guide you as there are multiple ways to get into the food industry.
Taking several basics courses at a culinary school will teach you the essential skills that you need in a commercial kitchen. These would start at knife skills and the like.
Culinary schools range from $8k - 50K. Personally, I have hired graduates from the CIA and Johnson and Wales over the years. Many of them are well prepared but many do not work out because they are not expecting the trials of the real kitchens. I watch some of these students preparing a single chicken in a culinary school kitchen spending an hour. That just does not work when you need to prepare 600 portions.
I have never seen anyone actually pay to work in a kitchen. I have seen paid apprenticeships where you work with a chef but you are paid for it. You have to have some skills and a great attitude. Personally, I do not like apprentices too much as few people give me as much back as they are taking up all of my time. Every time I have had an apprentice, I have found that I get home two hours later.
As for starting at the bottom, I have never seen any person who does not have plenty of chances to move up in the kitchen (except in a few unionized shops where all promotions are made by seniority). I went from pot washer to busboy to carhop to assistant manager and eventually to food service director. Of course, between all of these, I obtained a college degree.
Military service with kitchen experience is also a great way to get into the business.
Personally, I think culinary programs are a waste of money. Spending $50k to get a job that pays $15-18 hours is a poor investment.
Most of the celebrity chefs worked for a number of chefs for a couple of years and that is how they have such a broad experience base.
My thoughts as well, especially when one can get a good percentage of that education at a Community/Technical school.
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