February 11, 2022

Non every culinary school graduate has the same dream of working in a restaurant. While employment in a kitchen or front-of-business firm position is undoubtedly a fantastic career choice, that path merely isn't for everyone.

So, what can you do with a culinary degree? Here are a few ideas to get your wheels churning.

Eatery Careers

A role in a eatery is the obvious choice for someone with a culinary education. Merely even inside i establishment, there are a host of different positions to choose from.

Dorsum of House Roles

Working in the kitchen is considered employment in a "dorsum of house" position. This might include being an executive chef, a sous chef, a line or station chef, a cook, a prep melt, or something else. There are also many positions outside the kitchen, such every bit an expediter – the liaison between kitchen and waitstaff, who acts every bit a kind of quality command supervisor for kitchen-to-table operations like food running.

Any of these positions may crave some type of culinary preparation, and for more prestigious roles like the executive or sous chef, information technology tin can be extremely useful to hold a culinary degree or diploma.

Restaurant staff speaking with the head chef

Forepart of House Roles

From the host who greets and seats patrons to the general director who oversees the entire restaurant performance, front of house positions typically crave a certain level of savvy with communication and client service – since interaction with guests is a big part of the gig.

Shift managers, servers, bartenders, and bussers are all part of the front of house squad too. Depending on what kind of responsibilities y'all'll accept in your particular front of house position, yous might benefit well-nigh from an instruction in food and drinkable operations, like the Hospitality & Eating house Operations Direction programs at Escoffier.

Pastry Chef

If you determine to specialize in pastry arts you might have a wide assortment of employment opportunities at bakeries, some grocery stores, hotels, fine dining, and many catering companies.

Just many restaurants employ a pastry chef to exclusively deliver – and sometimes even blueprint – the items on the dessert menu. Easily-on experience is especially of import if you want to piece of work your way upwardly in this profession.

Personal/Private Chef

A unique and potentially lucrative option for culinary schoolhouse graduates is to be a personal or private chef. If you're entrepreneurial, like the thought of working for yourself, and want more than control over your schedule, this career path might be a good fit for yous.

As a personal chef, you tin can piece of work with clients directly and create dishes that are suited to their needs – whether for a young family unit, a busy professional, or someone who isn't able to cook for themselves.

Equally a private chef, you may piece of work for one customer only, sometimes be expected to travel with them, and frequently customize repast planning to conform a specific dietary need. If you like the variety and challenge of running your ain small business, this is an interesting career path.

"So a private chef is someone who is hired to work in a domicile or for a company or whatever information technology might exist, equally an independent contractor. You could consider a personal chef to be working for a family. But the idea is that we're trained chefs who can cook, and we're hospitality professionals. First, we have care of our clients. So really, we tin can do anything anywhere."Austin Yancey, CEO and Founder of Elite Personal Chefs*

Traveling Chef

Working in the hospitality industry can make the earth your oyster. Tourism offers a diversity of vehicles for traveling chefs – think cruise ships and nutrient trucks, to proper noun a few.

Keep in heed that a lifestyle of constant travel can get tiresome, and sometimes pricey. You might detect that in your fourth dimension off, you want to explore… leaving little room for downtime. In order to avoid burnout, you'll desire to carefully consider your schedule and chapters. If you want to accept your craft on the route, you might take this option into consideration post-graduation.

Recipe Developer

R&D isn't just for technology, personal care products, or pharmaceuticals. In fact, research and development is a large office of the creation of new foods, innovative menus, or even entirely novel restaurant concepts.

After all, fusion cuisines come about through much culinary experimentation. If yous bask getting crafty and creative in the kitchen, and you're willing to do the constant research required, working equally a recipe programmer can exist a very rewarding career choice.

"I can go to Espana and have the best paella. Merely what I need to sympathise is, what is paella? What are the building blocks of it? What are the ingredients? What are the techniques? How is it presented? And what's the kind of typical version at present? What are variations of it? So you start to think through iterations, versions, gold standards, which is something we use in R&D."Robert Danhi, Research Chef, Educator, TV Show Host, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author*

Whether yous're working in a commercial kitchen or in your ain test kitchen, in that location are lots of jobs for culinary graduates in this field – creating recipes for restaurants, special catering menus, and recipe books.

Diet Coach

If you're on burn down for holistic wellness and love the culinary aspects of this discipline, becoming a nutrition motorbus could be the perfect path for you. Diet coaches educate their clients about making smarter food choices in social club to achieve specific wellness outcomes.

Many nutrition coaches work with special populations, like athletes or clients focused on weight loss. This type of coaching may require additional training and credentialing, but starting with a foundational instruction in Holistic Nutrition and Wellness can certainly pave the way for an exciting career in this ever-expanding field.

Nutrient Writer

Love food? Love language? Desire to merge these 2 passions? Y'all might brand a great food writer. There'due south a need for writers both online – on digital outlets like blogs or social media, for example – and in print publications like magazines and newspapers.

You could exist reviewing particular cuisines, restaurants, or chefs. You could piece of work in marketing for a food service establishment. Or your talents might be put to use writing a memoir, recipe book or commercials.

People employed in this field ofttimes work on several projects at once for many clients and companies over the course of their careers. Having an extensive culinary vocabulary can go a long way in your success as a food author.

Cookbook, book with pages open next to metal pots and kitchen utensils

Food Stylist

When considering jobs for culinary graduates, nutrient stylists are often overlooked. This career might sound glamorous, but don't get things twisted – it'due south tough work to make it as a nutrient stylist. You'll need to prove your competency in both artistic flair and culinary skills.

Chef Billie Sutton"If you lot're trying to go on the union roster [for film or boob tube work], it helps yous if you have that culinary degree. A lot of those final plates on a lot of baking and cooking shows are done by food stylists. If you see a tower of macarons, it's gonna be the food stylists doing information technology."
Chef Billie Sutton, Escoffier Chef Instructor And Food Stylist, Imagine Food Styling*

Food stylists arrange food in cute ways so it can be photographed or displayed. Graduates of culinary arts programs tend to make some of the best nutrient stylists. Many people in this profession work as independent contractors, and although it can have some time to gain a reputation, information technology can be a very rewarding job.

Food Podcaster

Gained a lot of knowledge in culinary school, or desire to interview others who have? Podcasting is an increasingly popular avenue for culinary school graduates, particularly since information technology can frequently be done equally a side hustle while working full-time in a kitchen or elsewhere.

In that location are thousands of food-related podcasts out there, so your all-time bet to stand up out in the ocean is to notice your niche – whether that exist the topics you're covering, the format yous employ, or the guests you characteristic. And while you're getting the lay of the country in the world of podcasts, check out Escoffier'south very own show, The Ultimate Dish.

Close-up image of microphone in podcast studio.

Culinary School: A Foundation for Your Future

Regardless of what type of career path you lot cull postal service-graduation, studying at a good culinary school tin can help you lot obtain the skills needed for a broad range of food-related industries, not just restaurants. A loftier-quality schoolhouse can requite you a well-rounded prepare of skills and tools you can take with you lot wherever you get.

Get more than information on the various culinary instruction plans available at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, no matter what chore you plan to pursue in the future.

Cheque out these other culinary career articles you might like:

  • Top Remote Culinary Careers
  • Career Options for Ex-Chefs
  • The Departure Between a Melt and a Chef

This article was originally published on June 29, 2015, and has since been updated.

*Information may not reflect every student's experience. Results and outcomes may be based on several factors, such as geographical region or previous experience.

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