8 Career Options For Your Culinary Arts Degree
Do you love to cook? Many career opportunities greet the graduate of a culinary program. Whether you work as a chef or branch out into other areas of the food industry, a culinary degree is a versatile and practical choice.
- Chef: Most culinary graduates begin their careers by working as a chef. With plentiful job opportunities, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, chefs can work for a restaurant, institution (school, hospital, or business), catering company, or as a personal chef.
- Restaurant Owner: Blending business and creativity, many restaurant owners enjoy both cooking and controlling all aspects of the restaurant, including the menu, personnel, decor, and customer/vendor relations.
- Cookbook Author: Cookbooks are big business; CBS News reported $500 million in cookbook sales in 2006. Professionally trained chefs with original ideas make cooking easy and fun for the rest of us.
- Print Journalist: Magazines, newspapers and travel guides hire culinary experts for restaurant reviews and feature stories, often involving travel. Bon Appetit alone sells over 1.3 million magazines per month.
- TV Chef: Dream of being a headline chef and having your own show on the Food Network? How about being a part of the culinary team of chefs behind the big names, or doing a cooking feature for your local TV station?
- Research Chef: The food industry needs experts in the culinary field to serve as consultants for equipment design, kitchen/restaurant design, and recipe and food product development.
- Culinary Instructor: Chefs are continually needed everywhere cooking is taught, to instruct the recreational cook as well as the future professional chef.
- Nutritionist: Combine that culinary degree with a nutrition credential and you can earn a living helping people eat healthy and delicious food.
Every student likes to look ahead to see their career options upon graduation. A culinary degree presents many exciting avenues in the food industry.
Sources
U.S. Department of Labor
Conde Nast Publications
"The Art of the Cookbook," CBS News
