Are you a ‘foodie’ who tastes a little bit of everything? Are you the chef of your family? Do you like watching cooking shows? Well, perhaps you have a future career in the food industry. Most people know that chefs make a good living and get to spend their day around food, but you may be surprised to discover that there are many other careers that involve food. Not only is cooking an art, but you feel warm and fuzzy knowing that customers loved eating the special meal you cooked for them. Explore these culinary career paths today...
Are you a ‘foodie’ who tastes a little bit of everything? Are you the chef of your family? Do you like watching cooking shows? Well, perhaps you have a future career in the food industry. Most people know that chefs make a good living and get to spend their day around food, but you may be surprised to discover that there are many other careers that involve food. Not only is cooking an art, but you feel warm and fuzzy knowing that customers loved eating the special meal you cooked for them. Explore these culinary career paths today...
Chef
Chefs usually go to cooking school after high school or college. The certification they receive is often called a Degree in Culinary Arts and it takes about 2 years to complete. The actual job involves creating and cooking a menu full of various dishes and appetizers that match the restaurant’s style. For example, an Italian restaurant chef would put things like lasagna and spaghetti on their menu. The chef is also surrounded by other staff in the kitchen who help them out with everything from preparing the sauces, to serving the food. Another no less important task of a chef is to order the supplies and ingredients that will be needed to prepare the dishes listed on the menu. To do this well it requires a deep understanding of the restaurant business. You have to know exactly how many dishes you plan on selling each night as well as the shelf life of what you are ordering. If you order too much fish, for example, and don’t sell it all before it goes bad, you will lose money. If, on the other hand, you run out of fish because you didn’t order enough, then you may have customers upset about not being able to order what they want. You always have to try to order the perfect amount.
Average Salary:
$57,000-$87,000 per year
Pros
- Challenge of menu creation
- Arriving at work around 12 noon
- High-energy environment
- Can find job anywhere
Cons
- High-stress shifts
- Insults of unsatisfied diners
- Putting on weight from too much testing of food
- Different working hours from the rest of the family
- Often work on weekends and holidays
- Strict hygienic behavior including wearing those silly chef hats and hairnets (But, of course, cleanliness is important)
Restaurant Manager
So, they’re in charge of all activities involving the eating establishment. They make sure that every diner is happy and satisfied. Oftentimes, several different dishes will be ordered at the same time and that needs tight coordination between the kitchen and the service staff. Managers also deal with customer complaints quite a bit so this job requires good people skills and patience. Finally, and
most importantly, the manager is responsible to the owners of the restaurant to make sure the business is profitable. Restaurants can be huge enterprises and making sure money is being made takes a complex set of skills. Managers will use everything from people skills when training new wait staff, to math and organizational skills in their accounting and bookkeeping.
Average Salary:
$38,000-$56,000 per year
Pros
- Lots of responsibility
- Room for upward mobility
- Less stressful than being a chef
- Can find job anywhere there are restaurants
Cons
- Often have long shifts
- Working weekends
- Have to fire people
- Deal with health officials during surprise inspections
Food Scientist
A food engineer or food scientist works high up the food industry ladder. They research what chemicals can be used to create food products that are healthy and safe. A good example of this would be the sugar substitute Splenda that was created by food scientists and has been quite popular with consumers. Working in labs for big food companies like McDonald’s, Kraft, and Ben & Jerry’s, food engineers also have to improve all their current and future food products. For example, how do you keep the buns fresher at a burger restaurant? Or what is going to be the next ice cream flavor everyone is going to want?
Average Salary:
$50,000-$76,000 per year
Pros
- Challenging work, high responsibilities
- Regular hours
- Satisfaction from creating or improving a product
- Get to play with beakers at work
- Many jobs at big companies and government institutions
Cons
- Can be stuffy working in the lab all day
- If you do experiments on yourself you may start to feel like a lab mouse
- Stress of being aware that if you mess up, it can turn into a huge problem
Food and Beverage Director (F&B)
The F&B Director is the ‘top boss’ in the food world. He or she usually works in a hotel and manages all of the properties’ dining facilities. These facilities include all the restaurants and cafes on-site, as well as large dining halls for big conferences and weddings. While the job is usually run out of an office somewhere in the hotel, a lot of time is spent out of the office working with folks in all the different food service outlets. The job responsibilities include everything from hiring all the chefs and selecting all the menus of the restaurants you supervise, to choosing their interior décor and layout. This job requires immense organization and management skills. Some hotels have 15+ restaurants and several hundred employees, so the F&B director must really know what’s going on in all places at all times to keep things running smoothly.
Average Salary:
$66,000-$80,000 per year
Pros
- In charge of lots of people
- Room for upward mobility
- Provides opportunity for thinking big
- Transferable skills from place to place
Cons
- Working odd hours and weekends
- Heavy pressure from high management - Holidays often spent at work
- Constantly training new staff
