Becoming a food professional
Has anyone become a food professional as a second/third/fourth career? I'm on career #3 right now (business project management), but I think about going to culinary school daily. Anyone else thinking about this? Or, have you done it and are "living the dream"?
I went to visit NE Culinary 18 months ago, but their very intense restaurant-focused curriculum wasn't my cup of tea.
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13 Comments:
I was a fashion designer for 35 years. I left my industry 2 years ago to take baking courses. I did not attend a long term course ( my longest course was 1 month) I have been agonizing over starting a baking business. I have all the legal documents needed, but I have not been able to find a business minded partner, as I tend to be the creative one. I would love to pursue my dream, but I must be realistic as to my strengths and weaknesses. I hope you have more luck!!
Mich23 at 3:39PM on 04/29/08
After being a secretary for umteen years, I was able to follow my dream and open a small place in southwest Colorado. The fates weren't with me but I wouldn't have traded that experience for the world.
It's much easier when you're 18, going into culinary school and coming out 2 years later with all the strength and conviction of a young adult vs. at middle age. Make no mistake, it can be done. It is hard on a body to be on your feet that many hours doing grueling, fast paced work in a hot kitchen.
If you can do something on a small scale (part time catering, specialty baking), you can still get your feelgoods and work in a medium (food) you truly love without the incredibly long hours.
Let's put it this way - give it a go. It's better than wondering what might have been or resigning yourself to a life of "coulda, shoulda, woulda."
chiff0nade at 4:25PM on 04/29/08
I dream about going to culinary school all the time but also know that I probably wouldn't cut it in the restaurant/kitchen environment. I actually just got accepted into the graduate program in Nutrition/Dietetics at NYU! I plan on going part time while still maintaining my current career but plan on starting my own business in the culinary/nutrition world but not working in a restaurant kitchen. I have a few ideas now and hope to roll them out in a few years.
I also say go for it. It's never too late to explore/find who it is you truly want to be :)
Jacquie at 5:23PM on 04/29/08
2nd 'career' for me but I'd strongly recommend trying to get a job in a kitchen before you decide to make the leap, especially if you plan on paying the big money to learn in school rather than in the trenches. Any position from dishes to line or server, they all give you insight into the demands & passion needed to choose such a career. It’s very rare that anyone in the kitchen can make enough (without major overtime) to live a non paycheck to paycheck lifestyle, or close to it. Try to keep that in mind is all I’m saying…it’s ain’t easy but it can be damn fun.
Kim Nyland at 6:00PM on 04/29/08
I was a detention officer for 7 years before going to culinary school. I just couldn't see myself working in corrections for the rest of my working life (which, as I hear gets longer as Social Security shrinks). I did it until my husband got his officer's commission in the Navy, then I went to culinary school, when my lack of income wouldn't affect us as much. Even if I don't cook professionally for the rest of my life, I will continue using my education at home. As of now, I work as a cake decorator at a small bakery.
beth1 at 9:12PM on 04/29/08
My mother decided to "live the dream" four years ago and become a personal chef. She's now the most successful personal chef in Houston and absolutely loving life while making the rest of us foam at the mouths with jealousy.
If you're going to do it -- make the leap into a culinary career, that is -- take a page out of her book and PLAN. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into, have a good skeleton of what you're going to do, what you need, who you need to talk to/get in with, how much money you'll need as a cushion and/or to start the new life, etc. Don't go into it on a whim.
But if you've seriously considered everything and have a plan for yourself, do it! We'd all support you 110%! :-)
sheeats at 9:58PM on 04/29/08
Cooking was my second career, and I'm now moving on to a third. I loved it, but it's time for me to get out of the kitchen and write about what I've learned.
Before you sign on for cooking school, see if you can get a job at a restaurant, bakery, coffee shop, anything. The food industry is a lot like every other career in that you have to be good at managing your own time, budget, employees, but it also takes a more specific kind of dedication. If you're not committed to cooking, if you don't really love it, people can taste that in your food.
Many restaurants will allow you to come in and do a "stage," where you work for free, usually very low-level prep work. It's not glamorous, but you get a very clear picture of how professional kitchens work, or don't work, as the case may be.
From there, you can decide whether you want to go to culinary school, and whether you want to do a 6 month course or a few years.
Good luck, and please keep us updated!
butterface at 10:04PM on 04/29/08
I guess I did things a little out of order. I went to Culinary School after high school, met a wonderful guy just before I finished & got married. Raised 2 amazing children (now 23 & 18). I have always cooked all along having great holiday dinners, catering dinner parties for people for the last 8 yrs or so. Becoming a Fine Dining Server for the last 5 yrs while still diong some small catering jobs. And now starting next week cooking in a restaurant kitchen. It's a bit scarry but I know all my food background is there, and I know what works, the techniques are there so hopefully I will be fine. I still will be able to do my bi-weekly catering for 40 for lunch, so I guess it will be a new adventure for me!
joanpieroni2 at 8:36AM on 04/30/08
I agree with all of the above about really doing your research and even doing some shifts in a professional kitchen before making any decisions.
I got my BA in journalism and spent a year working as a reporter at a wire service, hated it, then decided to go to culinary school to study pastry. In the year that I was applying and planning to move I got a job baking at a bed and breakfast, which was really fun but didn't really prepare me for large-scale kitchen work. During culinary school I worked in a big hotel, and after graduating I worked in restaurants and bakeries, catered and worked for a large retail baked-goods company. Then I gave it all up and went back into journalism!
After several years of working at all kinds of magazines (I wrote and edited for a travel magazine, worked at People, even spent some time at a startup consumer print magazine about the internet), I was offered a job at a new weekly women's magazine at Hearst. I became the food editor there, and it was like a huge lightbulb went off. I could combine the two things I love! Now I'm the food editor at All You, and I absolutely LOVE it.
So, loooong story, but the point is that you just never know what's going to happen, so I believe it's best to pursue as many things that interest you as possible.
Good luck to you! Keep us posted on what you decide...
CookiePie at 11:42AM on 04/30/08
I've been in the restaurant business all my life. My family owned restaurants, I worked in restaurants while in college, dropped out of grad school to pursue a restaurant career, married someone also in the biz (Operating Partner for a restaurant here in Indy) and I can honestly say it is one of the most challenging industries you can fall in love with.
One of my dearest friends and my mentor in my wine studies was a successful attorney with a passion for food and (especially) wine. He left his healthy, dependable income, cashed in his retirement fund, sold his Mercedes, bought a truck and opened a critically acclaimed restaurant. People raved about it. It was a foodie's paradise. It was the "IT" place to see and be seen. It went belly-up in about 5 years. Needless to say, he was heartbroken, not because of the money, but because it was his dream, his baby. He's since moved on to a successful wine career, his true calling.
I think my advice to you is going to be similar to others before me. If you haven't worked in a restaurant, you should. Work front of the house and work back of the house. Find out if you should be a "face" or if you are in your element sweating behind the line, cranking out 200 entrees, the majority of which will be ordered in a 2 hour time span. If you are in love with the biz because of your experiences as a customer and as a food lover, then you may be in for a rude awakening. This business is straight up labor. The industry is loaded with talent and genius, but for each star there are a thousand sad stories. My husband's restaurant constantly gets applications from recent graduates of culinary schools, including the CIA, for line-cook positions.
Sometimes culinary school is not the entry point for a career in food. If you want to go to culinary school to go to culinary school, then go. If you are going because you think you have to in order to have a career in food, then stop and do some research. Go to your favorite restaurant and talk to the owner and/or chef (sometimes it's one and the same, sometimes it's not). Find out from someone whose food and establishment you admire, how they got their start. Then go talk to someone else whose food and establishment you admire.
In the end, I'm a fan of following one's heart. The way reveals itself. Godspeed.
wookie at 12:35PM on 04/30/08
CookiePie - what a great story! I currently work in TV news, but I'm thinking seriously about making a change. I have thought about transitioning to the magazine industry, but it's something I need to learn more about.... I'd love to pick your brain if it's okay. My email address is saragartman at yahoo dot com. I hope to hear from you!
sarag22 at 12:51PM on 04/30/08
Go for it, but as previously mentioned here..........spend some time in a "real" restaurant kitchen doing entry level work. The old expression....."If you can't stand the heat........get out of the kitchen" should be taken "literally". A lot of kitchens can turn into "combat zones", so be prepared to operate in "survival" mode at all times. If you don't cut it, you'll find out FAST!
Boscompb at 2:06PM on 04/30/08
Thanks to all of you for your comments - they've been very helpful. I really don't think I want to go into the restaurant business in any capacity, but I hear all your suggestions about gaining experience before pursuing the education.
Bakerloo Line at 12:45PM on 05/01/08