Find Culinary Schools
Compare culinary arts schools and request information from admission officers. Find the school that’s right for you, today!

America’s increasing appetite for fine cuisine means more jobs for gourmets, making a culinary diploma or degree a valuable commodity in the job market. While there are many culinary career paths to follow—both inside and outside the kitchen—the competition is intense for the most prestigious and highest paying positions.

After graduating from a culinary program or cooking school, you’ll most likely have to pay your dues in the industry before you land the job of your dreams. In a restaurant setting, that might mean starting as a prep cook or garde manger and then climbing through the ranks as you gain experience. Experienced chefs stress the value of working your way up from the bottom and learning from your superiors. Most often, that’s the way they got to the top.

Job opportunities are also available in hotels, convention centers, spas, cruise ships, catering businesses, institutions, and retail gourmet food shops. Some culinary graduates choose to pursue an unusual course, such as becoming a food writer or food photographer.

Here are some of the most popular occupations for people with culinary degrees.

Restaurant Careers
The most successful professional kitchens rely on teams of skilled cooks, who each contribute their skills to a specific part of preparing meals for guests. The following paragraphs describe the various kitchen roles in order of rank and experience. While these roles and titles are typical of an upscale restaurant, not all kitchens use them, and in smaller establishments some roles and responsibilities may be consolidated.

Prep Cooks
Prep cooks prepare food ingredients for meal preparation. They may wash, peel, slice, cut, or chop vegetables and other ingredients, and then refrigerate or seal the ingredients so they are readily available when needed to prepare a dish. A general rule is that the prep cook does not actually cook anything, but may be responsible for preparing a certain portion of a dish.

Line Cooks
The next-step job in a professional kitchen is that of line cook. Line cooks may be responsible for some of a prep cook’s duties in smaller establishments, but in addition to these, they will prepare broths or simple sauces, trim and prepare meats, clean work areas, and monitor oven and stovetop temperatures. The garde manger (French for “keeper of the food”) is typically the entry-level line cook position in a larger kitchen. The garde manger’s responsibilities include preparing foods such as salads and cold soups and plating desserts.

Specialized Chefs
Specialized chefs are typically cooks who have already gained significant restaurant experience as line cooks or in other capacities. Specialized chefs possess finely developed expertise in a particular area of food preparation. They include pastry chefs or patissiers, who often work very early shifts to prepare the day’s pastries and baked goods; rotisseurs, who roast and braise meats; and sauciers, who are responsible for all sautéed items and their sauces, and who typically hold the highest station among the specialized chefs.

Sous Chefs
The sous chef or deputy chef is second in command to the restaurant’s head chef. Sous chefs are often in charge of the minute-by-minute affairs in the kitchen, while the head chef is attending to administrative affairs. They are expertly trained chefs who function more in a supervisory capacity than in food production. Three years of hands-on experience is generally required before assuming the role of sous chef.

Head Chefs
The head chef, who is sometimes called the executive chef or chef de cuisine, occupies the top role in a professional kitchen. He or she is in charge of all food service operations, supervises and staffs the kitchens and dining operations, determines menus, orders food products, and serves as the public persona for the restaurant. In a corporate or hotel environment, the head chef may be in charge of several kitchens and, in addition, oversee catering operations and dining events for conventions or other large-scale gatherings. At least seven years of experience are common before ascending to the role of head chef.

Other Culinary Career Environments
Restaurant work is not your only choice after graduating from a cooking school. Some culinary graduates own or work for catering companies. Others work as personal or private chefs, designing and preparing meals for busy individuals and families to enjoy later. Corporate dining rooms and cafeterias as well as spas, cruise ships, and hotel and convention centers are additional places to look for work, both in the kitchen and in related areas such as hospitality management—which includes jobs like concierge and event planner.

Graduates of hospitality and restaurant management programs (typically four-year, bachelor’s degree programs) might pursue work as restaurant managers. Or they might own and operate their own restaurants. Those with advanced degrees from master’s or doctoral programs might choose to work as culinary instructors or in other academic fields.

Unusual Culinary Careers
Not every culinary graduate chooses to cook for a living. Many work for the media, design firms and food-development corporations. If, after your training, you find the professional kitchen environment is not for you, you have already opened the door to a host of food-related careers that might combine your love of food with other skills or interests. The booming gourmet industry has created demand for food stylists and photographers, food publishing and television programming, food writing, food research and science, and retail gourmet goods and services.

How to Choose a Culinary Career
Ultimately, only you can decide which culinary career best fits with your interests, lifestyle, and career aspirations. If your love of cooking is foremost and you dream one day of becoming a head chef or of hosting your own cooking show, it is probably best to get your start in a fine-dining environment and begin the process of working your way up. However, if you find during the course of your training that writing about food is more your forte, or that you prefer to work on the operational side of the industry, seek out those opportunities and learn what additional skills you’ll need to land a job.

When choosing a career, it is also worth knowing the job outlook for a particular occupation and what kind of salary you can expect to earn. Here are a couple of articles to get you started: