Culinary School Grad

One of my short lived assistants who graduated from Cordon Bleu, used to sip tea and watch her cream whip. She had no idea that perhaps she could be doing other things while her cream was whipping. I find that many grads have no idea about pacing when it comes to the real world of baking.

A couple of years ago I was working in a small custom cake shop. A woman called in early Dec. looking for a job in the field since she was going to enroll in culinary school for the Jan semester, she wants to be a pastry chef. I didn't have an opening but had a few minutes to talk with her about the prospect of going to school and what she wanted to do.

I asked her to tell me a little bit about herself, the conversation went something like this.

Me - "why do you want to go to culinary school for pastry?"

Her - "to increase my earning potential, I have been divorced for 6 months and have 3 children under the age of 10"

Me - "what do you do/earn now"

Her - "I'm a paralegal for JC Penney. (stammering about if she should tell me her salary)"

Me - "I don't really care what you make, I don't know you, I just want an idea - are you in the 30's?"

Her - "yes. The admin office also said they have job placement when I graduate."

Me - "unless you are top in you class and extremely good you'll earn about 8-10$ an hour to start. You will most likely work in a hotel, club or restaurant. Most likely you will work nights and absolutely on weekends and of course holidays. Corporate positions are few and far between."

Her - "really?"

Me - "yes. But I don't want you to believe me! Before you sign on the dotted line and be committed to 45K for culinary school, I think you should call come chefs in the area who are NOT working for the school. Ask them for 5-10 minutes of their time to speak with them about your situation. The school wants you to enroll and get your 45K, they can't get a job for you if one doesn't exist."

Her - "thank you for your time"


I never heard from her again and often wondered what she ended up doing. I couldn't imagine going back to school full time with 3 children and divorced!! Especially into this industry where it could take a while to "increase my earning potential"

I don't know for sure, but it seems like the admin office tells them they could earn 50-75k a year as a chef and not tell them how long and rugged the road to get there is.

In working for culinary schools in admissions for about 5 years, I can tell you that SOME schools will absolutely omit the actual "earning potential" of a chef. They typically leave out the "Expect to make $8-12 as a cook or pastry ***'t and you need to work anywhere from 3-10 years after graduating to move into any type of mgmt position"

Dishonor before death.