Does school name matter?

[ChefTorrie]

You know what, I am sorry for stating my opinion... and for a Chef, I am actually a cool tempered person...but I am getting a little irritated... With the way some of your posts look... It seems that if teenagers in HS would read this... it is turning them off about a post secondary education and I do not think that is right to do.... but whatever... Im just about done witht this thread...........

[foodpump]

Tough love...and I don't mean it in a nasty or demeaning way. I'd rather the kids in H.S. read this now than to find out how this biz really works a few years later when the money's spent, the loans due, and reality staring them in the face.
Now take Chefintraining for example. I've never heard of a professional sports team coach NOT being a team player first, a high ranking Army officer NOT going through boot camp and the lower ranks first. But 'Ol chefintraining has it all figured out, doesn't need to be a smelly stupid cook, he'll just hire one for $9.00/hr, sit in the office, make menus and hope to god those eejits in the kitchen do what he tells them to do...

These are the kind of people whose attitude we must influence, because once they spend the money for school, they're in the system, and they won't fit into the system untill they realize that:
1) knowledge comes second to how you apply the knowledge,
2)work habits are more important than facts, and
3)the ability to get along with everyone is crucial to the whole operation.

If schools teach this, great, but I have no guarantee that the students comprehend and live by it. On the other hand if a cook comes in with 5 or 6 years experience, I have a 90% chance that that person comprehends and lives by the above 3 rules, experience does a geat job of teaching too.

Please ChefTorrie, don't run away from this thread. The longer you are in this biz, the more you will have to deal with the people who think they can avoid the years of experience and become a Chef with a piece of paper. Sometimes these people affect your competition, and sometimes the competition passes the people back to you. I got tired of passing the buck around a long time ago.

[ChefTorrie]

Originally Posted by foodpump

Tough love...and I don't mean it in a nasty or demeaning way. I'd rather the kids in H.S. read this now than to find out how this biz really works a few years later when the money's spent, the loans due, and reality staring them in the face.
Now take Chefintraining for example. I've never heard of a professional sports team coach NOT being a team player first, a high ranking Army officer NOT going through boot camp and the lower ranks first. But 'Ol chefintraining has it all figured out, doesn't need to be a smelly stupid cook, he'll just hire one for $9.00/hr, sit in the office, make menus and hope to god those eejits in the kitchen do what he tells them to do...

These are the kind of people whose attitude we must influence, because once they spend the money for school, they're in the system, and they won't fit into the system untill they realize that:
1) knowledge comes second to how you apply the knowledge,
2)work habits are more important than facts, and
3)the ability to get along with everyone is crucial to the whole operation.

If schools teach this, great, but I have no guarantee that the students comprehend and live by it. On the other hand if a cook comes in with 5 or 6 years experience, I have a 90% chance that that person comprehends and lives by the above 3 rules, experience does a geat job of teaching too.

Please ChefTorrie, don't run away from this thread. The longer you are in this biz, the more you will have to deal with the people who think they can avoid the years of experience and become a Chef with a piece of paper. Sometimes these people affect your competition, and sometimes the competition passes the people back to you. I got tired of passing the buck around a long time ago.

FoodPump... I will not run away from this thread... for now... But I need to ask you a question... How long exactly do you think that I have been in the business? You keep telling me the longer that I am in the biz... but you dont know how long I have been in the biz to begin with... and I am not trying to be an azz.... like I have said... I respect you and most of your ideas...But I guess we just have differing opinions on this one... Did you ever go to Culinary School?

[foodpump]

Culinary School? No.
Did a 1 yr "commercial cooking" class way back in '83 in the center of the Universe, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada...) Saskatoon didn't have much to offer a budding young cook so I packed up my bags and headed off to Switzerland. There I made the big discovery that the only "real" cook was an apprenticed cook. So I decided to start off again, and completed a 3 year apprenticeship, ('85-'88) as cook in small hotel, Romantik Hotel Wilden Mann, in Luzern (Lucerne...) Not that easy for a non-native geman speaker, but I completed with decent marks. From there I did one year contracts at Savoy en Ville, Zürich, Baur au Lac, Zürich, and Restaurant Kronnenhalle, Zürich. I worked as comis in all these places. Got homesick and went to Vancouver and did a year at Hotel Vancouver,(now The Fairmont Van.) then went off to Singapore in '91. There I worked as Sous at the Dynasty (now the Marriot), a year and a bit at the American Club, also as a junior Sous, then pulled out a plum with Coffee Club. Here I had the opportunity to design and equip a commisionary kitchen to supply 4 outlets with fresh pastries and food. Also got suckered into designing the kitchens for the outlets (mall outlets, lotsa restrictions...), and tendering for equipment and infrastructure. Staffing, training, supervising, menu development, purchasing and co-ordinating twice daily deliveries for the outlets was taken for granted.
In '96 I left S'pore for Vancouver. Did a year at the "William Tell", then did a stupid thing and bought a crapped out deli together with my wife. This was the start of our catering business. By the second year we had dropped all deli sales and focused entirely on catering.
By '99 the place was too small and we looked for a larger place where the landlord wouldn't up the rent every opportunity he had. Again, took over a crapped-out "Chinese/Canadian cusine" place, mucked it out, replaced all the existing infrastructure, purchased new and used equipment, and got all the necessary permmits and grants. During this 4 mth period we still ran the catering biz at full speed. Currently I have 3 f/t staff--not including myself or my wife/partner, and as many p/t as need for larger and multiple gigs. You can e-mail me offline for my website if you want to, it's worth a peek.

[ChefTorrie]

Originally Posted by foodpump

Culinary School? No.
Did a 1 yr "commercial cooking" class way back in '83 in the center of the Universe, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada...) Saskatoon didn't have much to offer a budding young cook so I packed up my bags and headed off to Switzerland. There I made the big discovery that the only "real" cook was an apprenticed cook. So I decided to start off again, and completed a 3 year apprenticeship, ('85-'88) as cook in small hotel, Romantik Hotel Wilden Mann, in Luzern (Lucerne...) Not that easy for a non-native geman speaker, but I completed with decent marks. From there I did one year contracts at Savoy en Ville, Zürich, Baur au Lac, Zürich, and Restaurant Kronnenhalle, Zürich. I worked as comis in all these places. Got homesick and went to Vancouver and did a year at Hotel Vancouver,(now The Fairmont Van.) then went off to Singapore in '91. There I worked as Sous at the Dynasty (now the Marriot), a year and a bit at the American Club, also as a junior Sous, then pulled out a plum with Coffee Club. Here I had the opportunity to design and equip a commisionary kitchen to supply 4 outlets with fresh pastries and food. Also got suckered into designing the kitchens for the outlets (mall outlets, lotsa restrictions...), and tendering for equipment and infrastructure. Staffing, training, supervising, menu development, purchasing and co-ordinating twice daily deliveries for the outlets was taken for granted.
In '96 I left S'pore for Vancouver. Did a year at the "William Tell", then did a stupid thing and bought a crapped out deli together with my wife. This was the start of our catering business. By the second year we had dropped all deli sales and focused entirely on catering.
By '99 the place was too small and we looked for a larger place where the landlord wouldn't up the rent every opportunity he had. Again, took over a crapped-out "Chinese/Canadian cusine" place, mucked it out, replaced all the existing infrastructure, purchased new and used equipment, and got all the necessary permmits and grants. During this 4 mth period we still ran the catering biz at full speed. Currently I have 3 f/t staff--not including myself or my wife/partner, and as many p/t as need for larger and multiple gigs. You can e-mail me offline for my website if you want to, it's worth a peek.

That sounds real cool man... Most of my work myself has been done in the United States besides some stuff that I did in Antigua and Aruba... I started in the business when I was 16 doing dishes... A couple months went by and I got a raise and moved up to early morning/late night prep... I then moved up to the line after about a year and a half and worked there all through High School... After High School I went to a 1 year school in my own town... It taught me the Basics but I wanted to continue so I attended J&W for my BS degree... For my externship in school I did an apprenticeship at A HUGE hotel in the middle of no where in West Virginia ... the place was called the GreenBrier... One of the best times of my life... After that I have worked in Baltimore, Orlando, Beverly Hills, Tennesee, TX and my home state Connecticut... My positions included Garde Manger chef making all of the canapes and meat trays and hors doeurves you know the deal... I have been Sous, junior sous, head chef, and executive catering chef... you can PM me for the website if you want... it is also work checking out... I am currently working as Head Chef and I have money invested in my restaurant... Like 25% owner and I have to say with all of the hassles that come with it... I dont think I would trade it for anything

[Jeebus]

so I attended J&W for my BS degree


That pretty well sums up how I feel about most cooking schools and unfortunately most of the students I have had to deal with.