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Maybe y'all can help her...

post #1 of 4
3/22/05 at 10:36pm
Thread Starter 
I have a friend who works the front desk at my job. She wants to move into being in food and beverage. She has a BS in Hotel Management (from U of Houston). She asked me if she should go to culinary school and get her associate degree or just complete a certificate program.

My answer to her was to get a job as a cook and do a certificate program. From there get promoted to sous chef and then chef de cuisine. With that experience as a chef, a certificate and a bachelors degree in hospitality she'd be set for something. I don't think having an associates at her education level is going to afford her any more of a boost up the food and beverage ladder.

Maybe I have misled her and I don't wanna give the wrong advice. I also said she should talk to some of my instructors from school. I don't know how far she wants to go in the industry but if she wanted to to be a director or something, the bachelors will be key. That's why I suggested that she pursue the certificate. My belief is that if she applied for a director job and was currently a chef de cuisine she'd be ok without the associates.

Please tell me that I didn't lead her in the wrong direction.

Please.
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

M.E.A.T.
Mankind Enjoying Animal Tastiness
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post #2 of 4
3/23/05 at 10:32am
Your advice was right on. An associates degree would probably be a waist of time but tell her to check with different schools to see about transfer credits. At J&w she could probably get an associates in the same time frame that it takes to get a certificate if most of her credits transfer.
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post #3 of 4
3/23/05 at 9:37pm
Yup. I got an AOS (Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management) after already having a BA and an MBA, and believe me, have I ever gotten the third degree. :rolleyes: :p What she really needs is experience and contacts -- much more like to get those from working and a shorter course where the instructors are really professionals.
"Notorious stickler" -- The New York Times, January 4, 2004
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post #4 of 4
3/23/05 at 10:47pm
I suppose someone should ask her what her eventual goal is regarding career path. Does she want to be a chef or a F&B director? Not to say it can't be done by going to culinary school, but most F&B directors I've worked for have come through the front of the house, either by on-the job training or a F&B management course program.

One way or the other, she'll need some pretty extensive front experience in both banquets and a la carte.
Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
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