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Culinary School to become a caterer?

post #1 of 5
7/3/09 at 8:04pm
Thread Starter 
Hey! I'm super interested in catering, it's got all the elements that I love to work with. Crazy times, crazy customers and nothings ever the same! Each day is different! BUT I am hung up on if I should goto culinary school first. Then if it is culinary school which one? Junior College or big time La Cordon Bleu? Thanks!
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post #2 of 5
7/4/09 at 5:24am
Get a job with a caterer first, Catering is a bit more of a sacrifice then you may think it is.:lips:
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post #3 of 5
7/4/09 at 1:51pm
remember, each catering business is different......there's onsite, offsite, large volume, small boutique, lunch/breakfast businesses, box lunches.....you'd get different skill sets working in each one.

CIA stipulates that you work in food service for a couple of years prior to applying.
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post #4 of 5
7/15/09 at 3:56pm
Definitely try working for a caterer first. It's much harder than you think it is. But, if you really get a charge out of it and love the exhausted feeling at 2 in the morning like I do, then start getting your hands on some books from Amazon on catering. There are several there from the CIA that will give you a good idea about the business of catering.

Just remember, the business of catering and just cooking large amounts of food for people are VERY different! One is about feeding people and having fun, the other is about making money.

If you decide that you really want to do it, I don't think I would recommend Cordon Bleu or CIA to start. Get the basics down at a j.c. and then start exploring your options. CB and CIA are VERY expensive places to learn and quite frankly, most of what you learn you will never use as a caterer. I would love to go to CIA for the experience and to become a better chef, but I think it would be a waste of money from a business perspective. I can learn all the fancy techniques and get great ideas from interacting with other caterers online and in person for no money and just a small investment in time.
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post #5 of 5
7/15/09 at 9:30pm
"Catering" is FAR more than cooking, it combines FOH, BOH, marketing, sales, equipment rentals, labor management with a dash of artistic talent, showmanship, patience, and elan, with hardnosed accounting and legal acumen.

Besdies, you can alway "hire" cooks ;)
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