[chefqueenv]

Hi culinary family,

I am a self taught chef based in New York and I am the owner of a small catering and event planning company. I have a team of three including myself and we have been heavily considering going to school for culinary arts and some business management in the culinary/hospitality field.

The problem has been deciding what training/degree(s) I as am owner and my support team would benefit from the most. We are having a problem deciding what angle to go from here. We have been looking into a few places to study and courses to take, but we are still really having a hard time deciding what to start with and where to attend.

I want my team and I to be as well rounded as possible and also know all the new and old techniques there is to know in the culinary field. I feel as an owner of a catering business, with no culinary experience outside of this catering and event planning company I need to broaden my knowledge base both culinary and business wise.

I would like to know what trainings, books, culinary schools and proper degree(s) that you think would be best for me and my team to invest in to further our skill set to be a better culinary team.

Any suggestions will be appreciated, Thanks.

 

[harmony748]

Hey

 Well I understand where you are coming from. I am coming to NYC in a few days specifically to do culinary school and ill be at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) down town in Manhattan. I was in the army and felt that I needed and wanted more in the field of food and seemed that I should go to school. I would suggest looking into the schools in your area, but also think about this. Do you need a degree program or do you want to sharpen the skills you already have?

I chose ICE because they don't require all the "extra" classes that a regular degree program would have, and they are a short program of only 9 months to 13 months  t. I personally don't think it takes 2 year to become a chef unless they have the experience behind them. They have a diploma program which is the exact same thing but no extra college courses. And now a days people don't require a "degree" like they used to. So any culinary program or training will help out any business. now if you are wanting the restaurant management side I can understand going to get a degree and doing the extra classes.

There are a lot of good school but I would suggest looking right there in your city of NY. ( working at some of the restaurant there will help with the experience and its more cost effective only because culinary school is stupid expensive and can take alot of time.)