People working in Culinary Arts careers are employed in a wide variety of locations. In addition to restaurants, bars, and cafés, they may work in grocery and specialty stores, hospitals, schools, and other large facilities. Some may even work for private households, or act as a kind of consultant and work with several different clients.

In general, people working in the Culinary Arts should have good manual dexterity, organizational skills, and interpersonal skills, as well as creativity, and excellent hygiene standards. They must also be able to work well under pressure, and work well as a member of a team. Most Culinary Arts careers also require a certain degree of physical stamina, as they involve working long hours, much of which is spent on working on the feet.

While some types of kitchen workers can train on the job, Chefs typically face keen competition when seeking new career opportunities, and some form of qualification is a must to climb the ranks and become a Sous Chef, Pastry Chef, or Executive Chef. Anyone interested in becoming a Chef should plan to obtain at least an Associate’s degree in Food Science or some form of Culinary Arts.

For Food Scientists, a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Food Technology, or Biotechnology is required for careers involving product development. Studying further to obtain a Master’s or Doctorate degree will allow for advanced career opportunities in research.

The US Department of Labor predicts that career opportunities in the Culinary Arts will grow at an approximately average rate through to the year 2016, with employment expected to increase by around 10% during that time.

For Chefs of all types, salary varies greatly according to geographical location and the type of employer they work for. A Chef of any kind will typically earn more working in a hotel or restaurant in a metropolitan or resort location. The average Chef earns around $35,000 per year, with salary ranging from $20,000 to more than $60,000. The salary a Chef can earn is also highly dependent on their ‘rank’, with Executive or Head Chefs usually having the highest earning potential.

Food Scientists earn an average of approximately $50,000 per year, with salary ranging between $30,000 and nearly $100,000 depending on level of experience and the type of industry they work in.

The main role of a Professional Chef is to design and create meals, with the intention of creating dishes that are visually appealing as well as delicious. In larger establishments, the Professional Chef is usually responsible for planning menus, developing new recipes, and putting raw ingredients together to create dishes, while other kitchen staff members usually carry out the tasks of chopping vegetables, trimming meats, and other activities.

However, the Professional Chef does not only prepare food – they may have a variety of other duties such as sourcing food from suppliers, and supervising other kitchen staff. When the Professional Chef is running the kitchen, they may be known as the Executive Chef or Head Chef.

The Professional Chef should have good manual dexterity, creativity, and a flair for designing dishes that are aesthetically pleasing. They must be able to work well under pressure, have excellent hygiene standards, be able to handle working on multiple tasks at once, and have good leadership and interpersonal skills.

The Sous Chef is the ‘second in command’, providing assistance to and working directly under the supervision of the Head Chef in a kitchen. They may also be responsible for taking over the duties of the Head Chef in some situations. In larger kitchens, there may be more than one Sous Chef, and each will specialize in different aspects of meal preparation, such as appetizers, meat dishes, and desserts.

Sous Chefs have several different duties, including food preparation, supervision of other kitchen staff, and quality control. They also assist the Executive Chef with administrative tasks such as:

• inventory management
• sourcing supplies
• menu planning

In most cases, the Sous Chef is working to gain experience with the intention of eventually becoming an Executive Chef.

A Sous Chef should have good manual dexterity, creativity, and imagination in working with food. They must be able to work well under pressure, have good organizational skills, excellent hygiene standards, and good interpersonal skills. They should also work towards developing good leadership skills, to prepare for becoming an Executive Chef.

Pastry Chefs specialize in the creation of desserts, pastries and baked goods, and most often work in bakeries, restaurants, and hotels. In larger establishments such as hotels and restaurants they typically oversee just the pastry and desserts section of the kitchen, but are responsible for all aspects of running it.

The Pastry Chef’s duties include planning and costing menus, creating new recipes, and sourcing and ordering supplies. In addition to planning traditional desserts, they may also plan dessert wine menus. Often they will carry out preparation of desserts and pasties in advance, and another chef or kitchen worker is responsible for plating desserts as they are ordered.

A Pastry Chef should have good manual dexterity, creativity and imagination, and the ability to create desserts that both look and taste good. Attention to detail, time management, and organizational skills are also important.

Food Scientists have a unique role in the culinary arts, in that they are not always involved in the hands-on work of preparing food for public consumption. Instead, they work ‘behind the scenes’, to develop and improve food products.

For Food Scientists, the focus is on using scientific knowledge to develop new methods of processing, preserving, packaging and storing food, analyzing nutritional content of food, and developing methods to improve the nutritional content of food. Food Scientists may work on research projects in:

• colleges and universities
• government research facilities
• food manufacturers
• larger supermarket chains

Food Scientists should have good research, analytical, and problem-solving skills. Good communication and interpersonal skills are also important, as well as the ability to work both independently and as part of a team. An understanding of basic business and statistical principles is also useful.