So you like to cook, you’ve got a flair for creative presentation, you’re a great multi-tasker and the idea of working in hospitality has always appealed to you. Maybe you even have a few food service jobs that appear on your resume. Now the question remains: should you pursue a degree in culinary arts? What types of career opportunities are out there? Below you’ll find an overview of positions typically available in the restaurant and hospitality industry.

“Back of the House” positions include but are not limited to:

Food Preparation Worker. These are the entry-level positions of the chef’s kitchen. Food preparation workers handle tasks such as washing, peeling, and cutting vegetables and fruits; keeping supplies stocked; managing oven temperatures; weighing and measuring; grinding and slicing meats, and keeping the general area neat, clean and organized.

Chef de Partie. The chef de partie, or line cook position, is a step down from sous chef. Line cooks do the actual preparation of meals in fine restaurants. Many establishments employ the use of a head line cook, who divvies up tasks between a line of lower chefs who carry out orders as they are shouted.

Line cooks are typically organized by food type - such as sauce chef who resides over sauces, stews, sautees and hot hors d’ouevres, roast cook or rotisseur, fish chef (poissonier), and pantry chef (chef de garde manager), or preparer of cold dishes such as salads, terraines, and cold desserts (in the absence of a pastry chef).

Pastry Chef. This is a position that was more commonly held by women in the past. In a similar fashion as the chef de garde manager described above, the pastry chef oversees a space that is set back from the main kitchen area. Pastry, soufflee, flan and other items require gentle handling and do not bode well in the company of clanging pans, abrupt movements and shouting as is common in the main part of the kitchen. Not every restaurant employs its own pastry chef.

Sous chef. “Sous chef” is French for “sub chief.” This type of chef works directly beneath the executive chef, serving as a “right hand man or woman” of sorts. The sous chef manages the kitchen alongside of, or in the absence of, the executive chef. Responsibilities include menu planning, costing and inventory, overseeing of kitchen staff members such as assistants, line cooks and food preparation workers. In some cases, the sous chef may divide his time between overseeing things in the back, and making the rounds to ensure that dining room guests are pleased with the food and service.

Executive Chef. This title refers to the first chef in command - the person at the top who oversees all the other chefs, assistants and kitchen workers. Many world famous restaurants are owned by executive chefs - for example, most people have heard of Nobu Matsuhisa, who co-owns Nobu New York in Tribeca, with Robert DeNiro.

“Front of the House” positions include but are not limited to:

Maitre d’ Hotel. Most people are familiar with the shortened form of this title, which is simply maitre d’. This person is responsible for divvying up sections of the dining room for servers to assume responsibility over, greeting and seating guests, booking reservations, attending to customers, managing complaints, and making sure that everything is functioning in an efficient and satisfactory manner. Some establishments refer to this position as the headwaiter, captain, or dining room manager.

Restaurant Manager. This position requires a good balance of business sense, interpersonal, and planning skills and quality control, as well as the ability to coordinate multiple roles and manage staff effectively. The restaurant manager handles everything from budgeting, planning and analyzing, coordinating menus, monitoring sales and profitability, overseeing restaurant staff, supervising kitchen shifts, marketing, recruiting and training.

These are just a few examples of the many rewarding, fast-paced and creative jobs available in culinary arts. If you have attended, or plan to attend, a culinary arts institution, you won’t believe the exciting career options that are available to you in this vibrant and ever-growing industry.

Want more ideas for your job search? Read our article on Culinary Career Job Hunting Tips.

Have your ever considered a career in restaurant management? If so, you might be making a smart choice. Whether you work in fine dining, fast food, or somewhere in between, restaurant management allows individuals with multiple talents and skills to enjoy a rewarding, dynamic and fast-paced work setting.

While in decades past, many restaurant managers began in positions such as server or cook/chef and worked their way up, today it is becoming more commonplace for food establishments to seek out candidates who hold a 2-year associates degree or 4-year bachelor’s degree in hospitality management. If you’re serious about a career in restaurant management and don’t want to wait years to begin making a decent full-time salary, then consider obtaining your degree from a reputable culinary institution that offers this course of study.

Restaurant management requires a diverse mix of talents and personal strengths. First and foremost, this is a demanding industry that requires a very strong work ethic. Expect to work long hours including weekends and holidays, and fill in when employees call out or fail to show up. You will be required to be on your feet nearly all the time, so that’s something to consider as well. Other important skills to have:

Business and finance skills. Many restaurant managers are responsible for budgeting, bookkeeping, managing inventory costs, running/analyzing reports that are used to track profits and expenses, and so forth. Planning skills factor heavily into this job description as well.

Management skills. The restaurant manager oversees the food establishment’s daily operation. He or she is typically in charge of hiring and training new employees, scheduling the work week, keeping existing employees motivated and updated on changes in policy and/or procedure. Restaurant managers hand out weekly paychecks, settle workplace disputes, and oversee that all shifts are covered and jobs are being carried out in an adequate fashion.

Versatility. Anyone who works as a restaurant manager should possess enough job knowledge on all aspects of the restaurant to be able to easily fill in in an employee’s absence - whether it’s cook, chef, dishwasher, host, maitre di or wait staff.

Customer services skills. Restaurant managers are expected to make the rounds during normal hours, ensure that the service and food meet the satisfaction of the customers, and that everything in the dining room is clean, orderly, and running smoothly. If customer complaints arise, the restaurant manager is expected to address and resolve such issues calmly and efficiently.

Because of the high turnover rate in the restaurant and hospitality industry, restaurant managers are in fairly high demand. If you’re a hardworking individual who enjoys dealing with people in a fast-paced, food service setting and excels at multi-tasking, then restaurant management could very well be a rewarding and lucrative career for you.

The paths to a personal chef career are as varied and different as the people who pursue them, and the training option that’s right for one chef might not work in your case. Let’s examine the three basic methods of receiving your personal chef training so that you can determine which one is the best option for you.

Personal Chef Training at a Culinary School
If you’re just out of high school, or simply a novice cook who’s dreamed of learning the culinary arts, but you’ve never had any formal training nor worked for any length of time in a professional kitchen, then you might want to consider enrolling in a culinary school in your town or city.

The faculty at most culinary schools is typically made up of experienced professional chefs who love sharing their passion for food with enthusiastic students, and the culinary degree programs can often be completed in two years or less. These schools tend to be very hands-on and most require some sort of externship in the field in order to graduate.

Though culinary schools can be expensive, but most have financial aid departments that can help you secure scholarships, grants, or student loans. (For more information on financing your culinary education, be sure to see our article, 5 Ways to Pay for Culinary School.)

To save yourself from having to pursue further personal chef training once you graduate, make sure that you choose a culinary school that offers instruction on how to start a personal chef business. One place to start might be the Culinary Business Academy website where you can see a list of culinary schools and community colleges that offer their undergraduate personal chef training program.

Personal Chef Training Seminar
If you’ve already graduated from culinary school or have been working in the restaurant industry for a considerable length of time, you might not need the extensive training that cooking schools offer. For you, attending a seminar led by one of the personal chef professional organizations may supply you with all the education you need to start your new career.

These seminars, like the ones hosted by the American Personal & Private Chef Association, focus on the business side of your personal chef service by offering instruction on how to plan, start, and market your personal chef business. They also can include other benefits such as software to run your business, access to liability insurance for chefs, online referrals, and ongoing mentoring.

The seminars run 2 – 3 days and can range in price from $1,000 - $1,500

Personal Chef Home Study Course
If you’re not near a major city that has a culinary school or hosts a live seminar, you can always choose to learn from the comfort of your living room with a personal chef home study course.

Often these are recorded versions of the live seminar, so you still get all of the handouts, software, and marketing materials that you would get if you attended in person. The APPCA and the USPCA both offer personal chef training courses, and the Personal Chef Network includes personal chef training materials in its membership package.

Along with the convenience of learning the material from your own home on your own schedule, the home study courses are also the most economical of the training options with prices varying from $595 to $795 for these courses.

Personal Chef Training Links
For more information on the personal chef training programs mentioned above, visit the following websites:

Culinary Business Academy
Associated with the United States Personal Chef Association, the Culinary Business Academy offers a home study course, quick start seminar, and, at select culinary schools, an undergraduate personal chef training course.

American Personal and Private Chef Association
Offers The Business of Doing Business as a Personal Chef© training course as a live seminar, home study course and video enhanced home study course.

Personal Chef Network
New members in the network can register to receive The Making of a Personal Chef© home study course. A payment plan is available to pay for the personal chef training and marketing materials.

What is this new culinary career?

A personal chef.

Over the next few articles, we’re going to provide you with the practical information you’ll need to begin this exciting new culinary career as a personal chef.

What is a Personal Chef?

First personal chefs are not the same as private chefs. A private chef is employed by one employer, either a private individual or a company, and he prepares meals for that employer on a daily basis. A personal chef, on the other hand, has many clients, and he prepares several days–and sometimes weeks–of meals at once and then freezes them in individual portions, which the clients can re-heat and eat later. (For a more detailed discussion, view our previous article which educates consumers on the difference between a private and personal chef.)

A relatively young industry, the personal chef career track has been around for 20 years or so, but has only exploded in popularity in the last five.

The Consumer Demand for Personal Chefs

From the consumer standpoint, several factors contribute to the demand for personal chefs.

First, Americans are busier than ever. There are more single family house holds where the parent is also the chief breadwinner and doesn’t have time to prepare a healthy meal each night. This crisis is also felt in many two parent households where both parents work outside the home.

Adding to this is the fact that as the Baby Boomer generation ages, there’s more demand for meals that cater to (pun intended) restrictive diets such as low sugar, low sodium, or heart healthy diets.

The Industry Demand for a Personal Chef Career Track

Matching the consumer demand is a crisis in the culinary industry. In recent years more and more trade schools and culinary schools are offering culinary arts degree programs. Even the renown Le Cordon Bleu has gotten into the act by partnering with several American culinary schools to offer a Le Cordon Bleu degree in conjunction with the school’s culinary arts degree.

In spite of the quality culinary arts education that many of these schools offer, the graduates emerge over-burdened with student loan debts and faced with the reality of working long hours in a kitchen — even an upscale one — for low, hourly wages that barely cover living expenses, much less student loan debts.

Furthermore, the work that the graduates find themselves doing is often made up “prep work,” which consists largely of menial tasks such as chopping and peeling large quantities of vegetables, peeling potatoes or separating eggs. Some even end up preparing fast food at snack stands — hardly the culinary careers they dreamed of when they enrolled in chef school.

Personal Chef Career Track

Fortunately, the personal chef career track has helped solve these problems faced by the hard working consumer who doesn’t have time to prepare a healthy meal by providing her with options other than fast food or dragging the family out on weeknights to a restaurant. Further, it allows those on restrictive diets to enjoy a variety of tasteful foods that keep them healthy.

For the culinary professionals, personal chef jobs allow them to earn good wages doing the things that they’ve always dreamed of doing… preparing delicious meals for customers who appreciate them.

Now that you know a little more about the professional chef industry, you can decide if it’s something you want to pursue.

In our next article, we’ll discuss the various training options available to help you start your new personal chef career. See you then!

Read on for five ideas on how to turn your dreams into reality and get the financial aid you need.

Federal Student Financial Aid

The U.S. government offers various types of financial aid, including need based loans and scholarships. People typically think of this aid for traditional college, but many culinary schools are qualifying institutions, which is great news for you! To see if you qualify for any federal student aid, simply fill out the online form at www.fafsa.ed.gov.

Industry Based Aid

The hospitality industry has many opportunities in place for would-be students as well as restaurant professionals looking to further their education. Some resources to check out include:

The American Academy of Chefs
The Culinary Trust
The International Association of Culinary Professionals
The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation

Private Sector Grants and Scholarships

Thanks to the Internet, it’s never been easier to search the vast array of financial aid available from thousands of sources. It’s all at http://www.fastweb.com, a database containing over a million scholarships worth more than 3 billion dollars! Take a look and see what’s there for you.

Financial Assistance From Your School of Choice

Visit the websites or call the Financial Aid office of the school or schools you are considering and see what they have to offer. Most institutions have alumni-funded grants and memorial scholarships. Chances are there’s one perfect for you. Many schools also have assistance in the form of work-study jobs. If you plan to live on campus, check into the possibility of becoming a resident advisor when you’re eligible. This service is usually compensated with free room and board, which can save a significant amount of money.

Family, Union and Employer Assistance

If you or a parent are a Union member, check into whether they offer scholarships - many do! The same goes for many employers. Corporations large and small often have scholarships set up specifically for the children of employees. Finally, consider the possibility that someone near and dear to you might just be willing to loan you money at a favorable rate of interest. If you explain the benefits of your education and outline a potential payment plan for the future, you may secure a loan close to home.

With some research and planning, money needn’t stand between you and a great culinary education. Invest in your future and enjoy the dividends for years to come. Bon Appetit!

In our last article, we showed you the difference between a personal and private chef and discussed why hiring a personal chef might be the best thing for you and your family. In this article, we’ll give you some tips and simple instructions on what to expect when you hire a personal chef and how to find the one that’s best for you.

As stated in the previous post, your personal chef will not come to your home everyday, but will prepare several meals at once and freeze or refrigerate them so that you can re-heat them at your convenience.

Most of the time, your chef will do all of the cooking at your house on a pre-arranged day. She will purchase all of the groceries, and cook using her own knives, utensils, pots and pans, and even clean-up when she’s done. Some chefs may prepare the food elsewhere and deliver it to you. You’ll have to discuss this with your chef to find out her policy.

Beginning Your Search for a Professional Chef

As with all searches these days, the best place to start is the internet. Fortunately, there are two national professional organizations of personal chefs and both of them maintain websites with excellent search features.

The first organization is the American Personal and Private Chef Associations (APPCA) and their website is located at www.personalchefsearch.com. There you’ll find tips, frequently asked questions, and you can search for chefs by city, state, zip code, and even area code.

The second organization, the United States Personal Chef Association, maintains the personal chef search website at www.hireachef.com. This site boasts all of the features of the APPCA’s site, plus an informational hiring guide.

Using both of these online resources, you should be able to quickly find some prospective candidates for the job. The next step is narrowing down the search to find the personal chef that’s best for you.

Key Points to Consider When You Hire a Personal Chef

Insurance – Since your personal chef will be cooking at your home, she should be covered with the appropriate liability insurance in case you, your family, or property are damaged as a result of her being there.

Safe Food Handler Certification – Though the qualifications may vary depending on where you live, make sure that your chef has the safe food handling certifications required by your local government. Call your city’s or county’s public health office to determine what those safe-handling guidelines are.

Make sure you know who will be doing the cooking for you and your family. For slightly larger organizations, the business owner and chef you talk to on the phone may not be the person who shows up at your doorstep. Also, will she be the same person from week to week, or will you constantly be dealing with someone knew?

Menu Variety and Dietary Restrictions – Make sure that their culinary style matches your tastes. Also, how often are the same meals repeated? Though your chef may advertise that she can customize a low fat, low salt, or gluten free diet, ask how many meals she has that actually meet those qualifications. The last thing you want is to go through the expense of hiring a personal chef who just prepares the same 4 meals over and over with no variety.

Culinary Education and Experience — How much experience does your prospective candidate have? Where did she get her culinary education? Maybe she learned her cooking skills in her mother’s kitchen or maybe she attended one of the best culinary schools in the country?

References – People shy away from this, but don’t hesitate to ask for—and check—references. When you do talk with past clients, be sure to ask the questions that could uncover some hidden problems, such as, “What question should I be asking you that I haven’t? What should I know about [chef candidate] that she might not want me to know?

Price, Long Term Contracts, and Other Hidden Costs – If you’re outside of her immediate service area, will she add on an additional cost to cover travel expenses? Or, will she require you to make an out of the way trip across town each week to pick up your meals from her kitchen?

Also, make sure you’re not tied down to any long term contracts and take the time to find out what she charges for extra portions. Perhaps you’ll have out-of-town company for a week or a child coming home from college, you won’t want to be surprised with any exorbitant charges for adding additional portions.

That’s it! Armed with this information, you can now confidently begin your search and hire a personal chef that can make your life more convenient, healthier, and your dinners more enjoyable. Bon appetit!

In today’s fast paced world more Americans are sacrificing eating well, for eating quickly. Fast food, take out, and unhealthy “quick meals” are all contributing to an increase in obesity and related ailments, such as heart disease and type-two diabetes.

But thanks to the rise in the personal chef industry in this country, busy Americans are finding that they can enjoy expertly-prepared, healthy meals—without breaking the bank!

In this brief article, you’ll get the scoop on personals chefs, including the advantages of hiring one.

Personal Chefs vs. Private Chefs

The first step in this discussion is to clarify the difference between a personal chef and a private chef. Private chefs (think, “Mr French” from Family Affair or Rosie for Oprah) work full time for one family and prepare daily meals in the kitchen. This, obviously, is the most expensive, luxurious option and is out of reach for most middle class Americans.

A personal chef, however, usually works with several clients and will not cook in your kitchen each day. Instead, she’ll prepare several meals at once (usually about 20 servings at a time) and package them so that you can re-heat and eat them at your convenience.

Now, that we’ve made the distinction between personal and private chefs, let’s take a look at some of the advantages and the costs related to hiring one for yourself.

The Advantages of Hiring a Personal Chef

The biggest benefit of hiring a personal chef is, first and foremost, convenience. Not only do personal chefs cook the meals, but they do all of the shopping, chopping, and dicing in preparation for the meals. Once you’ve calculated the hours spent going to the store, (and, if you’re like me, “going BACK to the store”), doing the prep for the cooking, and cleaning-up afterwards, you can see how they’ll save you hours of time each day.

Second, and perhaps most important of all, they can keep you eating healthily, even while you maintain your busy schedule. Personal chefs can customize your meals to meet any dietary restrictions, such as low-carb, low-sugar, or hearth-healthy, and they can also eliminate ingredients that you might be allergic to, such as nuts, lactose, or gluten.

Also, just because your meal is prepared by a personal chef, doesn’t mean that it’s a formal dinner that you have to sit down to each night. They can also prepare healthy on-the-go sandwiches and wraps that you can throw in your bag or briefcase and take with you to your next busy appointment.

Finally, most of the chefs we’ve encountered don’t require you to commit to any long term plan. This way, if you decide that their style doesn’t match your tastes or even that a personal chef just isn’t for you, you’re not locked into some long term contract that you can’t break. This feature also provides you with some much-needed flexibility if you’re going to be out of town for long periods of time.

By now I’m guessing that you’re “sold” on the idea of a personal chef, but still a little leery of the costs involved. While personal chefs aren’t as cheap as a trip through the drive-in, or even a trip to the family buffet, hiring one may not be as expensive as you might think.

The Surprising Costs of Hiring a Personal Chef

The standard package offered by most chefs consists of 5 different meals of four servings each for a total of 20 servings. For a family of four, that’s a week’s worth (Monday through Friday) of meals, for a couple that’s two weeks’ worth, and for a single person that’s February.

Costs may vary from area to area around the country, but the going rate for this package seems to range from $200 - $325 ($10/serving - $16.25/serving), with some chefs advertising that they can customize a meal plan for any budget. This price does include the price of groceries necessary to make the meal.

For many budgets these packages are definitely not “cheap,” but once you’ve calculated in the expense of your time, gas to and from the grocery store, the amount of times you eat out each week because you don’t have the time to prepare a meal, and the potential future costs of the medical expenses that can result from eating poorly night after night, hiring a personal chef can be a decision that makes a lot of sense for you and your loved ones.

By now you’ve seen how affordable and advantageous it is to hire a personal chef. In our next article, we’ll cover some step-by-step instructions you can follow to find the personal chef that’s right for you and your family.

Culinary jobs are some of the most sought after jobs in the world today, and why not? After all, how many careers take you to the finest restaurants, resorts, and hotels in some of the most exotic and exciting locations around the world? Finding the culinary job that’s right for you, however, can be easier said than done.

Here are some tips to help you focus your search and, hopefully, find the culinary position of your dreams.

Take Advantage of Your Culinary School’s Career Placement Office

First, start with the obvious… your culinary school. Most culinary schools pride themselves on finding employment for their students and graduates and thus, strive to maintain good relationships with the top hotels, restaurants, cruise lines, and other prospective employers. After all, what better advertisement can a school have than to brag that its graduates now work for 5 star hotels or fine-dining establishments?

Some culinary arts schools, like those affiliated with the Le Cordon Bleu Program, are part of an even bigger culinary placement network and can put you in contact with prospective employers all over the world.

Even if you’ve been out of culinary school for a while, contact your alma mater’s placement office as many of them now extend lifetime placement assistance to their alumni.

Turn Your Culinary School Externship into a Full Time Job

Since most culinary schools require you to complete an externship to qualify for graduation, explore all of the possibilities available at your temporary place of employment. If you like the work environment and the staff you work with, inquire about the possibilities of staying on after graduation in a paid position.

If that option doesn’t suit your plans or is unavailable all together, ask around to see if anyone on the staff knows of a position that’s open elsewhere. From industry to industry, “knowing someone who knows someone” is still one of the most reliable sources of getting a job. Chefs and sous chefs constantly move from property to property and after a few years, have a network of friends and associates that they keep in contact with across the country. They may be able to help you just by making a phone call.

At the very least, upon the completion of your externship get as many personal letters of recommendation as you can from your supervisors, managers, and employer. Presenting these letters to a prospective future employer may mean the difference between you or another applicant landing the job.

Search for Culinary Job Postings on the Internet

As in all industries, the internet has become the first stop for culinary job-hunting. Many of the leading job sites, such as Career Builder, have entire sections dedicated to culinary and hospitality jobs.

Also, there are several sites such as Hcareers.com, and Hospitalityonline.com that list both hospitality and culinary job postings, as well as a few that are completely devoted to chef jobs (finediningjobs.com, ihirechefs.com, starchefsjobfinder.com)

Best of all, most sites like this are free and some will even email you if a job matching your criteria comes online.

In your search, don’t forget to explore the HR sections of some of the major hotel chains such as Four Seasons, Kimpton Hotels, Hilton, Starwood, and others.

Go Head Hunting

Though not as popular as it used to be (thanks to the internet), enlisting the services of a “headhunter” or “chef recruiter” can be a great option to take, especially if you’re currently employed and don’t want to advertise that you’re looking to change jobs.

Although headhunters primarily deal with Executive Chefs, some agencies may be willing to help out an up-and-comer as long as you have some experience under your belt. Search on the internet under “chef recruiters” or “culinary headhunters” for agencies that can potentially help you out.

Be Adventurous

You’ll greatly increase the number of job opportunities if you’re willing to look outside of your current location and relocate—possibly even to a foreign country.

Many seasonal resorts, for example, offer fine dining to their guests during tourist season, but then close down for the remainder of the year. If you’re the adventurous type who doesn’t like to get tied down, and always likes to be “where the action is,” these kinds of positions may be ideal for you. You could enjoy winter at a golf resort in Arizona and summer at a retreat in the Rockies. The possibilities here are almost endless.

Also, many resorts and hotels abroad are looking for American chefs who are willing to travel. If you’re willing to pack your bags and move to another country for a position, you’ve already eliminated much of your competition from the job pool. You can search the internet for “chef jobs abroad” or similar topics to track down leads on these positions.

Hopefully, this brief article has given you some ideas that can help you focus your job search and put you on the fast track to a successful culinary career!

The most successful careers are ones you love. This is advice given time after time by career counselors. Figure out what you enjoy doing and find a way to make a living doing it.

Many people love cooking and working with food. If you’re someone who loves creating culinary delights and love working with people, you might consider a career in restaurant management. Whether you work in fine dining, fast food, or somewhere in between, the restaurant management career allows individuals with multiple talents and skills to enjoy a rewarding career in a fast-paced high demand industry.

Career Path Now Starts With Culinary School

At one time the normal career path for restaurant management began in positions such as server or cook/chef and individuals worked their way up over time. Now food establishments look for candidates who have been trained in schools offering hospitality and restaurant management. If you’re serious about a restaurant management career and you don’t want to wait years to begin, then consider a reputable culinary institution that offers hospitality training. (Worried about the costs of culinary school? Check out our article on student financial aid.)

To become a successful restaurant manager requires a diverse mix of talents and personal strengths. One must always remember that the food industry is very demanding and requires a strong work ethic. Expect to work long hours including weekends and holidays, and fill in when employees call out or fail to show up. You will be required to be on your feet nearly all the time, so that’s something to consider as well. Other important skills to have:

Management and Good Organization skills. The restaurant manager typically is in charge of hiring and training new employees, scheduling the work week, keeping existing employees motivated and updated on changes in policy and/or procedure. Restaurant managers hand out weekly paychecks, settle workplace disputes, and oversee that all shifts are covered and jobs are being carried out in an adequate fashion. They do all these jobs in addition to overseeing the food establishment’s daily operation.

Business and finance skills. Accounting and business sense are important. The restaurant managers may also be responsible for budgeting, bookkeeping, managing inventory costs, running/analyzing reports that are used to track profits and expenses.

In-Depth Knowledge. Anyone who works as a restaurant manager should possess enough job knowledge on all aspects of the restaurant to be able to easily fill-in in an employee’s absence - whether it’s cook, chef, dishwasher, host, maitre di or wait staff. They have to be able to wear many hats.

Good People and Customer services skills. Restaurant managers have to possess good diplomacy skills. They are expected to keep the peace and ensure the establishment runs smoothly. They make the rounds during normal hours; ensure that the service and food meet the satisfaction of the customers, and that everything in the dining room is clean, orderly, and running smoothly. If customer complaints arise, the restaurant manager is expected to address and resolve such issues calmly and efficiently. Good judgment and diplomacy are highly valuable.

Challenging Rewarding Career Option

Are you up for the challenge? Its not an easy job, but its rewarding and a growing field. If you’re a hardworking individual who enjoys dealing with people in a fast-paced, food service setting, then restaurant management could very well be your calling.

Like all good things, earning the chef title takes time and effort. Formal training and hands-on experience need time to cultivate to bring your skills to the level of a professional. A fast track to the title could be by attending a culinary training institution or becoming an apprentice where you train under experienced chefs.

Professional Chef Characteristics

Some of the best professional chefs are found in large cities across the world. Culinary arts school instructors in this area of the country are quick to tell would-be chefs what characteristics play a vital role in their quests for professional status. From personal observations from chefs who have attended a cooking school and reached the level of Executive Chef or Master Chef, the first two traits that stand out are hard work and creativity.

Becoming a chef will require dedication to the time and tasks of completing culinary school, working through an externship and gaining years of experience through frontline work in restaurants.

As you build your cooking and baking skills, you’ll incorporate the physical tasks of chopping, slicing, mixing and others into the creative tasks of developing recipes and plating your dishes with unique presentations. The end result is a multisensory experience of sight, smell and taste that truly brings pleasure to those who eat what you’ve prepared.

What else is required? The ability to work as part of a team. Yes, even though Rachael and Emeril appear to be going it alone on their shows, they have an entire staff behind the scenes that assists them.

A professional chef must be able to delegate responsibilities, supervise the work of others, coordinate every step of the menu and culminate the efforts of everyone involved into wonderful dishes that are served hot, fresh and on time.

A sincere love for food is also needed to be a great chef. Do you wonder about how different seasonings and textures work together? Are you always experimenting to find new combinations of spices, herbs and sauces that bring out the flavor of your dishes? This curiosity and love of food will certainly work in your favor as you strive toward your goal.

Do you have these characteristics? Does running your own restaurant interest you? Do you have a passion for cooking? Perhaps you have a future as a professional culinary chef.