Career and Salary Information for Those with a Culinary Arts Degree

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What is a Culinary Arts Degree?

A culinary arts degree is usually an associate’s degree offered through either a dedicated culinary arts school or a culinary arts program at a community college. Some culinary schools like the esteemed Culinary Institute of America, offer both bachelor’s and associate’s degrees. Depending on the school or program, you may be able to specialize in areas such as Pastry and Baking, Culinary Arts Management, and Culinary Science.

Typical programs will last anywhere from 15 months to four years depending on the degree you are seeking and the amount of experience you already have, and completing one will make you eligible for the higher culinary arts salary. Associate degrees are normally earned by those wanting to enter the workforce quickly and don’t have immediate managerial plans. Most bachelor’s degree programs focus as much on hotel and restaurant management as they do on cooking.

Where can I Work after Earning my Culinary Arts Degree?

Holders of culinary arts degrees can work in a variety of industries and locations around the world. Where you can work will vary greatly depending on your own skills, and to some extent, where you attended culinary school. As with most other professions, the more prestigious restaurants, hotels, casinos, and private employers will typically hire chefs who graduated from recognized culinary academies rather than those who chose to learn on the job.

Of course, a degree from a prestigious cooking school isn’t worth much, if you can’t demonstrate the skills to back it up. The best chefs, those that work in the best restaurants, in the most desirable locations, with the highest salaries typically have mastered the combination of craft, art, and business.

•Craft – The craft of cooking is the mechanical part of preparing food and includes things like knife skills, the ability to season (use salt and pepper properly), cook items to the correct level of doneness, etc.
•Art – The art of the chef is creating new and exciting dishes and presenting them in beautiful and imaginative ways.
•Business – Successful chefs always have a head for business. In fact, few people are ever successful without a head for business.

Salary Expectations for Those with a Culinary Arts Degree

Unlike chefs, most cooks simply learn their skills on the job. This does not automatically mean that all chefs cook better than all cooks, but it does mean that a culinary arts salary will typically be higher than a cooks salary. While there is variation among individuals within any group, it is true that, as group chefs tend to be more highly skilled and diverse than cooks. This truth is reflected in the higher median pay for chefs as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to the BLS, cooks have a median annual salary of $20,550 while chefs have a median annual salary of $42,480. The top 10% of cooks earned more than $30,534 per year, but the top 10% of chefs earned $74,120 per year, in 2012.

As you can see, a culinary arts salary is going to be higher than the salary for those who lack a culinary arts degree. You also should note that those with a culinary arts degree will typically be able to advance to higher levels within the kitchen and the positions of a sous chef and executive chef are, almost always, reserved to those who have graduated from a culinary arts program.