Is Going to Culinary School Worth the Expense?

Popular culture, from hit television shows to YouTube, portrays the job of a chef as glamorous, exciting and even a bit romantic. With the rise of the superstar chef, many more people are seriously considering the idea of chef as a career choice. They are also wondering if culinary school is worth it to break into the restaurant and hospitality industry.

So You Want to Be a Chef?

A chef at work in the Culinary Arts kitchen at Laney College.

Whether you’re mid-career and looking for a change or exploring the exciting world of a professional chef as your first career, there are many great reasons to become a chef. Once you’ve decided to become a chef, one of the first questions you might have is how to get into the industry. You may then wonder if going to culinary school is worth the expense. Opinions around the question of cost are everywhere ranging from a resounding “yes!” to a “no, not ever.” With so many perspectives on the subject, we’ll look here at some of the benefits and requirements of a culinary education. We’ll offer some insights from industry professionals on the subject so you can make an informed decision whether the cost of culinary school is truly worth it to break into the exciting world of restaurants and hospitality.

Getting Your Start with Dishes

It’s helpful to understand that, no matter if you have a culinary degree or not, there’s a chance you might find the start to your culinary career in a restaurant dish room. This isn’t uncommon or a reflection of your accomplishments, but a path many famous chefs have followed themselves. It’s a matter of learning the trade from the ground up.

Dishwashers are as critical to the effective operation of a restaurant as an executive chef. Michael Chiarello, famous chef and Food Network star got his start as a dishwasher. He was once quoted as saying, “… as that area goes, so goes the rest of the restaurant.” Four-time James Beard Award Winning television personality, Andrew Zimmerman, took a job washing dishes after years working in award-winning New York City restaurants. And, Kevin O’Connor, chef, author and olive oil sommelier got his start at 14 working in a restaurant dish room.

Chef O’Connor and others often recommend the dish room as a path into the industry, to know for certain whether a culinary career really is right for you. It might be sound advice, to gain experience before committing to two or more years of culinary study, even without considering the costs. It’s a tough and rewarding industry. Culinary school will prepare you, but you do need a certain passion and interest in food and hospitality. It’s not always as glamorous as an episode of Chef’s Table.

Culinary school will prepare you, but you do need a certain passion and interest in food and hospitality.

A Culinary Education Explained

Maybe you work or have worked in a kitchen and have decided a culinary education is the right path. Maybe you’ve got the bug and can’t wait to learn how to braise or properly use a chef’s knife. Whatever the case, you’ll want to know a little about a culinary education and what to expect from a culinary degree to know whether culinary school is worth it.

Laney College Culinary Arts classes provide clear learning outcomes for students in their programs. These learning outcomes, created by professional chefs and instructors, prepare students for real work in restaurants and industrial kitchens. Skilled instructors provide real world experience, advice and perspectives. The Culinary Arts department also features well-appointed industrial kitchen “labs” for hands-on learning and practical experience. These lab kitchens are safe, professional environments to learn real restaurant kitchen operations. Laney also boasts a working restaurant which we’ll talk about a little later.

Founded in 1927, Laney College was originally called Central Trade School. The aim of the college was and still is for education and career advancement. It offers vocational certificates and degree or transfer courses. In addition to culinary skills, students can explore general education classes for transfer to four-year colleges. They also have the option to explore other academic interests. Some courses might better prepare students to run a business or guide a diverse team. By comparison, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), founded in 1946, focuses on “all aspects of food and the enterprises related to it.” In either program, you’ll certainly get a quality culinary education, from qualified instructors. The Laney programs might offer more opportunities and resources to advance your critical thinking skills, and these learned tools and skills may better prepare students for the many different options for a culinary career.

Laney’s Culinary Arts Programs

The Laney College Culinary Arts program offers several degree and certificate programs. These programs prepare you for career success. The two-year Culinary Arts & Restaurant Management Degree provides both education and practical experience. From cooking skills to restaurant operations, courses prepare you to succeed as a chef. You’ll get training in contemporary cuisine, learn and practice knife skills and understand restaurant and kitchen management best practices. The two-year programs teach more than cooking and seasoning meats and vegetables. The programs also teach students how to succeed as a leader, manager and hospitality entrepreneur.

Baking and pastry prep tables at the Laney College of Culinary Arts.

The Baking and Pastry program also prepares you for a rewarding career. In this program you’ll develop skills in classic and modern baking. You’ll also learn pastry decoration and candy and dessert preparation. Both programs take four semesters. After two years of study and kitchen lab work, you earn an industry recognized certificate.

Additional Career Opportunities

Many culinary programs also offer students opportunities to explore internships and jobs. While Laney’s Culinary Arts program does not offer intern credits, the program’s industry network can provide numerous employment opportunities. Network connections are often some of the most valuable aspects of any culinary program. It’s connections made during school that can turn into rewarding careers after graduation. It is also the connections that more costly programs claim are their main program benefits. Your culinary education and network connections create opportunities and open career paths you might not find otherwise.

Your culinary education and network connections create opportunities and open career paths you might not find otherwise.

Laney College Culinary Arts program also offers a Culinary Foundations Certificate. This single year program is for anyone. Home chefs, “foodies,” restaurateurs and industry professionals can gain more confidence in their skills. Program participants develop familiarity with industrial equipment. They advance their understanding and abilities, better understand professional kitchen practices and learn to make diverse and delicious foods. Foundation Certificate students develop a range of principles and skills for a lifetime of joy in the kitchen. Open to all, from novices to experienced chefs, there’s a program and a path for food lovers at Laney Culinary.

The Costs of a Culinary Arts Degree

Do the opportunities of a program match your personal interests or professional goals?

The costs of a culinary arts degree can vary quite dramatically. Most programs offer financial support in the form of financial aid, grants, loans or scholarships. And, like the Laney Culinary program, most schools offer a number of degree, transfer and certificate pathways. Some schools feature Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs. All of the programs should, and usually do, provide you experience working in scratch kitchens and on galley lines. These settings help develop the required skills and understanding to succeed in a restaurant setting. Many programs offer unique specialties. The Institute of Culinary Education boasts a “bean-to-bar” chocolate lab. CIA Hyde Park maintains a craft brewery. Laney College operates the Laney Bistro. Students working in the Bistro apply their learning to the real time preparation and service of seasonally authentic foods to customers a few evenings a week. One patron of the Laney Bistro calls it “… one of the best kept secrets in Oakland – a real treasure!” When evaluating the cost of your culinary education, you should consider the additional offerings. Do the opportunities of a program match your personal interests or professional goals?

Culinary School Tuition and Living Expenses

The Cost of tuition at the Culinary Institute of America is around $20,000 per semester. This is the direct cost for tuition and doesn’t include living expenses, like rent, books, food and supplies. A diploma from the Institute of Culinary Education in 2023 will have a direct cost of somewhere between $35,000 and $50,000.

A Laney College Culinary Arts Student with a dish prepared in culinary arts class.

Culinary arts programs are intensive. Classes happen daily and it can be challenging to work while studying. You may require student loans or extra financial support. It is programs like those at CIA or ICE where the high costs of a culinary education are truly up for debate. This is particularly important when the median salary for a head chef is $56,520 in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. So, while you may make great networking connections and learn from some very skilled specialists at many of these programs, it’s tough to repay a student loan on these expected salaries. The good news is, you can get a world-class education from skilled professionals and build a rewarding network at programs offered through local colleges, like Laney College.

The faculty at Laney’s Culinary Arts programs are accomplished and award-winning chefs, just like those at other programs. Many are also successful restaurant business owners and entrepreneurs. With experience in respected kitchens and restaurants around the world, these professionals offer both practical expertise and industry connections to students in the Culinary Arts program. They’re also enthusiastic educators inspired to teach what they know.

Financial Aid for Culinary Arts

Laney College provides financial support to all students. Grants and other financial aid is available for qualifying students and many students attend the Laney’s Culinary Arts program and earn a certificate degree at little or no cost. The programs are as detailed as those at other schools and the tuition and fees can be almost completely covered by financial aid. This means students can earn a leading and practical culinary education without the burdens of student loan debt.

In some instances, tuition at Laney can be completely free of charge.

Direct tuition costs for a Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management Certificate at Laney College is $46 per unit. The total costs for a certificate is about $1,794 at the time of this writing. Compare this to the $20,000 per semester price tag at CIA. In some instances, tuition at Laney can be completely free of charge. This is not to suggest that a CIA education isn’t worth the expense; it would certainly expose you to a world of culinary excellence. But, the same practical education, the same fundamentals and a remarkable experience are available to students through programs like those at Laney College.

Added Value of a Laney Culinary Education

In addition to affordable tuition and dedicated, experienced instructors, there are added benefits to attending Laney Culinary. Students of every age, from every walk of life take courses at Laney College. Restaurateurs and business owners attend Laney Culinary to refine their craft and improve their skills. And, Oakland and the Bay Area are home to some of the greatest restaurants, hotels, bars and hospitality in the world. The network of opportunities for Laney Culinary students is in the geography and the community. This added value, for an affordable education and the ambitious student is nearly incalculable.

Learn More About Laney College

The faculty and staff at Laney College are dedicated to your success. You’ll find all the answers you need to enroll at Laney.edu. The Laney College Culinary Arts home page has program details and class lists. You will also find contact information for instructors and the Department Chair if you have specific questions about the program. To enroll or learn more about financial aid and tuition, visit the Laney College enrollment page. You’ll find how easy it is to enroll and start your journey to an affordable, world-class education in hospitality and the Culinary Arts.

The value of a professional culinary education is evident at Laney College Culinary Arts. The program is great for those exploring career options. It’s engaging for mid-career professionals looking to advance. And, it’s an ideal program for those looking for a career change or explore opportunities in the hospitality industry. So, if you are interested in making great food, building skills, or becoming the next great TikTok chef, start your culinary journey at Laney Culinary. It’s world class and so worth it!

February 8th, 2024 | Category: General Information

Resources and inspiration for an aspiring chef are everywhere. From famous cook books and television shows to TikTok shorts and online courses, there’s an endless supply of opportunities to learn about cooking. This has many people, inspired by food and the Culinary Arts, wondering what they might actually learn in culinary school that they can’t learn practicing on their own at home.

While an amateur chef or at home cook will certainly find some useful tips and tricks for cooking from books, videos and online courses, the business of culinary, the profession of restaurants and commercial kitchens, while based on the same principles, is worlds apart from cooking at home for family and friends.

Culinary school is great for your first career. It’s also useful if you’re mid-career and looking to advance in your job or the hospitality industry. And, there’s even value for the passionate amateur chef looking to gain new skills. You can learn a great deal in culinary school, no matter your intention. Read on to get some real details about what you’ll learn and why it’s of benefit to everyone.

Some basic skills learned in a Culinary Arts program useful for home chefs might include:

• Timing, preparation and organization
• Taste and taste combinations
• Knife skills and types of cuts
• Basic butchery and fish preparation
• Safe handling of foods

Industrial Grade Kitchen Experience

Culinary school will teach you the much sought after knife skills and the timing of dishes. These are great skills to have, but the focus of a culinary education and  what you’ll really learn is how to work in commercial kitchens. Professional chefs and bakers share their experiences. They’ll each you to work side-by-side with others in a professional setting. Culinary school is career education. It prepares you for a lifelong career in restaurants and hotels. It teaches you to prepare creative meals in large quantities, of different types, for a range of customers in different settings.

You’ll get comfortable with professional equipment and get a sense of what it’s like to work on a busy brigade line. You’ll be on a busy line, at least part of the time. Sure, you’ll study, read texts, hear lectures and prepare assignments, but you’ll also get practice and practical experience. It’s the practice and experience which leads to confidence, creativity and success in a fast-paced restaurant and hospitality industry.

Trained Professional Culinary Instructors

Culinary schools give you access to the knowledge, experience and resources of chef instructors. Each chef instructor shares with you their hard earned industry experience and professional insights. Culinary Arts instructors come from professional kitchens and commercial bakeries. They’ll instruct you in commercial kitchen best practices and answer your questions. It’s a much lower-pressure environment than a busy restaurant. There’s room for learning and developing skills. It’s trial by fire in commercial kitchens and restaurants and there’s little room for questions. Instructors know this as they have, literally, been in your apron before.

Culinary Arts instructors come from professional kitchens and commercial bakeries.

It’s important to make this distinction between the Culinary Arts and at home cooking. At the same time, many of the tools, tips and techniques do translate to cooking at home. It’s also good to note that many culinary schools, like the Laney College Culinary Arts department, feature certification and single-year programs. There are certificate programs designed for those with culinary career goals and culinary foundations programs for those who want to hone their culinary craft without the career aspirations.

Working as a Culinary Team

A Culinary Arts program will teach you to work as a team, in a commercial kitchen, in both theory and practice. You’ll learn the vocabulary of professional kitchens and how to work on a brigade line preparing dishes. You’ll get to work in every role, as every part of the team, not just a single job. It’s a chance to explore what you love and get a sense for what you don’t. You might just excel as the garde manger or find your passion as a patissier.

Successful full-service restaurants operate with the highest degrees of precision. Each member of the team is assigned a particular role. It is the effective performance of each role and the maintenance of a hierarchy, like an army brigade, that streamlines operations and allows for quality at high volumes. Often called a “brigade system” or “brigade de cuisine,” this system was popularized in France in the 19th century and is based on principles developed in the French military. While not strictly adhered to in many modern restaurants, the division of labor and resulting efficiency has endured, in some form or another, in the modern commercial kitchen across the globe. Remnants of this system remain to this day.

Roles and Stations in a Brigade Kitchen

Your culinary lessons will teach you the theory and every aspect of working in a kitchen brigade. You’ll learn the different roles and how to work as a cook on a line. As part of a larger team of professionals, you will get acquainted with and understand the stations and roles throughout a kitchen and within a fully functioning restaurant.

Stations and roles taught in a Culinary Arts program may include:

• Prep and clean-up areas
• Dessert preparation stations
• Pantry and salads stations
• Fryer, grill and saute areas
• Storage and dish washing

You’ll also learn the names and functions of a kitchen brigade and gain practice in roles like:

• Expediter (the link between the kitchen staff and customers)
• Executive Chef
• Chef de Cuisine (Kitchen Leader)
• Sous chef or Sous Chef de Cuisine
• Garde Manger (Pantry Chef)
• Patissier (Pastry Chef)
• Chef de Partie (Line Cooks)
• Saucier (Sauce Chef)
• Boucher (Butcher)
• Plongeur (Dishwasher)

Being prepared to take on any of these roles as you enter a commercial kitchen can be of great advantage to your career. The brigade system not only ensures efficiency, it allows advancement within a kitchen. Certain roles command more importance. With this is more responsibility and increased salaries. That’s not to say that a dishwasher (plongeur) is less important than a garde manger. It’s just that you may need to show initiative and drive in order to move up the ranks to Chef de Cuisine or Executive Chef.

In addition to roles and responsibilities, you’ll learn how to safely and effectively move in a kitchen. This skill is best honed before you’re under pressure and moving fast with knives and steaming foods during a Saturday dinner rush.

Practical Cooking Skills and Techniques

Working in a brigade kitchen and cooking on a line are invaluable skills for those interested in lifelong culinary careers. These skills will serve you well. A Culinary Arts education will also earn you the valuable experience of managing and directing a team in preparing to make and serve your own culinary creations. To understand and prepare your own creations, you’ll learn practical cooking skills and techniques. These skills can be applied both in commercial kitchens and at home.

A Culinary Arts program with give you the skills to:

• Prepare hot and cold sauces for pastas, proteins, starches and vegetables.
• Understand standard cooking methods for pastas, proteins, starches and vegetables.
• Bake breads, cakes and pastries.
• Properly cut vegetables, quarter and prepare whole chickens and cut beef.
• Apply proper cooking methods like poaching, braising, grilling, roasting, frying, sautéing, sous vide, forcemeat, galantine and ballotine.
• Integrate flavors, ingredients, seasonings and cooking techniques of major world cuisines.
• Understand both current and traditional techniques in global cuisine.
• Employ techniques, tools and basic guidelines to optimize appearance, flavor, taste, texture and doneness of foods.
• Understand presentation and nutritional content of a variety of international cuisines.
• Fix a dish that has gone wrong or account for dietary requirements and restrictions.

By the time you’ve earned a Culinary Arts certification or degree, you’ll be prepared to read recipes and scale them when appropriate, take instructions and complete unit conversions. You’ll learn how to apply the principles of culinary mathematics and understand the science of weights and measures.

Safe Handling, Hygiene and Sanitation Practices

In learning to prepare dishes in a professional kitchen, you’ll also learn to safely handle food. Safe food handling is of crucial importance for the health and safety of the at home cook as well as the professional chef. While no one wants to get sick from mishandled food, commercial kitchens are totally dependent upon the standard of food safety and the appropriate sanitary procedures learned in culinary school.

In learning to prepare dishes in a professional kitchen, you’ll also learn to safely handle food.

With such a critical emphasis, one of the first and perhaps most important subjects for culinary students is safe food handling, preparation and proper hygiene. In culinary school and in a professional kitchen setting you should be ready and prepared to clean. A lot. There’s obvious reasons for this as lazy or unhygienic food practices can sicken, injure or even kill restaurant patrons. A restaurant business couldn’t survive poisoning its customers. Local health departments shut down operations found violating safe handling and sanitation guidelines. So, early culinary lessons include understanding the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point program and ways of applying these to the professional food service kitchens.

Safe handling and effective materials handling also include:

• The ability to describe food-borne illness symptoms and prevention methods.
• Demonstrating effective mis en place or set up.
• Sanitation and safe handling of foods, including raw ingredients.
• Teamwork and task coordination in food preparation and service.
• Food purchasing, receiving, storing and issuing controls.
• Construction of food production control systems.
• Staging, preparation and planning.

Hiring, Team and Staff Management

Safety and safe food handling starts at the top. It extends across the entire kitchen. Everyone from the Executive Chef to the dishwashers, expediters and wait staff follow safe-handling procedures. In a Culinary Arts program, you’ll learn each of these roles and what they entail, including Executive Chef and management roles. A Culinary Arts certificate program will teach you the standard tools and practices for screening kitchen staff. You’ll learn to select the best person for a job as well as the legal considerations around hiring and managing kitchen teams.

Operating a Restaurant Business

A Culinary Arts education is more than learning how to cook or work in a kitchen. The education prepares you, as we’ve explored, to succeed in a lifelong career in commercial kitchens, hotels, hospitals, cruise-ships or anywhere quality dishes are prepared in commercial settings. So, while the amateur cook does learn knife skills (with plenty of necessary practice), a full culinary education includes operations and restaurant management, from purchasing and costing to staff recruitment and professional development.

… a full culinary education includes operations and restaurant management…

Culinary School gives you the opportunity to learn how to operate as an Executive Chef or Restaurant Manager. Your culinary education is an opportunity to develop skills to:

• Identify the essential elements in a successful staff training program and how to develop such a program.
• Outline the steps of the performance review process and their associated legal and ethical considerations.
• Define the four essential elements of successful discipline and explain the importance of each.
• Define the concepts of responsibility, authority and accountability.
• Explain their relationship of authority and accountability to delegation and efficiency as well as the associated legal considerations.
• Discuss and design procedures for monitoring performance and taking corrective action.

Dining Room Techniques

A comprehensive culinary education does not forget the customer or the front of the house. This is really where the magic happens, where valued customers get to experience the joy that is the Culinary Arts. As much as a brigade relies on roles, efficiency and accountability, the front of the house is critically important to the success of any restaurant.

Many Culinary Arts schools, like Laney College of Culinary Arts, operate restaurants and kitchens, like the Laney Bistro. These working kitchens and restaurants give culinary students the opportunity to learn and experience important front-of-house work and techniques like:

• Polishing glasses and silverware
• Proper tablecloth placement
• Fixing wobbly tables or chairs
• Best practices for greeting and serving guests
• Wine pouring

Food Appearance and Presentation

As critical as front of house techniques are for a remarkable culinary experience, no amount of front-of-house work can make an ugly or poorly presented dish look any better. A culinary education will teach you a range of appearance and presentation techniques to ensure your guests are enjoying the full, dazzling sensory experience that is the hallmark and pursuit of the Culinary Arts.

A culinary education will allow you to:

• Analyze and prepare traditional charcuterie and garde-manger (cold food items and storage) recipes appropriate to the contemporary modern restaurant.
• Use basic guidelines to prepare hors d’oeuvres, appetizers and canapés and demonstrate classic presentation and garnishing techniques.

The Business of Culinary

(How to Run a Profitable Restaurant)

You’ve learned killer knife skills, operating as a team in a brigade kitchen, working safely with food and as a manager. It’s fantastic to know how to prepare delightful dishes from around the world and this might be enough for some looking to work in a kitchen as part of a team, but many who enter culinary school are looking to launch their own business or build skills for an existing business. A Culinary Arts degree or certification will prepare you to run a profitable business, the business of Culinary Arts. From Mathematics to English and Spanish courses, Culinary programs like those at Laney College can teach you to be a better, more thoughtful and skilled business person. The experience can expose you to new ideas, critical thinking skills and the resources you’ll need to communicate, prepare proposals and run a profitable hospitality or restaurant business.

Skills you can learn during your Culinary Arts education include:

• Assessing and illustrating effective inventory management practices.
• Recognizing and creating effective food cost control systems.
• Explaining and interpreting effective beverage purchasing, receiving, storing and issuing controls.
• Understanding and analyzing the cost/volume/profit relationship.
• Demonstrating and appraising menu analysis techniques.
• Describing and analyzing food sales controls.
• Identifying and evaluating labor cost considerations.
• Standardizing recipes and costing items.

Start Your Culinary Arts Education

Whether you’re interested in amazing your family and friends at the dinner table, or are seeking a life-long and rewarding career in the restaurant and hospitality industry, what you’ll learn at a culinary school will open up an entirely new world of possibilities in the Culinary Arts.

With the affordable tuition and financial aid offered at community colleges around the country, there’s very little reason not to explore a culinary education. So, sharpen your knives and pull out your aprons, it’s time to learn the business and pleasures of the Culinary Arts.

February 8th, 2024 | Category: General Information