Job Outlook Sweet for Pastry Chefs

by Emily Ramphal
emily.ramphal@careertrainingdirectory.com
Career Training Directory Columnist

The Labor Department predicts the number of jobs for chefs will rise between 10 and 20 percent through the year 2006.

In response to the increased opportunity in food preparation careers, many culinary arts colleges are creating innovative programs that allow students to get a culinary degree and also specialize in a particular aspect of cooking. One specialty, pastry chef, might seem like the perfect career for someone with a love of carbohydrates, but skills other than a sweet tooth are essential to success in the pastry profession.

Pastry Chef Education

A pastry chef must not only have the creativity and artistic talent to create mouthwatering masterpieces, but also possess a scientific capacity to understand chemical reactions, measurements, and operation of baking equipment.

You can learn the artistic and technical skills essential to a pastry chef at a culinary arts college or pastry chef school. Depending on your career goals, you can choose from the following programs:

• Baking and Pastry Certificate
• Associates Degree in Applied Science Culinary Arts
• Bachelor of Arts Degree in Culinary Arts

A certificate program will focus on the technical courses necessary to become a pastry chef, and the shorter program (typically one year) is less expensive. However, higher paying jobs usually require an associate or bachelor’s degree in culinary arts.

A Typical Day for a Pastry Chef

The working hours for a pastry chef school graduate vary widely by job location. Pastry chefs can choose to work early mornings in a bakery, daytime hours in a restaurant preparing breads and desserts, or evenings and weekends with a caterer baking and decorating for weddings or other events.

A position as a pastry chef combines art and science to create one sweet job, so start your delicious new career by checking out culinary arts schools in your area.

Sources

Bureau of Labor Statistics
Le Cordon Bleu

About the Author

Emily Ramphal works as a writer and editor for an online media company.