Careers in Culinary Arts

Top reasons to choose a culinary career

Who hasn't admired the skill of a chef in arranging ingredients on a plate or the creativity with which they combine the flavours of a dish to awaken all our senses? That's what the culinary arts are all about: offering customers a unique experience through delectable creations. But there's more to the discipline than just a well-prepared recipe. Discover the dynamic and varied world of the culinary arts with our team of passionate experts at the BHMS Culinary Academy.

What is Culinary Arts?

Culinary Arts is the art and science of preparing, cooking, presenting, and serving food. This mainly includes meals served in a restaurant but the culinary arts is a broad field, extending to any profession that involves working with food.

Culinary excellence is achieved through a perfect understanding of kitchen processes and professional techniques. It's no wonder the craft is called an "art," given the intricacies and creativity that lie behind the preparation and serving of attractive and delicious dishes.

Studying culinary arts involves not only learning how to handle ingredients safely but also how to select and combine them to bring out all their flavours. Presentation techniques also play an important role, because a dish is first and foremost a feast for the eyes!

Students learn to master a whole range of cooking methods, such as frying and deep-frying, grilling, sautéing, and broiling. Once these skills and knowledge have been assimilated, aspiring chefs need to develop a form of artistic expression that combines all these factors - flavours, textures, and presentation–to create their own signature dishes for a memorable gastronomic experience.

Why choose a career in culinary arts?

If you're passionate about cooking and want to perfect your skills, studying culinary arts can offer you exciting, even prestigious, career opportunities in some of the world's finest restaurants and hotels.

While the culinary arts sector offers a wide variety of job opportunities. As this industry is linked to the sectors of food and beverage service and hospitality management, a degree in culinary enables you to steer your career in multiple directions.

The benefits of entering the culinary world extend well beyond the kitchen: it may open doors, enabling you to climb the industry ladder, run your own restaurant, or work in unique locations all over the world. The domain offers a wide range of ever-growing opportunities, both in terms of career advancement, entrepreneurship, and global exposure.

What can you do with a culinary arts degree?

A diploma in culinary arts will give you the professional skills you need to excel. Thanks to hands-on experience under the guidance of our experienced chefs and industry internships, you'll feel at home in a variety of positions, and be able to consider all kinds of international opportunities.

The wide range of programmes at the BHMS Culinary Academy will enable you to acquire the knowledge and skills you need to establish yourself in this exciting and fast-paced sector, even providing you with the business acumen to start your own restaurant, if this is your goal.

Discover the secrets of gastronomy in our ultra-modern kitchens, from knife-cutting techniques to the preparation of raw foods and the art of tempering chocolate. You can choose between two tracks: culinary arts or pastry and bakery arts, and obtain a Bachelor's degree in partnership with Robert Gordon University (RGU), our academic partner in the UK.

Some of the roles you can step into as a culinary professional include:

Chef
Restaurant or catering manager
Food and beverage manager
Culinary consultant
Recipe developer
Food stylist
Health coach
Ghost restaurant owner

What you should know

Salaries will vary depending on geographical location, employer, and target sector. In Europe, the average chef's salary comes to about 35'000 CHF net per year, but depending on the establishment and your specific domain, many chefs earn well into the six-figure mark. Statistics show that chefs holding culinary degrees, however, are significantly more likely to surpass six figures than those who do not.

A degree in culinary arts will undeniably give you an edge when it comes to competing for higher-paying positions. Studying culinary arts at BHMS will equip you with managerial skills and business know-how that will help you to stand out.

If you decide to enter the highly demanding world of Culinary Arts, you will undoubtedly face challenges. Commenting on the things that she found challenging, BHMS graduate Manal Al Faez, who now works as General Manager at the Gulf Institute of Culinary Arts in Manama, Bahrain, said “Long hours and rigorous days will only benefit you in the long run. It might seem challenging in the beginning, but you’ll feel rewarded after your day at work, and you’ll feel more appreciative of the little things in life.”

With this in mind, there are several skills that a culinary degree will help you to hone, leaving you prepared to face anything the world of culinary may throw at you. These are:

Creativity to come up with new dishes and be innovative.
Leadership and managerial skills
Problem-solving
Organisation and attention to detail
Ability to work in a high-stress environment
Product and nutrition knowledge

While all these skills can be learned and developed and will continue to grow as you enter the industry, passion is what will motivate you to continue to do so. Daniel Biro, another BHMS graduate who now works as Executive Head Chef at the Anantara New York Palace in Budapest, Hungary, stresses that “if you stay committed to your passion and work hard, you can find your true calling and achieve your dreams.”

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