What Can You Do With a Culinary Degree?
It’s often assumed that the only reason to attend culinary school is to become a restaurant chef. That, however, couldn’t be further from the truth. While many culinary school graduates do develop successful restaurant careers, a culinary arts education (degree or diploma) has a number of potential applications.
That’s because the best culinary schools have curriculums that include lessons designed both for the real world and for a range of career paths. Organization, project management, creative problem-solving and business marketing are all skills you can expect to be taught at culinary school. As a result, many cooking school alumni pursue food careers that are either food-adjacent or completely outside the traditional restaurant model.
I can attest to this based on my own experience as a culinary school alum. After graduation from culinary school, I held a number of non-cooking food-related jobs. Among these were food stylist, bartender, dining room captain, restaurant manager, food writer and educator. All of these career paths directly relate to what is possible with a culinary arts degree.
Embracing opportunity is the key to putting your culinary school education to its best use. Here's a look at what you could do with a culinary degree within the food and hospitality industry but outside the restaurant cook and chef roles.
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Catering
Those who work in catering are typically cooking on a daily basis, whether in small- or large-scale operations. But unlike restaurant cooks and chefs who cook dishes to order from a prepared menu, catering teams create plated meals and buffets served to a large number of guests all at once. The cooking techniques acquired in culinary school are, of course, beneficial for these roles. So, too, are organizational skills. Beyond the kitchen, culinary school trains its graduates in menu design, food safety and kitchen and time management. Other cooking careers similar to catering include corporate and banquet hall cooks.
Related Read: Cooking in the Catering World with Chef Hope Glendon
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Event Planning
Event planning in the culinary context involves coordinating the food at events like weddings, corporate functions and private parties. In this role, you work closely with chefs, caterers and vendors to create memorable experiences where food is central to the occasion. A culinary degree (or diploma) program is designed to give you insight to the nuances of food service and creating customized menus that align with clients’ preferences and dietary needs. Often, culinary careers that start in catering veer toward event planning over time.
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Personal Cheffing
Personal chefs cook privately for individual clients (versus cooking in a public setting). Depending on their client’s needs, their job description sometimes resembles that of caterers and restaurant cooks. Consider, for example, the skills required to prepare meals à la minute for a single person or a large dinner party, or preparing and packaging meals for a family to consume throughout the week.
Since cooking is at the forefront for these roles, having a culinary arts education can give you an advantage in this area. Beyond cooking techniques, personal chefs must also possess menu design and customer relations savvy.
Get a Glimpse into Personal Cheffing with ICE Graduate Maddy Devita
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Recipe Development or Testing
Recipe developers and recipe testers could be cooking every day, but they’re rarely cooking food for consumption. Rather, recipe developers craft appealing recipes that can be replicated by consumers; and recipe testers make the recipes written by chefs, cookbook authors and recipe developers as a way to confirm that the recipe’s instructions yield consistent results over several trials.
Both of these roles require an exacting set of skills: you must be detail-oriented, highly organized and enthusiastic about experimentation. Food media like magazines and television cooking shows typically employ a number of recipe developers and testers on staff.
Behind the Scenes of Editorial Recipe Testing
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Food Styling
Food styling is a skills-based job that involves arranging food for maximum visual appeal in print, TV and digital media. A culinary arts degree provides a strong foundation in understanding ingredients, as well as cooking and plating techniques, both of which are essential to food styling.
This field also requires visual discernment, an eye for aesthetics, the ability to work under tight deadlines and a knack for coordinating across functions and creative departments (think photographers and marketing teams) to present various foods — both individual ingredients and completed recipes — in the most enticing manner.
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Food Media
Just as most people assume that culinary school is a path to restaurant work, “food writer” is often equated with “restaurant critic.” Food media, however, is much broader than that. It comprises cookbooks, articles on food trends and culture, video production and marketing.
Food writers often collaborate with cooks, editors, magazines and food brands to produce content that is engaging and informative. The goal of culinary school is to provide the foundational training and knowledge required to develop recipes, share industry insights and speak authoritatively on food topics.
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Cooking Instruction
Teaching is another answer to “what can you do with a culinary arts degree?” It’s an especially apt role for those who love talking about cooking, demonstrating cooking and encouraging others to cook. Cooking instructors can work in a variety of settings, among them cooking schools, vocational programs, recreational settings, retail markets, community centers and their own home.
They can also set their area of focus, teaching, for example, an array of techniques or an individual technique; global flavors or a single cuisine; or a broad spectrum of industry-specific soft skills versus a deep dive on one skill. Cooking instructors typically develop their own curricula and prepare materials as needed. A strong understanding of culinary theory and practical experience is essential for the role, whether preparing students for a career in the kitchen, or providing a recreational experience for cooking enthusiasts.
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Food and Beverage Management
Food and beverage managers work on the operations side of the culinary industry, supporting both the kitchen and the customer-facing aspects of a food business. Food and beverage manager tasks include budgeting, managing inventory, scheduling, supervising staff and overseeing customer service.
Many culinary school graduates who start out working as restaurant cooks — and thus, gain insights to the functional operations of the business — go on to become food and beverage managers. A culinary degree can be essential for these career changers, enabling them to maintain operational efficiency and food and beverage quality.
Potential Culinary Career Paths: Food Safety
Food safety specialists ensure that food production and preparation processes comply with health and safety regulations. This role involves developing and implementing food safety protocols, conducting inspections and training staff on best practices. Food safety specialists may work for specific brands, across a hospitality group or even for local government. A background in culinary arts is beneficial for understanding food handling procedures and responsible cooking practices, as well as ensuring adherence to standards.
Related: Understanding Restaurant Food Safety
