A Creative Career in the Restaurant Industry: Food for Thought

By Elizabeth Buckner
Learning & Life Columnist
October 20, 2006

	Printable Version		E-Mail to a Friend

	Add to Favorites

The restaurant industry employs an estimated 12.5 million people--and they're not all flipping burgers and slinging drinks. Your career options aren't limited to just serving and management; hospitality careers like catering and banquet management can engage your creative side as well.

Catering--So Much More Than Just Cooking

If you have experience in the kitchen and are looking for more flexibility, more visibility, or the chance to make it on your own, consider catering. With irregular weekend and evening hours, catering offers employees more flexible schedules than the restaurant business. In Carve Out a Career in Catering, Roberta Chinsky Matuson explains, "For catering workers, many of whom are students and stay-at-home parents in need of flexible schedules, weekend and evening hours are made to order."

Salaries for caterers vary widely, but the catering business offers vast potential for growth and change. And if you are more interested in socializing and logistics than in cooking, the hospitality industry also offers exciting positions like banquet manager and maitre d'hotel.

Countless Creative Career Options

If you've got to experience on the floor, and you're more interested in the food than the service, then why not consider moving behind the kitchen door? A chef is only one of the professionals involved in planning and realizing meals. Careers abound in other specialties, such as baker, pastry chef, wine steward or saute cook. A job as a baker or pastry chef, for example, allows for creativity in designing goodies, the option of self-employment, and early hours that leave evenings free.

Tons of Training Possibilities

The nation's restaurant business is a $511 billion industry that is always in need of more talent. Pursuing the necessary training in the culinary or baking arts is important, due to the technical nature of these jobs. More importantly, training can help you earn a more competitive salary, as college graduates earn about $15,000 more per year than non-graduates.

Luckily, there are more than 1,000 post-secondary restaurant and culinary programs to help you get the training you need to make a career in the industry. If you love people and you love food, then why not make a career out of it?

Sources

About the Author
Elizabeth Buckner is a freelance writer and current Fulbright grantee to Morocco, where she is conducting research on language education and the growth of English. She holds a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology and Education from Swarthmore College.

More Creative Career Articles

More Creative Articles