Virginia schools in culinary arts can help you whip up a satisfying career in kitchens across the Commonwealth. Have you always wanted to operate your own restaurant? Earning a culinary management degree can get you on your way. Maybe you're dead-set on mastering dessert pastry or bread baking? Many culinary arts schools in Virginia offer a wide range of programs leading to degrees, certificates, and diplomas in those areas and many more. To supplement the instruction portion of programs, schools often provide hands-on training and help students find internships working in local kitchens.
Graduates of Virginia schools in culinary arts take their places in restaurants, cafes, hotels, corporate kitchens, cruise ships, inns, and resorts. The amount of time it takes to graduate depends on the specifics of your degree or certificate program. Some programs can be competed in as little as 18 months. Associate degrees typically take two years to complete. Management courses can prepare you to lead dining operations in hotels, restaurants, health care facilities, and schools.
Your school may offer a combination of training in regional and local Virginia cuisine, continental cooking, Italian, Southwest, Asian, East coast seafood, or Southern cooking. You may want to focus on wine, spirits, and beverage management.
There were 297,650 people working in the dining professions in Virginia in 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS also reports a mean 2009 annual income of $20,890 in Virginia across the culinary arts. The mean wage for chefs and head cooks was $51,730. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving personnel earned $32,320.
At the top of the profession, food service managers earned a mean annual wage of $55,610 in 2009. You can enter the management field by pursing your undergraduate or graduate degree in hospitality and tourism management.
Whether your passion is in cooking or leading a restaurant staff to success, culinary arts schools in Virginia can prepare you for dining excellence.
