We all want a job doing what we love, and if what you love is tasty food or sweet baked treats, then a career in the Culinary Arts or Baking is what you need. Whatever career you want to get into, there are two things you need: Experience and connections. If you go to a good college, one that gives you hands-on experience and pathways into the industry, you’ll walk away with both. For the past five years, Centennial College’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts has undergone a complete revitalization, and our Culinary Arts and Baking programs are at the center of it. They’re all about giving you practical experiences, and you can literally taste the results. Here’s what you need to get into one of these delicious careers, and how the school provides it to you:
1. Hands-on experience
Cooking and baking are some of the most hands-on jobs there is. You can study recipes all you want, but if you want to learn how to make food, you have to make it plain and simple. That’s what you’re doing in our Culinary Arts programs: Always making food. You put on your uniform, get your tools, get into the kitchen, and start cooking. Speaking of those kitchens…
2. The right tools for the job
Centennial College has an entire building dedicated to our Culinary Arts programs: the Culinary Arts Centre. We built it just a couple of years ago, so everything about it is brand new - a state of the art facility specifically geared toward cooking and baking. These are real kitchens, with real equipment. We even just cut the ribbon on a new, specialized baking lab, sponsored by Cobbs Bread. And in these labs, you get real cooking experience, taught by real chefs, with real food as the product.
3. Something to show for it
For one thing, you could be producing food that’s served at our campus restaurant, The Local. Aside from that, depending on the program, you’ll have the chance to take part in special projects and competitions, like Taste Canada Competition, or the Cobbs’s “Cinnamon Bun Showdown,” where students made cinnamon buns from scratch, competing against professional bakers. Whether you win, or even just place, the recognition and results will directly impact your career.
4. Direct career connections
While we’re talking about careers, Centennial’s Culinary Arts programs are about two things: Hands-on practical education and industry partners. For you, that means away into the food industry through the college. The best example of this is how many of our programs let you go from school to work-integrated learning with industry partners as a part of field placement. Aside from giving you valuable real-world experience, it can directly turn into a job. For example, you might have a chance to work at a 14-week placement at a bakery as part of your program, and that can lead to employment as a baker. You get a real education, and they get a new employee that knows the ropes. Everyone wins!
And that’s the key to any career, really: Experience you can demonstrate, and good connections. Centennial College embeds that in all of its programs, including the delicious ones.
Written By: Anthony Geremia