Online Cooking Courses & Gourmet School

Properly catering events isn’t easy. You’re not just planning out what people will eat but your also responsible for things such as drinks, linens, flower arrangements, deserts but also the theme of the night. Everything that you do must run perfectly and under budget. Controlling food costs is very important but knowing what to buy can make or break your event. You’ll sometimes have the luxury of catering in and around where you live but sometimes your experience will be needed in another state or even country. Knowing all the local traditions not to mention where to buy the best food will challenge even the best caterers in the world.

So where do you start? It really depends on your experience level. Do you already know how to cook? If so that is a must but if you don’t then taking a chef’s course would be your first order. Numerous schools across the country offer cooking classes, even local live schools. We recommend that if you can cook at home you will probably benefit from a self taught online school. Once you have a proper cooking education then come the business side of catering. Knowing how to cater, proper techniques, etiquette and budgeting will test your skills as that will make or break your business.

We always tell students to find a local catering business to get your first job. Your overall goals is to one day have your own business but hands on experience is key and it is better learned than self taught. Even if you can get a part-time position it would help you learn the ins and outs of the business. Either way the goal here is to get a job and then work towards opening up your own catering business.

Would you rather just work for cater as a chef or cook? Is so then this is the easiest route to take and can be very profitable without the financial risk of owning our own business. Many of the top restaurants and hotel chains have special caterers that serve 10’s if not 100’s of thousands of people each year at their properties. If you are a skilled cook you can easily get a job within the kitchen. You might start out in food preparation while you continue with your training but the key is that you get your foot in the door and start working.

Hospitals and country clubs and places that have regular visitors are always in need of trained caterers. You might decide that you want to focus in a specific area like baking, beverage management or even deserts. The more specialized you get the less likely you’ll find the exact job you want so we recommend you learn about all the different areas first. This will allow you to test out each one and find the perfect fit. If you are wondering if the market will be able to sustain so many people in catering the answer is yes. Think of Las Vegas and the 10’s of thousands of people needed to cook for the massive hotels and conventions that take place. When a hotel has 30,000 rooms and 24/7 food service available, it needs 100’s of people working around the clock to make sure each guess is satisfied.

If you are looking for a great career move and love to cook and work with others we strongly recommend looking into this career. You can find online cooking courses and gourmet cooking school nationwide.