Culinary Schools With Restaurants: A Hands-on Learning Opportunity

Going to culinary school makes sense if you want to manage a high-end restaurant. Some culinary schools offer training in restaurant management by operating an onsite restaurant. To qualify for restaurant management chef jobs, you will want to look for a culinary degree program that gives you the direct experience you'll need to build skills.

What skills do culinary school restaurants provide?

Culinary degree programs with their own restaurants provide constant opportunities for students to apply essential management skills both in the front and the back of the house. These skills should be ones that were learned in the classroom and that can be applied through interaction with real customers, whether those customers be true visitors, or faculty members or students.

Areas to focus on include:

1. Coordination with the chefs and the kitchen
2. Etiquette
3. Management and personnel skills
4. Pricing and inventory
5. Rigorous serving and sanitation skills
6. Wine and beverage service

In an effort to thoroughly prepare students for work in any kitchen, some schools providing training in a range of serving styles including American, French and Russian.

What about online culinary degree programs?

While online culinary schools and online culinary classes are available for students that want to gain restaurant management skills, these programs lack the hands-on opportunities that campus-based culinary schools with their own restaurants can provide.

Why learn at culinary school restaurants and not through externships?

Though many culinary schools offer useful externships at privately-owned restaurants, schools with their own restaurants have a focus on teaching. This may not be as true with an externship. And in a school-operated restaurant, you'll be working with students who are just like you: learning on the job.

School-operated restaurants often compete with the best of the privately-owned establishments. In fact, some school restaurants have achieved success. One was inducted into the Nation's Restaurant News Hall of Fame in 2000 and two others received the Ivy Award.

If you want a strong education in restaurant management, consider attending a culinary school that operates its own restaurants. You can graduate ready to run the show, and not just in theory, but in practice.