Sizzle - Winter 2010

outlets (fine dining, family-casual restaurant, grill-style restaurant, and pool and golf canteens) as well as banquet desserts, wedding and specialty cakes and a few breads. The pastry staff consists of Kopp and an assistant pastry chef. She also does one-on-one cake tastings with brides and their families, and holds several children’s holiday workshops throughout the year. “My favorite part of the job is the planning and production of an intricate wedding cake or specialty cake. I also enjoy interacting with the members on the occasional dessert action station or cookie decorating workshop,” she says.

Working in a club environment means a schedule that varies greatly with the property, seasons, number of members and size of the culinary and/or pastry department. Entry-level wages are generally on the low end, says Kopp; however, hard work and skill-building at any level enhances one’s earning potential.

Getting started Following graduation, Kimberly Schwenke, pastry chef at Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, Chicago, encourages budding pastry chefs to apply for entry-level hotel pastry positions. “Restaurants usually only have one pastry chef. Initially you don’t want to be in charge. You want to learn,” she says. “In a hotel, you won’t get locked into an eight-plated dessert menu or a shop where you just do special-occasion cakes.

It’s all of that.” The general responsibilities of a hotel pastry chef, Schwenke continues, include preparing pastries for the hotel’s restaurants, banquets, weddings, business meetings, amenities for hotel guests and room-service menu. Entry-level pastry cooks usually work at pastry stations or on the line plating desserts, and often earn an hourly wage.

While pastry careers do offer creative outlets, there are some downsides. For instance, pastry chefs are tied to the seasons. “You might not love Christmas, but you’re making Christmas cookies every year and green desserts every St. Patrick’s Day,” Schwenke says.

“If you enjoy spending the holidays with your family, this is not the business for you,” says Hanna of Sucré. “If you want to get away from the family during the holidays, this is a great business.” To succeed, pastry chefs must be creative, organized, flexible, consistent and passionate. Communicating well both verbally and written is also important. “You must be able to communicate well with your coworkers, customers and clients,” says Figoni.

To survive in this industry, Hanna feels that recent graduates must have simple fortitude. “Don’t come to me with an attitude because of where you went to school. It’s not about where you went to school. It’s about having the passion to succeed,” he says.

Technically speaking, a plus for pastry chefs understand savory co “Some ingredients tha you may think are restricted to a different style of cook can enhance sweet di too,” says Gorelick. “F herbs and spicy pepp instance, can bring re interesting dimension pastry applications.” Be persistent. “Many pastry techniques requ adjustment, refinemen repetition. Keep practi and you will see your s improve along with you production speed,” say Cusick with Barry Cal says pastry chefs nee know how to make a d mop a floor and every between. “TV has glam the food industry. It’s business. You work ha get burned, literally. Y work nights, weekend holidays.” However, according to Hanna, there will alwa be job opportunities. industry is recession-he says. “What do you when you celebrate? W do you do when you a depressed? Eat desse

Melanie Wolkoff Wac is a freelance writer in Louisville, Ky., an former editor of Che Chef Educator Today.

enrollment RI S ING

Need more convincing that baking and pastry is a hot career path? Just look at the numbers.

Enrollment for baking and pastry arts majors pursuing bachelor’s and associate degrees at The Culinary Institute of America ( www.ciachef.edu) in Hyde Park, N.Y., in 2000 was 234. In 2009, that number increased to 636. The numbers will be larger in 2010, because the CIA recently expanded its baking and pastry associate degree program to the Greystone campus in St. Helena, Calif. (Previously, Greystone only offered a seven-month certificate.)

At The French Culinary Institute ( www.frenchculinary.com) in New York, pastry enrollments have more than doubled in the past five years, says Rory Kirkpatrick, chief financial officer, International Culinary Center.

Derek Spendlove, CEPC, CCE, AAC, chair, Baking & Pastry Arts Program, Sullivan University (www. sullivan.edu), Louisville, Ky., says pastry department enrollment has increased significantly over the last three to four years. In the past, the pastry department had approximately 15-20 new pastry enrollments a semester, now, it has 50-75.

Pastry enrollment is also on the rise across the four campuses of Johnson & Wales University (North Miami, Fla.; Providence, R.I.; Denver; and Charlotte, N.C.; www.jwu.edu). In 2005, the university enrolled 1,009 students as baking and pastry majors. In 2009, the number increased to 1,379.