Culinary Arts Salary
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There are many different jobs available today in the field of culinary arts.
In fact, there are well over three million positions for chefs and cooks in the US, including fast food, restaurant, and hotel positions. Most of these are held by food preparers and fast food/restaurant cooks, while the fewest positions in the job market were held by private household cooks.
Interestingly, chefs and head cooks made up close to 115,000 of these positions. |
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What You'll Make in the Culinary Arts
Most employees in the culinary arts work in sit-down or fast food restaurants. This doesn’t chefs and food preparers who work in schools, hospitals, and nursing facilities, which employ around 15% of the culinary arts workforce. Hotels and other employers hire most of the remaining cooks and chefs, while a certain number of these professionals start their own culinary businesses or work in private homes.
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The food industry is continually growing as new restaurants and restaurant franchises are opened, so the job outlook for anyone in the culinary arts is pretty good as there are many new positions opening on a regular basis. Many, especially those in the fast food industry, also leave their jobs each year either to move to larger restaurants or to enter a different career field. However, while there are plenty of low-level positions available, upper-level, high-paying jobs are still highly sought after, and you’ll face stiff competition when applying for them.
The culinary arts job market is expected to increase by around 11% over the next decade, growing at an average rate. More specifically, over 300,000 new jobs are expected to open up over this time period. This growth is based upon population increase and household income increase – because more people will have more disposable income and families will have more mouths to feed, more and more people will be eating out. Experts also anticipate more families will take vacations; meaning more hotels and restaurants in popular vacation spots will need additional cooks.
However, while jobs will increase, most of them will not be top positions. Executive chefs and head cooks should not expect many new employment opportunities. Instead, most of the positions will be in fast food and casual dining restaurants, not upscale restaurants. However, one high-paying culinary arts area that is expected to grow by around 10% is private household cooks. As incomes rise and more and more families can afford these luxuries, private chefs will find more opportunities for employment. This is especially true in areas such as Los Angeles and New York City, which have higher percentages of wealthy people than other areas in the country.
As far as salary goes, the culinary arts field is very, very broad. A fast food cook may earn as little as $8.00/hour – maybe even less – while an executive chef who owns his or her own restaurant may make six figures if the restaurant is very successful. In general, the median wage of cooks and head chefs is $34,370/year, while the lowest 10% earned less than $20,610/year and the top 10% earned over $60,370/year. As you can see, the salary you'll earn in the culinary arts really depends on what type of restaurant you're working in and what position you hold.
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