The 9 month program earns graduates a Food and Hospitality Professional certificate.
It prepares graduates for positions as:
- Prep cook
- Garde manger
- Sous chef
- Kitchen manager
- Dietary aide
Approximately half the students’ time is spent on academics – safety & sanitation, history and background of classical cuisine, American regional and international and ethnic cuisines, vegetarian cooking, food science, and nutrition. Students also prepare research projects using the Internet on such subjects as world cuisines, cheeses, desserts and types of seafood. Each student writes a business plan for their own restaurant or catering operation. Students also participate in regular discussions of trends in food service, and learn how to keep on top of new developments in their industry.
Field trips take them to local restaurants for behind-the-scenes tours, farmer’s markets and food retailers. Guest speakers bring industry professionals into the classroom for cooking demonstrations, lectures on kosher and halal cooking, nutrition and the business of running restaurants and institutional food service.
The rest of their class time is spent on hands-on cooking projects in our commercial kitchen. Students learn to operate all major types of kitchen equipment, identify and use herbs and spices, prepare salads, hors d’oeuvres, soups, sauces, meats, poultry, breads, pies, cakes and cookies. Heavy emphasis is placed on proper yet imaginative use of ingredients, seasoning and plate presentation.
Eagerly anticipated by students and staff alike are the several “cook-off” competitions each year, in which teams of students compete, “Top Chef”-style of prepare dishes, meals and entire events.
The Culinary department also operates a full-service catering company called The Sauté Café. It provides food for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, cocktail parties to private and business customers all over Lexington and surrounding counties, including weddings. Students have the opportunity to work in food preparation for these events as well as set-up, take-down and serving during events, providing invaluable experience working for paying customers under expert supervision.
As with all CTE programs, heavy emphasis is placed on preparation for work in the industry, with regular discussions of what employers look for, how to get and keep a job, resume preparation, mock interviews, post-interview follow-up and networking skills. Our employment consultants provide referrals for part-time jobs while students are in school. The final module of each student’s program includes an internship either at an outside employer or working for The Sauté Café.
The Culinary program at CTE is an ideal choice for anyone wanting a broad yet thorough background in culinary arts, focused on having them employed in their career field in less than a year’s time, at an affordable price.
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