Spence
Tempe,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, February 11, 2014
It's a shame that people keep going to these schools as one will get the same education at a community college as they will get at a LeCordon Bleu school. There are some admissions reps that will straight up lie to meet their quota and keep their jobs. When you graduate you're not a chef and they get around the argument by stating they "train you to become a chef." If you don't already have extensive experience in the field then you shouldn't go to school here. Go to a community college first. The students at Scottsdale Community College go to the kitchen during the 1st week of their program, they take their 2nd year academic classes online and receive the same Associates of Occupational Studies in Culinary Arts...for $5000 dollars. LeCordon Bleu just doesn't make sense for the money it charges.
JM
Arizona,#3Consumer Comment
Fri, February 15, 2013
But not an uncommon one.
People need to realize that there isn't any easy money in the culinary industry. Whether you go to a culinary school or not, you're virtually always starting out on the bottom rung as a prep cook, making $8-10 an hour. Having a viable degree can help later down the road when it comes to being more competitive for higher jobs, or to get your foot in the door, but its going to take years of hard work before it pays off for you. It would also be advisable to research the top culinary schools, of which Le Cordon Bleu falls somewhere on the bottom rungs, its basically the University of Phoenix of the culinary world. Places like the Culinary Institute of America, Johnson and Wales and Kendall College in Chicago are far better options, although still pricy.
Many top chefs simply were individuals who walked through the door of a restaurant without any real experience, took the lowest job available and worked their way up over the years without having any sort of culinary education.
Bottomline, culinary school grad or not, the pay is crap and will be crap for the next few years, eventually though as you improve and develop as a culinary professional, the salary rises and as an executive chef you can easily be in the $100,000 a year plus category for salary, but only if you've put in the proper amount of sweat equity.