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[sciencephd]

Since i am interested to garnish my skills in this, have a plan to have my own restaurant for which a professional degree is a must. I have heard about the Associates degree for pursing further, is that necessary?

Actually, to have your own restaurant, you don't need any degree or qualifications.

[polly_mer]

Since i am interested to garnish my skills in this, have a plan to have my own restaurant for which a professional degree is a must. I have heard about the Associates degree for pursing further, is that necessary?

Actually, to have your own restaurant, you don't need any degree or qualifications.

That's true.  However, in all seriousness, with no training of any sort, people tend to not keep that restaurant open for long.  On the other hand, many people do just fine with on-the-job training for the cooking aspects and a few business classes for the other aspects.

You mention wanting to have your own restaurant.  Are you really the kind of person who has both the cooking interest AND the business knowhow or are you just interested in the cooking aspect?  The kind of training you seek depends on the answer you give.

Without the business knowledge, you cannot run a successful restaurant.  However, with just the cooking knowledge, you can be in charge of the kitchen and have a manager run the rest or be an employee in someone else's restaurant.

While you're thinking, I suggest watching several episodes of Kitchen Nightmares and Last Restaurant Standing.  Those are shows that give first-hand views of what happens to people who open restaurants without covering all their bases: food, service, and business acumen.

Community college is probably pretty good for giving you business and people management skills.  A specialized program in food service might also be useful depending on the kind of restaurant you want to open.  If you're thinking diner or family-style, then classes at the CC are probably fine along with working for a while in a restaurant to get OJT experience.

However, if you want to do something fancy, then you need to locate one of the fancy cooking schools and meet their requirements if you intend to be a CHEF!  instead of a cook.

[barbaracarol006]

Business knowledge is not a problem, since I belong to a business class family. As on date to start up with new business is not a small thing. To withstand in my business, I am looking for some professional degree.

[mended_drum]

Business knowledge is not a problem, since I belong to a business class family. As on date to start up with new business is not a small thing. To withstand in my business, I am looking for some professional degree.

This is not a snarky question; I honestly don't understand.  What is a "business class" family?  Does that mean that you've worked in a family business?  Or that your parent or parents have "business" jobs? 

[notaprof]

Business knowledge is not a problem, since I belong to a business class family. As on date to start up with new business is not a small thing. To withstand in my business, I am looking for some professional degree.

This is not a snarky question; I honestly don't understand.  What is a "business class" family?  Does that mean that you've worked in a family business?  Or that your parent or parents have "business" jobs? 

Could it mean the family always flies business class to get their education at a distance?

[barbaracarol006]

There is nothing to argue about the business class family, its just like my parents are already in business, so such skills are in my blood only. I think people out here are more interested in fights rather than giving some solutions.

[polly_mer]

There is nothing to argue about the business class family, its just like my parents are already in business, so such skills are in my blood only. I think people out here are more interested in fights rather than giving some solutions.

We have given you some solutions.

If you lack cooking skills, do an apprenticeship in a restaurant or take targeted classes at the local community college.  Online cooking classes don't make sense because it's a physical activity that requires hands-on teaching.

One can take nutrition classes online to become a dietitian, but that kind of training is not applicable to opening a restaurant.

One can take online classes to learn to run a small business, which would be applicable to opening a restaurant.

People have chosen to respond in humorous ways to your queries because you appear to lack a good idea of what you want to do and what reasonable actions could be taken to achieve your goals.  Ask a silly question; get a silly response.

[kedves]

Polly's right.

I wanted to add a couple of things.   "Chef" and "pastry chef" are usually different occupations.  Pastry chefs and other people in baking occupations usually have very early hours.  Many people who train in restaurant management work for corporations rather than owning their own businesses.  Dietitians often work for hospitals and in other institutional settings.  But you will find all this out easily if you start talking to people you know or meet who are in these occupations and learning about their training, their likes and dislikes about their jobs, etc.  If you are interested simply in improving your cooking skills for home-cooking, then do what interests you most.

[mondamay]

Business knowledge is not a problem, since I belong to a business class family. As on date to start up with new business is not a small thing. To withstand in my business, I am looking for some professional degree.

If this is what you are looking for I would recommend looking into the CIA, http://www.ciachef.edu/,  I know they have a school in upstate New York and have opened another in California.

Also maybe read The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America by Michael Ruhlman.

And as mentioned before see if you can find a position in a nearby restaurant. I would advise against places like Red Lobster etcetera and try and find a restaurant run by a formally trained chef. Then you will learn a bit more about the working life of a chef, the differences between pantry, sous, pastry, saucier; and try to get a position as a commis.

I spent a few years working for a formally trained French chef in a French / Greek restaurant, as well as working in a Korean restaurant, roadside greasy spoon, and learned a great deal in each place. Note: I listed these last to first.  Mostly that the life of a working chef, as opposed to a celebrity chef, means long hours and a lot of work. It was not uncommon for me to put in eighty to a hundred hours a week, then again by that time I was either the assistant head chef or assistant head cook.
This was also before the days of that "BAM" guy, yes I know his name, I just refuse to acknowledge it because I think he is a tool. I only mention this to note a difference in opinions about the difference between a chef and a cook; it is my opinion that the term chef has been devalued somewhat due to the rise of celebrity chefs. They do not accurately portray the lifestyle of a chef working in a real restaurant.

My words of caution, it is not an easy business and if you do not find it exhilarating working at a breakneck speed in a kitchen, if you do not get an endorphin high from burning and turning on the line, if you do not have the ability to make it your life, than do something else. Everywhere I worked I knew other cooks and chefs and the one thing they all had in common was their relationship status. It almost always fell into three categories; divorced, married and getting divorced, or married and unhappy. I knew very few people that were in the business that had healthy relationships no matter where I worked.
The day I met my SO I was filling out the application for the CIA and after I realized that hu was the one I wanted to marry and have children with, I tore it up. My so also was a chef, although with formal training and we both realized that it was not the lifestyle we wanted to raise children in.
Also, once you start down the path of roux and dishes made from properly prepared stocks you will find eating out less and less pleasant, as more and more places start using bases to cut costs; the difference in taste will be abhorrent.

So, if it is something you want to pursue, find an apprenticeship somewhere and see if you like it. If you do see about attending the CIA, from the research I did when looking at culinary programs theirs is the most robust, you will learn everything you need to learn to operate a restaurant, and it is the most respected.

Good Luck

And if you decide to pursue this keep posting so I can live somewhat vicariously through you.  That is, until my SO and I give in to the addiction and open our own restaurant; we're still fighting over who is the better sous chef.

[barbaracarol006]

What’s Advanced Parsley 201 ? din’t understood what you wanna say…

[galactic_hedgehog]

Well, that only took almost four weeks.

[polly_mer]

Well, that only took almost four weeks.

But aren't you now grateful that someone took the initiative of checking out programs and reporting back.  I want a rate-my-professor-type card telling me what I can expect.

[galactic_hedgehog]

Well, that only took almost four weeks.

But aren't you now grateful that someone took the initiative of checking out programs and reporting back.  I want a rate-my-professor-type card telling me what I can expect.

Maybe the spambot was on vacation for most of July?

[polly_mer]

Well, that only took almost four weeks.

But aren't you now grateful that someone took the initiative of checking out programs and reporting back.  I want a rate-my-professor-type card telling me what I can expect.

Maybe the spambot was on vacation for most of July?

Ya just don't get responsible spambots like you used to any more, dagummit.  Why, when I was a new forumite, we'd get spambots that would show back up to give support within a few hours.  But these young whippersnapper spambots have no work ethic.  They start the thread and then come back extremely late or sometimes not at all.  I worry about the future of these new spambots.  They sure don't know what real life is like.