Catering Careers - Skills Required

When you graduate from Catering college or your University course, there are a number of options available to you for Catering Careers.   Your options include working in a restaurant, resort or even private catering.

Working in a restaurant is different from working in many places within the Catering industry. For example this line of work will not give you the skills that are required for many Jobs in Catering.  Like many different industries, these qualifications tend not to carry over throughout.

Once you have graduated you are likely to spend a year or so deciding what niche within the sector that you’re going to peruse or honing your skills to do so.
One of the skills that you will always develop throughout your Catering Careers is your technical skills.

Technical skills are the basis or every chef’s arsenal, these include knife skills, cooking methods and timing. Perhaps the most important skill that will develop over time will be able to cook and command the kitchen gracefully at all times, even during extremely busy periods.

The other skill that you will learn in college or University is culinary.  As a cook or chef, your culinary skills will develop and evolve as you learn and challenge yourself to make the food you prepare taste better. It’s likely that you will have a good palate to begin with, but the training will instil a far better understanding and knowledge of flavours, combinations and creative presentation.

These skills ultimately separate a Chef from a cook.  The Chef is responsible for more than just a single piece of food, they hold responsibility for the kitchen as a whole. Organisation skills are therefore required.

If you would like to be a chef in your Catering Careers, then you should also have a sense of business and management.  You will need people skills to ensure that you get the most out of your staff as well as understanding the ramifications of any menu changes from a profit perspective during any discussions you may have.