Become a Chef, Cooking in Beautiful Montana

Training to become a chef or professional cook in Montana takes willpower and ambition. Why? You have a bit of a disadvantage over other state culinary schools. Due to Montana’s relative remoteness you’ll discover only a few schools that offer cooking programs. However, don’t let that discourage you. Top chefs may be found everywhere and the food service industry is alive and well in Billings, Bozeman and Missoula. These cosmopolitan niches offer you fertile ground for building a well-respected, even potentially world-class career.

Choosing a Good Culinary Arts School

Your culinary arts or professional cooking education is first about arming yourself with the skills and know-how critical for success in today’s competitive marketplace. But it is also just as much about positioning you for a realistic and respectable first job out of school. These career-centric programs need to have a few tools and services available to you in order to be effective:

• student-run restaurant
• local, national or study abroad internships and/or apprenticeships
• state-of-the-art teaching kitchens
• career guidance and job placement

Get to know local food and chefs. Exploration of the culinary environment around you is as valuable an academic experience as is learning your knife and cutlery skills in the professional kitchen. Almost anywhere you look on the map you’ll discover a highly acclaimed chef, excellent seasonal and innovative menus and something to learn about the local cuisine you didn’t know previously.

Getting a Job in Montana as a Cook or Chef

Better your chances in the job market and consider a membership in a local chapter of a national professional association, such as the American Culinary Federation’s Montana Chef’s Association in Missoula. Use this excellent organization to network, access educational events, regularly updated job boards and otherwise build a noteworthy chef’s career in the state.

Salaries vary based on professional experience, your educational achievement and location. Average salary for a sous chef is $30,000 to $35,000 and up. Good places to look for entry- or mid-level chef or cook jobs in Montana: restaurants in larger cities, hotel kitchens and restaurants, lodges and resorts around the National Parks—Yellowstone and Glacier.

List of Montana Schools that Offer Culinary Arts, Pastry Arts, Professional Cooking and Hospitality Management Degrees

Flathead Valley Community College – Kalispell
Hamilton High School – Hamilton
University of Montana – Missoula