North Dakota Culinary Arts Academies
Land of ice fishing and lutefisk also offers fertile ground for ambitious and motivated chefs and hospitality professionals. Talk about untapped markets—check out how prime a culinary career could be built in Bismarck, Fargo, Minot or Grand Forks. Definitely stick with these larger, more populous spots, but each has experienced growth, a big plus for the food service industry.
Okay, so North Dakota doesn’t get a lot of press for its celebrity food status, but why not become a pioneer? This is one of the biggest agricultural centers, and the current trend among inventive chefs is farm fresh, seasonal and organic. You could also build innovatively off the traditional cuisines: German, Norwegian and Swedish.
Choosing a Cooking School in ND
If you’re looking for an affordable and accelerated career leg up to a skilled cooking job check out the community and technical college programs in traditional or tribal colleges across North Dakota. Most offer programs like professional cooking, professional baking, meatcutter, professional kitchen worker, and institutional cook.
If you’re shopping for a four-year Bachelors degree then stick with exploring the colleges and universities. Here you’ll find degrees like culinary arts, baking and pastry, culinary management, restaurant management, nutrition and dietetics, food technology/culinology, and hospitality management. Emphasis at this level is management and intended to direct you to mid-level jobs.
If you already have an undergraduate degree you may find that studying via an online culinary arts or management degree is convenient, even beneficial.
Explore the Local Food Scene in Bismarck, Fargo or Grand Forks
In any academic situation make sure you include a serious exploration of the local restaurants—savor the cuisine, most talked about cheapest eats, most talked about chefs, learn what innovative menus are available, what seasonal ingredients are best used and how, then take your experiential findings and apply them to your own chef studies.
Finding a Good Chef’s Job
Make sure any chef training program you choose provides most of the following tools and services designed to help you transition smoothly to a good first job:
- Chef internships and/or apprenticeships
- Well-equipped teaching kitchen
- Student-run kitchen
- Professional chef/instructors
- Career assistance and job placement services
Salaries for chefs in North Dakota vary drastically depending upon your education, professional experience, location and even reputation. Salary for a chef manager – sous chef, executive sous chef – averages $36,000. Expect a salary for a new chef to be much lower, so build your career on passion and ambition.
List of North Dakota Cooking Schools
Bismarck State College – Bismarck
Cankdeska Cikana Community College - Ft Totten
North Dakota State University – Fargo
North Dakota State College of Science – Wahpeto
United Tribes Technical College – Bismarck
University of North Dakota - Grand Forks