Earn a Culinary Arts or Pastry Arts Degree in Ohio

Become tomorrow’s star chef at a cooking school in Ohio. Check out the list below: it features some excellent culinary arts programs. All across Ohio you have endless possibilities with a chef’s career and in major metro areas like Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus you may break into a very fertile food scene as a pastry chef, station chef, entry-level sous chef, hospitality manager, food and beverage specialist, even sommelier.

An Education in the Local Food Scene

A requisite part of your education must be spent experiencing the local food scene:

• Eat your way through the list of best-reviewed restaurants
• Learn the chefs names, their specialties, how they built their careers
• Explore local and seasonal ingredients and the nuances of flavor you just can’t get anywhere else

Add a few popular food and wine festivals to your academic calendar:

• Taste of Cincinnati
• Annual Cleveland Wine Festival
• National Hamburger Festival, Akron
• Annual Taste of Cleveland
• Ohio Sauerkraut Festival, Waynesville

In checking out schools make sure your final choice has a few important components that are critical to landing a good job when you graduate:

• Internship/apprenticeship gives you job experience locally or nationally in top-notch kitchens and may offer an instant job upon graduation
• Well-equipped, even state-of-the-art teaching kitchens ensure you know your way around any pro kitchen
• Student-run kitchen catering to a discerning public allows you ample opportunity to work while learning in a high-volume kitchen
• Career guidance and job placement services

Competing for a Chef’s Job in Ohio

Job hotspots are Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo where the economy is thriving and where the largest concentrations of people are living and working. However, the food service industry IS competitive in these areas, so don’t expect to land an executive chef’s job right out of school. In fact some of the most famous celeb chefs started their careers as dishwashers and as line cooks.

Salaries vary drastically particularly between entry-level and executive level chefs, but other factors include: professional experience, your education, location, type of chef’s job or establishment, and even your reputation. Good news is that many job postings require applicants to have a culinary arts education, so keep that in mind, as well.

Average salary range for a sous chef in Cincinnati is between $30,000 and $40,000.

List of Ohio Cooking Schools

International Culinary Schools at the Art Institutes of Ohio is a popular and very competitive culinary arts and pastry arts program affiliated with The Food Network. This program was revamped a few years ago to provide a world-class curriculum for today’s culinary pros. Learn fundamentals of international cuisines, classic French and the traditional skills and know-how you need to compete in any market. Degree programs in Cincinnati: Associates Culinary Arts, Baking and Pastry Diploma, and Professional Cooking Diploma.

Columbus Culinary Institute in Columbus is a state-of-the-art professional cooking school with all the bells and whistles you could need to launch a very competitive career. Bring your passion. This 20-month immersion program is designed to teach you a comprehensive set of industry skills, including culinary technique and professional cooking and baking, plus marketing and management.

Ohio State Colleges, Community and Technical Colleges Offering Culinary, Restaurant Management, and/or Hospitality Degrees

Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center – Ashland
Ashland University – Ashland
Bluffton University – Bluffton
Bradford School – Columbus
Central State University – Wilberforce
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College – Cincinnati
Columbus State Community College – Columbus
Cuyahoga Community College – Cleveland
Hocking Technical College – Nelsonville
Jefferson Community College - Steubenville
Kent State University – Kent
Lakeland Community College – Kirtland
Lorain County Community College – Elyria
Miami University – Oxford
Ohio State University – Columbus
Ohio University - Athens-Southern Campus
Owens Community College - Toledo
Professional Bartending Schools of America – Cincinnati
Sinclair Community College – Dayton
Tiffin University – Tiffin
University of Akron Main Campus – Akron
University of Cincinnati – Cincinnati
Youngstown State University – Youngstown
Zane State College – Zanesville