Culinary Schools in Washington State
Just a simple stroll through Seattle’s Pike Place Market and you KNOW the region is all about good, fresh, local, and seasonal food. For a chef or baker starting out Washington could be one of the most fertile culinary territories on the West Coast.
Besides food, Washington State is one of the nation’s leading wine producers. Why? Many oenologic experts say the region is on a close latitude with the French wine-producing regions. But there must also be some fertile and flavorful “terroir” to go along with latitude. For whatever combination of environmental and climatic conditions, the Columbia Valley region is thriving in grape growing and established and novice vintners are increasing. This is a destination in and of itself and a key driver in the Washington agriculture industry as well as the food service and tourism industry.
Choosing a Washington Cooking School
Check out the list of culinary schools below. You’ll find two nationally recognized culinary institutes along with a handful of colleges and technical schools around the state that offer culinary arts, hospitality, and pastry arts degrees.
While you compare schools make sure you have an idea of your career goals, especially short-term. Find out what each school offers for job preparation: career guidance/job placement, internship or apprenticeship opportunities—these are essential for gaining the kind of work/study experience most executive chefs want in a chef assistant or line cook.
Dive Into the Local Culinary Culture: Required Studies
If you’re on track as a pro chef in Seattle or nearby Portland, OR, then you need to get up to speed with the wine scene AND the food scene. Don’t overlook the coffee industry here, as well. Seattle may well be the largest coffee Mecca in the U.S. So much so that it’s a food all its own and a thriving subsection of the culinary scene. Dive mouth-first into the local restaurants, sample best reviewed dishes, dissect inventive menus, learn local top chefs and find out where your talents might fit in the local job market.
Add regional food and wine festivals to your schedule:
- Bite of Seattle Food Festival, Seattle
- Taste of Tacoma
- Coffee Fest Seattle
- Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival
- Seattle Cheese Festival
Top regional food products: artisanal cheeses, wine, seafood, especially salmon and Dungeness crab, and coffee.
Job Market for Chefs
Washington offers fertile career territory for budding chefs and hospitality and restaurant pros. While Seattle is a culinary hotbed, you’ll also find thriving culinary scenes in Tacoma, at resorts around Olympic National Forest, and in the Columbia Valley close by to active wineries.
Between an entry-level line cook or kitchen chef assistant and an executive chef is a wide salary differential. Average salary for a sous chef in Seattle is $40,000+. *
List of Washington Cooking Schools
International Culinary Schools at the Art Institutes of Seattle is one of the most popular culinary programs in the country today and plugged by The Food Network. Some of the most up-and-coming chefs are graduates of an AI culinary program. You learn hands-on under the direction of leading local chefs, work in high-volume student-run restaurants and may choose from a number of degree tracks, including: Bachelors Culinary Arts Management, Associates Culinary Arts, Associates Baking and Pastry, Baking and Pastry Diploma, and The Art of Cooking Diploma.
Kitchen in Seattle is the second KA campus delivering an innovative culinary arts program in one of the hottest foodie cultures in the country. KA promotes immersive and intensive programs that have you on the job in under a year with a stand-out resume to boot. Study tracks: Culinary Arts Diploma.
Washington State Colleges, Community and Technical Colleges Offering Culinary, Restaurant Management, and/or Hospitality Degrees
Bates Technical College –Tacoma
Bellingham Technical College – Bellingham
Clark College – Vancouver
Clover Park Technical College – Lakewood
Edmonds Community College – Lynnwood
International Air and Hospitality Academy – Vancouver
Lake Washington Technical College – Kirkland
Olympic College – Bremerton
Seattle Central Community College – Seattle
Skagit Valley College – Mt. Vernon
South Puget Sound Community College – Olympia
South Seattle Community College – West Seattle
Spokane Community College – Spokane
Washington State University – Pullman
*Indeed.com