Top Cooking Schools in Wyoming

The Wild Wild West is much tamer than you think and the culinary scene offers fertile ground for new chefs. Forget about elbowing your way into over-crowded culinary industries elsewhere and opt to launch your cooking career in more wide open spaces.

No, you’ll not find the laundry list of culinary schools in Wyoming that you would in California, but the colleges and universities that populate the list are some of the state’s best.

Sample the Local Culinary Scene

A generous portion of what you should be learning in Laramie, Sheridan and Jackson should be composed of your adventures into the local food scene.

Red meat, including beef, bison and exotic meats are popular menu components, but you’ll also find excellent river trout and bass—fresh caught anything is traditional and vegetarian is also “in.” Look to the online user review sites and sample the best-reviewed eateries, learn the seasonal ingredients, the chef’s names, their bios and what makes a menu inventive and above the fold.

Regional food and beverage festivals offer up a concentration of all the area’s best, often for charitable causes, plus loads of wine and beer also locally produced. Since chef cook-offs and competitions are trendy forms of entertainment you may even be able to witness a hearty kitchen battle. Add these to your academic schedule:

• Wyoming Brewers’ Festival
• Wyoming Peach Festival
• Jackson Hole Summer Mountain Festival

Prep for the Job Market

Cheyenne, Casper, Jackson Hole, and Laramie are ripe for new grads. Types of jobs you might consider seeking out of school:

• Entry- or mid-level restaurant chef, line cook, or assistant chef
• Caterers helper
• Kitchen/chef jobs in resorts near Yellowstone and other parks
• Banquet chef in a corporate kitchen
• Personal chef’s assistant

Sweeten your networking opportunities with a membership in an industry association, such as the American Culinary Federation with local chapters in Jackson, Laramie, and Yellowstone; the Women Chefs and Restaurateurs; or the Research Chefs Association – Rocky Mountain Central Region. Here you’ll discover greater mother lodes of professionals with similar goals and ideas. Access private job postings, job fairs, get the latest industry news, and participate in regional and national conferences and educational events.

Average salary for a sous chef in Cheyenne ranges from $27,000 to $38,000 depending upon an array of variables.

List of Wyoming Cooking Schools

The Wyoming Culinary Institute at Sheridan College is the first specialized culinary program to launch in the state. This top-notch program is teaching the best of the best new chefs in Wyoming. Learn in state-of-the-art teaching kitchens, participate in exciting internships and externships and be under the constant guidance of accomplished regional and national chefs. Curriculum is drawn from some of the best schools in the country. Degree programs: Associates Culinary Arts, Certificate Culinary Arts.

Wyoming State Colleges, Community and Technical Colleges Offering Culinary or Pastry Arts, Restaurant Management, and/or Hospitality Degrees

Central Wyoming College – Jackson
Northwest College – Powell
Sheridan College – Sheridan
University of Wyoming – Laramie