Learn the basic skills needed to be a chef. Watch cooking tutorials online, try new recipes, experiment, and start cooking! 

Education

Teach yourself how to cook. 

Create distance between yourself and your routine! Take something you're interested in and seek out a location or an event that supports that interest within your time and budget.

Day to Day

Travel to a new place. 

Listen to author Richard Florida speak about the importance of creativity in career stability. How can being creative, no matter what industry or job you're doing, give you an advantage?

Career

Learn about the importance of creativity in any career.

Chefs

Direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. May plan and price menu items, order supplies, and keep records and accounts.

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

First Interest High-Point

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Third Interest High-Point

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Second Interest High-Point

Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Chefs and Head Cooks

Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers

Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations

Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.

Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.

Check the quantity and quality of received products.

Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.

Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.

Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards.

Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays.

Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.

Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients.

Collaborate with other personnel to plan and develop recipes or menus, taking into account such factors as seasonal availability of ingredients or the likely number of customers.

Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.

Prepare and cook foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special guests or functions.

Determine production schedules and staff requirements necessary to ensure timely delivery of services.

Recruit and hire staff, such as cooks and other kitchen workers.

Meet with customers to discuss menus for special occasions, such as weddings, parties, or banquets.

Demonstrate new cooking techniques or equipment to staff.

Meet with sales representatives to negotiate prices or order supplies.

Arrange for equipment purchases or repairs.

Record production or operational data on specified forms.

Plan, direct, or supervise food preparation or cooking activities of multiple kitchens or restaurants in an establishment such as a restaurant chain, hospital, or hotel.

Coordinate planning, budgeting, or purchasing for all the food operations within establishments such as clubs, hotels, or restaurant chains.

Apple corers

Blast chillers

Blenders

Bone saws

Boning knives

Box graters

Braziers

Bread slicers

Broilers

Cake decorating tools

Cappuccino makers

Carbonated beverage dispensers

Chefs' knives

Commercial coffee grinders

Commercial coffeemakers

Commercial dishwashers

Commercial microwave ovens

Convection ovens

Conveyer ovens

Cream whippers

Desktop computers

Double boilers

Dry or liquid measuring cups

Electric deep-fat fryers

Electric ovens

Electric stoves

Fire suppression blankets

Food dicers

Food processors

Food shredders

Food smokers

Fruit zesters

Garbage compactors

Gas ovens

Gas stoves

Gas-powered deep-fat fryers

Griddles

Grills

Hot dog cookers

Ice shaving or crushing equipment

Ice-making machines

Infrared heat lamps

Instant-read pocket thermometers

Juice dispensers

Juice extractors

Kitchen fire extinguishers

Kitchen shears

Kitchen tongs

Knife sharpeners

Laptop computers

Mandolines

Meat grinders

Meat slicers

Meat thermometers

Melon ballers

Mixers

Oyster knives

Paring knives

Parisian cutters

Pasta machines

Personal computers

Pizza ovens

Plane graters

Portion scales

Pressurized steam cookers

Refrigerator thermometers

Rice cookers

Rolling pins

Rotisserie units

Salamanders

Serrated blade knives

Sieves

Sifters

Slicing machines

Steam kettles

Steam tables

Strainers

Toasters

Vegetable brushes

Vegetable peelers

Waffle makers

Woks

ADP eTIME

Axxya Systems Nutritionist Pro

Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial

CostGuard

Culinary Software Services ChefTec

Delphi Technology

EGS CALCMENU

EGS F&B Control

Email software

GNOME Gnutrition

Google spreadsheet

Internet browser software

IPro Restaurant Inventory, Recipe & Menu Software

Menu planning software

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Word

Chef

The road-trippers try their hand at spinning molten glass with glassblower Jessica Schimpf. The world isn't looking for you, she says, you have to go out and find it--she left a big-time welding gig to follow her dreams. In Texas, the team interviews Austonites on the street and goes for beignets and palm readings in New Orleans before hitting crowd-powered T-shirt purveyor Threadless in Chicago.
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Susan Spicer

Chef

Videos

Susan Spicer

Milestones

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Business

Food

Accomplishing Goals

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