# A career in Pastry?



## amy99 (Sep 27, 2010)

Hi everyone, Im new here and I want to ask you guys whether or not I should pursuit a career in Pastry.

I am a 22 y/o girl with a Bachelor degree in Business. When I graduated from high school in the States, I was not sure about what I want to do with my life but since I come from a family with a very strong business background and I thought it was a safe choice, I went to Business school. However, after half a year of working in the real world, I find no passion in what I do and so I decided to quit my recent job as a sales executive at a real estate company. To be honest, I come from a privileged family so I don't have the pressure of making money to support myself and my family. However, I do want to establish a career for myself where I find excitement and passion in what I do.

Right now I am considering going to Pastry school but I'm not really confident in myself. Honestly, I have never cooked in my life because I have maids at home. But I've always been fascinated by sweets and how people are able to create so many amazing pieces from such simple ingredients. My goal is to open a bakery chain of my own or at least a franchised chain in the future. But I'm really afraid that just an interest is not enough to realize my dream. Of course I'm willing to study hard but the problem I have is there isn't any good culinary school in my country and I would have to go abroad if I wanna learn something, but the maximum time I can go is only one year. I've done research on pastry courses in Paris and found Le Cordon Bleu offers a Diploma program for 9 months and there is also Lenotre School. There are many good school in the States also but the reason I prefer Paris is because I wanna use the time there to learn some French as well. But of course I am open to other options if they're better off.

So what do you guys think? Should I go for it or not? Does it require a lot a skills to open a bakery? Would 1 year possibly be enough for someone who knows nothing? Sorry for such a long post but I hope you can take some time to read through this and give me some advices from your experiences. Thank you so much in advance!


----------



## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Before you spend any money, I suggest you earn some.

Please, please, pretty please, go and work in a bakery or confectionary shop for a few months or a year.

If you want to start up a business with absolutely no background or previous knowledge in it, lots of people will want your money. 

Be prepared for them....................


----------



## theunknowncook (Dec 17, 2009)

Amy99:

I concur with FoodPump! Get a job at a bakery, and see if you like lifting 50 lb. sacks of flour, sugar, etc., to fill the bins, lift heavy mixing bowls of dough, wash the sheet pans, pulling out hot Baker's racks at 500F, depanning hot bread from those 500F bread pans, fry donuts, work the graveyard-shift, etc. I'm not saying that you will be doing those same tasks, but you might be.

Some hotels and resorts might be hiring entry-level Assistant Pastry Cooks, Pastry Cooks, Assistant Bakers, Bakers. However, it might behoove you to gain some work experience, and possibly some education, before applying for those jobs.

There are 4 excellent Pastry Arts programs in the U.S.:

Community Colleges:

*GRCC*

*Schoolcraft College*

Private Schools:

*Notter School of Pastry Arts*

*French Pastry School*

If you are still bound and determined to go to France, AVOID Le Cordon Bleu[Do some research online about the class-action lawsuits against LCB]!

Consider these 2 schools:

*Ecole Bellouet Conseil*

*Ecole National Superieure de la Patisserie*

See *this thread*.

Good luck. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/chef.gif


----------



## catylin (Sep 13, 2012)

Hi Unknown cook,I'm actually looking into schools in Paris and I've been looking at going to Ecole bellouet conseil and i noticed that you suggested it, can you tell me why?


----------

