Hi AJ
Here's an opportunity, won't take but a moment, and it's fun!...
- go here-
http://solofoods.com/page29642842.aspx

-and vote for #F06 Cherry Almond Truffles - vote only once and pass it on to all of your friends
Please...

I am a finalist in a big video recipe contest and I need your votes to win
deadline is Friday March 6

Thanks
Craig Priebe
"Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas"
www.craigpriebe.com

Hi Anthony –

CIA is great, as are many of the other culinary schools.

The important part is that you said that you want “to learn as much as (you) can about the industry” – great mindset, and keep learning, the learning should not stop after school! I can tell that you want to lean, not only because you said that but because you are on this site and asking the right questions. Most people avoid the questions, because they don’t want to hear the answers.

Since you want to be a restaurant owner some day, I highly recommended every business course you can take in culinary school, especially the accounting classes.

I personally had a job cooking as I went though business school. Then I worked in the corporate office for a chain of over 200 restaurants as their marketing manager and went to a great MBA program part time.

Over the years I have meet a lot of restaurant managers and owners who don’t know how to read their own income statements, and who make thousand of dollars of mistakes over and over again because they don’t understand the numbers. Worse is that (un-like you) they are stubborn and think they know-it-all. These are also the ones with the big egos and the ones who go out of business quickly. You said that you want to “lean” - keep that approach, keep learning and you will do well.

After school you have two choices (1) become a famous chef or (2) get a job in management and learn how to make the money. The second will give more people success.

Then contact David Scott Peters (he is also a member of fohboh.com, and learn from him. I won’t talk anyone out of school but I swear his members learn more from him about the business side of this industry than they learn in school, and they do it faster and for less money (but still do the school work first, then the management job then talk with him).

Next, as I said never stop leaning, join Restaurant Masterminds www.RestaurantMasterminds.com and keep learning about all areas of the business.

Best of luck, but if you keep leaning and don’t ever get in your head that you know-it-all then you won’t need luck.

A.J.
Congratulations! You must be in the Skills class. You have a lot of work ahead of you but it will be worth it. Please feel free to stop by Mondays all day or Thursday evenings in the Creations Dining Room where I teach the Beverage Identification & Management courses.
All my best,
Garratt

I hope you like FohBoh there are a lot of funky thinkers here! Check out my blog post about leveraging Social Media, I’m sure it will help you get the most out of the site. I also wanted to invite you to join our FohBoh group talent revolution it sure to drastically change the way you think and behave with talent. Amanda Hite Founder Talent Revolution

I wanted to personally invite you to join our discussions in regards to cheeses at the Cheese Group on FohBoh. Every week we introduce a new cheese and invite you to find it in your area, buy it, try it and then dicuss it with us. Take a look at all the FohBoh groups while you are at it. Looking forward to hearing from you. Dana

That's great! I am excited for you. I hope they mentioned the Food and Beverage Management program to you as well as the Culinary program. You seem to be very focused and know what you want so I think you have a good chance of being accepted. I understand your comment about how expensive it is, but consider it an investment in yourself. If it is important to you, yu will find a way. And feel free to stop by and say "Hello." I teach Beverage Identification classes for the Associates and Bachelors programs.
Happy New Year,
Garratt

A.J.
Based on your comments I would suggest working somewhere you can get both BOH and FOH experience. If you want to investigate Culinary School I would suggest a Food and Beverage Management program rather than a degree specific for the BOH. I agree with Chef Miller's comments below regarding several excellent programs around the Atlanta area and around the country as well. The key is to keep an open mind and work in different aspects of the industry to see what you enjoy, what your strengths are and where you want to invest your time and money on yourself. Good luck and let me know if I can be of further help to you.
Garratt

A.J. are you still in high school? If so I would check to see if the school has a culinary program either at the school or at a career center near by. If you have already graduated they're various culinary schools available out there and the ones I would recommend are Johnson and Wales..with four locations..Charlotte being the closest to Atlanta. I would call them and set up a tour. They are very gracious to allow you to visit their campus. The CIA in Hyde Park, NY is yet another wonderful choice. Both schools are the cream of the crop in the U.S. In Atlanta you have the Art Institute and also Le Cordon Bleu...both are good culinary schools. Getting the experience is one of the best ways to learn culinary...management...I would concentrate on college (culinary) and then do a work study program. I am a Certified Exc. Chef and Certified Culinary Educator with the American Culinary Federation. Worked many years in the food service industry and loved it. I have been teaching 14 years now..and man its great. I am in the secondary education field now with culinary and have extremely great potential with these students. I would love to answer any questions you have. Thanks, and Keep on Cooking.

A.J., When you say you want to get into the culinary field, do you mean the Back of the House (BOH) meaning the kitchen or do you mean the Front of the House (FOH) meaning the dining area? This makes a difference in the type of job to apply for and it makes a difference in the type of program you enter if you decide to go to culinary school. Both the BOH and FOH offer great career opportunities and as in any career the harder and smarter you work, the better you will do in your career. You said that you are close by to the Art Institute Atlanta. I am happy to speak with you directly or have the admissions people speak with you if you prefer. Let me know your preference. Best regards, Garratt