Executive Chef: Worthwhile Career - Assignment Example

 A successful executive chef can also look forward to the prospect of getting elevated to the position of Corporate Chef with the ultimate aim of becoming the owner of his own business. I am passionate about cooking and dream of becoming a renowned chef like Gordon Ramsay. Pursuing the career of executive chef, I am sure, will one day see me achieve my dream. The career will give me an opportunity to experiment with culinary art and the satisfaction of giving people the best eating experience.

Being an executive chef is not merely a profession but has more to do with a lifestyle. The road to success is arduous but for the passionate the ends are rewarding. According to chef Krumov, "Becoming a chef can be a good career move, but only for those who don't mind working on evenings and weekends (and almost at any other time when the rest of the people are not working), standing on feet for long hours, working under pressure, enduring burns and cuts, hot environment, smoke and fumes, noise and heavy lifting".

Along with the hard work and knowledge of cooking are required management, communication, and interpersonal relationship skills. The chefs besides knowing how to cook excellent cuisines must also interact with the customers to promote the business. It is this aspect that draws me to this career more than the prospect of being just a backroom cook. While the most potent weapon in the hands of executive chef remains his knowledge relating to food and cooking, when this skill is backed with customer relation skills, the result is a sharpened marketing tool that can really win business.

A prospective customer can be best impressed with discussions on food, the primary agenda for a banquet party and an agenda that no one else other than the chef can handle. The customer would be interested to place order only when he is sure about the food. That puts the chef at the nucleus of any business discussion. As a modern-day executive chef, I will get to be exposed sometime to the media and that is something I am eagerly looking forward to. It definitely will give me an opportunity to hone my communication skills and to improve my overall confidence.

I know the career progression path from the chef to the corporate chef and finally, a full-fledged hotel group owner is strewn with difficulties. But at the same time, I also know that the rewards will be limitless. Rewards not just in terms of money but in the forms of the satisfaction of pursuing my creative passion for cooking, lighting up so many faces with the delight of tasting my creation, their appreciation and above all the lifelong opportunity to learn, innovate and advance. The career of an executive chef is more akin to lifestyle than a job in the sense we think where we go to the office, do a particular kind of work and come back home doing little creative work.