Time Out Singapore’s chef columnist, Bjorn Shen of Artichoke, on why you shouldn't go to culinary school
Photo: Ahmad Iskandar Photography
'I wanna quit my job and open a cafe. Should I go to cooking school?’ I get asked this question all the time. So, being the lazy b*stard that I am, I might as well use this opportunity to answer it for everyone who has ever asked, is currently asking, and will eventually ask.
Seems like the ‘it’ thing to do these days is for people to leave their corporate careers, gather a bunch of savings and open their dream café or restaurant. What makes this idea even more alluring is when overly optimistic friends fuel the fire with comments like, ‘Oh, you’re such a great cook… More people should try your apple pies… How awesome would it be if you opened a café…’
That’s when everyone starts calling me with the culinary school question. And here’s my response: don’t go. Let me explain. If you’re 21 years old, have a passion for food and cooking, and don’t mind working long hours in a high-pressure environment, then go. This applies even if you are 45 and want to switch careers to make a living in front of a stove instead of behind a desk. Those who plan to climb the ladder in the F&B industry should go to culinary school, where they’ll be equipped with a broad skill set only a formal culinary education can provide.
On the other hand, let’s say you’re a 31-year-old lawyer or a 45-year-old housewife with the capital to open your own place. You know exactly what you’re good at (burgers, tiramisu, apple pies, and so on) and are willing to specialise in them. Rather than a culinary education, what you need to learn is how to manage a small business. How do you do that? Simple. Go work at one.
‘WHAT?! You’re asking me to leave my high-paying job at the bank to work at a little café?’ Yup, that’s precisely it. If your ego is too big to take a pay cut, clear plates and work the cashier at someone else’s little café, what makes you think you can maintain and operate one of your own?
Many people seem to have this warped impression that culinary school will automatically make you an F&B guru. It won’t. Running an F&B business is like operating a machine that’s made up of many, many, many tiny moving parts. Only when all these parts function simultaneously can the machine work. If you’re gonna own a small business, you’ll need to be very familiar with your machine and its individual parts. What better way to learn than to spend real time practising on other peoples’ machines first?
In F&B small business management, experience matters. So drop the ego and spend a year working in a small business or two. You’ll be surprised to learn how much you didn't know.