Advantages And Disadvantages Of Pastry Chefs

Being such a fast-paced industry, there is no doubt that there are challenges that will lie ahead for those who seek out professions in the food service industry. This, of course, means pastry chefs are no exception. The title of a pastry chef means preparing an array of desserts including, but not limited to, cakes, tarts, cookies, ice cream, chocolate, and puff pastries. Since pastry chefs can work anywhere from a small shop in a small town to a high-end restaurant in NYC, certain expectations such as works hours may differ, but the overall tasks remain the same: pastry-making. While pastry chefs don’t work with every kind of food as other food workers would, the challenges faced by pastry chefs are just as diverse as that of all other

Creativity and imagination is a must for creating all kinds of sweets, and sometimes, other non-sweet desserts as well. This being said, this constant need for new, aesthetically pleasing and tasty desserts, where every little detail counts, is what makes competition such a challenge for pastry chefs. This is especially true in large cities, or high end locations, where the pay is strong, where there are ambitious people all around, ready to take up every opportunity possible. (BLS, 2014) Also This competitive nature of the food industry is first taught in the school environment just as entrepreneur and author of 21 books, Michael Ruhlman states “…sampling the arduous 81-week regimen the institute employs to both educate and toughen students for the competitive, frantic environment of cooking in fine restaurants.” While visiting of the Culinary Institute of America. The

What with a career full of competition and demand, meeting high expectations from others are yet another challenge that pastry chefs must face. The area in which people have such expectations for pastry chefs are of course, the desserts that are being made. The reason there is so much expectation for this title is because in order to have the title of pastry chef, there has to be some kind of background or education in the field. This conveys that a pastry chef has experience and is ready to deliver a pastry that is pleasing to both the eyes and taste buds. These high expectations can come from the head pastry chef or from the customers whom the food is being made for. Meeting these high expectations surely adds some pressure to the pastry chefs. This applies especially to pastry chefs working at higher-end locations where everything is finer quality. Just one minor mistake may ruin the whole plate, which in turn could cause an inconvenient situation for both the cooks of the restaurant and the customer due to the expectations not having been met. This is a challenge that is commonly met by pastry chefs, a challenge that really defines the abilities of such pastry chef because in the end, all their work is to meet the expectations of the people they are serving. Just as former White House Executive Pastry Chef Frederic DeShays states in an interview, “This is a people business, after all.” This people business, however,