Despite her lack of formal training, Harmon decided to take a job as a line cook in 1990 at Street & Co.,  a small seafood restaurant. Although she was new to the business, Harmon threw herself into her new career, putting in 80-hour weeks. In three years’ time she took over as head chef, and the increasingly successful restaurant doubled in size.

While hard work and experience have been the keys to Harmon’s success, she encourages aspiring chefs to pursue career training. “If you know what you want to do early in life, you should pursue your passion, ” she advised in a recent interview. She suggests that young chefs combine formal training with experience in a restaurant where they can hone their skills under the tutelage of a talented supervisor. “Look for a restaurant with a healthy work environment,” she added. “In the right kitchen you can learn a lot.”

This advice has clearly worked in Harmon’s own life. Caiola’s, which has been open for several years, was an instant hit. After 15 years preparing seafood, Harmon is happy to cook “every farm animal available”. Currently her favorite menu offering is grilled cabbage, stuffed with seasonal vegetables and served on hot borscht with fried goat cheese.  Not bad for a recreation management major!

In a recent interview, Ferro explained that her love of culinary art began at an early age. “I started cooking at age five, making mud cakes and decorating them with grass.”  Ferro’s Sicilian father began teaching her the basics of Italian cooking when she was 12, and as a young adult she discovered Julia Child’s television show and cookbook. She was hooked.

Cooking was just a hobby until a friend convinced her to open a small seasonal cafe in downtown Machias. Desperate for ways to supplement her artist’s income, Ferro took the plunge and began sharing her culinary skills with a wider audience.

Although she admits that it was intimidating to cook for strangers at first, Ferro clearly overcame her fears. Nearly fifteen years later, The Artist’s Cafe is the oldest upscale restaurant in town. Taking advantage of the community’s seasonal economy, Ferro closes in the winter and devotes herself to her artwork, which decorates the cafe’s walls.

Ferro’s advice to aspiring restaurant owners? “If you love what you’re doing, that’s all that matters. It doesn’t have to be financially successful; it can be emotionally and spiritually successful.” Combining her passion for cooking with her love of art, Susan Ferro has clearly found her recipe personal success. 

If you follow the news in the world of chocolate, you know that tumbling profits for chocolate giant Hershey are continuing. While declining sales may be a problem for big candy makers, gourmet chocolate makers enjoyed $2 billion in sales in 2006, according to a recent article in Business Week.

Monica Elliot, of Monica’s Chocolates , offers an inspiring success story to any chef aspiring to confectionary greatness. Elliot, who received some culinary training in her native Peru, taught herself to make chocolates from library books when she found herself without a job in rural Maine. Five years later, she does a brisk business from her website, to clients nationwide.

Elliot believes that the chocolate business is accessible to anyone. “You have to have patience – and enjoy the craft. Creativity is also necessary so you can make up your own signature recipes, ” advised Elliot in a phone interview.

While starting your own business can be a daunting prospect, a chocolate-based enterprise offers the benefits of low overhead costs and these gourmet treats are best when made in small batches, making them an ideal candidate for small-time confectioners.

Need more fuel for your sweet aspirations? Take some culinary courses. Formal training could provide you with the tools you need to get your chocolate enterprise off the ground.

When you envision a future for yourself in the food industry, a career in cafeteria management might not make it into your daydreams. Sadly, this profession doesn’t attract the glamour or celebrity status of other jobs in the culinary world, however many would argue that cafeteria managers have as much, if not more, potential to impact the mouths they feed than their famous peers.

As the first line of defense against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity, cafeteria managers in schools across the nation have a responsibility and opportunity to provide balanced, healthy nutrition to the next generation. 

Rhiannon Hampson-Joven, manager of a high-school cafeteria that feeds 300 students daily, finds plenty of opportunities to help her diners stay healthy, from ordering trans-fat free cookies and fried foods to providing healthy and vegetarian choices for the students she feeds.

Hampson-Joven’s advice to aspiring cafeteria managers? “When it comes to certain things that you have total control over [i.e. sourcing healthier foods], try to be as assertive as possible with the administration, because it really is worth it.”

Finding ways to educate the holders of the purse strings to ensure budgetary support of higher-priced, healthy options can be challenging, but with the academic background in nutrition, health, and menu-planning offered by culinary arts schools, your powers of persuasion will be that much more convincing.

Culinary Degrees