As employment opportunities and potential earnings continue to rise in the food service industry, people are looking more closely at where they can receive the training and preparation they need.

Northampton's Culinary Arts diploma program prepares apprentice chefs with training modeled after that presently offered by the two largest culinary schools in the country: The Culinary Institute of America and The Culinary Arts Program at Johnson and Wales.

Employment opportunities for program graduates can include Executive Chef, Pastry Chef, Production Chef, and others in fine restaurants, hotels, airlines, bake shops, private clubs, caterers, and pastry shops. Median starting salaries for chefs in the restaurant industry range from $35,000 to $43,000; $35,000 to $66,000 in the hotel industry. While program content of Northampton's Culinary Arts program is similar to that at larger institutions, it is available to you at a fraction of the cost.

Program Features

The program consists of an intensive series of courses over a three-semester period.

In the first semester, you will acquire foundational skills through a series of seven mini-courses taken consecutively. This semester combines classroom discussion, lecture and demonstration of theories and techniques used in the food service industry, along with hands-on skills training.

The second semester is a continuation of skills development courses after which you will move into Restaurant Operations and actually run the College's Hampton Winds Restaurant located in Alumni Hall, in the Gates Center.

Semester three continues the operation of a full-service restaurant five days per week. You will take on menu responsibilities separated into the stations of the kitchen and also be required to wait tables for several weeks.

Northampton's Alumni Hall facilities (completed in the summer of '92) enable Culinary Arts students to receive training and experience using some of the best equipment and resources available in the industry. These "laboratories" will provide you with comprehensive cooking, baking, preparation, and serving facilities in which you can practice and hone your skills.

Courses will be offered primarily in the morning and early afternoon, in the first semester and in the day and evening in the second and third semester. Classes meet six hours per day, five days a week, for three 15-week sessions.

For more information contact us at dch@mail.nrhm.cc.pa.us or call us at 610-861-5593.