As the hospitality industry develops, it is becoming harder and harder for the city’s restaurants to find one essential ingredient; qualified chefs. To reduce the pressure in the kitchen, the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) is offering Macau’s first bachelor’s degree in culinary arts management.

The purpose of the four-year programme, starting in August, is to develop food and beverage professionals that enhance the culinary experience of visitors, making the city more attractive as a holiday destination. The course will include classes in gastronomy, nutrition and food preparation. Students will also study management, leadership and marketing. The programme includes a six-month internship.

“This programme prepares students not only at the [culinary] skills level but it will also help them to mature in the management aspects, so that they understand the operations,” IFT president Fanny Vong told Macau Business.

“It is not only about food. It’s packaging, marketing, promoting and recreating the whole culinary experience, which is part of the holistic tourism experience.”

The executive assistant manager of the institute’s food and beverage department, David Wong, says: “When you are a chef, you cannot be just good at cooking. You must be good at organisation, management, public relations – the whole deal.”

Career smorgasbord

Although the institute already offers short courses and professional training in the culinary field, Ms Vong says there is a growing need for qualified kitchen staff.

“The professional standards the chefs and cooks are required to have these days are increasingly more demanding,” she says. “The new hotels and resorts in town are of a very large scale, very international. They bring in international expertise and management and naturally they demand higher qualifications from their professionals.”

The initial response from prospective students has been positive. The first course will have about 25 students but the institute received applications from seven times that number.

From Mr Wong’s perspective, the interest shown is encouraging, because people working in service industries in Asia feel they are still somewhat looked down upon. “In Europe, especially in countries like France, being a chef is more than a career. Everyone there wants to be a chef. In Asia, people still think being a waiter or a chef is not a prestigious job,” he says.

Even so, working as a chef in Macau can be rewarding, Mr Wong says.

A top chef can earn more than MOP100,000 (US$12,500) a month. A starting salary is about MOP10,000.

And becoming a chef is not the only career path for graduates of the culinary arts management programme, Ms Vong stresses. They can also work as food and beverage managers, instructors in culinary arts schools, food critics or writers, or culinary consultants, among other roles.
The employment rate for institute alumni is about 91 percent, according to the latest figures, with two-thirds employed in the tourism and hospitality industry.
The degree course in culinary arts management promises to be hands-on, an ethos reflected in the institute’s decision to renovate its teaching kitchen.

By Emanuel Graça