Learn Your Way Around A Professional Kitchen with Kitchen Management Courses

“It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot. The teachers were very hands-on. The wide diversity of students allowed me to learn from them as well,” says Deniece Phillips, who attended Centennial College’s kitchen management courses. Meanwhile, another graduate Severo Vitorio Pastor, had this to say: “The Hospitality Operations – Kitchen Management program is a great master plan for those who want to pursue a career in this industry. Each subject truly equips us with the knowledge, skills and experiences that we need to become successful in our field.”

These two testimonials offer a great insight into the positive effects of the one-year offering at Centennial College, which results in an Ontario College Certificate, and the Smart Serve Program and the National Sanitation Training certificates. Those interested in applying, must posses at minimum an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older. Students must also have attended the compulsory English 12C or U or skills assessment or equivalent. It should be noted that possession of minimum admission requirements does not guarantee admission to the hospitality program.

The kitchen management courses are facilitated from Progress Campus. The largest of Centennial College’s four locations, it is home to all of the programs under the School of Tourism and Hospitality. As such, students receive practical training at an on-campus living lab-restaurant called Horizons. This experience allows students to be comfortable in the kitchen as well as to interact with real diners and customers.  “[One day a week], we come in and we usually have to run the kitchen on our own. We get graded on how well we run the kitchen,” says student Keith Ali.

In addition to hands-on kitchen experience, students take kitchen management courses that cover topics such as business practices in accounting, human resources and supervision, sanitation, hygiene and safety as well as quantity food preparation, practical supervision of food production, customer service, human resources and career planning, hospitality accounting, practical math, purchasing for the commercial kitchen and many others.

To round out training, students attend a field placement, for which they are prepared through the combination of theory and practical application of their kitchen management courses. Field placement enables learners to better understand the dynamics of the industry, increases their knowledge of industry practices and provides a competitive advantage of experience in the job market.

If students who have attended Centennial College’s kitchen management courses wish to pursue further education, they may enter the second year of Centennial’s two-year Food and Beverage Management program. On the other hand, those who feel ready for the field go on to become food operations managers. In this position, they plan work programs, staff for cash food service, interview and hire employees, train employees, review inventory, request and purchase food supplies, plan menus and price points, supervise operations, observe quality of service and more.