Culinary Arts associate in science degree program; you'll learn the craft of cooking and business management skills. Students gain practical training in a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen with professional tools and quality ingredients. Learn to prepare a wide variety of dishes and cuisines, follow food safety procedures, and understand business concepts that apply to the food service industry. This path prepares students for career opportunities in restaurants, catering, hotels, theme parks, and other food service businesses.

With the changes made to this degree and the removal of barriers to completion, we expect to increase the number of degree completers. The following data is skewed based on the pandemic, and the campus shut down. 

Program success data	Certificate/degrees	2019-2020	2020-2021
Certificates		38	27
Degrees		11	29

To prepare students for careers in restaurants, catering, hotels, theme parks, and other food service businesses. Through hands-on learning utilizing state-of-the-art equipment in newly completed commercial kitchens, students will acquire the skills necessary to be successful in the field of culinary arts. These skills include but are not limited to knife skills, food production, baking, butchery, charcuterie, plate presentation, menu development, portion control, cost control, menu planning, food safety, and nutrition. Students who successfully complete the requirements for this degree will also earn the Food Protection ManagerCertification.

 

The goals and objectives of this degree are to prepare students to obtain one of many jobs in the culinary field. Traditionally culinary positions have not had an education qualification, but more often than not, companies require culinary education to move into management positions. Completing this degree allows students to develop competencies in the following areas: culinary, baking,  beverages, safety and sanitation, cost controls, and restaurant management. The capstone of this degree is a student-run restaurant on Mt SAC’s campus.

 

According to Hospitality Insights, EHL - The World'sLeading Hospitality University, completion of culinary degrees will prepare students for the following job market: Please refer to the list below:

 

·        Chef

·        Research Chef

·        Baker or Pastry Chef

·        Restaurant Manager

·        Service Staff

·        Beverage Professionals

·        Personal chefs - Healthy food in high demand

·        Food and Beverage Industry

·        Food Stylist

·        Food and Beverage Writer

·        Curbing food waste

·        Organic and sustainable food

·        Novelty in food concepts

Labor Market Assessment

1306.00 –Nutrition, Foods, and Culinary Arts and 1307.00 – Hospitality

Baking and pastry (Associate Degree; Certificate) Culinary Arts Management (AssociateDegree; Certificate)

Hospitality and Restaurant Management (Associate Degree; Certificate)

Los Angeles/Orange CountyCenter of Excellence, February 2022

 

Summary

 

Program Endorsement:	Endorsed: All Criteria Met	o	Endorsed: Some Criteria Met	x	Not Endorsed	¨

 

Program Endorsement Criteria
Supply Gap:	Yes
Living Wage: (Entry-Level, 25th)		No
Education:	Yes
	Emerging Occupation(s)
Yes ¨

 

The Los Angeles/Orange County Center of Excellence for Labor Market Research (COE)prepared this report to provide Los Angeles/Orange County regional labor market supply and demand data related to five occupations:

 

·        Food service managers (11-9051);

·        Lodging managers (11-9081);

·        Chefs and head cooks (35-1011);

·        First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers (35-1012); and

·        Bakers (51-3011)

 

Middle-skill occupations typically require some postsecondary education but less than a

bachelor’s degree.1 The report is intended to help determine whether there is demand in the local labor market that is not being met by the supply from community college programs that align with the relevant occupations.

 

1 The COE classifies middle-skill jobs in the following:

·        All occupations that require an educational requirement of some college, associate degree, or apprenticeship;

·        All occupations that require a bachelors degree but also have more than one-third of their existing labor force with an educational attainment of some college or associate degree; or

·        All occupations that require a high school diploma or equivalent or no formal education but also require short- to long-term on-the-job training where multiple community colleges have existing programs.

·         

Based on the available data, there appears to be a supply gap in the region for the occupations of interest. Although all five occupations have entry-level wages below the self-sufficiency standard wage in both Los Angeles and Orange counties, between 29% and 38% of incumbent workers, have completed some college or an associate degree. Due to some of the criteria being met, the COE endorses this proposed program. Detailed reasons include:

 

Demand:

·        Supply Gap Criteria – Over the next five years, there are projected to be 8,174jobs available annually in the region due to new job growth and replacements, which is more than the 1,662 awards conferred annually by educational institutions in the region.

·        Living Wage Criteria – In Los Angeles County, all five occupations have entry-level wages below the self-sufficiency standard wage ($18.10/hour).2

·        Educational Criteria – Within the LA /OC region, 88% of the annual openings for the occupations of interest typically require a high school diploma or equivalent.

o However, national-level educational attainment data indicates that between29% and 38% of incumbent workers have completed some college or an associate degree.

 

Supply:

·        Between 2017 and 2020, 23 community colleges in the LA/OC region issued awards in programs that have historically trained for the occupations of interest, conferring an average of 1,570 awards.

·        Between 2016 and 2019, non-community college institutions in the region conferred an average of 92 awards in relevant programs.

 

 

This degree is designed to be either a terminal degree that prepares students for the culinary job market or as a stepping stone to California Poly Pomona’s Collins College of Hospitality Management. Six of the courses in this degree have current articulation agreements with Collins College of hospitality management. In our Advisory Board Meeting, Michael Godfrey, Collin’s College associate dean, explained that many more of the units will transfer in as lower-division electives, he or she can petition for the content and the units combined to meet elective support requirements. We have also been told by Carolina Sanchez, Student Services Coordinator at Collins’ College, that Mt SACstudents are very well prepared and on track to complete their degrees on time or ahead of schedule as compared to other transfers.

 

Student Selection and Fees: Mandatory fees – Students will be required to purchase uniforms and knife kits to complete this program. We have worked with Mercer knives to create an affordable kit for our students, which will also serve them if they transfer to Cal Poly Pomona. The uniforms are standard for our industry: double-breasted chef coat, houndstooth (black and white checkered) pants, apron, and skullcap. There are no lab fees for our culinary classes. Students will only need to purchase knives and uniforms to participate in this program.

This is a high-unit program requiring 75-semester units. We acknowledge that it is higher than most degrees at the community college level. We have tried to create a comprehensive program that meets the need of both the student and the needs of the prospective employers. Through our research, we found that all of the nationally ranked and prestigious culinary schools all have very high semester unit counts: 

• Culinary Institute of America requires 69 semester units, 48 credits in culinary arts, 15 credits in liberal arts, six credits in business management 

• Johnson and Wales requires 61-semester units

• Le Cordon Bleu (now defunct) required 92 semesters, 62 Culinary, and 30 GE.

• Art Institute – (reopening in Texas)  90 quarter credit hours 

We feel that our program unit count is in line with other community colleges that offer Culinary Arts AS degrees.

• Cerritos 49 Culinary units

• Saddleback 37-43 Culinary units

• LA Mission 42 Culinary units

• LA Trade Tech 48 Culinary units

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
CUL 101	Professional Cooking Foundations	3	Yr.1 Summer
CUL 102	Professional Cooking I	3	Yr. 1 Fall
CUL 103	Professional Cooking II	2.5	Yr. 1 Spring
CUL 104	Garde Manger	3	Yr. 2 Fall
CUL 105	Baking & Pastry I	3	Yr. 1 Spring
CUL 107	World Cuisine	2.5	Yr. 1 Fall
CUL 111	Exploring Beverages	3	Yr. 1 Winter
CUL 113	Commercial Food Production	3	Yr. 2 Fall
CUL 114	Dining Room Management	3	Yr. 2 Spring
CUL 115	Restaurant Operations	4	Yr. 2 Spring
HRM 52	Food Safety and Sanitation	2	Yr. 1 Summer
HRM 56	Hospitality Supervision	3	Yr. 1 Fall
HRM 57	Hospitality Cost Control	3	Yr. 2 Fall
HRM 59	Intro to Food and Beverage Management	3	Yr. 1 Fall
Electives (3 units)
CUL 91	Culinary Work Experience	1-5	Yr. 2 Spring
CUL 106	Baking & Pastry II	2.5	Yr. 2 Spring
CUL 108	Cooking for Special Diets	3	Yr. 2 Spring
CUL 110	Street Foods	3	Yr. 2 Spring
CUL 112	Sustainability in Culinary Arts	3	Yr. 2 Spring
CUL 121	American Regional Cuisine	2.5	Yr. 2 Spring
CUL 125	Hospitality Entrepreneurship	3	Yr. 2 Spring

CSDT Business Division

PCC Cerritos LATTC LBCC Mission College

275

• Most classes - Minor edits and updated sample assignment to align with MO’s • 103, 106, and 107 -Reduce lecture hours, increase lab hours, Edits to outline, and update sample assignment to align with MO’s • CUL 104 - Add HRM 52 pre-req, Edits to outline, and updated sample assignment to align with MO’s • CUL 111 - Update catalog description and notes. Tasting language. • HRM 57 - Remove HRM 51 pre-req • CUL 115 - Revised to a lab-only class – replace work experience. Looking at the number of units to support lunch service. • CUL 108 - Name change, Edits to outline and updated sample assignment to align with MO’s • CUL 113 – New Class – HRM and CUL 102 pre-req • CUL 121 - New class – HRM 52 prereq • CUL 125 - New class – DL request • CUL 91 - Remove co req and restaurant requirement = like HRM 91, no longer tied to Café 91. • HRM 59 – Added • HRM 61 – Removed – content covered in CUL 114, 155, HRM 56, 57 and 59