Baking and Pastry Degree

The Baking and Pastry Degree program prepares students for career opportunities in bakeries, restaurants, catering, hotels, and other food service businesses. Students gain practical training in the use of commercial equipment and acquire the skills necessary to be successful in the field of baking, such as production baking, candy making, specialty cakes, plated desserts and artisan breads, menu development, portion control, and cost control. Students who complete this degree's requirements will earn the Food Protection Manager Certification. The program combines management theory and practical application of skills and abilities, preparing them to meet the needs of employers.

 

The goal and objective of this degree is to prepare students to obtain one of many jobs in the culinary or baking field. Traditionally, culinary positions have not had an education qualification, but more often than not, companies are requiring culinary education to move into management positions. Completing this degree wi11 allow students to develop competencies in the following areas: culinary, production baking, safety and sanitation, cost controls, and restaurant management. The capstone of this degree is the student-run restaurant on Mt SAC’s campus.

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

Completion of this degree will prepare students for the following job market:

 According to Aguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts and the Culinary Institute of America completion of a baking and pastry degree will prepare students for the following job market: Please refer to the list below:

 

• Baker
• Specialty Baker
• Pastry Cook or Chef
• Chocolatier
• Cake Designer/Decorator
• Wedding Cake Baker & Designer
• Baking & Pastry Blogger or Writer
• Research and Development (R&D) Chef
• Food Stylist
• Business owner
• Freelance Pastry Chef

Mt SAC provides degree and certificate programs, either a terminal degree that prepares students for the culinary job market or a stepping-stone to CaliforniaPoly Pomona’s Collins College of Hospitality Management. This degree is designed to offer the opportunity for students to gain employment while they continue their education. 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 units would transfer in as lower-division electives; they can petition for the content and the units combined to meet elective support requirements.

The discussion from the advisory board meeting allowed us to design the Baking and Pastry Degree program in a thoughtful way. Throughout the design process, we considered other community colleges, what they offered, and their proximity to our campus.

The curriculum is designed to: articulate to Cal Poly Pomona's Collin’s College of Hospitality Management or prepare students for the workforce. 

Required Courses:

Requirements	Dept. Name/#	Name	Units	CSU-GE	IGETC	Sequence
Required Core: units	CUL 101 CUL 102 CUL 105 CUL 106 CUL 113 CUL 114 CUL 115 CUL 117 CUL 118 HRM 52 HRM 57 HRM 56 HRM 59	Professional Cooking Foundations Professional Cooking I Baking & Pastry I Baking & Pastry II Commercial Food Production Dining Room Management Restaurant Operations Artisan Breads Specialty Cakes Food Safety and Sanitation Hospitality Cost Control Hospitality Supervision Intro to Food and Beverage Management	3.00 3.00 2.50 3.00 3.00 2.50 3.00 3.00 3.00 4.00 2.00 3.00 3.00			Yr. 1 Summer Yr. 1 Fall Yr. 1 Fall Yr. 1 Spring Yr. 2 Fall Yr. 2 Fall Yr. 2 Spring Yr. 1 Fall Yr. 1 Spring Yr. 2 Spring Yr. 1 Spring Yr. 2 Fall Yr. 2 Spring
Choose 1 class (3 units)	CUL 91 CUL 108 CUL 110 CUL 111 CUL 112 CUL 121 CUL 125	Culinary Work Experience Cooking for Special Diets Street Foods Exploring Beverages Sustainability in Culinary Arts American Regional Cuisine Food Service Entrepreneurship	1-5 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 2.50 3.00			Yr. 2 Spring

Required Major Total          41                                                                          

Local Mt. San Antonio College GeneralEducation Requirements            

Transferable Prerequisites for the Major                                              (as needed to reach 60 transferable units)

Degree Total                                                                                                    60 plus

ProposedSequence:

Year 1Summer = 6

Year 1Fall = 14

Year 1Winter = 4

Year 1Spring =13

Year 2Summer = 3 

Year 2Fall = 12

Year 2Winter = 3

Year 2Spring =10.5

Required Major Total                                                     43.5units

Completion of CSU-GE Breadth or IGETC pattern           31.5 units

(Possible double counting: 12 units)

TOTAL UNITS                                                               75units

 

This high-unit program requires 40-42.5 semester units plus general education. 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 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 require 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
CUL 105	Baking & Pastry I	3
CUL 106	Baking & Pastry II	2.5
CUL 113	Commercial Food Production	3
CUL 114	Dining Room Management	3
CUL 115	Restaurant Operations	4
CUL 117	Artisan Breads	2.5
CUL 118	Specialty Cakes	2.5
HRM 52	Food Safety and Sanitation	2
HRM 57	Hospitality Cost Control	3
HRM 56	Hospitality Supervision	3
HRM 59	Intro to Food and Beverage Management	3
Electives (3 units)
CUL 91	Culinary Work Experience	1-5
CUL 108	Specialty Cuisines (formerly Cooking for Special Diets)	3
CUL 110	Street Foods	3
CUL 111	Exploring Beverages	3
CUL 112	Sustainability in Culinary Arts	3
CUL 121	American Regional Cuisine	2.5
CUL 125	Food Service Entrepreneurship	3

CSDT Business Division

PCC Cerritos LATTC LBCC Mission College

275

• Most classes - Minor edits and updated sample assignment to align with MO’s • 106, 117, and 118 -Reduce lecture hours, increase lab hours, Edits to outline, and update 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