The Culinary Arts Program at South Seattle Community College is consistently ranked among the top training programs in the country by the National Restaurant Association. Our students have won awards at various state and national competitions.

View a 13 minute streaming video of our faculty and students in action. (Users with modem connections will not be able to view this video.)

Tours/Open House

We encourage prospective students to contact us and come in for an information tour/open house while classes are in session. Call (206) 934-5344 to reserve a spot. NOTE * Please do not wear sandals or open toed shoes to the tours.

Careers

With culinary skills, many students find work in restaurants, the hotel industry, pastry and specialty shops, cruise lines and resorts, bakery and candy companies, catering services, institutional food service operations, and for themselves.

The division works closely with industry leaders to develop program content. Progressive, innovative instruction in production and service surroundings is the basis for the program's renowned success.

Students operate multiple food outlets as part of their training:

• Career Pathway Map (PDF)

  A Food Court with a cafeteria line, deli, and grill
• A casual dining cafe - Café Alki
• A formal dining room - Alhadeff Grill
• A retail pastry shop - Bernie's Place

Job placement is consistently between 95 and 100 percent for all graduates.

Areas of Training

• Production
  Students progress from limited menu, high-volume operations through specialty and steamtable techniques to classical dining presentations. Students learn fundamental entrees, sauces, pantry/meat/poultry/fish preparation and classical sauce and sauté preparations. Introduction to kitchen management is incorporated into daily class work.
• Service
  Service Skills With hands-on training techniques, students learn table side preparations, tray and hand service, banquet and reception organization and layout, cashier and reception skills, and dining room and business functions.
• Management
  This component of practical application of inventory control, operations analysis and purchasing underscore production exercises throughout the program. Computer and manual reporting, receiving and storage of goods and hands-on purchasing for multifaceted operation are key management segments. Students gain practical experience in personnel management and human relations during everyday dining room and kitchen operation.
• Pastry and Specialty Baking
  Students learn entry level skills and progress to advanced techniques with practical laboratory experience in high quality pastry production focusing on European type products, including confections and display work.
• Wine Technology
  The program provides introductory and professional development classes relating to the wine industry. Options include focus on wine making, wine marketing and sales, or food and wine pairing. The program will prepare individuals, through classroom instruction and laboratory experience, for a career in the wine industry, or, provide advanced skill training for those already employed in the industry. See details of our three certificate options.

Program Options

Classes:

First quarter classes for Catering and Banquet Operations, Restaurant Food Service Production and Pastry & Specialty Baking are Monday - Friday 7:00 - 1:40 daily, Tuesday and Thursday until 4:30.

Food Safety & Sanitation must be taken the first 1/2 of the first quarter and Nutrition the second 1/2 of the quarter. It is not possible to skip these classes.

If you have a degree that includes at least three (3) credits in Math, six (6) credits in English and three (3) credits in Psychology your second - fifth quarter would be 7:00 a.m. - 1:40 daily. If you do not have the required credits in Math, English and Psychology these classes are taken second - fifth quarter, three days a week after the "hands on" portion of the class.

• Class Schedules

Program Costs

Please refer to the tuition schedule for resident and non-resident tuition and fees. Students will incur "excess credit fees" each quarter since the credit load per quarter varies between 28 - 41. If needed, plan to purchase a campus parking permit every quarter. Beginning students should add between $800 - $1200 for uniforms (shoes), textbooks and tools. (Information about these requirements is included in the registration packet received when registration is begun.)

South Seattle Community College is a day commuter campus without any on-campus housing. Please visit this Web page for some information about off-campus housing options.

Entrance Requirements

The Steps to Enroll section provides an overview of all the requirements. Please refer to it.

In an effort to help prospective students achieve educational goals, the Culinary Arts programs will register students who have or will be scheduling one of the required tests (COMPASS, SLEP or ASSET) or have college transcripts requested. Call (206) 934-5349 to schedule an assessment test. For more information about the individual tests, visit Student Assessment Services web page.

However, the only way to totally guarantee you a spot in the program is for the following requirements to be met.

• The Culinary Arts Office, located in the Technology Center (TEC 120), MUST have evaluated transcripts or the evaluation of your test scores at the time of registration.
  
• Culinary Arts Programs require the following scores for enrollment.
  (Scores updated June 27, 2005)

Test scores for :

• COMPASS must be 75 (reading) 65 (writing) 28 (math).
• COMPASS-ESL must be:
  89 (reading/listening) 87 (grammar/usage)  9 (math).

If you enroll before taking one of the above mentioned tests, low scores can result in your being dropped from the program or moved to another quarter while you take a refresher class.

Paying tuition and having the required test scores, or transcripts, in the Culinary Arts office prior to tuition payment deadline is the only way to guarantee a position in class.

Contact Information

South Seattle Community College
Culinary Arts Department - Technology Center
6000 16th Avenue S.W.
Seattle, WA 98106-1499
Phone: (206) 934-5344
FAX: (206) 934-6728
Email: Ann.Witt@seattlecolleges.edu

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