Oh the Hors d'oeuvres! The sausages! The steaks, and the cheeses! There are two reasons to become a chef - either you're a foodie, or you're on a mission to turn the entire world into foodies. Doesn't matter which category you fall into; what matters is the fact that cooking can turn into one of the most interesting careers in the world for you, if you have the knack of playing with spices and flavors. Think beyond, and you could manage a team of skilled chefs who know the nitty-gritty that the culinary world enfolds within. That said, the career of head chefs revolves around creating innovative recipes, establishing a name for themselves, managing a team of chefs and kitchen workers, and earning handsomely. If you're a bon vivant and see yourself mixing the best of spices in a reputable eatery a few years down the lane, a career as a head chef awaits you with arms wide open. In the following segment, we bounce off the various steps to become a successful head chef - steps composed of the education requirements, specialization, and personal skills, all of which define the absolute process of becoming a head chef in a hotel. So, here goes. Becoming a Head Chef - Steps Just so you know, to become a head chef, one must be through the basics of becoming a chef, gain relevant experience in the field of cooking, and then plan on pursuing a career as a head chef in a large-scale eatery. Following are the steps involved in pursuing a career a head chef: Seek Education: While the knack of cooking is a requisite for every culinary aspirant who plans on becoming a chef later in life, one needs to enroll in a culinary school post high school. The United States of America boasts of a number of world-class culinary institutions such as Institute of Culinary Education (NYC), California Culinary Academy (San Francisco), and Texas Culinary Academy (Austin) which can be considered if one wants to kick-start their career as a chef. From basic cooking to baking art, these schools groom their students in the best way possible, and prepare them to cook some of the best dishes in the world. Lastly, they will help you discover your own unique style of cooking, and tell you how to maximize it. Find Your Niche: A chef may work in a number of settings, and acquire more than one position to demonstrate their culinary art. For example, many aspirants are fond of baking, and hence, they aspire to become a pastry chef. Many, on the other hand, look forward to become a vegetable chef or a pantry chef. Following, there are sous chefs, personal chefs, and garde managers who have their own sets of duties and responsibilities. However, for every type of chef, the entry-level position is that of commises, where cooks work as apprentices under head chefs in large kitchens. Therefore, in order to head your team of kitchen workers, you need to find your niche, and start working in direction of the same. You need to enroll in the right culinary school, and take up courses dedicated to your liking. Get As Much Experience as You Can: Framing a career as a head chef requires nothing but experience. You work as a chef in a reputed hotel for a while, learn the basics and the advanced skills, start managing a small team ab initio, and soon, your experience will help you acquire a position higher than other chefs of similar league. Demonstrate rich quality working, develop a unique style of cooking that no other chef of your league has, and so, either you can expect a promotion as a head chef in your own hotel, or you could start applying for the position of a head chef in other eateries and hotels. A switch in the job will present you with a greater remuneration, and better opportunities. All in all, there are no such education requirements in particular for becoming a head chef; a head chef is required to have the leadership skills and an ability to work as a team with the chefs he or she is assigned. The process of becoming a head chef starts with becoming a lover of food and cooking food. You need to be attentive of the vacancies in organizations that require new chefs everyday, and apply accordingly. A career as a head chef is extremely lucrative for the reason that the annual salary of a chef heading a team of chefs and kitchen workers in the United States of America is no less than $50,000 annually. Hospitality is a field where one can earn handsomely, depending upon the settings they choose to serve in. The duties and responsibilities of head chef focus more on leadership, and therefore, this is one trait that every aspirant needs to develop in themselves before thinking of becoming the master of spices and grubs!