Future culinary associates and students gathered Thursday, Nov. 6 for the Culinary Arts Career Fair in LAC.
The event was to provide information to instructors and students alike who want to pursue the culinary field and learn more about what they can do about their future in the industry.
Jennifer Marquez, 19, was one of the students who attended and majoring in Baking and Pastry Arts.
“I’m hoping to find potential jobs and new career options.” Marquez said. “It’s interesting and I also get to see what I could do with more experience in the field.”
Among the participants were the LBCC Culinary Arts department chefs and their students, taking time to let them know about what they could do now about their experiences.
Chef Instructor Colleen Wong said she also hoped that the event gave exposure not only to their programs, but for the students as well on the means of professionalism.
“I hope exposure for our campus since (culinary arts) isn’t too known around here.” Wong said. “It’s also good for the students since they get exposures in different fields, exposures to on-spot interviews and all things accumulated from professionalism.”
Big name companies such as Hilton Hotels, Stone-fire Grill Inc., Panda Restaurant Group, Inc, Disney Parks and Resorts and Porto’s Bakery & Café were in attendance to provide the event with information about their companies.
Included to the fair were information about jobs available for the current year and expanded work territories such as assistant chef, food preps and even food marketing possibilities.
Jay Khoon, 63, is a culinary major and said that people who get to experience this today are lucky since they would be able to find resources quickly.
“We didn’t have this growing up.” Khoon said. “Even though I am only doing this for personal satisfaction, it’s great to see new job markets and how it’s different from institutional cooking since you could use (the job resource) to help yourself.”
Other than Culinary Arts, the program includes Baking and Pastry Arts in its associate or certification opportunities for intensive professional and practical experience.
For more information about the department, students may speak to a counselor in building A or email general questions for the department head Haley Nguyen in h3nguyen@lbcc.edu