Culinary Arts (1586)

Since the program is designed to lead you directly to employment, you’ll be ready to find employment as a chef, sous chef or food production supervisor in:

• Catering companies
• Food service contract companies
• Hotels
• Resorts
• Restaurants

In addition to a passion for cooking, you should also be a:

• Creative thinker and problem-solver
• Person who is able to work well under pressure
• Natural team leader who can encourage others

Explore YOUR career with Career Coach! Career Coach is a helpful tool that will assist you in developing a path from your education to the job market. With Career Coach, you can find:

• Average hourly wages
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• The number of individuals currently employed within that occupation
• The anticipated number of job openings available — just to name a few! 

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Innovatively YOURS, our Culinary Arts program provides hands-on learning opportunities in our on-campus labs and off-campus commercial food and beverage operations that are open to the public. You’ll learn food preparation, production and service — the foundation you need to turn your passion into a career.  In addition, you will be able to gain supervised industry experience at multiple on- and off-campus commercial food and beverage operations that are both open to the public and involve both production and service rotations.

As you complete this program, you will learn how to: 

• Apply industry sanitation and safety procedures
• Demonstrate foundational cooking techniques and knife skills
• Compose a complete meal including culinary and bakery items using standardized recipes
• Exhibit management skills in professionalism, employee relations, food and beverage service, menu design, food purchasing, inventory and cost control
• Create working recipes based on developed flavor profiles, food costs and nutritional values
• Demonstrate leadership and industry experience needed to be successful in a food and beverage operation

Our program is accredited by the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation (ACEF) and graduates with an American Culinary Federation (ACF) membership are awarded a Certificate Culinarian (CC). Find more information about our graduation completion and job placement rates here.

Watch this video for a glimpse into our culinary programs.

• View summaries of every course at HACC by browsing our class schedules database.

• Review our program guide (pdf) to view a list of required courses, recommended course sequencing and program competencies.

This program is designed to lead directly to employment. Though, if you wish to pursue a bachelor’s degree at a four-year school, we can help you transfer your credits.

Our two-year degree programs are designed to be flexible enough to transfer to a wide variety of four-year colleges and universities with no loss of credit. However, each individual college has its own unique program. We encourage you to select a four-year school as soon as possible. This will allow you to learn the transfer college’s program requirements so you can take the proper classes at HACC.

We offer the complete program at our Harrisburg Campus through on-campus/in-person instruction. .

Yes! We offer many scholarships through the HACC Foundation. Each scholarship has specific eligibility requirements. To learn how to apply, please visit hacc.edu/Scholarships.

We hold classes in the spring, summer and fall, and you can apply anytime by visiting our website. When you submit your application, please include program code 1586, which will ensure you apply for the correct program.

Future students, we are excited to connect with you and answer your questions. Please choose the option that works best for you to meet with us.

Current HACC students, please contact our Advising Department with any questions.