Culinary Arts

Certificate

Master essential restaurant skills while gaining professional work experience with our certificate in Culinary Arts. This program prepares you to work as a chef, cook, or menu planner and includes valuable networking opportunities.

Certificate Overview

In our certificate program, you'll take a core set of Culinary Arts classes to gain a strong foundation in this growing field. With fewer course requirements than the A.A.S. degree program, you will be workforce-ready sooner. You can personalize your education to match your interests with elective courses such as Regional American Cuisine, International Cuisine, and Baking and Pastry.

FLCC typically offers Culinary Arts classes two days each week, which provides the flexibility you need to work part- or full-time as you pursue your education.

Hands-on Professional Training

Our Culinary Arts courses show you what it's like to work in a professional kitchen setting. As a student, you'll complete lab courses at New York Kitchen, a fine dining establishment just a short distance from our main campus in Canandaigua, NY. This feature of our program offers a distinctive, hands-on experience in a formal restaurant setting.

Participate in Culinary Events and Competitions

Throughout the program, you will gain experience preparing multi-course meals for real customers. Each Fall Semester, we host Dinner at Julia, a unique food and wine event featuring innovative menus designed by our Culinary Arts students. You also have the opportunity to participate in service learning projects and competitions, such as those sponsored by the New York Beef Council.

Learn from Regional Partners

Gain over 300 hours of real-world training through our professional work experience requirement that ensures each student will have the opportunity to learn from regional experts. Our work experience program provides more flexibility than traditional internships, which means you can develop a curriculum personalized to your career aspirations.

Flexible Hybrid Program

FLCC's Culinary Arts certificate is a hybrid certificate program. Hybrid programs offer the best of both worlds by combining in-person classroom instruction with online learning activities. For Culinary Arts students, this involves in-person lab that meet in a professional kitchen supplemented by online video demonstrations of essential food preparation techniques that you can practice at home.

Select Culinary Arts courses use a HyFlex teaching model where a portion of the class will be online and a portion will have flexible day-by-day choice for each student. Learn more about HyFlex Courses.

Certificate Program Outcomes

Start Your Career Immediately

From chef to caterer and restaurant cook to food and beverage manager, your FLCC education will provide you the opportunity to explore a range of career options in the food and hospitality industry. Some graduates have even opened their own businesses. Others started careers at:

Low-Cost Tuition and Scholarship Opportunities

Earn a quality education at an affordable rate. With our low cost-per-credit and general scholarship opportunities, you can maximize your potential with minimal debt. Over 75% of FLCC students receive financial awards that reduce the cost of college — or cover it completely!

The Faculty

Our Culinary Arts faculty brings a variety of real-world experiences in the restaurant industry to the classroom. From working as chefs to managing restaurants to teaching public classes at New York Kitchen, our faculty know what it's like to work in food service and hospitality. They are eager to share their knowledge with you.

Culinary Arts Faculty