Even if you did not opt for that culinary arts degree in college, it’s not too late to follow your foodie passions.
Below, we will discuss several career options for people who love to make and eat food.
Make Food
Making food for a living offers an abundance of job options.
Many foodies dream of becoming a chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant. However, culinary school debt can be challenging to pay off with the starting salaries often offered in this industry.
Another route to chefdom is to accept a position in the kitchen and work your way up to a chef’s job through on-the-job training. You might start in food prep or as a line cook.
Either course, you will need a solid culinary resume to advance your career. Check out this chef resume format free download for inspiration – it’s the recipe your career needs!
Some Foodies who want to make it big in the restaurant business skip this path altogether. Instead, they may open their own restaurant or food truck. This offers a lot off freedom and can include tasks described below, such as recipe creation.
However, starting a business can be risky – many restaurants fold or change ownership within the first three years.
Others start a bit smaller by making and selling food in their spare time or taking catering orders. This can later be scaled as your customer base grows.
Farm and Forage
One of the most exciting aspects of being a foodie is eating items you have grown or were foraged from the wild.
Moreover, farm-to-table restaurant consumers are often willing to pay high prices for organically, locally grown produce or wild foraged items.
You can thrill your customers with unique offerings if you own a restaurant or catering company, as described above. Or you may be able to sell the items you grow or forage directly to your neighbors, local restaurants, or at a farmer’s market.
Write Recipes
Do you love skimming cookbooks or recipe websites? Well, someone has to develop and test every one of those recipes.
That someone could be you! Today, many recipe writers get their start by blogging about the dishes they make.
To get started, you should examine the format of the best recipes you come across, noting how the ingredients, steps, tips, and narrative are presented. Duplicate the format in your recipes, take good pictures of the food you make, and maybe even post online how-to videos.
With enough of a following, you can publish your recipes in a successful cookbook.
Review Restaurants
How often do you check out a new restaurant’s reviews before eating there for the first time? Restaurants need reviewers, but being paid to do so can be a challenge – after all, many people review restaurants for free on Google and other review websites.
Some traveling food bloggers can make a living from their websites even if they are not paid directly for their articles. They do this through affiliate marketing and ads.
You can also check with your local newspaper. Often, one of their staff writers will be tasked with covering new restaurants in the community. This can help build up your portfolio, and eventually, you may be able to enter the competitive field of food critic.
Another option is mystery shopping. Restaurants – especially the fanciest restaurants – like to check up on their staff by having trusted reviewers dine at the restaurant and write about their experiences. In exchange, the reviewers are reimbursed for their expenses and usually given a small amount of pay.
While the internet is known to harbor mystery shopping scams, Coyle is one trusted resource.
Food Photography
Food companies, restaurants, and magazines constantly need beautiful photos of the food products they sell or promote.
You can break into food photography by using a resource such as Ocus. Approved photographers can accept photography missions for companies like Uber Eats, Doordash, and Grubhub. You must provide a food photography portfolio, use your equipment, and follow the strict guidelines for taking photos for each company.
You can also try your hand at food styling – arranging the food to make it look good on the plate.
Nutrition
Many people struggle with food because they do not understand nutrition and how foods interact with their bodies. You can become a nutritionist and help educate others. Typically, nutritionist certification can be acquired after a few hundred hours of training.
Key Takeaways
It is never too late to begin a career in the food industry. You could sell food you make in your own home kitchen, write recipes, review restaurants, take pictures of food, or even help others on their nutrition journies.
