Pastry Arts Management Focuses on Managerial and Baking Skills
The glass cases display a feast for the eyes: cupcakes with a rainbow of frosting, strudel drizzled with a sweet glaze, decadent cakes lined with fruit, cream pies with whipped topping, donuts in all shapes and sizes, weaved bread sprinkled with rosemary, cheese buns and many other savoury baked goods. These delicacies are the creation of professionals who work in retail bakeries, supermarkets, department stores, hotels, resorts, camps and more. That’s because these bakers are trained in making commercial quantities of breads, rolls, sweet dough, savoury and sweet pastry, Danish and puff pastry, cookies, cakes and desserts.
At Centennial College, students can attend the Baking - Pastry Arts Management program, which not only gives them the hands-on skills they need as bakers but also the know-how to manage the bakery, including materials purchasing and storage, product cost control and marketing, hiring and managing personnel. Among specific management courses are: Principles of Food, Beverage and Labour Control Costs (students learn practices such as predetermining food, beverage and labour costs; application of control process to the primary phases of restaurant operations, including purchasing, receiving, storing, issuing and production; menu analysis and engineering, and explore the factors affecting labour cost, performance standards, monitoring performance and taking corrective action);
Purchasing for the Commercial Kitchen (introduces students to the procedures required to build an integrated purchasing system for food and non-food items while allowing them to investigate the responsibilities of the purchaser and learning to apply quality standards and ethical conduct); Supervisory Practices for the Kitchen Manager (designed to give learners an opportunity to practice the skill set of a successful supervisor); and more. Meanwhile, among specific baking courses are: Baking and Pastry Arts Theory, Baking and Pastry Arts Practical, Quantity Bakery Production and more.
All learning in this offering is conducted through a balance of lectures and labs. At Progress Campus, Centennial College houses a number of School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture facilities that enhance students’ experience. One specifically beneficial facility is a bake lab that contains tools such as the latest mixers, scales and everything else bakers need to successfully bake an array of goods. Additionally, these labs come equipped with large-screen video equipment to document and play back instructive lessons and an audio-visual system that allows for real-time feeds and access to Internet and broadcast content.
Clearly, this offering is a lot more than just a baking program. Because they will have worked with the latest equipment in their classes and gained the most current managerial practice, graduates can make a smooth transition into the workforce. It is also worth nothing that graduates of the one year Baking - Commercial Bakeries program may directly enter the third semester of this program and earn a diploma in one (additional) year.
