Culinary – Gastronomy Internship

An intern in a hotel’s kitchen supports the team in place. According to the size of the hotel and its restaurant, tasks may vary. Within a smaller team, the intern would act as a direct support for the chef and be able to perform various activities. As long as the chef requires help, he will facilitate his work and improve the quality of the service. Within a bigger team and therefore into a more hierarchical working environment, tasks would be more framed. In both cases, activities can be more or less sophisticated according to his skills. Culinary internships allow you to discover and learn the most delicious recipes of foreign countries. Internship restaurant are the most suitable ones for you if you want to become a master chef !

Tasks of an Gastronomy intern

Here are the different tasks that a public relations intern can perform:

  • Helping in the preparation of dishes.
  • Simple kitchen tasks: peeling, storing, cleaning, preparing…
  • Learning how to present dishes.
  • Helping in the preparation of desserts and pastries.
  • Making sure that dishes are always clean.
  • Receiving and storing provisions.
  • Sorting and cleaning the kitchen: floors, work surfaces, tools…
  • Following-up stocks.

Education

If you want to do a culinary internship abroad, you will already have to know the basics of the jobs. This means having a first successful experience in kitchen or a specialized education. In the second case, preparing at least a high-school degree in this domain would be required. Studying a 2 or 3 years degree after high-school would be highly appreciated.

Skills and Qualities

If you want to make this experience abroad a success, you will have to bring together different ingredients. As a matter of fact, beyond your technical skills, your soft skills will play a key role.

First, you will have to be very rigorous and disciplined. The kitchen environment is sometimes compared with the military sector. Everything is precisely organized, prioritized and each one plays a defined role within the team. However, it does not mean that the atmosphere is cold and not fun. Those aspects are exactly a way to avoid being overwhelmed during rush hours and maintain a good working atmosphere. Concerning rigorousness, it is truly needed. You will sharp tools so your movements must be precise. It will help you to meet quality standards and to respect safety as well as hygiene requirements.

Then, to go further in what was said previously, you will have to understand the meaning of teamwork. Within the kitchen, everyone helps each other and works collaboratively in order to provide the best service possible to the customers. You will have to avoid generating or increasing conflicts. Moreover, you will have to build strong links with your kitchen mates and be team oriented.

Finally, you will have to provide unrelenting efforts. Yes, the culinary environment is intense and demands strong working capacities. Giving up after the first difficulty will not be an option! On the contrary, putting your efforts together to overcome these obstacles will be the best way to learn.

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Culinary Skills

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Precision and rigorousness

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English

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Interpersonal Skills

Skills developed during a Culinary internship abroad

An internship abroad in the kitchen of a hotel will allow you to improve your skills in various fields.

Let’s start by the most obvious: kitchen technics. Clearly, working daily with your team will help you learning by their side. The Hospitality industry is a demanding working environment. It is also an industry that generates millions of customers each year. Your movements and knowledge will get more precise over time. You will have the opportunity to learn from more experienced employees who made it in this tough working field. Moreover, if at the beginning your tutor is satisfied with your performance, you might have the chance to perform more technical tasks. It is your chance to prove yourself.

Given that the internship will be abroad, you will have the opportunity to improve your language skills. English, Spanish, German… it will depend on your destination. Nowadays, it is important to fluently master English, or even a second language. Working in a team will allow you to exchange and interact with foreign people daily. In the field, your ability to speak would improve rapidly. Of course, it will also allow you to add a new asset to your CV. Companies are more and more internationalized and their target markets are spread worldwide. Even in France, it is a mandatory competency on the job market.

Finally, you will be able to develop a whole new set of cross-disciplinary skills for your future career. Adaptability, as you will live in a country with a different culture and working methods. But also, rigorousness, determination, sense for details… just to mention a few. All these values will be useful for your future, professionally as well as personally. We often say that the kitchen field is a good school for life, and it is true.

A hotel internship will be a good start for your career !

More Information

  • If you want to do a culinary internship in a European hotel, the demand is higher during the summer. Vacationers are looking for accommodation abroad and hotels are trying to meet their expectations. Thus, the energy you could bring would surely interest them!
  • If you are more interested in an internship outside of Europe, high season can be different. Each destination has its own characteristics concerning tourism. The best option is to find information on when tourists are visiting the country considered. In general, hotels from sunny places are open all year long!
  • It is better to apply about 2 months before the start of your internship. The idea is to have as many internship options and destinations to your disposal as possible.
  • The culinary internship can last from 1 to 6 months. It depends on our partner company and their requirements.
  • We dispose of many hospitality internships which include culinary, food & beverage, front office, public relations and more positions !

Please, don’t forget that these are just trends and advice. The best you can do is ask one of our consultants for more information regarding your internship possibilities: [email protected] 

At PIC Management we offer the following destinations for a culinary internship abroad: France, Baleares, Canarias, United Kingdom, Malta, Mexico, South America. Discover all our culinary internships abroad.

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