Feast or famine at the Institute of Culinary Education

By Sarah Chaminade

I loved teaching at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. It gave me the opportunity to work with a new generation of pastry cooks and to be a mentor to them. It also gave me an opportunity to grow professionally by working with instructors from different backgrounds.

I come from the industry — I have 17 years of experience as a pastry chef in hotels, restaurants, bakeries and catering companies. I made sure my students didn’t leave my class without being able to make a cornet — a paper triangle to apply icing or write on cakes. I told each and every student that whether they ended up working at a restaurant or a bakery, they need to know how to write “Happy Birthday” on a cake! I taught my students how to be confident and get through the struggles of working in the kitchen and being a part of a team.

As much as I love teaching, however, I decided to leave my job at the end of July. It wasn’t an easy decision, but what made me leave ICE is simple: job security. I’m 34. After three years as an instructor at ICE and with more than a decade of experience as a pastry chef, it’s strange not to have any job security. As a part-timer at ICE, I was basically working freelance and working mostly nights and weekends. I was struggling financially, so I picked up as much work as I could by working in other departments of the school. I taught recreational classes, such as cake decorating, or kids’ classes, and I worked with the marketing department to promote our program and special events outside the school community. I also taught classes for ICE at corporate events and private parties, contributed my recipes on the school’s social media, and helped to write a new curriculum for ICE.

I really enjoyed working at ICE. But the school demands flexibility and commitment from staff without offering anything in return. For example, the idea is if you’re part-time, you can pick up other work. But the varied schedule throughout the year makes it difficult to hold another job. And the school has revolving student enrollment; there’s no “term.” The school can delay the start of one of your classes until it is filled. But by the time it begins, you might have a conflict with another class you’re teaching, so someone else gets it and you miss out. It’s either feast or famine. You could work several weeks straight without a day off to make up for weeks without classes.

This kind of scheduling creates constant uneasiness for instructors. Your salary can fluctuate up to $20,000 or more from year to year! And instructor salaries are way below what chefs with our experience ought to be making. Even the full-time instructors are not guaranteed a livable wage. As a part-time instructor, I was not guaranteed anything. I was expected to act like a salaried employee by filling in for people who call in sick or by helping to cook for employee functions, but I was paid as an hourly employee. As much as I loved the students, there was no reason to stay there.

Sarah Chaminade is a former pastry and baking chef-instructor.