Culinary artist vs pastry chef

The differences between culinary artists and pastry chefs can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a culinary artist and a pastry chef. Additionally, a pastry chef has an average salary of $44,879, which is higher than the $40,757 average annual salary of a culinary artist.

The top three skills for a culinary artist include dishes, food handling and food preparation. The most important skills for a pastry chef are culinary, food handling, and customer service.

Culinary artist vs pastry chef overview

	Culinary Artist	Pastry Chef
Yearly salary	$40,757	$44,879
Hourly rate	$19.59	$21.58
Growth rate	15%	15%
Number of jobs	5,981	18,844
Job satisfaction	-	3
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 39%	Associate Degree, 49%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	6	6

Culinary artist vs pastry chef salary

Culinary artists and pastry chefs have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Culinary Artist	Pastry Chef
Average salary	$40,757	$44,879
Salary range	Between $20,000 And $82,000	Between $25,000 And $78,000
Highest paying City	-	Urban Honolulu, HI
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	The Culinary Institute of America
Best paying industry	-	Media

Differences between culinary artist and pastry chef education

There are a few differences between a culinary artist and a pastry chef in terms of educational background:

	Culinary Artist	Pastry Chef
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 39%	Associate Degree, 49%
Most common major	Business	Culinary Arts
Most common college	Boston University	Drexel University

Culinary artist vs pastry chef demographics

Here are the differences between culinary artists' and pastry chefs' demographics:

	Culinary Artist	Pastry Chef
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 71.4% Female, 28.6%	Male, 35.7% Female, 64.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% Asian, 8.4% White, 56.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 10.7% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between culinary artist and pastry chef duties and responsibilities

Culinary artist example responsibilities.

Manage inventory and facilitate product orders of the culinary and science departments.
Create dishes to fulfill changing menu requirements on a daily basis.
Instruct cooks in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, and presentation of food.
Coordinate constant clean up in kitchen; operate grills, fryers, and microwaves.
Conceptualize and develop terrain models using Maya and partner with director and animators to correspond and produce effective shots.
Provide model of strong work ethic, assume leadership when in crisis, and professionally handle extremely hectic situations.

Pastry chef example responsibilities.

Hire, schedule and manage a staff of 9 direct reports (5 in kitchen and 4 in caf).
Control food and payroll costs to achieve maximum profitability.
Follow food safety and cleanliness guidelines.
Work as per the HACCP standard.
Create specialized dessert items for wine and holiday dinners.
Operate blenders, mixers, grinders, slicers, and other cooking equipment.

Culinary artist vs pastry chef skills

Common culinary artist skills

Dishes, 34%
Food Handling, 31%
Food Preparation, 29%
Culinary, 4%
Cooking Techniques, 1%
Fine Dining, 1%

Common pastry chef skills

Culinary, 19%
Food Handling, 11%
Customer Service, 10%
Food Preparation, 7%
Pastry Kitchen, 6%
Fine Dining, 6%

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Culinary Artist
Culinary Artist vs Pastry Chef

Updated January 8, 2025

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