21380 Wed Sep 18 22:30:23 -0700 2002 3 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 76690 Have any of you had food-related jobs that you really enjoyed? I just graduated from college and am currently looking for a job in San Francisco. Food has always been my passion, and I would love to find a career that incorporates this passion. I've worked in restaurants before (hostessing) and as an assistant to a personal chef, and I'm curious about other food-related careers. Working for a catering company (more on the business side as a catering coordinator) sounds interesting. Could anyone share some advice about this area of work or other areas that I could look into? Thanks in advance! It's been great to find a group of like-minded/appetited people! Wed Sep 18 22:30:23 -0700 2002 0 sweet&sour 1 76696 There are quite a few food companies with headquarters in the Bay Area, among them Peet's Coffee (Emeryville) Dreyer's Ice Cream (Oakland), Sharffenberger Chocolate (Berkeley) and Guittard Chocolate (So. SF). Also Williams Sonoma is headquartered here in SF as well. You might contact any or all of them for informational interviews, just to see what opportunities might be available. Or check out the upscale markets like Draegers, Mollie Stone, or Andronico's. There's also the San Francisco Professional Food Society, which is a great networking organization, but I believe you have to be a food professional already to join. Thu Sep 19 00:33:07 -0700 2002 76690 0 Janet A. Zimmerman 1 76698 I'm guessing that you have a liberal arts education. Paula Leduc Catering in Emeryville tackles gigantic projects with great organization and professionalism. Food is solid considering this is catering. Carter Brown Catering is run by some Chez Panisse formers who know about quality ingredients and simple starting points. Whether its catering or something else, I suggest aiming for the highest in quality rather than the highest in salary. Money follows later in a career if you build some extraordinary knowledge as you start out. Awesome prospects all around. Read up on it, you'll have no shortage of options. Stay away from culinary schools - just my personal bias. Thu Sep 19 00:45:17 -0700 2002 76690 0 k. gerstenberger 1 76728 "I just graduated from college and am currently looking for a job in San Francisco" If you attend a college located in the "teritory" of the San Jose Mercury News, I may have been reading its Food & Wine section every week. Although most of its articles are about how-to-cook, many stories about chefs and their careers are discussed. I strongly recommend you read the San Jose Mercury. On Sundays, the first page of its job ad section place career advices for a wide variety of people. In addition, reading the following book may give you behind-scene stories inlcuding Microsoft's party food was really terible, although the video game story mainly handles high-tech business. Most of restaurants depicted by the book, which was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal's new book section in spring, are located in the Bay Area. Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0761537082/reader/1/ref=lib_dp_TFCV/002-8362524-5185607#reader-link Thu Sep 19 12:35:19 -0700 2002 76690 0 Hiko Ikeda