San Francisco Baking Institute or Tante Marie Pastry Program?

[ames999]

Hi Everyone,

I've read through a lot of the links that discuss the pastry program at Tante Marie Cooking School, CCA, CCSFand CIA, but I haven't seen too much posted about SFBI. Has anyone attended the program through SFBI? How was your experience? Did you work at a bakery or as a pastry chef afterward?

This is a career change for me, and I don't think I'm interested in attending either CCA or CIA because of the cost. I am also ruling out City College in SF just because I do want to go to a pastry specific program. So, it seems that in SF that I am left with either the San Francisco Baking Institute or Tante Marie.

If anyone has any advice on either school or has attended either school, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks!

[Cicely]

I have a friend who worked at a Michelin one-star in Paris and then went to SFBI for a week or two and thought quite highly of it.

[vulber]

If you're going to spend all that money on a career change, why don't you try working somewhere for free first and see if you like it

This also isn't just my advice, but also advice from a two-star pastry chef who considers school a waste of money

[SteveG]

I can't speak to Tante Marie, but my indirect exposure to SFBI through Thorough Bread and Pastry on Church St at Market tells me they know their stuff. The guy who runs it is very friendly, and has the chops to the point that he consults with area bakeries like Acme to fine-tune their processes.

Tante Marie strikes me as an all over the map school with courses in any category you can think of, without a strong focus on professional cooking or pastry/bread in particular. Here's a quote from yelp, which suggests the instructors probably know their stuff but aren't in the same league as the SFBI guy: "I loved it so much, I enrolled in the Professional Pastry Program. The Chef Instructor, Frances Wilson is top notch! She has worked in a chateau in France, as well as being the Head Chef at La Ligne in the east bay."