This Could Be You!

Are you looking to change your career? Do you feel you are not fully fulfilling your ability in your present job? Do you love cooking and want to change the direction of your life? Look no further, we can set you on the path to a new creative career in the food industry.

Maybe you’ve been in your job for too long, become bored, stuck in a rut and are no longer interested in the subject or the work.  Maybe you feel you’re simply too young to sit it out until you retire – counting the hours, watching the clock.

If this is you, have you considered a career in food and cooking? At the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School we have a lot of people coming to us to undertake our longer courses because they want to recalibrate their lives and start something new.

Over my many years of teaching people who want to work with food I have helped literally hundreds of career changers. Some have had successful careers as doctors, nurses, journalists, IT specialists, bankers, lawyers and ex service men and women.

Most of these people have gone on to have very successful second careers in areas such as restaurants, catering companies, in magazines, as food writers, as private chefs, as food stylists and in food development to name but a few.

It is never too late to take the plunge.

This is how MasterChef contestant Rukmini Iyer described her time here;

“Although I learned so much during MasterChef, I subsequently gained a huge amount of knowledge from my time at The Edinburgh New Town Cookery School. I learned what it’s really like to work in a professional kitchen, and gained a lot from collaborating and working with fellow students. The highlight of the course for me was getting a thorough grounding in classical techniques; sauces, meat, fish, and of course patisserie.”

Alan Nicholls, one of our recent Three Month Intermediate/Advanced Certificate graduates now works in an excellent Edinburgh-based Gastropub.   His story puts things into perspective;

“I’d decided it was time to move on from my succesful career as a graphic designer.  My children were getting to an age that I could begin to really put plans into place to own and run a gastropub of my own.  But, aside from being a good self taught cook I had no idea if I had the necessary skills, commitment, energy and deep seated ambition to make it work.  That’s why I took three months out to learn at the ENTCS.  It was life changing in every sense.

My dreams are fast becoming a reality as I gain invaluable time served experience in the quality of professional cooking environment that I could only previously have fantasised about.”

And Alan’s not alone.  We have ex-students working and gaining experience in all sorts of food related jobs. Some who have wanted restaurant work have gone on to work in a variety of establishments. Last year one student was very fortunate to land a three month stage at The Fat Duck in Bray, but others have landed some great jobs throughout the UK and abroad. Not everybody wants to work in restaurants and others have found work in bakeries, cafes, delis; even on board luxury yachts!

So come and talk to us about our Six Month Diploma in Practical Cookery, or one of our Three Month Cookery Courses – the next one begins in April. Learn about what courses we offer in a city with no fewer than five Michelin starred restaurants.

Have a look here at our range of serious training options.  You never know.  Your life might just change completely.