People are crazy about bread, desserts, cakes and sweets for centuries. Every day billions of people eat bread, chocolate, doughnuts, candies, lollies, cupcakes etc. And if you decide that you want to become the „magician of sweets” – a professional baker, pastry chef or confectioner, then you should also know what opportunities are there in front of you to find a job. You should know the business perspective of the job of your dream.
The places to work for the bakers and pastry chefs
If you are a baker, then the first and obvious choice to look for a job would be at a bakery. The baker’s job often involves early mornings. We all love to come to our favourite bakeries early in the morning, just to buy that bread, baguette or bagel while it’s still warm and fresh. This means that a baker would have to come to work way earlier before the opening hours to turn on that oven and bake that fresh and warm bread. But not all bakers work in bakeries. Some work in wholesale bakeries, where they are preparing items that can longer stand on the shelf. Others work in restaurants or cafés, making bread for lunch or dinner if a restaurant has a demand for its own baker. And let’s not forget about those who open their own bakeries.
Now let’s see about the pastry department. We may notice that often the baking and pastry terms are grouped together. Yes, they do have a lot in common, but they are not the same thing. The pastry is not about baked goods like a bakery, but about a more wide range of desserts. So for the pastry chef, the more obvious choice is to work at a restaurant, or a café, where a pastry chef will be able to create a dessert menu and make plated desserts. And this territory is almost limitless. It is hard to imagine a restaurant without desserts and pastries. And there are also tons of big 4- and 5-star hotels, resorts, and casinos (those who play online casinos won’t be able to taste the magnificent deserts though) which have their own restaurants and branded pastry shops. And of course, there is always the option of opening your own business. Thanks to the internet, you can now cook and bake in your own apartment, make it on video, upload it on TikTok, YouTube or Instagram, get thousands of followers and make decent money with that.
The places to work for the confectioners
Who is a confectioner? Confectioners mix and cook chocolates, shape sweets and lolly-pops etc. They have to follow strict rules and recipes to the letter, weigh and mix ingredients, and combine, dissolve, and coat confectionery in chocolate. They have to maintain the equipment, make sure it is clean, control the temperature of pressure cookers, check the consistency of products during the cooking process etc. They usually work for large manufacturers with big factories that produce tons of candies and sweets every day. They can also work for small, private companies or niche confectionary shops.
Confectioners mostly work with different types of machinery, especially at large factories.
But this industry is not limited only to the baker, pastry chef and confectionery professions. There are many other professions. Did you know that there are dough makers? It is a person, who is responsible for preparing dough for bread, pies, pastries, biscuits, cookies and other baked goods. How about a chocolatier? A chocolatier is a specialist who makes desserts and confections out of various types of chocolate. These could include truffles, fudge, bonbons, chocolate bars, and more. They may also make intricate centrepieces of chocolate moulded into animals, flowers, and fruits. The next one is a cake decorator. This special position includes icing, frosting, candy, fondant and other decorations to make visually appealing designs.
And there is an outstanding profession – wedding cake baker and designer. These professionals specialize in wedding cakes and this is a niche within bakery and pastry. Wedding cake bakers must not only know how to bake a perfect, layered cake, that should be soft, juicy, creamy and sweet but also design it and make it unique for every single wedding, which is always a special and unique occasion.
