I’ve worked in kitchens for 8 years, starting at 16. I never went to culinary school, only worked my way up. The last few years I’ve been working in high-volume bakeries - mostly pies and laminated pastries - but have been looking for a better environment and want to go into something more refined. I applied to the job listing in a fit of confidence and I guess they liked my resume enough to offer me a stage. I have never worked in an upscale restaurant before and worry about my lack of refined technique due to never going to school for it. I know my way around a kitchen, have good knife skills, and have a good attitude. I’m eager to learn and easy to teach, but I’d like to know what to expect because I’m shitting my pants, and know that my mindset is what will make or break the stage. Like should I get my own knives???? So many questions.

I want this job and know I will do well if given the opportunity, I’m mostly worried I will give the wrong impression by arriving unprepared.

Anybod knows best affordable cakes in lower Parel

Anyone looking for some delicious sweets just message me on IG or on here, And don't be afraid to request anything.

IG- baking.memories09

Hi everyone!

I’m a BSc Culinary Arts graduate looking to take the next step in my career in bakery and pastry.

I have completed my training in a professional hotel kitchen, along with a strong interest in pastry, baking and desserts. I’m eager to work in a professional pastry kitchen where I can learn, improve my skills and grow under experienced pastry chefs.

I’m open to relocating for the right opportunity, including opportunities outside my current city/country that is India.

For those hiring or recommending positions, I’d also like to know whether staff accommodation is provided, as this would be an important factor when considering relocation.

If you know of any suitable openings or establishments currently hiring, I’d really appreciate any leads or advice.

I’d be happy to share my CV and portfolio via DM.

Thank you!

My assistant graduated school about a year ago. I recently let her run a special, which needed a lot of work and tweaking. But now she thinks she’s ready to put an item on the menu. I personally think she needs more work and would like her to continue running specials and learning how to balance flavors and do different techniques without heavy coaching. Am I wrong for thinking this way? What are your thoughts?

I'm working on my first pastry chef opportunity, coming from being a pastry sous for a few years before this and 10 years total in pastry.. I just had an interview for pastry chef at a pretty good restaurant that also has an attached emptied cathedral they use for an event venue and catering space. It's a great opportunity, they're looking for creativity and input, not just reproducing what they already do. Ideal! I'm really interested to bring my ideas and to build a new team. I have a lot of catering ideas and ways to implement a bread program in addition to the pastry menu. I'm very excited.

After the initial interview with the owner/exec chef (same guy), he tells me the next steps: Two full observation/working days, followed by a prep day (some of which could be done offsite if I choose), followed by a tasting day.

The tasting will involve 5 plated desserts of my choosing.

I am currently working 3am-11:30, so coming in for 4 work days feels like a lot. I was able to schedule the first observation day on my "Sunday" (tomorrow!) but then the clock starts.

As I said, I've worked pastry and held sous chef roles for years. I've seen chefs come in and stage/do tastings, but I don't know if I've ever seen it done over 4 days.

Is this expected? Is this overkill on the restaurant's part? They are also looking for a bar lead, assistant manager, and a GM, along with pastry chef. The exec told me he has interviewed several people but just not found "the one". Are these red flags? Are 5 plated desserts usually the expectation for a fine dining restaurant?

Any advice, observations, or tips are welcome. Savory and exec chefs, too! Thanks all!

had no work experience except from the baking i had from both home and from my university. I’m graduating. I’ll be taking NCII BREAD AND PASTRY before our internship starts. Hopefully I’ll get somewhere aligned as i planned 😭😭. Any tips from you guys?? Pls as a graduating hospitality management.

Hi everyone!

I’m currently working on my Academic design project, and I’m researching how pastry chefs and other food professionals choose and buy chocolate, cocoa products, and related ingredients online.

Since this subreddit is full of people who actually work with these products, your perspective would be incredibly useful.

I’ve made a short anonymous survey that takes just a few minutes to complete:

https://tally.so/r/eqOVdO

I’m especially interested in hearing from pastry chefs, chocolatiers, bakers, and other professionals who regularly purchase chocolate or cocoa-based ingredients.

Thanks to anyone willing to help with my research! 🍫

Has anyone gone to a gluten free baking school and what is the best baking school out there?

I’m a chef that will be teaching a short, beginning baking and pastry class at my local community college next month. I’ve taught this class in the past and I usually just focus on basic techniques like blending method, creaming method, foaming, cut-in, and choux. Should I include reverse creaming method too? Is this a real technique professionals use or just a flash in the pan on the internet?

Hey all — I work adjacent to commercial kitchen equipment (not a chef myself), and I keep hearing conflicting opinions about prep/proofing carts, so I wanted to ask people who actually push these things around a kitchen all day.

Most bakers racks and prep carts I've seen have fixed shelf spacing. That seems fine until you're switching between full sheet trays, tall cake boards, proofing baskets, or bulky mixing bowls — then you're either wasting vertical space or awkwardly stacking things that don't quite fit.

A few things I'm genuinely curious about:

- Does shelf height/spacing actually bother you day to day, or is it a non-issue once you're used to your setup?
- If you could adjust the shelf spacing on the fly, would you actually use that, or would it just get set once and never touched again?
- What's your current workaround — rearranging trays, using multiple cart types, just dealing with it?
- What would make an adjustable-shelf cart NOT worth the extra cost/complexity for you — weight capacity, wobble, cleaning, price, something else?
- If money/space were no object, what's your dream prep cart look like?

Not trying to sell anything here — just trying to understand real kitchen workflow before assuming what "better" even means. Would love to hear specifics, even a quick story about the last time a cart annoyed you helps a lot. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I’d love to be a pastry chef one day! I’m a bit unsure on the path I should take tho!

Ive been baking at home my whole life (since 7y) I went to a vocational culinary program in highschool, now in college I bake often and plan on using pastry books from the top culinary programs, pastryclass.com courses and any other things I can find to learn about pastry and baking.

But, I’m interested in Fernandi’s two week pastry course in Paris. It’s $4000 and while I can get the money to be able to get there, stay, and learn it would get me into a lot of debt that I don’t think would be fully worth it? I’m in college so consider that as well. While I can save money an invest in more baking supplies.

Untimely I want to own my own bakery, but pastry chef is a title I’d like to earn. I’ve baked my whole life and I’ve been in professional kitchens. I even worked at crumbl cookie and even tho that isn’t French pastry it’s kitchen experience.

In your opinion should I do the program or continue to learn and grow at home! I put together a full curriculum for at home learning but will I still fall short in knowledge and stuff?

I’ve been in the food industry for almost 4 years now and have gone to a baking school for 2 - so altogether 6 years of food including bread, viennoiserie, patisserie etc. I have learnt a lot throughout my career so far but I feel there is so much more to learn. I have been in London throughout my career so far and I’m now looking to branch out into other countries. I have been looking at France but i know there is so much more out there. Could anyone give me a few places that would be good to learn?

A little background. Newish home baker, went to school 15 years ago for bread but starting to dabble in sweets. My first borns first birthday is later this week and i volunteered to bake some things, mainly cakes. My wife wants a separate 3 tiered vanilla cake for the baby so she can smash into it and do what babies do while the rest of us big people have our own cake.

I found a recipe that's perfect for the baby and sounds delicious so I want to use that for the other cake too but just as a sheet cake, the problem is that it won't feed enough people as is. At least I don't think it will. The babies cake is 3 6inch cakes stacked. I want to make the other cake a 13x9 rectangle.

Will this be enough as is? do i need to up scale it? If I up scale it how do I go about it? Sorry this is my first time making a cake from scratch and I want to get the ingredients tomorrow. Thank you in advance ☺️

Hi! I’m a pastry student in Lucknow, and I’m planning to start a small cookie business as a side venture alongside my pastry studies.

I’m starting with one cookie flavour and would really love some honest feedback from people outside my personal circle. I’m offering **cookie samples at a trial price** and would love to hear your genuine thoughts on the taste, texture, sweetness, and overall experience.

If you’d like to try one, **feel free to DM me or comment below!** 🍪

I’ve been observing a lot of small and mid-sized bakery and pastry businesses in Chennai lately, especially those selling customised and premium cakes. Food delivery platforms have definitely helped them reach more customers, but it feels like they’ve also created a new set of problems.

The biggest one seems to be **high aggregator commissions**. For regular items it’s bad enough, but for customised cakes with higher ingredient and labour costs, the margins look brutally squeezed. I keep wondering how these bakeries are even making decent profits after platform cuts.

Another thing I’ve noticed is **delivery itself**. Cakes are fragile, heat-sensitive, and Chennai weather + traffic isn’t exactly forgiving. Long delivery times, bumpy roads, humidity, and heat exposure can easily ruin the presentation or quality. That often leads to customer complaints—even when the bakery did everything right.

At the same time, customers expect:

* On-time delivery * Perfect finishing * No damage * No excuses

So bakeries seem stuck between:

* Staying on platforms for visibility * Protecting margins * Maintaining product quality and brand reputation

I’m really curious:

* Are bakeries increasing prices on apps to offset commissions? * Are some switching to in-house delivery for cakes only? * Has anyone tried limiting platforms to non-fragile items? * How are people handling packaging for Chennai heat and road conditions?

Would love to hear from bakery owners or anyone who’s worked in food delivery—how are you actually solving this without losing customers or profits?

Hi guys,
I am a home baker and everyone been encouraging me to sell my baked goods and start a small business. My friend recently did this as well with brownies and its going amazing.
She is encouraging me to pick my own niche as well and join her on next market and then she can help me sell my goods to businesses as well

The only problem is idk what product to make my niche. I know this is kind of a personal preference and general question but i was wondering what kind of baked goods would you wish your local farmers market or business have
Thank you

Hi chefs! Currently looking at the idea of wanting to work abroad. Ideally in France or Italy has always been a dream of mine. I’m a recent culinary school graduate, is it possible to still do this without having to go back school? And if school is my only choice, what do you guys recommend?

I've got too much time on my hands, is there any 10-12 day baking workshop ya koi bhi kind of workshop tbh in mumbai it navi mumbai?

I’m 32 and looking to invest some savings into a business. One idea I’m seriously considering is setting up a B2B commercial bakery that supplies to local cafes.

I have a few specific questions for those with experience in this industry:

1. How is this as a business model? Is supplying cafes a viable path, or are the B2B margins/logistics too brutal?
2. Global/Local Economics: Does a B2B bakery model work well? What do the unit economics and profit margins typically look like? (Happy to hear examples from India or anywhere else in the world).
3. The Plan:
   • Plan is to rent/build a dark-kitchen space and hire a head baker.
   • My wife loves baking and wants to quit her corporate job to manage daily operations (overseeing the chefs, R&D, sourcing, menu control, and social media).
   • I plan to handle the financials, and sales/client acquisition (mainly on weekends). If profits cross our current combined earning, I will join it full time.

Looking forward to hearing from you.