ACF certification provides an ideal career progression ladder within the foodservice industry. As you begin your career, your continued education and hard-won work experience will reward you with greater promotion opportunities and chances to gain higher levels of certification. When you become ACF certified, you are demonstrating to current and future employers that you have the initiative to take charge of your professional development and your career.
All those who offer their culinary knowledge and skill in the market place, employ them, or are served by them, are beneficiaries of the ACF certification program. This includes the restaurants and foodservice operations that produce food, culinary education facilities; the chefs and cooks, and the consumers who are the hospitality and foodservice end-users.
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The purpose of the ACF Certification Program is to improve the quality of professional competency throughout the industry. The foodservice industry needs qualified employees with proven experience, who participate in and grow through continuing education.
Candidates for initial ACF certification must have a high level of work and educational experience and pass both a written and practical cooking/baking examination. In addition, they must complete coursework in food safety, nutrition, and supervisory management. To maintain their certification, chefs must periodically refresh their knowledge in specific competencies and skills, provide documentation of professional development.
Certification helps potential employers verify professional chefs and cooks have the knowledge and skill required for the position. In today's business environment, workers are careerists who move from job to job using a cluster of transferable, knowledge-based skills. Certification provides professional cooks and chefs and employers with concrete markers of skill development - a portable credential.
Certification helps consumers by assuring them that the food they eat is safe, and prepared to highest quality standards. The public is demanding the safe preparation of their food. "Certified Chef" provides that assurance.
Add Value As An Employee
Employers value ACF-certified cooks and chefs because
their skills, education, and experience are clearly defined.
When you become an ACF-certified professional, you fully
understand your responsibilities and you know the importance
of continuous education. As an employee, you will manage
better, your peers will benefit from your knowledge, and your
food will be prepared safely with an awareness of its
nutritional value.
Instill Consumer Confidence
Consumers are continuously growing more knowledgeable
and concerned with nutrition, the safety of food and its
appeal to the eye and the palate. ACF certification is an
important tool for easing consumer anxieties, because ACF-certified
chefs are dedicated trained professionals who have
demonstrated knowledge and skills necessary to ensure a clean,
safe, and pleasurable dining experience, while offering food that is delicious,
nutritious and safe to eat. ACF-certified chefs mean quality
in the kitchen. When restaurants hire ACF-certified chefs,
they demonstrate a sincere concern for the publics well-being.
Benefit From Partnerships
In July of 2002, ACF signed a reciprocal agreement with the
Retailer's Bakery Association to formally recognize the
professional achievements of our baking and pastry culinarians.
Likewise, ACF officially expanded its professional
certification levels to recognize the dedicated achievements
of fellow culinarians employed as personal chefs.