Also called: Pastry Director
Leads the entire pastry operation for a luxury hotel, casino, or restaurant group.
You run a team of 15 pastry cooks producing breakfast pastries, plated desserts, chocolate amenities for suites, and wedding cakes. You set the creative vision and manage a large budget. Top executive pastry chefs become famous through competitions and cookbooks.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Associate's degree (2-year), about 2 years after high school. Pastry degree and 10+ years of experience.
Ways in: 2-year college, Trade school, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Baking & Pastry Arts.
Growing faster than average (about 7% over 10 years).
Low risk for 10 years. Scheduling and costing tools help; leading pastry teams and designing desserts stay hands-on and creative.
Classes: Culinary arts CTE, Art, Business.
Official data: O*NET occupation 35-1011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.