Also called: Pastry Assistant, Commis Pâtissier
Prepares desserts, doughs, and plated sweets under a pastry chef in a restaurant or hotel.
You laminate croissant dough, temper chocolate, and plate desserts during dinner service. Precision is everything; pastry is chemistry, and a gram off can ruin a batch. It is the entry door to becoming a pastry chef.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 1 year after high school. Baking & pastry certificate or associate degree, or on-the-job.
Ways in: Trade school, 2-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Baking & Pastry Arts.
Growing faster than average (about 5% over 10 years).
Low risk for 10 years. Mixers help, but making plated desserts and delicate doughs during service stays hands-on.
Age 16+. One way to start: Apply to hotels, bakeries and restaurants for a pastry assistant job; many train newcomers
Classes: Culinary arts CTE, Chemistry, Art.
Official data: O*NET occupation 35-2014.
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.