“I looked at many campuses and programs when I decided to pursue my education, and it was the only platform that worked with my desire, my need to stay in the kitchen. It’s just like any brick and mortar campus, you will get out of it what you put into it. It has made me a better cook, a better baker, a better leader, a better businessman, and most importantly, a better teacher to my staff.”*
Lance McWhorter, Online Culinary Arts Student
meet escoffier chef-in-residence
Kristen Kish is the host of Top Chef and Escoffier’s new Chef-in-Residence. Chef Kish will help inspire Escoffier students through a special lecture class, exclusive content, and other engagement activities. About Kristen Kish
Did you Know?
Auguste Escoffier was known as the King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings!
His contributions to the culinary world include, but are not limited to: creating the menu, designing the five mother sauces, promoting farm-to-table cuisine, and instituting sanitation standards. His influence on cuisine is felt in kitchens across the world nearly a century later!
BEST COLLEGES FOR CULINARY ARTS
Ranked one of the Best Colleges for Culinary Arts in America in 2026 by Niche.com
*Based on comparable student population data for Austin and Boulder as currently reported in Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).
Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts Graduation*
Your Goals, Your Passion, Your Future
Our Mission
To cultivate passion and lifetime careers in food, hospitality and health by offering affordable, accessible and socially minded education and opportunities to learn.
Accreditations & Associations
We are the only U.S. accredited institution offering 100% online degrees with culinary classes and hands-on industry externships!1
U.S. Department of Education Recognized Agency
Colorado Department of Higher Education
National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements
2023-2024 MILITARY FRIENDLY®️ SCHOOL
Our online programs are available through the Boulder campus. Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Boulder, Colorado is nationally accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET).
It is also approved and regulated by the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE), Division of Private Occupational Schools. Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts (Boulder, CO) has been approved by CDHE to participate in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA).
“As an active duty soldier, online school is a big way to stay consistent with education. There is a big need for culinary arts training in my career, but there is not a lot of time to accomplish this. It’s doable, I’m doing it right now!”*
Michael Allen, Online Culinary Arts Graduate
Curriculum
Multiple classes can occur during one 6-week session.
Restaurant Operations
In this course, students study the hierarchy of management in food service, and the skills needed to succeed as a manager: training employees, motivating them, disciplining them, and creating a safe and positive work environment. Explore different types of menus (including both food menus and beverage menus) and their applications. Aspects of menu planning and design, ranging from visual design to price analysis to making use of available resources are covered.
Student Success Essentials
This course equips students with essential tools and skills to thrive in their culinary studies and prepare for future success in the culinary industry. Students will develop effective time management strategies, refine professional communication skills, and gain valuable insights into available Student and Career Services. The course is designed to set learners on a path toward achieving their academic and professional goals.
Culinary Foundations I
This course begins with food safety and sanitation in the professional kitchen, including proper hygiene, food handling, food storage, cleaning, pest control, in a food service operation. Students become acquainted with tools, utensils, and equipment in professional food service and discuss kitchen layout. Fundamental knife skills, cutting techniques, and the concept of mise en place are covered. Production of stocks, soups are included along with an introduction to grain and legume cookery. And introduction to the role of heat in various cooking techniques rounds out a foundational knowledge in culinary arts.
Culinary Foundations II
This course offers a deeper level continuation of understanding of foundational culinary skills. Students will be introduced to various dry-heat, moist-heat and combination-heat cooking techniques, as well as understand the role of the five Mother Sauces in cuisine. A greater emphasis on knife cuts and accuracy is focused upon, and plating and presentation are introduced to give students the basic skills necessary to advance in a culinary arts education.
Business & Professional Communications
This course emphasizes the principles and practical application of effective professional communication behaviors within professional, business, and organizational contexts.
World History & Culture from the Culinary Perspective
This course examines the role of food and its contribution and influence over history, culture, religion, economics, and politics.
Doughs & Leaveners
This course covers ingredient function, leavening agents and mixing methods related to doughs with an emphasis on understanding bakeshop techniques to produce savory results. Production of quick-doughs and batters, flatbreads, yeast-raised-doughs, various formations and related accompaniments.
Culinary Garde Manger
The Garde Manger is responsible for cold foods, including salads, sandwiches, dressings, pâtés, cold hors d’oeuvres, and various buffet items. Students will prepare items to be served cold in a sanitary and appealing way, and learn about various cold kitchen production techniques, including methods of preserving meat and produce.
Foodservice Math and Accounting
This course introduces students to managerial accounting concepts and explains their applications to specific operations within the hospitality industry.
Technical Writing for the Hospitality Industry
This course prepares students to write in the hospitality and food service professions. In the hospitality and foodservice profession, students and professionals write a variety of documents for supervisors, colleagues, and customers such as explaining a problem or product, preparing a proposal, or illustrating a project. This course teaches students to adapt their writing to different audiences and purposes.
American Regional Cuisine
Students have the opportunity to gain an understanding of American Regional cuisine by exploring history, traditional and indigenous ingredients, flavor components, and cooking techniques. Application of classical and contemporary cooking techniques, plate design, and application of proper sanitation techniques.
Western European Cuisines
Students have the opportunity to gain an understanding of Western European cuisines by exploring history, traditional and indigenous ingredients, flavor components and cooking techniques. Application of classical and contemporary cooking techniques, plate design, and application of proper sanitation techniques.
The Science of Nutrition
The basic principles of nutrition are investigated. Emphasis is placed on the nutrients, food sources, and their utilization in the body for growth and health throughout life. Contemporary and global nutritional issues are also discussed.
Culinary Entrepreneurship
This course is a culmination course in entrepreneurship. This course covers such topics as business planning, pricing, credit management, government regulation, legal concerns. Business ethics and the crucial role and importance of management and leadership are also covered. For the final project for this course, the student will complete and present a business plan for a food service operation.
Farm to Table® Experience
This class focuses on the ever-growing relationship between the chef and the farm/factory/ranch. Concepts of traditional and nontraditional farming and sourcing for vegetables, as well as the impact of land and sea animal-based food sourcing as practiced globally.
Culinary Industry Externship I
Students gain relevant experience by working in an approved food service establishment.
Culinary Industry Externship II
This course provides additional opportunities for real life experiences in an operational restaurant or related business and builds on the skills and techniques covered in previous courses.
Students can first complete the Culinary Arts and Operations Diploma Program and then add the remaining course requirements to complete the Associate of Occupational Studies Degree in Culinary Arts.
Intro
Completed Culinary Arts & Operations Diploma Program
When a student completes the Culinary Arts and Operations Diploma program prior to enrolling into the Associates Degree program, the courses that would qualify for transfer into Restaurant Operations would be: Foodservice Management, Purchasing and Cost Control, and Menu Design and Management.
Courses for the Culinary Arts & Operations Diploma consist of:
Culinary Foundations I
Student Success Essentials
Culinary Foundations II
Foodservice Management
Doughs & Leaveners
Culinary Garde Manger
American Regional Cuisine
Menu Design & Management
Western European Cuisines
The Farm to Table Kitchen
Purchasing & Cost Control
Culinary Entrepreneurship
Culinary Industry Externship I
Business and Professional Communications
This course emphasizes the principles and practical application of effective professional communication behaviors within professional, business, and organizational contexts.
World History and Culture from the Culinary Perspective
This course examines the role of food and its contribution and influence over history, culture, religion, economics, and politics.
The Science of Nutrition
The basic principles of nutrition are investigated. Emphasis is placed on the nutrients, food sources, and their utilization in the body for growth and health throughout life. Contemporary and global nutritional issues are also discussed.
Foodservice Math and Accounting
This course introduces students to managerial accounting concepts and explains their applications to specific operations within the hospitality industry.
Technical Writing for the Hospitality Industry
This course prepares students to write in the hospitality and food service professions. In the hospitality and foodservice profession, students and professionals write a variety of documents for supervisors, colleagues, and customers such as explaining a problem or product, preparing a proposal, or illustrating a project. This course teaches students to adapt their writing to different audiences and purposes.
Culinary Industry Externship II
This course provides additional opportunities for real life experiences in an operational restaurant or related business and builds on the skills and techniques covered in previous courses.
Additional Opportunities For Students
International Study Opportunities in France
Annual graduation in Boulder, CO
Farm to Table® workshops throughout the year
Lance, Online Culinary Arts Student*
Program Highlights
Hands-On Training
Entrepreneurial
Curriculum
FARM TO TABLE® EXPERIENCE
CULINARY hands-on INDUSTRY EXTERNSHIPS
EXPERIENCED CHEF EDUCATORS
CAREER PLANNING
AND PREPARATION
NATIONALLY ACCREDITED
“The Escoffier online education is a more accessible and affordable quality education available to a great many more people than the classic brick and mortar campus.”
Chef Jeremiah Tower, American Celebrity Chef & Father of California Cuisine
SHARI, Online Culinary Arts Student*
Tuition
TOTAL PROGRAM COST:
$35,145*
*The total program cost listed above encompasses tuition, tool kit, uniform, and an optional non-refundable technology fee if you do not already have a computer. As textbooks are delivered electronically, the cost of books used in the program and available online to the students are included in the tuition cost. For more cost details, refer to our catalog. This is the tuition with the Associates is taken fully online. When a student is enrolling into the Associates Degree program as a graduate from the online Culinary Arts and Operations Diploma, after qualified transfer credits, the remaining tuition is estimated based on the current rate at the time of transfer.
A Typical Week at Escoffier
Approximately 15-23 hours per week is spent on school related activities depending on program, credential and personal pace.
The week runs from Wednesday to Tuesday with weekly due dates for student work.
Each week’s assignments will be broken into categories of learn, discuss and experience.
LEARN
Each week will begin with assigned reading via our online platform. Students will also watch the recorded chef demos for the week here.
DISCUSS
Students participate in discussion boards where the class responds to topics and questions the chef posts in regards to what you’re learning that week. There will also be live lessons held through a video platform each week. Live Sessions are your opportunity to interact with your chef and classmates. Students who attend or watch the archive generally perform better in school.
EXPERIENCE
This is where students turn their kitchen into their classroom lab, and cook! With all the prep work completed, students can now work through assignments by following our production sheet from start to finish, taking photos where instructed to.
“For me, having access to Escoffier online means it is now possible to receive the culinary education I have desired, while still being able to grow my business and take care of my busy family, without even having to leave our valley.”*
Kristen Douglas, Online Culinary Arts Graduate
1Our Boulder, CO campus is the only accredited institution in the United States to offer both fully online diploma and degree programs with culinary classes and hands-on industry externships. We are accredited by ACCET – A Partnership for Quality®️. ACCET is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency.
*This information may not reflect every student’s experience. Results and outcomes may be based on several factors such as geographical region or previous experience.
For more information about our completion rates and other important consumer information, please visit our website.
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Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts is a registered trademark of Triumph Higher Education Group. The Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts Logo is a trademark of Triumph Higher Education Group.