Hundreds of universities, colleges and institutions graduate students yearly with some form of culinary education. To date, limited research has been conducted to examine the perceived value of formal culinary education on industry career success from the perspective of those who conduct the majority of the hiring of culinary positions. This dissertation examined the perceived value of formal education in culinary arts and its relationship with industry success from the perspective of Canadian professional chefs.... Though the population for this study was Canadian professional chefs who were members of the Canadian Culinary Federation, the results of this study may be useful to both current and future culinarians who are pursuing or contemplating pursuing formal culinary education in other countries, especially the United States....Institutions that provide formal culinary education will find this important as they come under increased scrutiny from stakeholders to demonstrate the value of the investment students make in terms of tuition and associated costs. / by Colin Philip Roche / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.