The Federal Professional Examination for Chefs with a Federal Certificate is the new professional examination in this field from 2012. It replaces the continuing education, further training courses for chefs with a Federal Diploma of Higher Education and for chefs in hospital, residential and communal catering, both of which are no longer conducted as Federal Professional Examinations.

Training to become a chef with a Federal Diploma of Higher Education (formerly known as a gastronomy chef) is carried out in block courses while working. Over the course of one year, you will attend school in six blocks of one week each and complete the training with the Federal Professional Examination.

The amount of the costs for continuing education, further training to become a chef with a federal certificate. The cost of further training to become a chef with a Federal Diploma of Higher Education (formerly a restaurant chef with a Federal Diploma of Higher Education) depends on whether your employment relationship is subject to the L-GAV, the national collective employment agreement for the hospitality industry, at the time you register for the FPE training course. If this is the case, the further training costs excluding travel expenses, overnight stays, practical preparation course, meals and vocational trainer course amount to CHF 900, provided you pass the final examination on the first round (otherwise CHF 1800). If you are not subject to the L-GAV in the hospitality industry, costs of CHF 5005 and CHF 7750 are incurred depending on the canton (as at 2016, information not guaranteed). You can obtain a detailed cost overview directly from Hotel & Gastro formation.

The continuing education, higher education and training to become a chef with a Federal Diploma of Higher Education is modular and comprises five modules. The "Food and Culinary Science" module teaches comprehensive skills in the areas of food, hygiene, ecology, dietetics and nutrition; the "Marketing and Sales" module teaches marketing basics, knowledge about services and offers as well as customer care and customer contact; the "Business Organization" module teaches skills in infrastructure, organizational structure, process organization, quality management, communication, information and administration, ecology and inventory management as well as laws and regulations. The "Leadership" module deals with employee management, labor law, team development, training and continuing education, further training and conflict resolution, and the "Finance" module imparts knowledge in the areas of business and financial accounting, budgeting, costing, balance sheet and income statement. For detailed information on the exact content of the individual modules, please contact the relevant school directly using our contact form and we will send you all the necessary documents by email, free of charge and without obligation.

At least three years of relevant professional experience after completing an apprenticeship is required for admission to the Federal Diploma of Higher Education for Chefs. This means that you cannot start the continuing education, further training for chefs FA directly after your qualification procedure as a chef Federal VET Diploma.