Aiken Chef, Greg Mueller
The World Association of Chefs Societies’ Culinary Certification Award validates chefs, cooks and culinary educators’ capabilities and knowledge on a global scale. Aiken Chef, Greg Mueller is now one of the holders of this award.
“It was pretty exciting, he said – it was something that was really important to me so I was just anxiously awaiting it.”
Mueller earned a Certified Master Chef certification. There are certifications available for pastry chefs, culinary educators, executive chefs, head chefs, sous chefs and certain professional chefs.
In order to qualify for the Master Chef certificate, Mueller needed to meet certain requirements, such as having at least 10 years of professional cooking experience and to be working as an executive chef or in a related occupation. He is the current food and nutrition director of Doctors Hospital of Augusta.
Mueller had to pay an application fee before he could begin the extensive application process.
“It can be compared as to putting a master’s (degree) together,” he said. “It’s a massive amount of stuff that you have to attach. It literally is hours and hours of work just managing the process.”
Although he technically started the process around three years ago, Mueller wasn’t able to really buckle down and focus on his application until this past year. He spent the last 10 months compiling everything.
Mueller’s application ended up being approved, and he was officially declared a Certified Master Chef .
“It was like, ‘OK, I can take a deep breath and look forward to whatever the next opportunity is or whatever the next challenge is,'” he said.
Mueller was inducted into the American Academy of Chefs, the American Culinary Federation’s honor society, this past summer, was one of the U.S. representatives in the 2015 International Catering Cup in France and was named Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation for the Midlands Chapter in 2009. Mueller said finally grabbing his latest accolade has allowed him to regroup and refocus his attention.
World Association of Chefs Societies, or Worldchefs, partnered with City & Guilds to develop the Global Culinary Certification, which is the first of its kind, according to the Worldchefs’ website.
“I hope more people in the field take a stab at it and be a part of a culinary organization and hope that more chefs and more restaurants put some significance to that,” said Mueller.
He added that he also hopes more restaurant-goers will consider a chef’s credentials when choosing a place to eat.
For more information, visit www.worldchefs.org
