Membership: How to Join

Entry qualifications

Applicants must:-

1. State in a letter accompanying the application form reasons for wishing to join the Academy and what they are prepared to offer. They should name at least 3 Academicians as referees, preferably with whom they have worked. A curriculum vitae and photocopies of any relevant certificates must also accompany the application.
   
   
2. Have spent a minimum of three years in the same position as Executive Head Chef, Head Chef, Restaurant Manager or Sommelier
   
   
3. Be a minimum of 28 years old.
   
   
4. Upon acceptance, pay an entry fee of £100 plus an annual subscription of £110.50 including vat.
   
   

Subject to the above, and meeting the Academy's criteria for membership, applicants will be invited to attend an interview with the Selection Committee.

The committee’s decision is final and no further correspondence will be entered into.

Click here to download the Application Form

Before applying please read rules as stated below.



Rules

The priorities of the Academy of Culinary Arts are education and training, providing opportunities for young chefs, pastry chefs and waiters through the following initiatives: -

• Chefs Adopt a School
• the Annual Awards of Excellence
• the Specialised Chefs Courses
• the four yearly Master of Culinary Arts

Other initiatives are on-going and change from time to time.

To fulfil these objectives, members:-

1. Must be prepared to devote some time to the activities of the Academy and, in addition, attend at least TWO Plenary meetings per year. Apologies must be made to the Academy office by fax, writing or telephone (020 8673 6300) not less than one day before the appropriate meeting. Persistent failure to comply will be noted and reviewed annually by the Management Committee.
   
   
2. Must participate in the Academy of Culinary Arts' Chefs Adopt a School Trust Programme where Academicians ‘adopt’ a class of schoolchildren and deliver the CAAS programme to develop an essential understanding of taste, where food comes from, basic nutrition and the process of transforming raw material into food. (While primary school children are the focus of Chefs Adopt a School no ages are excluded).
   
   
3. Must be prepared to maintain, protect and further the evolution of the culinary arts and gastronomy in all its forms in the UK (Article 6, Section D of the Constitution).
   
   
4. Must be prepared to follow the code of conduct that the Academy and its members represent.
   
   
5. While under no obligation to purchase goods or services, Academicians must be prepared to consider any reasonable request to receive an Associate member.
   
   
6. Must be prepared to pay their subscription fees decided by the Management Committee within the first month of each year, currently £100 and an entry fee of £100 excluding VAT.
   
   
7. Must be present at an EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING to cast his/her vote.
   
   
8. Must notify IPSO-FACTO any change of home or job address.
   
   

In the event of a member’s name being removed from the Academy’s register of members for any cause, the member is to remove forthwith from public display any reference to the diploma granted him/her by the Academy, and return it together with his/her insignia (if applicable) and jacket to the General Secretary within seven days of being requested to do so (Article 9, Section 2 of the Constitution).