Montco expansion evidences a wide boom in culinary-arts programs

When the culinary students at Montgomery County Community College learn the difference between fricassee and flambe, the stovetop is 25 miles away.

The future chefs are taught theory in Pottstown and practice in Plymouth Meeting.

But that will change next year when the culinary-arts program moves into a 15,000-square-foot headquarters in Towamencin. The college's new Culinary Arts Institute will house kitchen and classroom.

Officials broke ground Friday at the future site of the Towamencin Town Square complex on Forty Foot Road and Sumneytown Pike. The culinary facility, which is expected to cost more than $4 million, will feature four state-of-the-art kitchens, classrooms, and a cafe that will be open to the public.

The new building and program expansion is a reflection of the growth in the food industry, the increasing number of jobs available in the field, and the explosion of all things food, said chef Christopher Allen Tanner, who was hired in February to direct the school's culinary-arts program.

Tanner, 35, most recently an award-winning chef instructor at Schenectady County Community College in New York, leads a program in which students attend classroom lectures at the school's West Campus in Pottstown and learn technique in the kitchens at Central Montgomery County Technical High School in Plymouth Meeting.

"I cannot wait for this new building," said Jackie Hill, 54, of Norristown, a student in the culinary program. "I'm ready to help them build it."

MCCC students can earn associate's degrees in culinary arts and baking/pastry arts. One-year certification programs also are offered, along with noncredit courses for the neighborhood foodie or working professional.

Throughout the region, cooking schools are beefing up their culinary offerings.

Delaware County Community College plans to start a culinary-arts certification program at the new Chester County Technical College High School Brandywine Campus in Downingtown when the school opens in August.

In Mount Holly, Burlington County Community College last year opened a $9 million building for the school's Culinary Arts, Hospitality & Tourism (CAHT) division.

The Community College of Philadelphia's culinary program is in the school's new Pavilion building, part of a $56 million expansion on the college's Spring Garden campus. Also, the facilities at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Philadelphia have undergone extensive renovation.

The boomlet is an outgrowth of the surge in food TV, culinary and hospitality job growth, celebrity chefs, food blogs, funky food trucks, dining out in restaurants, and dining on takeout, chef educators say.

Or, as chef Earl Arrowood, longtime coordinator of the culinary program at Bucks County Community College, calls it, the dawning of "eatertainment" in America.

A total of 59,425 students enrolled in postsecondary programs accredited by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) in 2011, up from 43,425 in 2010 and 36,000 in 2009.

The National Restaurant Association projects that 29,200 new culinary jobs will be created in Pennsylvania through 2021. Nationally, about 1.4 million new jobs will be added.

In a tough economy, many students look increasingly toward trade-oriented professions, which is really a boon for community colleges, said chef Michael McGreal, national education chairman for the Chef and Child Foundation of the culinary federation. McGreal is also chairman of the culinary and hospitality program at Joliet Junior College in Illinois, which also is building a facility.

At MCCC, the new building is the result of a fortuitous set of circumstances, said Karen A. Stout, president of the college.

The school's 1964 strategic plan included a proposal to open a branch in the eastern part of the county, but cannibalizing enrollment at its main campus in Blue Bell, and satellite in Pottstown, was a concern.

A branch that would fill a specific academic niche seemed a wise alternative. Plus, the culinary program needed a new home.

At the same time, Philadelphia Suburban Development Corp. was looking for tenants at its 50-acre Towamencin Town Square complex, which will include 180 apartments and a Marriott hotel. School officials decided to strike a deal to lease space there for $3.6 million over 10 years.

This way, the developer absorbs the up-front capital costs, moneys that are increasingly difficult to secure from state education funding, Stout said. School officials are working with builders to create design specifications for the facility.

Within five years, Stout expects tuition and fees will pay for the lease.

Tanner plans to expand the school curriculum. Also in the works are plans to start an apprenticeship program.

Eventually, students will be able to give up their double life.

"I graduate in May of 2013, so I'll get to do one semester in the building," Hill said, "and they will be offering other [professional-development] classes. So once I become a chef, I'll be back."