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TTC tries new recipe to lure culinary students
By DENNIS QUICK
Senior Staff Writer
With Trident Technical College’s Culinary Institute of Charles-ton, an entity comprising the college’s current culinary and hospitality programs plus new, advanced culinary courses, TTC President Mary Thornley says she believes her college will provide a better-trained workforce for the Lowcountry’s restaurant industry.
Additionally, TTC’s culinary and hospitality students now can get a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism management from the College of Charleston in about five years, thanks to an agreement the colleges recently signed. After TTC students complete their two-year program they can transfer to the College of Charleston and complete a bachelor’s of science degree in about three years.
TTC’s restructured program, its new 77,000-square-foot culinary and hospitality training center and its baccalaureate agreement with the College of Charleston are expected to offset the forthcoming departure of Johnson & Wales University, which offers four-year degrees in culinary arts and provides much of the workforce for the local hospitality industry. Johnson & Wales has about 1,400 students and will move to Charlotte in 2006.
More than 1,100 Lowcountry restaurants and food service businesses employ about 17,000 workers and annually contribute more than $421 million in annual sales to the region’s economy, TTC claims.
TTC’s new training center on its main campus in North Charleston combined with the college’s Palmer Campus facility in downtown Charleston will accommodate about 1,500 students. TTC currently has 350 culinary and hospitality students, TTC spokesman David Hansen says.
The college hopes to recruit between 500 and 600 students this year and has hired Ed Wax, former chairman and CEO of international advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi, to help market the Culinary Institute of Charleston to prospective students from across the nation. TTC seeks $757,000 in state funds to advertise the institute and hire additional faculty, Hansen says.
Also, TTC is requesting more than $7.1 million in state funds to renovate 22,166 square feet of its Palmer Campus. The upgrade will include four specialty kitchens, a large master classroom with a demonstration kitchen, dining and mixology labs and offices.
If the funding comes through, the college expects to have its full capacity of culinary and hospitality students by 2006 or 2007.
Even if TTC fails to supply the amount of inexpensive labor Johnson & Wales does, the impact on the local restaurant industry will be minimal, says Karen Johnston, general manager of McCrady’s restaurant in downtown Charleston.
“We already felt the impact when Johnson & Wales announced they were leaving Charleston back in 2002,” Johnston explains, adding that McCrady’s and other restaurants began paying their employees more to keep them. “I don’t think there will be any more negative effects.”
Donald Barickman, executive chef of the Hospitality Management Group Inc., which includes the restaurants Cypress, Magnolias and Blossom Café, disagrees.
“A lot of restaurants opened in Charleston because of the steady flow of labor,” he says. “If we have to recruit people from out of state, the price could be exorbitant.”
In 2002, TTC presented a four-year culinary arts degree plan to the Statehouse at the request of the local hospitality industry and a Charleston legislative delegation in hopes of attracting out-of-state students. In 2003, the bill containing the four-year degree passed the House and the Senate but did not get finalized because of a filibuster on the last day of the session. The bill passed again in 2004 but got overturned by the Supreme Court.
Thornley doubts legislation for a Trident Technical College four-year degree would get passed for a third time and, therefore, considers it “impractical” to pursue the matter. That’s why TTC teamed with the College of Charleston to provide Trident Tech students a bachelor’s degree.
The College of Charleston arrangement and the new $27 million culinary and hospitality training center are key to drawing students into TTC’s culinary program. Based on recommendations from local chefs and other Lowcountry hospitality professionals, the new training center will feature a huge, open, full-service production kitchen where students prepare meals for the adjoining 100-seat dining room. Across from the dining room will be two industry-standard teaching kitchens where students receive training in basic culinary skills.
The facility also will include an amphitheater serving as a classroom and demonstration kitchen and will be equipped with Internet access, multimedia capabilities and be wired to broadcast or receive culinary instruction for distance learning.
Fred Neuville, executive chef at restaurants Coast and 39 Rue de Jean in downtown Charleston, employs students from both TTC and Johnson & Wales and is optimistic about the Culinary Institute of Charleston.
“I think it will attract students from across the nation,” Neuville says.
“The institute will give budding chefs the skills required to enter the field and working chefs the edge they need to stay on top of their game,” says TTC’s Thornley. “We will be able to offer education in such areas as international food study and wine and beverage study, as well as specialized certificates in topics including regional American cuisine and menu planning.”
Dennis Quick covers hospitality and tourism for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@crbj.com.
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