When culinary students at Kendall College
in Chicago decide their interests may actually
be in the front of the house, they don’t
need to transfer to another school to find
out. Kendall gives those students the chance
to stay on campus and pursue a hospitality
education through a partnership with the
Swiss-based Les Roches International
School of Hotel Management.
“We have a four-year culinary program
and a four-year hospitality program. We also
have students who go in both directions,
with two years in culinary and two years in
hospitality. We’re the only school with that
combination in Chicago,” says Jeffrey
Catrett, dean of Kendall School of
Hospitality Management, Kendall College.
Catrett says Kendall added the partnership
with Les Roches about two years ago, anticipating
the industry evolving beyond just
culinary training. The school’s hunch turned
out to be correct, as the hospitality program
has grown from 90 to 275 students, not
counting additional culinary students who
spend time in both programs.
“They may want to run a restaurant but
not necessarily be the full-time chef. Our
industry is much more competitive and
sophisticated than it used to be, so it’s
important to be a good restaurateur and a
good businessperson,” Catrett says.
INTERNATIONAL CONNECTION
In addition to Kendall’s campus, Les
Roches offers programs in Bluche,
Switzerland; Marbella, Spain; Manila,
Philippines; and Shanghai, China. Catrett
says the global approach toward hospitality
gives each student the flexibility to adapt to
any hotel environment and consequently
increases their job opportunities in the front
and back of the house.
Kendall’s culinary program still has the
majority of students (650) on campus. Catrett
says giving them a chance to cross over to
hospitality classes is changing the school’s
reputation as a kitchen training ground.
“We’d like to see Kendall known more as
a broad provider of professionals for the
service industry. Our plan is to eventually
have at least as large a hospitality school as
we do a culinary school.”
