Culinary school promotes Hispanic career advancement

Culinary school promotes Hispanic career advancement

The foodservice industry employed approximately 941,600 chefs, head cooks and food preparation supervisors in 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While a growing number of foodservice workers are Hispanic, most of these individuals do not hold these high-ranking jobs.

In order to encourage more Hispanic adults to pursue better-paying positions in this industry, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) created the El Sueno initiative. The program was launched in San Antonio, Texas to promote Latino diversity in foodservice.

The opening of a redesigned 30,000-square-foot campus in San Antonio marks the completion of the second phase of the El Sueno initiative. The campus expansion includes the addition of world-class facilities, such as three new teaching kitchens, two skills kitchens and a one-of-a-kind Latin kitchen.

"There's a foodservice industry reality that we'd like to change," said Tim Ryan. "Depending on where you live, 25 to 75 percent of kitchen and restaurant workers in the foodservice industry are Latino. However, just a small fraction of them rise through the ranks to leadership and ownership positions because they often lack the required education."

By Mark Danson