Culinary schools grow efforts to boost Hispanic enrollment

Nation's Restaurant News, June 25, 2007 by Dina Berta

SAN ANTONIO -- Cooking was just a job for Joseph Dominguez until he realized how much he enjoyed it. Like other Hispanics who may have considered higher-level culinary careers out of reach, he didn't think he could afford to go to school to advance from cook to chef.

But a partial scholarship from a new program changed everything.

Dominguez already has been promoted to sous chef at the Hilton San Antonio Airport Hotel since he enrolled in the Center for Foods of the Americas, a satellite program at a facility here that's run by The Culinary Institute of America, based in Hyde Park, N.Y. Dominguez earned a certificate in culinary arts from the center last month and now has set his sights on attending the CIA in New York, which offers associate's and bachelor's degrees.

"Instead of limiting ourselves to what people think we are supposed to be--a dishwasher, a cook--we want the education to become chefs," said Dominguez, who was so proud of his accomplishment at the CIA's new satellite center that he tattooed its name on his arm.

Hispanics long have been the largest minority group in the restaurant industry, working mostly back-of-the-house jobs. But their numbers decline in leadership and management positions, particularly chef jobs. As formal education becomes more critical to advancement in the industry, efforts to boost minority enrollments, espedally among Hispanics, in foodservice and hospitality programs are growing at culinary schools and institutions, as well as in high school and scholarship programs backed by various benefactors.

In 2006 a little more than 21 percent of the 7 million people in food preparation and servingrelated occupations were Hispanic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By comparison, nearly 12 percent were black and 5.2 percent were Asian.

In a breakdown of foodservice positions, Hispanics also were the largest minority of cooks--nearly 32 percent--and they represented 25 percent of "food preparers." But they represented nearly 37 percent of the industry's dishwashers.

However, Hispanics held less than 20 percent of chef positions and only about 15 percent of the industry's jobs for first-line supervisors and managers.

Their numbers shrink further at some culinary schools and institutions. Hispanics accounted for only 8 percent of students last year in culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University, which has four campuses around the country.

The CIA reported that its Hispanic student enrollment has been around 5 percent for the past four years.

"In our analysis, we saw in major cities anywhere between one-third and two-thirds of foodservice workers are Latinos," said Tim Ryan, president of the CIA. "But the Latino workforce is not rising through the ranks and having ownership and leadership positions at commensurate levels."

Minority enrollment numbers improve somewhat in regions and cities with larger Hispanic populations. At the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, 20 percent of the students are Hispanic this year, up 5 percent from the 2003-04 school year.

"There already is an established tradition in the Hispanic community of choosing cooking and restaurant work for careers," said ICE president Rick Smilow. "But increasingly, young Hispanic men and women recognize that to get ahead in this field, it is important to have a formal culinary education."

Raymond Alvarez realized he needed to attend a culinary school after taking high school cooking classes in Southern California.

Alvarez had been enrolled in the Careers in Culinary Arts Program, a New York-based curriculum that is carried out in high schools in eight regions around the country.

Alvarez heard that through C-CAP he might be able to obtain a scholarship for a postsecondary education. He did just that, winning a C-CAP competition that helped pay his tuition at the Art Institute in Los Angeles. He is now a sous chef at the critically acclaimed Ciudad, owned by chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.

Alvarez encourages other Hispanics in the kitchen to pursue an education.

"For a lot of them, it's just a job," Alvarez says. "But I try to talk to them, to tell them about my situation and ask them what they want to do with their lives."

Educators say several barriers can keep Hispanics from pursuing plans for postsecondary education, including finances, language and cultural influences.

Amar Santana dropped out of a C-CAP program in high school because he did not speak English well enough to understand the teacher. He was 12 years old when his family came to New York from the Dominican Republic. He was mistakenly re-enrolled in the class the next year, but this time he not only understood, he enjoyed it.

Santana won a scholarship to attend the CIA, and the school matched that funding, allowing him to attend classes in Hyde Park for free. Santana is now an executive sous chef at Aureole in New York, a noted restaurant owned by the Charlie Palmer Group. He will help open two more restaurants for Palmer and then he'll take over the kitchen of another Palmer concept being opened in Costa Mesa, Calif.