U.S. cooking schools team up with Le Cordon Bleu

Nation's Restaurant News, Sept 20, 1999

PORTLAND, ORE -- Six culinary schools' owned by the Career Education Corp. are rolling out programs in conjunction with Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. The 12- to 18-month programs are the result of jointly created program manuals that include lists of skills in which all students must be proficient by the time they graduate.

"Not only will the students get a more consistent education, but future employers will know that they will have a student who is very well versed in all the classic French techniques and methodologies and will be able to apply those basic principles at their places of work," says Nick Fluge, chief operating officer of both Le Cordon Bleu Schools North America and of the Career Education Corp.'s culinary programs.

The schools involved are the Brown Institute in Minneapolis; the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Scottsdale, Ariz.; the International Culinary Academy in Pittsburgh; the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Ore.; and MacIntosh College in Dover, N.H.

Each school will be visited four times a year by a technical expert from Le Cordon Bleu and an educational manager from the Career Education Corp. to train instructors and ensure that the students are reaching the required levels of proficiency, Fluge says.