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Groundbreaking for the new Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University is slated for early 2013, and the building is scheduled to be complete by the early part of 2014.
“This is an exciting time for everyone involved with the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute,” said university President Dr. Stephen T. Hulbert in a printed statement. “After years of planning and anticipation, it will be satisfying for the university community and its friends from throughout the region to watch this newest building come to fruition. I especially want to thank Chef John Folse, who has given so much of his time and support to the institute that bears his name, as well as our regional legislative delegation, including state Sen. Norby Chabert and state Rep. Gordy Dove, for their leadership and support.”
The latest step in the project was the Louisiana Bond Commission’s authorization of $8.1 million for the construction and design documents for the building will be complete by Oct. 1. The new building will be located near the corner of Bowie Road and La. Highway 1.
“The new building was a dream until the bond commission awarded the money,” said institute executive director and chef Randy Cheramie.
“As a teacher and as a chef, I couldn’t be happier with the news that construction has been approved,” Cheramie said. “Nicholls is already the regional epicenter for culinary arts training, and our faculty members look forward to teaching and mentoring new generations of chefs in our new facility.”
Cheramie, who has watched the program grow exponentially since joining the department in 1999, said faculty and students are very excited about seeing the dream become a reality.
“We have been heavily involved with the building design,” Cheramie said. “President Hulbert was adamant about giving instructors what they wanted in the new building.”
The new building will feature four large teaching areas, dedicated kitchens, each about 1,200 to 1,400 square feet in size.
“We also got student’s opinions when we started planning the new building,” Cheramie said. “The architects were wonderful and the plans reflect what we want.”
The new building will have a baking and pastry kitchen, meat fabrication and garde manger (keep to eat) kitchen, a soup, stock and sauce kitchen that will also double as a product development kitchen an a skills kitchen. The new building will also have a demo kitchen, dining room, coolers and freezers.
“The architects were proactive in meeting with us and we had countless meetings with them,” Cheramie said. “I’ve been going over floor plans and I’ve had to modify and okay specs on more than 280 pieces of equipment for the kitchen. It took some time.”
The culinary department is currently housed in two locations that provide the department with a total of 9,000 square feet of teaching space. The new building will triple the size to a little more than 30,000 square feet and provide teaching room for 600 students.
“We’ve got about 292 students right now and we are expecting 90 new students in the fall,” Cheramie said.
With an average of 30 to 40 students graduating each semester, the department will gain about 50 students in the fall, bringing its size to almost 350 students.
According to Cheramie, the point-of-cost for earning a culinary degree from NSU is a huge draw for the program and Dr. Al Davis, dean of University College, agreed with Cheramie’s price tag assessment.
The Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, sole American partner in the France-based Institut Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance, “is already one of the best national bargains in culinary education,” Davis said in a printed statement. “A four-year culinary degree at Nicholls averages less than $20,000, whereas a student at a private institute can expect to spend $60,000 to $80,000 for the same result. The new facility, with more classroom and kitchen space – as well as updated equipment – will only boost our institute’s strong global reputation for excellence and affordability in culinary education.”
Even with recent cuts to the university’s budget, Davis sees the new building as in investment in the future of higher education.
“The future of higher education depends on locating one-of-a-kind programs that will attract students from the state, the nation and throughout the world,” Davis said. “Our state government recognizes that the culinary arts program at Nicholls is such a program.”
Nicole Bosch, a junior at Nicholls State University’s John Folse Culinary Institute, cuts vegetables as she prepares beef carpacio. The culinary department, which is experiencing overcrowding, currently conducts classes at two different locations. Combined, the spaces provide a total of 9,000 square feet of teaching space. A new building, recently approved by the state Bond Commission, offers 31,119 square feet of space and is scheduled to be complete by the spring of 2014.
