The facility went through an overhaul, introducing “state-of-the-art” equipment, and giving students much more room to work with, removing all traces of the literal bumping of elbows amongst the chefs, according to Pierre Jues, department chair of the program at LBCC.
The project has been a decade in the making, according to Jues, and the students couldn’t be happier.
“Now, after three weeks in the new facility, I can see that our students are really feeling empowered by the possibilities they now see for themselves,” Jues said.
The facility now allows a much easier hands-on approach for those who operate in the kitchen during classes or for recreational hours, when students are seen handling the duties of their Restaurant and Bakery Counter.
The department literally outgrew its old facility, as the culinary arts programs developed over time.
This new expansive facility allows room for growth, according to Jues.
“I have visited many schools, both public and private, and I haven’t seen anything like this,” he said. “The new facility has also allowed us to increase our course load this semester alone by approximately 40 percent over last semester, and there is still plenty of room [and] time to offer more as we need to.”
The structure already offers a hefty amount of resources as it stands now, including seven kitchen labs that house an amphitheater-like setting for about 70 people for cooking demonstrations, and also “smart” equipment outfitted with full audio and visual aids that allow students access to demonstrations or recipes at all times.
In comparison, the previous facility had one kitchen lab, split across two rooms, with equipment too old and inefficient for the number of students.
The construction process was a little over 190 days, Jues said. The process as a whole was a part of a Math and Technology Building renovation project that included culinary arts, funded by the citizens of Long Beach as part of bond measures to upgrade the LBCC campus.
The cost amounted to roughly $44 million, according to Jues.
He said it was a change that was well overdue. But the new technology, although welcomed, will take time to get used to for this fall semester.
“It has been a bit between bliss and chaos, with a lot of walking in between,” Jues said. “As it is with every new endeavor, it takes time to work the kinks out.”
For Jues, it’s all an effort devoted toward student success.
“We hope that this will give our students an even better educational experience than we were already giving them,” he said, “and that it will help propel them to further success in their chosen careers.”
