Wine Country Culinary Institute

Walla Walla Community College

College is meant to give you a well-rounded view of the world and, specifically, how to navigate in your chosen profession. Yet often culinary school is a place you learn to cook. Clearly a critical skill, but does it prepare you to operate in today's fast-paced food world? The Wine Country Culinary Institute (WCCI) at Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) offers a unique accredited program that does just that.

Director Dan Thiessen has put together a team that takes students through an amazing two-year program that helps them decide where they want to end up in the culinary world and how to do it. WWCC has had some sort of culinary training for 25 years based on meeting Walla Walla's needs at the time. In the 70s, it was more institutional cooking; in the early 90s, it was fast food job training; in the late 90s, it was basically not offered. In 2003, there were community night classes. Steve Walk was the opening director of the degreed culinary program; in 2008 the program was accredited by the American Culinary Federation. Steve left in 2009, and Robert Wood became the director for approximately one year. In January 2011, Dan talked to the then Vice President and Dean of WWCC about the direction of the program. "In June 2011, I joined as Director," recalls Dan. "Two chef instructors had kept the program afloat: Jay Entrikin who had been there from day one, and Greg Schnorr who had really been there from day one but on a quarterly contract basis. Fall quarter 2011 had four students signed up for the program."

When Dan came on board, it was during an accreditation review process. "People said it wasn't a great time to start, but it was actually ideal. It was like coming in during the annual inventory. We got to go through the process and really look at strengths and weaknesses." When it came to figuring out the winter quarter schedule, they decided to take the time to come up with a whole new deal for spring 2012. That's when the WCCI was born and branded. "We overhauled the whole thing, moving to a year-round program where people could start and graduate in 18 months. We start twice a year, in the fall and spring. James Anderson was on the enterprise side, and Chad Bostwick came on board as our Catering Chef in 2014."

Instructor Jay Entrikin and students

One of the main things they looked at was how to keep it affordable. "Culinary Arts is expensive. You have kitchens, food, uniforms. Equipment has to be replaced. Tuition can be astronomical. But you can't send graduates out in the world with $50,000 in student debt and expect them to pay it back making $13 an hour. We want our graduates to leave college with little or no debt and the experience to make it in the real world. Our tuition is $16,000 from start to finish, including books and uniforms."

They've accomplished this through enterprise programs. "One of the common complaints from restaurant chefs is that students know how to cook, but not on the scale of a restaurant where there are hundreds of meals served, private parties, catering, and more. We became the first community college in the country to own a food truck. We have a 6^th quarter, the Capstone Kitchen Quarter, where students run a restaurant. Students learn the front and back of the house. They iron and fold tablecloths, polish glasses I teach the front of the house and Robin Leventhal the back of the house. She came to teach summer quarter 2013, loved it, and decided to stay. We serve lunch Tuesday-Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Last winter quarter, we had a two week wait list to get in for lunch." The dining room (photo) seats 42 and they turn it daily. With guidance, students devise the menu and cost out the food. Summer quarter lunches start on July 12.

"We also do extensive catering, from a continental breakfast at the college to a 10-course meal in a vineyard out of the food truck. We do weddings and winemaker dinners. Students are hired to be part of these events. The first year we did $90,000 in catering business. This year we're on track for $350,000. We have an agreement with the college that profits raised through our enterprises stay in Culinary. We live in a world where state budgets get cut. We're responsible for our own destiny. For instance, we need new refrigerators this year and we can pay for them ourselves. Not only are we able to fund our programs, we keep tuition low, and students can dip their toes in various areas so they know where they want to go once they've graduated. We have access to a green house and have raised beds. Our team competes at events and we do field trips to food shows." In fact, they had a booth at Taste Washington this year.

"Generally, culinary follows wine," says Dan. "Walla Walla is known for world-class wines. The food scene has always been cool here, but we're starting to get more press and investment money. Paul Mackay (El Gaucho) has retired to the area and has purchased two buildings with restaurants in them. Walla Walla is still small, but food and wine are blowing up. We have a unique program that will support that growth."

Wine Country Culinary Institute

509-524-4800

winecountryculinary.com

Connie Adams/June 2016