We are in the business of preparing individuals for a career in food. At the same time, we are operating in the climate of the business of education – a business crowded with like-minded culinary educators working to fill their classrooms with excited, committed, hard-working students who are willing to learn. From an altruistic perspective, teaching is all about opening a person’s mind to possibilities, creating an environment of inquiry and building a foundation of skills that will allow graduates to find their unique direction. On the business side, we must also create reasons for students to select our program over another and for employers to seek out our graduates versus those from another institution. It is a balancing act that requires equal attention.
Some people may push back on viewing education as a business, but alas, it is. For a business to succeed, it must be unique, exciting, focused on need and dedicated to quality. Successful businesses also must fully understand their market and their position in the marketplace while carving out a niche that sets them apart.
Over the past 50 years, culinary programs have successfully defined themselves as effective deliverers of a commodity education. This statement is not designed to criticize, but rather to point out missed opportunities. Commodity programs are based on defined content and time-tested outcomes that can be measured and compared to accepted national standards. Thus, it is safe to assume if a student graduates from a culinary program anywhere in the country, they should be able to perform at a certain level and accomplish the same set of tasks. Our programs have extensive task lists students must learn and perform at a specified level, which at least meet those defined standards.
The breadth of expectations and the expansive number of skills to be developed tend to fall (in many cases) into the area of “exposed to,” rather than “accomplished at.” The expectation is that this approach will open a wide variety of opportunities for fine-tuning the skill on the job and over time. Competency is difficult to achieve when time and volume experiences are not provided. Competency leads to confidence, so a lack of one will feed a lack of the other.
I propose serving both masters. Program administrators and faculty need to engage in deeper considerations of their niche when preparing students for a career and meeting the business expectations. Where do you fit? What sets you apart? How can your program stand out in this crowded market? What niche can you own or at least flourish in?
Is a commodity program best for your potential students and the success of your school? What is the long-term outlook for a commodity program? When programs tend to be uniform in content and delivery, prospective students tend to make decisions based on location, sizzle and cost. Unless your location is ideal in terms of access to a target audience, unless your program can invest in exceptional facilities from kitchens to high-tech classrooms, and social settings to residence halls and top-shelf foodservice, and unless students see value based on the cost of your program, then you will struggle in that crowded marketplace.
Why not look at where you might stand out, approach a market that is open to the right deliverer and build a niche that is uniquely yours? It might be a focus on a particular ethnic cuisine, curriculum that prepares students for a rapidly growing special food discipline, a dedication to long-term trends such as farm to plate or sustainability, or a “less is more” approach where the curriculum zeros in on the most essential skill sets and invests enough time with them to build competence and confidence. Collaborating with industry to build a program that meets the specific needs of that group, that player, or new directions in a changing world, can win media attention, industry financial support, and the attention of a focused student body.
Thinking differently, being different, rising to the top of a market segment, and seeking excellence by doing less while doing it better than most, is a winning strategy. Food for thought.
PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER – FIND YOUR NICHE
Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC, president of Harvest America Ventures, a mobile restaurant incubator based in Saranac Lake, N.Y., is the former vice president of New England Culinary Institute and a former dean at Paul Smith’s College. Contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..