Niagara Falls Culinary Institute Opens, Chooses Gaylord as Ventilation Partner
Gaylord Industries, commercial kitchen-air-management experts, and Niagara County Community College (NCCC) recently celebrated the opening of the new Niagara Falls Culinary Institute. The state-of-the-art facility, with 25 teaching kitchens and labs, opened in September 2012 with 350 undergraduate students who seek a future in the hospitality and tourism industries.
When designing the new 90,000-square-foot institute, NCCC’s goal was to create culinary environments that were productive and efficient and leveraged cutting-edge equipment. At the top of the “wish list” was finding an opportunity to better facilitate interaction between the chef instructors and students.
“The cornerstone of success for education is communication. With students working and talking and equipment running, we found the noise level of our previous ventilation hoods was a big problem,” said Dr. James P. Klyczek, president of NCCC. “By using Gaylord throughout the new institute, we changed the dynamic of the room with a much quieter system, plus we get the added benefit of energy conservation due to the automatic air modulation.”
Gaylord’s general manager, Aaron Zell, said, “Gaylord is proud to be a part of the equipment chosen for the state-of-the-art teaching kitchens at the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute. Our close work with foodservice consultants Cini•Little enabled our engineers to design the ventilation system around the specific cooking needs of NCCC. The culinary institute is truly a showplace setting we can all be proud of for many years to come.”
William Eaton, chairman of the board for Cini•Little, added, “Working with leading manufacturers, we could select a wide range of the very best and most advanced culinary tools to aid the NFCI staff and students in gaining a top-notch culinary education. A cornerstone of the project has been Gaylord’s multitude of exhaust ventilators in combination with their latest approach to air handling and modulation, which leads to LEED-qualifying energy savings. The results have been a stunning success and the team that came together to make it work was especially qualified.”
The Niagara Falls Culinary Institute in downtown Niagara Falls houses NCCC’s Hospitality and Tourism-related programs. The institute offers associate-degree programs in baking & pastry arts, culinary arts, gaming & casino management, hospitality, restaurant management, tourism management & event planning, and winery operations. Other aspects of the new facility include a student-run fine-dining restaurant, an ice-sculpting lab, a wine boutique, a European-style pastry café, a New York-style deli and a Barnes & Noble culinary-themed store.
During the NCCC dedication, New York Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy called the Institute a “stunning facility.” He also stated that “it’s now the top rated of its kind on the East Coast. It’s truly a great investment that shows how state, local and private partnerships can come together.”
For more info on Niagara Falls Culinary Institute, visit www.nfculinary.org.
Photo (l. to r.): Chef Mark A. Mistriner, chairman of NCCC’s Business and Hospitality Division; Rob Sellet, regional sales manager for Gaylord Industries; and Dr. James P. Klyczek, president of NCCC.