CULINARY TRAINING ACADEMY: Cuisine crafting center

Culinary academy gets a resort-quality kitchen

Those hoping to pursue a career in the valley's abundant food and beverage field now have an impressive new place to hone their craft.

The Culinary Training Academy has opened a state-of-the-art kitchen and training facility in North Las Vegas. The $3 million, 11,000-square-foot facility modeled after resort industry kitchens is located within Nevada Partners Inc. at 710 W. Lake Mead Blvd.

The nonprofit school recruits, trains and provides job placement help for food and beverage, housekeeping and cooking jobs in the resort industry. The new facility will provide qualified and trained applicants for hundreds of jobs at area resorts, said CTA president Steven Horsford.

"Our students will continue to be at a competitive advantage, to be the first hired and the first promoted, because of the credentials they earn at this academy," Horsford said. "Students who are looking for training in the most exciting industry are welcome here."

The facility, funded by a $1 million grant from Clark County, a $1 million contribution from the CTA's participating hospitality employers and a loan from Bank West of Nevada, includes three 145-square-foot refrigeration systems, a full-sized "hot-line" training station, a complete pantry-training station and a demonstration kitchen.

The kitchen also is equipped with several 60-quart mixers and 80-gallon steam pots, a variety of ranges and broilers and two computerized roll-in ovens for the preparation of large quantities of food. The only 24-foot Jackson dishwashing machine in Las Vegas is located at the facility. It requires three people to operate.

"It's the most modern, up-to-date equipment that can be purchased," said George Seess, executive chef who oversees training at the academy. "With this kitchen, we can train any classification in the food and beverage department that the hotels request, from food server all the way up to sous chef."

Terry Brooks, who graduated from another CTA facility in 2002, is grateful for the academy's training.

"I used to be a student here and now I'm employed here," Brooks said. "It's a great new facility. If you want to work at a hotel, you'll know how to do it. Any equipment they put before us, we can use."

Brooks said he entered the culinary field after he became too old to continue working in construction. Now 60, he said he's glad he decided to follow in his father's footsteps.

"My father and grandfather both cooked here locally," he said. "I'm going to go nowhere but right here."

Though the new kitchen will be used primarily to train students enrolled in the CTA, it will have a variety of other uses. The new facility will allow the CTA to expand its summer food program, which provides 25,000 meals each month to children who would not otherwise have access to healthy meals during the summer months. The kitchen also will service a full-sized banquet and catering facility and be used to prepare meals for local senior centers.

Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said the facility is the completion of a vision to develop a building where people can pursue their dreams.

"This (facility) was like a rough jewel in the community, and now it has flourished," she said. "It goes a long way when we support residents by providing job training for them."

The CTA was established in 1993 though an agreement between the Culinary Union Local 226 and the Bartender's Union Local 165. In 2001, the program entered into a collaboration with Nevada Partners, a nonprofit organization that provides pre-employment training for unemployed and underemployed adults.


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