South Plains College slates grand opening for Culinary Arts Program on Friday

 

LUBBOCK – South Plains College Lubbock Career and Technical Center will host the Grand Opening and Ribbon cutting for its new Culinary Arts Program at 10 a.m. Friday (Oct. 5) at the center, 3907 Ave. Q. The program will feature an opening ceremony followed by the ribbon cutting. Tours will follow until 12 noon. 

The public is invited to attend. 

Mike Box, chairperson of the South Plains College Board of Regents, “This new facility responds to the needs of the community, and it allows SPC to provide the professional training for graduates in the restaurant industry. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the food service industry. We have a state-of-the-art facility that is really an asset for the entire West Texas area.” 

The Culinary Arts Program at SPC was created to produce students with a wide range of culinary skills that will translate into employment opportunities in the food service industry. In addition to teaching culinary and baking skills, students are trained on the business side of the industry where they are introduced to subjects including purchasing, hospitality and food service operation. Internship opportunities will be available for advanced students. 

South Plains College developed this program in response to workforce projections that restaurant and food industry employment will grow 21 percent in the next four years with more than 1,000 job openings each year due to new and replacement workers in the Lubbock area. 

“While we are teaching academics, there is a lot of focus that comes with being a qualified chef and an entry-level chef – such as knife safety skills, knife cuts and terminology,” said Chef Patrick Ramsey. “We’re teaching the cooking language and passion. We’re teaching a passion.” 

The culinary arts instructional area has been made possible through the generous support of these Partners in Education – United Supermarkets, the J.T. and Margaret Talkington Charitable Foundation, the Helen Jones Foundation, the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance and City Bank. 

SPC has transformed 10,425 square feet in the Lubbock Career and Technical Center into a state-of-the arts instructional facility designed to train graduates for the region’s food industry thanks to the financial support of these partners. The new facility includes four fully-equipped cooking labs, a bakery lab, meat processing lab, refrigerator and freezer storage, dry storage and scullery. 

For more information, contact Dane Dewbre, associate dean of marketing and recruitment, at (806) 716-2210 or email ddewbre@southplainscollege.edu.