“If a person says I have worked hard but have not found success, don’t believe him. If a person says I have not exerted myself, and I have found success, don’t believe him. If he says I gave it my all and I have found success, believe him!” – Talmud, Megillah 6b

I have talked about this in the past, but we are looking for future culinary leaders or individuals who dream big of impacting the culinary world. We want students who want to make things happen and impact wherever they go and are not worried about putting in the work. This is why I’m super excited to announce that our flagship program will be a 12-month intensive culinary immersion program, accelerated and tailor-made for each student. Not a one-year program, but a 12 -month intensive. The traditional yearly approach is usually more like seven months, September to May with breaks. We will have some holidays but outside of that, we will not be wasting a moment. We believe that there is a way to be highly prepared and focused without feeling that studies will keep students from hands-on experience. It’s 2021; people think differently; they are used to consuming a lot more information and are more capable of absorbing information faster. It takes a certain type of personality to want to learn as much as possible in a relatively short period while being willing to put in the effort.

Here are the top 3 reasons we chose 12-months:

1 – Culinary education (education in general) must change. As I have also discussed previously, a major goal of ours is to transform culinary education. Not to be different, but to create a program that is best for the students. Do culinary students really need to spend 2 – 4 years to receive the education needed to jump into a culinary position? The short answer is NO. One of the biggest issues in culinary education is that a lot of students will drop out after the first year to start their culinary journey as soon as they can. Our program will be the equivalent of a two- and half-year program just jam-packed into a 12-month intensive program. We have dedicated the last two years to studying and learning the needs of a well-rounded culinarian. We have advisers and team members who help us make sure that this program is on the ball and prepares individuals in the most hands-on manner possible. Where most programs are four to five days a week, four to six hours a day, our program will be five to six days a week, six to ten-hour days.

2 – Culinary education is expensive. I may be pretty good at math, but you do not have to be to understand that leaving a program in which you owe anywhere between $60-$100K in student debt while starting your career making between $30-$45K, is extremely difficult if not impossible to pay back. We do not want to contribute to the same problems traditional education is facing today with students making much less than the cost of education. We will not be an inexpensive program, but we will ensure our students are able to pay back their loans, get support through scholarship programs and help them with grants. We are working on this as we speak but we will not be contributing to the same old problems that haunt academia these days.

3 – Experience always wins. I remember vaguely what I learned in college, but nothing taught me more than the real world. When I started my career, the first thing I was told was “do not worry if you do not remember what you learned in school, all your learning will happen on the job.” That is exactly what happened, so we are going to be giving our students amazing, life-changing experiences with top professionals from food photographers to organic farmers. Real-life, working the fields, in vineyards, with entrepreneurs and a wide-variety of businesses. We want our students to experience as much as possible in order to not only do a lot but to figure out what they are most passionate about. All of our classes and excursions are focused on specific outcomes that will help our culinarians no matter what direction they go in.

Here are just a few reasons why we decided on a 12-month intensive culinary program. The course descriptions are getting close to being finished and this summer, we are hoping to launch our pre-application process. I would love to hear from you about our decision on the program length. Feel free to send me an email here.

Other than working on our curriculum, we are going hard on marketing plans, including a GCI series that we hope to announce in the next few months as well as the GCI conference. Our big groundbreaking collaboration with JNF-USA will happen at the National Conference so we look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Finally, I want to wish our daughter Ruti, a happy first birthday. She was born on Shavuot during the height of covid and was finally able to meet her Bubbie, Zedie, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins for the first time. Grandma, Grandpa, and the rest of the family are hoping to come soon but we are super blessed to have spent time with family after such a long separation. Always be thankful for the time you have with those you care about most. Never take it for granted.

L’chaim (To life)

Nathan