New England Culinary Institute, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, is set to wind down and eventually close, in part due to economic challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students, faculty and staff of the Montpelier-based culinary school were informed in an letter. In the message, seen Monday morning on the institute s website, NECI President Milan Milasinovic announced that the institute would discontinue all of its credit-bearing programs. Unfortunately, the pandemic proved to be the burden that we could not overcome, said Milasinovic in the letter. Upon closing its eateries and retail operations in March due to state restrictions, he said, the school lacked the ability to continue to delivery a college level, hands on culinary education to its students.New England Culinary Institute was founded in 1980, beginning in the kitchens of the Vermont Department of Labor (then known as the Vermont Department of Employment and Training) before branching
New England Culinary Institute to close after 40 years
December 28, 2020 GMT
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) The Vermont-based New England Culinary Institute is closing its doors after 40 years partly due to added challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In an undated letter to the school community posted on the NECI website, President Milan Milasinovic said the school is discontinuing all credit bearing programs and will immediately start a teach-out of all those programs so that current students may complete them.
“Unfortunately, the pandemic proved to be the burden that we could not overcome,” Milasinovic wrote. “As directed by the State of Vermont we closed all our retail operations in March 2020, which severely limited our ability to continue to deliver a college level, hands on culinary education, on an economically viable basis.”
Matt Jennings at Healthy Living Market & Café in Williston In July 2019, a year after chef Matt Jennings closed his Boston restaurant, Townsman, he moved with his family to Vermont. He lives with his wife, Kate, a pastry chef, and their two sons in Charlotte, where they grow vegetables and raise animals. I ve always loved Vermont, and my wife is originally from Arlington, said Jennings, who attended New England Culinary Institute in the mid-1990s. We ve always talked about coming back. Once we were freed up from restaurant life, we said, Let s go. Before they opened their Boston restaurant, Matt and Kate owned and operated Farmstead in Providence, R.I. A five-time James Beard Award nominee and former competitor on the Food Network s Iron Chef Showdown, Jennings, 44, is the author of the 2017 cookbook
9 & 10 News
December 15, 2020
“I think it’s the American way to push through and do your best, you work hard and you succeed.”
Tim Bergstrom’s days spent slaving over a hot stove in a small, food truck kitchen have paid off. After a summer parked outside of Menard’s in Traverse City, he’s made a name for himself, as well as enough cash for a storefront to call his own. The wheels may be gone, but the burgers are here to stay.
Tim has had an interest in having a food venture of his own for several years now. The pandemic, while devastating for the restaurant industry, was the catalyst for him to begin working on his dream. Tim has been in Traverse City since 2003, where he graduated from the Great Lakes Culinary Institute. He continued his culinary education at the New England Culinary Institute and gained further experience through internships, including one at the Lafayette Hotel in New Orleans.
Six weeks ago, she had an idea.
Levesque, a pastry chef, former chair of the Auburn School Committee and married to Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque, was feeling tapped out and looking for a new way to recharge.
Sticky buns make her happy. She’s hoping it’s a universal truth.
“That’s pretty much what I was thinking to myself, it’s something that I really enjoy. Can I do a business out of it? We’ll see,” Levesque said.
She’s sold 75 six-packs already, cooking out of the Auburn Senior Center’s commercial kitchen.
Levesque graduated from the New England Culinary Institute in 2000, later working at a Boston hotel, Connecticut bed and breakfast and in a skilled nursing facility before moving back to Maine.