Baker College of Muskegon Celebrates Grand Opening of Culinary Institute of Michigan
Baker College of Muskegon celebrates the grand opening of its Culinary Institute of Michigan (CIM) today, with a sneak peek preview for staff, faculty and CIM students from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m., followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception for community leaders and dignitaries, 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m., 336 West Clay Avenue, downtown Muskegon.
Officials from Baker College of Muskegon and community leaders will speak beginning at 5:45 p.m. They include:
- Mary Ann Herbst – President of Baker College of Muskegon
- Stephen Warmington – Mayor of Muskegon
- Cindy Larsen – President of the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce
- B.C. Thompson – Chair, Baker College of Muskegon Board of Regents
- John Cappellucci – Dean of Culinary Arts, Baker College of Muskegon
- Robb White – Department Chair, Culinary Arts/Food and Beverage Management, Baker College of Muskegon
- Cathy Tomcala – Recent graduate, Culinary Arts, Baker College of Muskegon
The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be followed by tours of the facility, hors d’oeuvres and spirits.
“We are pleased to share this momentous occasion as we gather to celebrate the beginning of another phase of our long history in west Michigan,” said Mary Ann Herbst, Baker College of Muskegon president. “We are proud to be a part of the rejuvenation of downtown Muskegon.”
The new Culinary Institute of Michigan, housed in a 3-story, 40,000 square foot facility, will accommodate up to 750 students per day, six days a week. With three sections of classes per day, at any one time the CIM could have up to 250 students attending class in either the labs or the lecture rooms. Baker College of Muskegon officials anticipate that approximately 500 students will be enrolled this fall in the Culinary Arts, Food and Beverage Management, and Baking and Pastry programs. Classes begin Monday, September 28.
The interior has been painted with warm, soothing colors, and an abundance of windows creates an open-air feeling that also allows guests and students to observe the working culinary labs.
Classrooms
The CIM has four lecture classrooms that can accommodate 35 students in each room. Rooms can be opened up to create one large room that will hold 100 students. One lecture area houses the Culinary Innovations Center, a state-of-the-art, high-definition recording demonstration kitchen.
“We can give live demonstrations to as many as 40 students and record these demos on three high definition cameras, send it to our video editing suite where we create a recording for future use,” said John Cappellucci, Baker College of Muskegon culinary arts dean. “Pre-recording all of our demos and hands-on skills allows our instructors to spend more time working with the students one-on-one. Students are then able to watch the videos from their own computers during off-lab hours to better prepare them for the next day’s lab activities.”
Kitchen labs
The CIM has three hot food labs that accommodate 16 students per lab, a baking lab for 12 students, a temperature and humidity-controlled chocolate and sugar lab that has room for 10 students, a demo lab for 40 students and a restaurant lab that accommodates eight students. At full capacity, all of these kitchen labs will run six days a week with three sessions a day: 7 a.m. – 12 p.m., 12:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., and 6 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
“Each of the culinary labs is equipped with high definition video screens to recall demos from our video library,” said Cappellucci. “This allows the students to refresh their memories or drive home a specific technical skill that needs to be mastered.”
Equipment
“The equipment we chose for CIM is a mix from the best food service equipment manufacturers in the world,” said Robb White, Baker College of Muskegon Culinary Arts and Food and Beverage Management department chair. “We have ovens and mixers from Canada, convection ovens, blast chillers, sous-vide and cyro-vac equipment from Europe, and smokers, grills and griddles from the United States. Our students will train on what is truly the best equipment made in the world today.”
The CIM also houses a multi-media conference room for student or department meetings, or student academic advising sessions.
COURSES
COURSES is the student-operated, full-service, open-to-the-public restaurant. It is one part classroom, one part restaurant. The restaurant seats 75 in the main dining room, 12 in the bar area and an additional 32 on the patio, weather permitting. During fall 2009 quarter, COURSES will be open for lunch only, Monday through Wednesday. In the future, it will be open six days a week for lunch and dinner.
“The menu in COURSES draws from all cultures and cuisines as we try to offer Muskegon a unique dining experience as well as give our students a one-of-a-kind, hands-on learning opportunity,” said White. “We will also offer a full beverage and wine menu that specializes in hard-to-find boutique wines from Michigan and around the world.
The Sweet Spot
The Sweet Spot is a retail outlet that will offer freshly baked goods from the café and restaurant production class. A full coffee menu as well as other non-alcoholic beverages will be available.
“The Sweet Spot will offer all the baked goods that Baker is famous for, including muffins, sweet breads, rustic artisan breads, baguettes, pies, cakes, tortes and truffles,” said Cappellucci.
CIM logo merchandise will also be sold in The Sweet Spot. Items include mugs, shirts, hoodies and wine glasses.
The Sweet Spot will be open from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Public Open House
In addition to the September 24 event, an open house for the public will be held on Saturday, October 10, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. Tours will be provided and attendees will get a first-hand glimpse of Baker students training in a world-class culinary arts facility.
For more information about the new Culinary Institute of Michigan, please contact Baker College of Muskegon at 231.777.5200.
