Thunder Bay restaurants “truly worried” of suspending the culinary management program

Thunder Bay – Thunder Bay restaurant operators express their dismay on the Decision of the Confederation College to endlessly suspend its culinary management program.

“For us, it is a loss of a vital resource,” said Bianca Garofalo, who owns hard, El Tres and Giorg. “In recent years there was a very good group of future employees who have left the program.”

In a Wednesday interview, Garofalo said that local restorers had group conversations about the situation, and “everyone is truly concerned about how this impact will look like.”

Confederation announced the suspension of the program and another 10 last week, due in part to a decrease in the international registration of students caused by a federal ceiling on the study permits.

Garofalo said that students come to Thunder Bay from other countries in particular to take over training and receive placement destinations in local restaurants while studying.

“When you graduate, many of them decide to stay. In recent years it was a very good group of future employees who have left the program.”

She mentioned that this became particularly important from the Covid-19 Pandemia, when many workers left the food industry.

“There has been an increasing labor shortage … We have a flourishing culinary scene in Thunder Bay, but it was extremely difficult to complete.”

In a statement for NewswatchThe Confederation said it appreciated the long -term contribution of the program in the Thunder Bay region, but a comprehensive review has shown that it is no longer financially sustainable.

The college has indicated that it intends to explore more profitable program models, which can afford to provide culinary opportunities at a time in the future.

Garofalo said he hopes that the college will set up a round table of interested parties to discuss possible alternatives, “and can realize it creatively if there is a way to restructure the program to be as successful as possible, because, otherwise, anyone is interested in culinary management will have to go to South Ontario.

The suspension of the program left the manager of the RFDA food service “in shock”

The suspension of the program will have other impacts in the community.

Culinary management students have contributed significantly to the Regional Food Distribution Association, for which they produced 12,000 meals last year using RFDA donated foods.

“I was in shock” after I heard the news, “said Tanner Harris, food manager for the association.

“We were looking at doubling the number of meals prepared in the next two years, so they would really feed a lot of people in the region.”

Harris, who happens to be a graduate of the culinary management program, said that The College Partnership with RFDAwhich started last year, and demonstrated its value.

“” We worked together on a plan to start the cooking class with lots (bulk cooking) in the culinary program. The food is donated to us, such as articles with rich proteins, such as beef, chicken, turkey, even articles that are not meat, such as a fellow and legume.

Students currently enrolled in the program will be able to complete their studies, and the Confederation said that its partnership with RFDA will continue until the next academic year.

The local interested parties representing a number of interests support a petition that is currently circulating in opposition to the college’s decision to suspend the culinary management program.

The group includes students, students, educators, employers and indigenous leaders.

“This program is not only a vital educational offer for aspirant chefs and hospitality professionals, but also a critical resource that supports several sectors of our local economy and wider industries in northern Ontario,” says the petition.

It notes the absence of a local training program for culinary professionals not only will affect RFDA activity, but could affect food services, long -term care facilities and canteens and camps operated by the resource sector.

Petitioners are also concerned about the impact on the high school students enrolled in the major program of high skills in hospitality and tourism, saying that the suspension of the college program is a consecrated pipeline for students to continue their ambitions to become culinary professionals.

Several other colleges in Ontario, including Loyalist, Centenial, St. Lawrence and St. Clair, and the culinary programs suspended.