Hampton Roads culinary schools see growing enrollment

Despite the sluggish economy, Yanina Yearwood’s personal chef and catering company has been hopping.

Her upcoming weeks are filled with weddings, a banquet and personal chef gigs.

“I love my job,” said Yearwood, the owner of Younique Treats. “I compare it to being in the military standing gate guard for four hours, the longest hours. I can be in the kitchen for 14 hours, and it’s like nothing.”

The 42-year-old, who retired in 2009 after 20 years in the Navy, said she always wanted to be a chef. While in the service, she enrolled at the Culinary Institute of Virginia in Norfolk. She earned an associate degree and a bachelor’s in business administration with a concentration in food service management from the school.

Yearwood is part of a growing group of people enrolled in culinary programs across South Hampton Roads. The spike comes as job opportunities in the industry are on the upswing, too.

In June, growth in the food-services and drinking-places industry outpaced growth in the national economy overall, according to preliminary statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. June saw a 2.1 percent increase in jobs in that sector compared with a year earlier; overall, job growth in the economy was 0.9 percent for the same period.

An increase was seen locally as well. In the area including Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Newport News, there were 61,200 jobs in the food-services and drinking-places industry in May, up 9 percent from January, according to the preliminary federal statistics.

Brian Hoyt, spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, noted that with the industry adding jobs twice as fast as the overall economy, a culinary degree “definitely adds to the lure” of a candidate’s opportunity for employment.

“Anecdotally, what we know and what we’re hearing (is that) in a tough economy where there is a lot of competition for work opportunities, they are looking for some of the most qualified candidates,” Hoyt said.

At the Culinary Institute of Virginia, enrollment is up, and jobs may be part of the reason. It had 560 students last fall, up from 48 students when it opened five years ago. Its graduating class last month had 180 students, a 50 percent jump from last year, said Andy Gladstein, campus director.

“The increase in this year’s graduating class is largely coming from the success of our graduates finding jobs and our growing reputation as more businesses view us as a resource,” Gladstein said in a news release.

About 90 percent of the school’s graduates find employment in the food-service industry, Gladstein said. About a third of students are career-switchers, another third are career starters, and the rest are people already working in the food service industry who want to enhance their skills, he said.

Around 50 percent of graduates who finished studies at the Culinary Institute of Virginia between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2011, are employed in restaurants, according to statistics provided by the school. Another 24 percent are employed in the food and beverage departments of hotels and resorts, and other graduates are distributed in other food-service sectors.

Gladstein said the majority of the school’s graduates find work right out of school as line cooks, making on average about $22,000 annually. The range for graduates is between $20,000 and $40,000 in their first job, he said.

At Tidewater Community College, the culinary program also is growing. Last fall, 375 students were enrolled, nearly double the number of students in fall 2005, according to TCC. More students are graduating, too: 32 graduated from TCC’s program last year, up from five in 2005.

Don Averso, coordinator of culinary arts for TCC, said graduates have started their own businesses, worked as line cooks and, after a while, become executive chefs, to name a few career paths.

“There is really not one exact direction that the majority of them go in, and that’s because there are so many opportunities out there,” Averso said. “It’s not limited anymore to just restaurant employment.”

In addition to increased interest at established local schools, a new program launched in the area in January 2010.

The Art Institute of Virginia Beach set up shop with an eye on strong opportunities for graduates in the food industry.

“The fact that we introduced culinary arts (in Virginia Beach) says that we saw opportunities” locally, said Kim Resnik, the Southeast public relations manager for The Art Institutes. Nationwide, there are 50 Art Institutes, Resnik said, and they don’t always offer culinary studies from the get-go.

The Beach school offers culinary, media arts, design and fashion programs. Its culinary program, Resnik said, is growing faster than the student body as a whole. Enrollment was 94 culinary students this spring, up from 67 in fall 2010, she said.

The economy may be a driver in enrollment increases, but something more basic may also be at play.

“Sometimes they lose their jobs and they say ‘OK, it’s time for me to take my career in a new direction and do something I love,’ ” Gladstein said of students.

Said Averso of TCC, “The majority of the students are coming here because they know this is their calling.”

Cheryl Ross, (757) 446-2443, cheryl.ross@pilotonline.com