WSU Tech culinary program gets approval. Construction on Henry’s building starts soon.
WSU Tech’s planned culinary arts program — set to take over the former Henry’s department store building at 124 S. Broadway — got approval from the Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday, a key step forward in the project, its directors say.
The school now has the authority to offer technical certificates and associate of applied science degrees in culinary arts and plans to start classes in the fall of this year. Construction on the 45,000 square-foot downtown facility — whose plans feature not only kitchens and classroom space but also a food hall open to the public — will start this summer and is scheduled to be complete by August of 2022. Classes will be offered at a yet-to-be determined space until the building is complete.
The program, which will be led by local Culinary Institute of America graduates and married couple John and Lexi Michael, will offer students real-world training in cafe, restaurant, banquet, event and commercial food production, said WSU Tech President Sheree Utash. They’ll learn to prepare everything from artisan bread to global cuisine.
“We’re going to be in an urban location, and we’re going to bring a lot of innovation and accessibility and sustainability, and those are going to be very, very unique positions that we’ll have in addition to the real world experience students will get in this program,” Utash said.
WSU Tech announced its plans to launch the program in December, when its board of directors approved a letter of intent to take over the old Henry’s building, but it still needed Board of Regents approval. The school has been working on the process ever since, and the board approved the program as part of its consent agenda at its meeting on Wednesday in Topeka.
The program will be unique, said the program’s director John Michael, because of how much real-world experience and kitchen hours it will offer students, who will also perform internships in local restaurants. Graduates will get more than 1,000 lab hours, he said.
“We really based this off trying to create a program that takes students with very little experience and very little education up to that point and does everything to get them ready for one of their first proper jobs in the industry,” he said. “That’s really what the industry is looking for: someone who can walk right into the kitchen and be comfortable in the kitchen environment and know how to move at kitchen speed.”
Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, the Board of Regents received one comment of opposition to program approval from Butler Community College, which has been running a culinary and hospitality management program out of Boston Recreation Center at 6555 E. Zimmerly since 2012.
El Dorado-based Butler, which recently announced plans to build its own culinary arts building in Andover in part with a donation from Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers co-founder Scott Redler and his wife, Betsy, submitted the comment to the Board of Regents’ Technical Education Authority, saying that “adding a second program within just a few miles would be duplicative of Butler’s well established and successful program as well as impact the launch of a new program by WSU Tech.”
The Michaels led Butler’s program for eight years before leaving to take over WSU Tech’s in December. The two schools had been in discussions about possible partnerships since 2018, when Wichita State University put the kibosh on a Butler proposal to open a $4 million culinary arts school in the old brick fire station on South Topeka now known as Fireworx Wichita.
When the plan was announced, WSU objected in the form of a cease-and-desist letter, pointing out that Kansas law and Kansas Board of Regents’ policy required approval by WSU and the Board of Regents for Butler to offer courses outside of its service area. WSU had been granting permission for the school to operate in Sedgwick County since 2012. Butler quickly withdrew the proposal, and the two schools said they were looking into working together. But those discussions ended, as did WSU’s approval for Butler to operate in Sedgwick County.
Butler president Kim Krull said in April that Butler won’t have WSU’s approval to teach classes at the Boston Recreation Center after July. But if the city of Wichita allows the program to remain in the center while its new building is underway, it would consider teaching classes without state funding and take a loss. If they can’t stay, they’ll find another spot where they can continue, she said.
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 10:40 AM.
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