College will train chefs at new Mount Holly center

The aromas aren't there yet, but the sparkling, literally "stainless" steel kitchens are enticing, primed for the unveiling next week of a new culinary-arts center in downtown Mount Holly.

The $9 million center - inside a nearly 200-year-old bank building and annex - is Burlington County College's newest venture.

Elizabeth Dinice, a chef whose resumé includes work at two of Philadelphia's finest hotels, is in charge.

"The thing that gets me most excited is we have a demonstration theater, and we will have a restaurant right here in the middle of a thriving town where we can work with other restaurateurs," Dinice said.

Inside the two-story center at High and Mill Streets is a cooking demonstration hall where visiting chefs and instructors will display their techniques. It has tiered seating for 80 students and capabilities for instructional broadcasting.

There is also a sprawling production kitchen where students can create various concoctions, a banquet room for catering, and a cafe that will cater to the public.

Students will prepare a la carte meals at the 47-seat cafe from a workstation set up inside the 10-foot-long bank vault. The vault's flung-open door, which displays locking pins and gears, will add to the ambience in what was the bank lobby.

So far, 100 culinary arts, hospitality, and tourism students have signed up for the fall, but college officials say there is room for at least 50 more students since the hours may be extended to midnight to accommodate those with jobs.

The average tuition for a student who wants to earn a "work ready" associate degree in culinary arts is roughly $16,000 over two years, according to college spokeswoman Jennifer Azzarano. To get a four-year bachelor's degree, students may opt for another culinary program that allows them to transfer to Drexel University.

Painters were still working last week at the former Farmers Trust Co. Bank, a brick building on the National Register of Historic Places. The 19,000-square-foot center will include the bank and an addition that connects it to the college's Mount Holly classroom building.

College president Robert C. Messina Jr. said the center would prepare students for jobs in a growing food-service industry and would stimulate economic recovery in the former mill town.

"This was an opportunity to save and preserve this building," he said during a tour last week. "It was vacant for a couple of years."

Messina also said the food-service industry is one of "the largest employers in the U.S."

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings for "chefs, head cooks, and food preparation and serving supervisors are expected to be good through 2018; however, competition should be keen for jobs at the more upscale restaurants that tend to pay more." Job growth in the industry is projected at 6 percent to 7 percent over that period.

"More than anything, I want to do something I like, and I want to enjoy going to work every day," said B.J. Hartshorn, a culinary-arts student at the college. "I want to get my foot in the door of a restaurant."

Hartshorn, of Pemberton, said he believed the new facility would put her on the right path. The new equipment will be a big improvement, she said, from the culinary-arts classes she has already been taking in the college's cafeteria at the Pemberton campus. "And Chef Dinice is fabulous - she has a passion for this and makes it fun," said Hartshorn, who expects to graduate next May.

Dinice became the head of the department six months ago, after stints as an executive chef at the Hilton Garden Inn and a chef at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia, among other places.

Dinice said the region has five comprehensive culinary-arts programs, most of them in Philadelphia. This center, she said, will be only the second in South Jersey. The Atlantic Cape Community College had the first one.

An array of "fun courses" is scheduled at the Mount Holly center this summer. They offer no credits but provide ample tips on how to grill, how to perfect a tomato pie and tomato cake (what, you've never tasted one?), how to coax flavors from fresh fruits, and how to jazz up meats. Most cost $69 and are scheduled for evenings.

Chefs on the Food Network and elsewhere on TV may have piqued interest in cooking careers, but Dinice says the center will prepare students for a real workplace.

"If you want to be a celebrity chef, it probably would be better to go into broadcasting," she said. "We want to give our students the skills to excel in professional kitchens."

For more information about the Burlington County College program, go to www.bcc.edu/culinary

at 856-779-3224 or jhefler@phillynews.com.