The famed Le Cordon Bleu culinary school plans to close all 16 of its U.S. campuses, including the one in Pasadena.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Career Education Corp., which owns the schools, announced this week that it will begin winding down operations at its Le Cordon Bleu North America colleges of culinary arts.
Todd Nelson, Career Education’s president and CEO, attributed the decision to financial challenges.
“New federal regulations make it difficult to project the future for career schools that have higher operating costs, such as culinary schools that require expensive commercial kitchens and ongoing food costs,” Nelson said in a statement. “Despite our best efforts to find a new caretaker for these well-renowned culinary colleges, we could not reach an agreement that we believe was in the best interests of both our students and our stockholders.”
Le Cordon Bleu will no longer enroll new students after its January 4 classes begin, but all campuses are expected to remain open until September 2017.
Current students who are making reasonable academic progress will be allowed to participate in a “teach-out” whereby they will be able to complete their programs of study before the campuses close.
Cordon Bleu’s U.S. campuses are located in Pasadena, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, Scottsdale and Seattle. The school also operates an online campus.
The announced closures will not affect Le Cordon Bleu schools that operate overseas. The culinary chain trained American chef, author and TV personality Julia Child at Le Cordon Bleu Paris. Child grew up in Pasadena.
The Pasadena location at 530 E. Colorado Blvd. has about 1,200 students and a 91 percent placement rate, according to school officials. The school offers a variety of programs in such areas as culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, and wine and beverage operations.
• Photos: Famed Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School plans to close all 16 U.S campuses, including Pasadena
The campus includes three buildings totaling 105,000 square feet and the school has 17 teaching kitchens filled with cooking equipment, 12 classrooms and a learning resource center with more than 60 computers.
Student Alex Andre, who is nearly finished with his two-year culinary program, said he just learned of the closures.
“It’s sad,” the 30-year-old Whittier resident said. “But they could still sell each campus.”
Andre said the tuition for his two-year program was $38,000. He’s currently working as a prep cook and hopes to move up in an industry that typically sees plenty of movement.
“It’s very competitive,” he said. “All the chefs I work with have been moving from job to job to expand their skills.”
Valerie Padilla, 19, of Pasadena is also taking classes at the Pasadena campus.
“I’ll be getting an associates degree in baking,” she said. “I already have a job as a baker at Universal Studios.”
Le Cordon Bleu schools came under fire in recent years as the result of lawsuits filed by students who claimed they were misled about future job prospects and earnings. Several of those actions have since been settled.
Mark Fitkowski, who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena in 2001, said his first job after graduating — washing dishes for $4.25 an hour — wasn’t great. But he moved up quickly.
“Within a week I was a line cook, and I was an executive chef after six months,” he said. “Now I work with Paul Martin’s American Grill. I’ve opened up several of the restaurants and I also help with menu development. I have a passion for what I do … I live and die for this.”
Founded in 1895, Le Cordon Bleu is considered the largest network of culinary and hospitality schools in the world with more than 50 schools in 20 countries that train about 20,000 students each year.
