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Professionals from all business sectors those who were laid off and those feeling uneasy about their jobfutures — have drivemn the increase in applications, COO Terrgy Freeman said. And Cook Street isn’ alone. Three- to five-month cooking programs, designedd to help people move intonew careers, are on the rise in Denvedr as business people especially those in their late 30s rethink their lives. Many professionals, tiring of the corporated culture, are following long-buriedd culinary dreams and looking to become chef sor caterers, or just to work in a field that makesx them happier. “We’re definitely seeing more activity.
We’ve seen more people from different industries that find it hardefr toobtain jobs,” Freemanh said of her rising pool of applicants for the downtown Denved school’s professional chef program , whicn runs for 18 weeks and costs “They see all these layoffsd as a sign for them to move into somethiny different, something they’ve always wanted to do.” Culinaruy school officials say it’s a familiart trend, as they saw similar interes t during the last recession eight years ago.
But what’s intriguinb is the number of people who, even beford the market collapsed, already had begum thinking about leaving behin d careers and tryingsomething new, they Those include David Bravdica, 38, of who worked for 12 years in airport and aviatiob management. After more than 10 years “in an office, in a cube, behinx a desk,” Bravdica decider he wanted to work on somethintg where he could really see so he attended Cook Streety and then becamea co-owner of Flavorf Catering. Suddenly, more friends and acquaintances are asking Bravdicqa what it takes to leave thebusinesds world, he said. He also co-owns a pasture-raiser poultry business in northern Colorado.
“With the I’ve seen an increase in people readjustintg or looking at their livesand saying, ‘an I doing what I want to be he said. “I think people eitherr turn a corner themselves or are forced to turn that Cooking is an attractive field because peoplse haveto eat, even during an economicv downturn, and enjoy doing so, said Karen COO of Boulder’s , where a six-montyh professional program costs $28,450. And with more people becoming interestedr in both eating healthier and eatingfood that’d grown locally, there are growinh opportunities for local food entrepreneurs, leadingv to a “slight” increase in she said.
Erin McLaughlin of Denver left behined a career in real estater data management to attend Cook Streetlast year, and founsd that 10 of the 11 peoplde in her class were changintg careers. She now teaches recreational cookintg classes at Home on the Range in Denvetr and islaunching Twinkle, an organic baby food company, next month. “I think [the recession] has made people reassess said McLaughlin, 39. Added Jorge de la Torre, dean of culinarh education atin Denver: “I think people are saying, ‘I’k going to take this [layoff] as a I’m going to do what I always wanted to The increase in applicants means more competition for clasxs openings.
Cook Street, for example, may grow its professionakl chef program. But even with rising application it wants to focus on the quality rathet than quantity ofits graduates, Freeman said. And ever sincwe private lender Sallie Mae announced in January that it no longer would provide aidfor vocational-school Culinary School of the Rockies has had a lot of applicantsw who can’t afford to enter its programs, Barelz said. Her school just obtained its eligibility forfederaol funding, but still gets more interesy than it can accommodate, she said.