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The New England Culinary Institute (NECI) was a private for-profit culinary school in Montpelier, Vermont. It was open for 40 years before shutting down as result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
NECI was founded on June 15, 1980, by Fran Voigt and John Dranow. The first NECI class, conducted by Chef Michel LeBorgne, had seven students. The enrollment rose to approximately 800 in 1999, but fell to 500 in 2015 and to around 300 at the beginning of 2017.
By the 2010s, enrollment in culinary institutes in the United States was in decline, and culinary programs nationwide were closing.
The institute discontinued all credit-bearing academic programs in the summer of 2021. The institution's official statement about the closing stated that "the pandemic proved to be the burden that we could not overcome. As directed by the State of Vermont we closed all our retail operations in March 2020, which severely limited our ability to continue to deliver a college level, hands on culinary education, on an economically viable basis."
Academics
The institute offered the following credentials:
- Paul Hogan – Former Australian Consul turned celebrity butler
- Gavin Kaysen – chef de cuisine of Cafe Boulud in New York City