WISH teams with Culinary Institute of America

On 8 February 2023, the West Indies School of Hospitality (WISH) and The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) officially embarked on a joint initiative to provide career and workforce development strategies to the culinary teams in restaurants and resorts throughout the island of Grenada.

Through a tiered approach, the CIA will provide mentor training to senior WISH culinary students. Once certified, the trained WISH participants will then apply their learnings to their respective teams across the island.

This initiative will use the CIA’s ProChef® digital video series as a training platform throughout four phases beginning in the summer of 2023. WISH and the CIA will work together to select up to 10 mentors, who will then guide their apprentices through the digital video series toward the goal of achieving CIA ProChef Level I certification. The mentors themselves will continue to work toward their own ProChef Level II certification while actively engaging with their apprentices.

Regarding the initiative, WISH Co-Founder and Owner of Mount Cinnamon Resort Barry Collymore stated, “We are excited to be partnering with the Culinary Institute of America to provide world-renowned culinary training. The aim is to positively impact the workforce with more competent staff and to create a stronger culture of culinary entrepreneurship in Grenada and throughout the Caribbean. Grenada’s culinary niche needs to be developed to its full potential and WISH aims to be at the forefront of this endeavour.”

WISH aims to create learning paths for Caribbean people in the hospitality and service industries, to create a more empowered, confident, and efficient workforce. To date, WISH has trained over 1,000 graduates in Grenada since being founded in 2021. Through unique partnerships with organizations such as eCornell and The Culinary Institute of America and the patronage of tourism industry leaders, WISH provides thousands of hospitality scholarships every year. Mount Cinnamon Resort in Grenada is a proud sponsor of WISH. A portion of every dollar spent at Mount Cinnamon Resort goes towards WISH scholarships for Grenadians.

“We are delighted to team up with WISH on this important initiative,” said CIA Provost Mark Erickson. “The CIA ProChef training and certification program provides not only an exceptional educational and professional development experience for the trainees, it also helps build a better guest experience for visitors to the island of Grenada.”

GTA Chairman Randall Dolland attended the signing and offered congratulations and his vision for the initiative “The Grenada Tourism Authority is committed to supporting our private sector partners in our combined quest to ensure Grenada continues to excel. This alliance between WISH and CIA will significantly underpin Grenada’s position as one of the most significant food destinations in the Caribbean. We extend Congratulations and best wishes to all involved.”

WISH