Overview

Culinary Arts & Hospitality Studies (CAHS), formerly known as the Hotel and Restaurant Department was founded in 1936 by John and Hilda Watson Gifford. It is the first two year hospitality program in the country; and the first program emphasizing the culinary arts. The department’s beginnings were humble, initially located in the basement of San Francisco’s Galileo High School with only 12 students. In 1955, the department relocated to Smith Hall, it’s first permament home. In 1963, with financial assistance from the Statler Foundation, Statler Wing was built adjacent to Smith Hall and again expanded in 1973.

The current facilities in Smith Hall and Statler Wing are now home to a café, cafeteria and fine dining restaurant; four kitchens, a bake shop, a hotel style storeroom, three lecture rooms, a lecture/demonstration auditorium, the Alice Statler Library and Gifford Resource Center. The department has an on-going enrollment of over 250 students from around the world.

In 1999, CCSF organized all credit and non-credit hospitality and culinary related programs under it’s current department name: Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies. The Hotel and Restaurant Department simultaneously changed it’s name to the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Programs and the Hospitality Training Program changed it’s name to the Culinary and Service Skills Training Program.

The Culinary and Service Skills Training program has operated the Educated Palate restaurant in the basement of the Downtown Center since 1982. Students train for one semester to acquire dining room service skills and one semester for culinary skills. In addition to local employers, well established relationships with Local 2, the Apprenticeship Training Program and the Hotel Education Fund has provided many employment opportunities for students.

In 2005, with monies made available from the Proposition A Bond measure of 2001, the Educated Palate restaurant at the Downtown Center was moved from the basement to street level and a new, state of the art restaurant continues to train students in service and culinary skills. The restaurant retained its name, the Educated Palate.

In support of CAHS, a variety of small repairs and/or improvements comprising this project include:

  • Downtown Center (Kitchen at The Educated Palate)
    • The walk-in refrigerator in the basement kitchen requires replacement flooring.
    • The walk-in refrigerator and freezer exhaust into an adjacent storeroom. The exhaust requires re-routing for proper removal of exhaust air.
  • Ocean Campus (Quick Service Restaurant in Smith Hall)
    • In an effort to expose our students to different cultural and ethnic food styles, the Quick Service space, our lab, will regularly reinvent itself. The Quick Service setting prepares students in the operational challenges that are associated with this type of restaurant. It is an entirely student run venue from front of the house to the back of the house.
    • A new pizza oven, demolition of a prep island, installation of ceiling-mounted coiling power cords, quarry tile repairs to the floor, and roof repairs at the pizza oven exhaust were completed in 2016. Remaining scope to be completed includes finished ceiling repairs around pizza oven exhaust, installation of a 2-compartment prep sink, and installation of a new refrigerator adjacent to the new sink.
  • Ocean Campus (Food Lab in Statler Hall)
    • The walk-in refrigerator in the Food Lab requires replacement.
  • Ocean Campus (Cafeteria Kitchen in Smith Hall)
    • The student-operated cafeteria offers the opportunity to experience a large scale production kitchen facility. Students rotate jobs on a weekly basis. Job assignments such as Manager, cashier, server, line cook, expediter, and nutrition analyst give our students a full flavored palate of experience in a real world setting within the structure of a classroom setting.
    • Scope includes replacement of kichen walk-in refrigerator flooring and HVAC repairs/upgrades.

Project Budget

This project is grant-funded, with funds expiring June 2017.

  • $XXX,XXX (total project costs, soft and hard)

Project Status

  • Solicitating proposals for Project Management Services
  • Initial facilities planning and scoping

Occupancy / Beneficial Use

ASAP

Business Partners


TBD

Business Opportunities

TBD