2013 was a very exciting year for First Gourmet Academy. This was the year that this top culinary school in Metro Manila had more than 100 students enrolled in its Diploma program. 2013 was also the year that we introduced our Diploma in Baking and Pastry to students who are interested in working with breads and pastries. We also managed to recommend quite a few students for employment abroad. At the moment, we have about 25 of our graduates working in America, Australia, Europe and Asia.
We also have a few students who decided to stay here in the Philippines and pursue an entrepreneurial career by opening up their own restaurants or other types of food businesses. We have also been visited by foreign chefs, like celebrity chef Scott Boswell from Louisiana last September. He came to our culinary school in order to select a few of our students to work with him at his restaurants in the USA. During this event, he hired six of our graduates on the spot. This tells a lot about the quality of education that students from First Gourmet Academy are receiving. In November, we were visited again by people that, just like Chef Boswell, want to offer employment to our graduates. The chefs from America that participated in this event praised the students from our school for their organizational skills as well as their food preparation and plating skills.
And again later in the year, in December, we were visited by Chef Daniel Kenney and Chef Nathan Gould from Seacrest Hotel and Harbor View Hotel in Massachusetts. They visited First Gourmet Academy for the same reason as the previously mentioned chefs. They need young and freshly graduated cooks. At the moment, it is difficult for American chefs to find staff within the USA so they decided to find future graduates from First Gourmet Academy since they know that the culinary education here is superior to other culinary schools in the Philippines or even Asia.
There will be more opportunities like these. Already in February, we will be visited again by a chef that is in need to find staff for his restaurants in the USA. Of course all the staff and instructors are very happy and proud that the graduates of First Gourmet Academy have managed to get quite a good reputation even outside the Philippines.
If you are interested in joining our Diploma in Commercial Cooking and Culinary Arts program, we strongly recommend you give us a call or visit us so we can tell you more about the fantastic opportunities that await you abroad, on cruise ships, and here in The Philippines.
