LITTLE ROCK, AR - Pulaski Tech broke ground on a new 52,000 square foot Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Center Thursday morning. The new facility, set to open in Fall 2013, will be able to accommodate 800 students. The college currently has about 500 students.
The facility will be located at the Little Rock south campus. It will be equipped with state of the art technology, including a 130 seat media classroom, cooking labs, and mulitple kitchens. All labs will have glass walls that will allow visitors to watch students prepare meals with disrupting them.
"It's about bringing something special to the table, giving people that extra special top thing because you have to be the top dog in the industry," said Douglas Bridges, a student in the program.
Bridges quit his retail job to live out his dream of becoming a chef. He hopes to one day run a bed and breakfast in Eureka Springs.
The program has become so popular that leaders had to expand. They are teaching students in a hallway and sharing the kitchen with the cooks who run the student cafe'. Now they'll have something to call their own.
"We have eighteen in a class, but we have classes Monday through Saturday from eight in the morning to ten at night. It's non-stop," said Todd Gold, director of the college's culinary arts school.
