SF Cooking School

In 2010, American chefs were underwhelmed with the quality of the culinary graduates being churned out of for-profit, franchise culinary schools scattered across the country. The curriculums weren't just outdated, they were watered down to maximize graduation rates.

As a result, the culinary grads flowing into restaurant kitchens were woefully unprepared. Recipe robots who couldn't fix a recipe because they lacked the "how's and why's" of food.

The situation got so bad that top chefs like David Chang and others were publicly advising young cooks to skip culinary school and instead find a stage in a restaurant.

California chefs didn't just want trained cooks. They wanted cooks trained in the ways of California Cuisine. Jodi Liano stepped up to solve this problem and, with my help, we founded San Francisco Cooking School.

SFCS's curriculum for our professional culinary and pastry arts certificate programs were innovative and ground-breaking. Out-dated mother sauces and ice sculpturing was tossed out in favor of modern methods and more focus on students getting their reps in to master of core skills.

The Program also integrated the local food community by having local chefs and other experts administer in-class workshops, field trips and offer students volunteer opportunities for networking and experience while in school. In other words, San Francisco was part of our teaching campus.

The most notable component of SFCS was its externship program where students were matched and placed in a managed externship in their final study block. The restaurants loved us and by the time our students graduated they were the most prepared and in-demand pool of kitchen talent in town.

SFCS' closing was unfortunate and huge loss to the City of San Francisco. Unfortunately, the closure was entirely due to the City's abject failure in virtually every administrative department. After SFCS endured the City's arduous policies for small businesses during Covid, the school re-opened to nonexistent demand for students outside the Bay Area, which was typically 50% of our makeup. The post-Covid doom loop of crime and disarray that the local politicians let unfold from 2020-2024 not only forced SFCS to close it's doors but even chased away some of the biggest retailers like Nordstrom and Westfield Mall to bail on the City entirely.

We always hoped SFCS would live on to continue to be the epicenter for culinary education in San Francisco, so it's closure was very disappointing. But today the 200+ graduates of SFCS are out in the world and crushing it. They will forever appreciate the tutelage and mentorship of the rock star SFCS team led by co-founder Jodi Liano and her professional chef instructors, Kirsten Goldberg, Catherine Pantsios and Nicole Plue.