French culinary school gears for competition

“Many more cooking schools have opened for the market. They are international brands, local educational institutions, private training centres, tailor home-made training, tourist cooking classes and classes for professionals. These are pushing up the competition,” executive director Suchada Sthapitanonda said yesterday. 

The school has no plan to open more outlets despite having more students on the waiting list, as classrooms and demonstration kitchens are already fully occupied and the availability of professional chefs is limited. 

The school employs six French chefs and four Thais as instructors as well as 30 assistant chefs. 

However, the school could offer online cooking classes for interested people living elsewhere. This model is becoming more popular overseas and would be the first such course in the country. 

With the economic slowdown, the school hopes revenue would grow up to 5 per cent per year over the next five years. That is slower than the 10-15-per-cent pace seen from 2010-14. 

Dusit International, the parent company, also operates Dusit Thani College, which mainly produces undergraduates for the hotel and hospitality job market. The group recently said it would to start up its Dusit Hotel School in the second half of this year.

Since its launch in 2007, Le Cordon Bleu Dusit, a joint venture with France’s Le Cordon Bleu, has already trained more than 6,000 students from 34 countries.

About 30 per cent were foreigners mainly from Singapore, the Philippines, France and the United States. Men made up about 60 per cent. 

“In the culinary business, the trend is that more men are interested in cooking because of their skills and physical strength. This proves that male chefs are getting more popular in the market,” she said.

 

Cheapest branch 

The Dusit branch is one of the cheapest among the 57 Le Cordon Bleus worldwide. In Thailand, the school puts on three mainstream courses – classic cycle, bakery and Thai cuisine – plus short courses based on market demand. 

Prices are Bt180,000-Bt1 million for the three-to-nine month main courses and Bt7,000-Bt25,000 for short courses. 

In this region, Le Cordon Bleu is planning to enter the Philippines and Indonesia, after establishing itself in Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia.

Some international cooking schools have set up in Thailand, including Vatel of France. Alain Ducasse has reached the Philippines. 

However, several foreign schools such as Bocuse d’Or of France, the Culinary Institute of America and Johnson & Wales from the US have cancelled plans to enter Thailand because of the severe rivalry and economic problems here.