Chez Boucher Culinary School Opens New Facility In Hampton, New Hampshire

Chez Boucher, a top-tier French culinary school in greater Portsmouth, will launch its Fall 2007 Professional Training Program in a spacious new education facility, conveniently located on Route 1 in Hampton, NH (321 Lafayette Road, Unit 2). Chez Boucher's expanded new teaching facility is designed specifically for hands-on culinary arts education and immersion in classic French techniques.

Space is still available for the school's Fall 2007 six-month Professional Training Program, which begins on Tuesday, September 4th.

The new Chez Boucher facility will offer students the space and resources necessary for active, participatory learning. In addition to featuring an impressive new line of Wolf gas stoves and ovens, Chef Ron Boucher and his team have furnished the new school with ample countertop work stations, seated teaching areas, buffet and dining spaces, and large pantry and refrigerated storage.

The respected New Hampshire school, opened in 2003 by Certified Chef Ron Boucher (CED, AAC), is licensed by the State of New Hampshire and endorsed by the American Culinary Federation (ACF).

Chez Boucher is known as much for its hands-on learning as for its focus on meals prepared from scratch. "At our school, we've adopted the belief behind the 'Slow Food' movement, which has at its core using as many natural, locally grown ingredients as possible," Boucher said. "In our condensed Professional Training Program, we want students to have a firm understanding of the process of cooking from scratch. We want them to know where their food and ingredients actually come from, and how they're grown.

"We also always try to use in our kitchen as much of the food we purchase as possible, and we want that mindset to be adopted by our students," Boucher added. "We think our approach takes us a step further than a lot of culinary schools today, and gives students an advantage in their future culinary careers."

The school's new, larger space was created from the ground up to give students the best possible environment for learning, and to prepare them for work in a busy professional kitchen, according to Boucher. "Entering a professional kitchen for the first time can be intimidating," he said. "Our goal was to create an environment at the school where students can work in realistic settings, and get used to the pace they'll face in professional kitchens when they enter the culinary workforce."

Under the leadership of Boucher and his talented team of instructors, Chez Boucher offers its six-month Professional Training Program to career changers, high school graduates, and anyone else dedicated to a culinary career. The school's program was developed by professional chefs with years of experience in the competitive culinary field; all Chez Boucher classes and practical training components are instructed and monitored by ACF-certified chefs. Students at the school learn everything from French cooking technique and safe food handling, to preparation and production procedures.

The six-month Professional Training Program is a cost- and time-sensitive program which allows students to maintain part-time employment. Participatory classes are taught four days per week, for six hours each day for 16 weeks in the school's kitchen; students then are required to complete eight weeks of practical externship training in the professional environment of partnering area restaurants. In addition, students attend and receive an eight-hour sanitation seminar certificate from the "ServSafe" program. Upon graduation from Chez Boucher, students have earned a Certificate in Professional Training from Chez Boucher, A French Cooking School.

"The time our students spend in a professional restaurant kitchen during their externship weeks gives them 'real world' ex