Our View: Plan to produce cooks has right ingredients

The concept of developing a culinary institute on Hilton Head Island is being approached in the right way and for the right reasons by the Technical College of the Lowcountry.

It is not proposing something that may or may not be needed. It is addressing a proven, urgent need for trained, skilled line cooks and sous chefs.

Currently, island resorts hire hundreds of foreign interns to help each summer.

TCL does not currently have the facilities or staff to support the demand for training. But it plans to start small and take advantage of services the private sector can provide.

It plans to start a pilot program this offseason to put 16 students through a four-month culinary course with chefs at island restaurants. The experience will be practical, and the curriculum will be approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Sysco, the food purveyor to professionals, has agreed to provide food items, textbooks and kitchen uniforms.

Sonesta and Sea Pines resorts have offered the use of their kitchens and the help of their chefs.

The goal is to one day be able to produce 100 cooks per year. The challenge will be to find that many willing to enroll.

TCL president Richard Gough said the pilot program is "a short-term Band-Aid that we will have in place this fall, but the longer vision is to build a first-class culinary arts facility on or near the island to support the needs of the culinary community."

We like to see the communication with the private sector. We like to see the school taking the bottom-up approach of addressing proven needs on the street. And it is refreshing to see a fast, practical solution rather than the typical plan to start with a multimillion-dollar building.

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Our View: Plan to produce cooks has right ingredients."