KCC’s Culinary Institute Of The Pacific Is Growing

On Sept. 1, 2004, the University of Hawaii was awarded a 65-year lease for the Cannon Club on the slopes of Diamond Head. The 7.878-acre property had been vacant, its buildings abandoned, since the Army closed it in 1997. It was a neglected site, overgrown with weeds and piled with trash.

Nearly 20 years later, and this site has been transformed into a bustling learning center for students enrolled at nearby Kapiolani Community College and other members of Hawaii’s culinary community.

This is the Culinary Institute of the Pacific, a well-designed facility with the goal of growing and elevating the state’s culinary industry that go beyond just by graduating more students from KCC with degrees in culinary arts and food service management.

Construction started in 2015 and, by next year, the entire project — two phases total — will be completed. Already, the site boasts two spacious culinary labs, each with eight stations outfitted with restaurant-grade gas ranges, ovens, broilers and other kitchen equipment, and rigged with closed-circuit TV screens. 

There are about 150 students currently enrolled in KCC’s culinary program, a number that has remained steady since the pandemic. (Enrollment had hit an all-time high in 2009, with over 300 students.)

The second phase, which will include a full-fledged restaurant, state-of-the-art auditorium and a food innovation center for students, is slated to be completed by 2025.

On Thursday, CIP launched a new program in partnership with the prestigious Culinary Institute of America that focuses on workforce and professional development. Starting in September, the program will offer weeklong intensive workshops for culinary professionals, taught by CIA instructors. The idea is the collaboration with the world’s premiere culinary college will elevate CIP and attract more people, whether as culinary arts students or current professionals looking for ways to improve and learn.

“I want to see this campus, in this iconic location, to be a world-class center for culinary excellence,” says James Beard award-winning chef Roy Yamaguchi, a CIA alum and new CIP executive director. “That’s what we need.”

It’s no secret that Hawaii restaurants need trained and dedicated workers. According to data from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, Hawaii’s labor force is still 3% to 4% below pre-pandemic levels, and restaurants have cut back hours or closed altogether because of staffing shortages. 

And fewer people now are eager to work in notoriously laborious restaurant kitchens — or anywhere in person at all anymore.

These are new problems, ones that bloomed after the pandemic. When the first phase of construction on CIP was completed in 2017, the state was two years from hitting a record 10 million visitors in a single year. In 2023, Hawaii had 9.6 million visitors, a 4% increase from 2022 but a 7% decrease from 2019. The drop in visitors has negatively impacted Hawaii restaurants, too.

The new program with CIA is a start to addresses these challenges, Yamaguchi says. Like how lines form outside a popular restaurant, he’s hoping CIP can inspire “lines at the back door,” indicating people wanting to work there, too. 

The new campus will undoubtedly spark interest and even excitement about the culinary field. Just listening to KCC instructor and food scientist Lauren Tamamoto talk about the cool science-based classes she teaches in the lab here — she has a Ph.D. in food science and human nutrition — it’s easy to get inspired. She’s figured out how to make miso out of breadfruit, turn cauliflower into chocolate pudding and is freeze-drying everything. She’s offered a class in pig butchery and plans one in foraging. Even for someone like me, with zero delusions about a kitchen career, these topics are intriguing.

Part of Phase 2 is what Tamamoto calls a “maker space for food,” where students can learn to bottle sauces, test products and try new things. It’s an inspiring place, and Tamamoto says it’s more important to create a safe space for students to experiment and learn. 

“I tell them it’s OK to mess up,” she says. “It’s really about exposing students.”

CIP is betting on a roster of interesting classes taught by a smart and enthusiastic instructor, a collaboration with CIA on programs for working professionals, a full-service restaurant with stunning views of Waikiki and a James Beard award-winning chef at the helm to lure people to culinary and hospitality careers.

And it just might work.

“It’s just like cooking,” Yamaguchi says. “All these different ideas come together to make something great. That’s what makes (CIP) so unique at the end of the day.”