Culinary arts graduate gets cooking in Newport

Certificate program trains grads for food industry jobs

The spacious banquet kitchen at the historic Hotel Viking in Newport is designed for hard work. Executive Banquet Chef Michael Macioci estimates that his area generates several million dollars annually in food revenues from conferences and conventions booked at the stately building on Bellevue Avenue.

Macioci also estimates that his latest hire, Banquet Cook Jared Pernini of Manville, will prove an invaluable asset to his kitchen. Why? Because Macioci is also an instructor in the CCRI Culinary Arts Assistant Certificate Program — a program from which Pernini recently graduated.

"The CCRI program gives people with the desire real opportunities to become professionals in the food services industry," Macioci says of an 80-hour internship at Capriccio's restaurant in Providence.

Of his comprehensive training, Pernini says, "I was surprised at the amount of thought that went into menus and into the planning and ordering of food." He also adds that the classroom lectures — including guest speakers from area restaurants — really gave him a sense of the food service industry's enormous breadth.

"The program gave me the extra confidence in the kitchen that I need to work in a restaurant," he says.

For more information on the Culinary Arts Assistant Certificate Program, now available in Newport and Lincoln, contact the Division of Lifelong Learning at 825-2320.