This is where you begin.
Johnson & Wales University
What’s on the Menu?
For 50+ years, we’ve provided world-renowned culinary education to people who are passionate about food — people just like you. The College of Food Innovation & Technology is a place where culinary education extends far beyond the kitchen.
Every program is interdisciplinary. This approach allows you to investigate the intersection of food with everyday life. Explore topics such as product development and design, safety, sustainability, production, distribution, policy, medicine, business, economics, nutrition, science and more.
Our reputation for excellence has helped some of the world’s greatest chefs start their journey — will you be next?
OUR PROGRAMS
Applied Food Science
(Charlotte Campus only)
Baking & Pastry Arts
Culinary Arts
Culinary Nutrition
Culinary Science & Product Development (Providence Campus only)
Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship
Savory Ambitions
Chefs need to have expertise with professional equipment, scaling recipes, knife skills, food safety and sanitation. You’ll cover all this and more in your first year.
Once you strengthen the basics, your coursework expands to operations and management along with enhanced preparation techniques, nutrition studies and an internship to prepare you for your career.
Along the way, you’ll be guided and mentored by experienced culinary faculty with years of industry experience in fine dining, product development, sustainable food practices and more.
SAMPLE COURSES
CUL2810 Global à la Carte
Explore different flavor profiles, cultures, and cuisines to develop globally influenced à la carte menus.
CUL2510 Contemporary Restaurant Operations and Management
Practice front-of-the-house operations and professional dining, beverage service, and supervisory skills in learning labs that double as fully functional restaurants open to the JWU community.
CULN3155 Vegetarian Cuisine
Learn how to prepare nutritionally balanced vegetarian dishes that fit into three classifications: vegan, lacto and lacto-ovo vegetarian diets.
CULINARY
Sweet Dreams
It turns out that all those delicate, beautiful desserts require a lot of science and precision — but you’ll learn it all here when you master ingredient properties and characteristics, the baker’s percentage system, mixing techniques, controlled fermentation, methodologies and more.
You’ll also develop dessert menus, implement cost controls, and even earn certifications, becoming a valuable addition to any professional kitchen.
SAMPLE COURSES
BPA1720 Plated Desserts
Prepare and present individual hot and cold plated desserts by exploring plate design and menu concepts for pre-plated and à la minute service.
BPA1750 Chocolate, Confections & Mignardise
Learn about the cultivation of cacao, chocolate tempering methods and decorative sugar mediums to produce desserts such as handdipped pralines, molded bonbons, truffles and petits fours.
BPA1730 Artisan Bread & Viennoiserie
Explore the skills, techniques and equipment needed to produce artisan bread and viennoiserie through a variety of lean, enriched and laminated yeast dough products.
A Tale of Two Cities
Though you’ll discover many unique qualities about Johnson & Wales, one of our most distinct features is that we have two campuses: Charlotte, North Carolina, and Providence, Rhode Island. Each city offers a different vibe, but you can be sure of one thing — they both set the bar high when it comes to food.
Both Charlotte and Providence are cities known for their food scenes, and both of our campuses put you in the center of it all. Just steps from campus are endless opportunities for jobs, internships, industry mentors and inspiration. Many top restaurants in each city are owned or operated by JWU alumni, and they love to hire fellow Wildcats.
See (or taste) for yourself by planning a visit at jwu.edu/visit. Students who visit campus for an in-person tour or admissions event before November 17 of their senior year of high school could be eligible to receive a JWU Visit Grant of up to $5,000 annually, renewable for up to four years while at JWU.
OUR CAMPUSES
Providence, R.I. and Charlotte, N.C.
and proud
Celebrity chef
JWU alum Lorena Garcia ’00, ’14 Hon. worked with JWU students to prepare a menu for the annual Epicurean Scholarship Society Dinner held on campus.
Your Dream Kitchen
Whether you study at our Charlotte or Providence Campus, you’ll have access to industry-standard kitchens and learning labs filled with all the tools you’ll need to make some culinary magic.
Providence
Our 82,000-square-foot Cuisinart Center for Culinary Excellence (CCCE) features a variety of culinary and baking kitchens, beverage labs, dining rooms and more. Or you can learn to research and design commercial food products from scratch in our Food Innovation Design Lab (FIDL).
Charlotte
In our 158,000-square-foot Academic Center, you’ll have access to dozens of culinary and baking kitchens such as the Emeril Lagasse Kitchen, which is dedicated to world-renowned chef and esteemed JWU alumni Emeril Lagasse. Dining rooms and beverage labs are also housed in this building.
Explore the CCCE
Explore the FIDL
Explore the Emeril Lagasse Kitchen
Go Beyond the Kitchen
We set ourselves apart from other culinary schools in many ways — all so we can help students set themselves apart when they head into the world.
A Comprehensive, Well-Rounded Education
A culinary education is unique to other paths, but it should still be filled with opportunities to explore different topics, make new friends, join clubs and organizations, play sports and network with industry professionals. We believe going beyond the kitchen will make you a better chef in it.
An Emphasis on Sustainable Practices
Our students learn how to source, prepare and cook food responsibly and sustainably. They also get to experience local food systems firsthand and discover how they can play a part in protecting and improving them.
A Powerful Alumni Network
Before you graduate, tap into our incredible network of alumni for career advice and opportunities. These successful alums enjoy the chance to usher in the next generation of JWU chefs and help them acclimate to the industry. “The networking aspect that you develop at JWU never really ends,” says Luke Mersfelder ’16, the chef de cuisine at acclaimed Rhode Island restaurant Bywater. “My JWU education set the foundation for understanding how much this industry is dependent on everyone working together.”
Our alums have opened successful restaurants and bakeries, founded businesses and companies, served as head chefs for professional sports teams and even become television sensations. We’ve had 100+ alums appear on a variety of culinary and baking competition shows, such as:
• Top Chef
• Hell’s Kitchen
• Chopped
• Beat Bobby Flay
• The Great Food Truck Race
• Guy’s Grocery Games
• Sugar Rush
Time to Apply, Chef
Future Food Scholarship Program
Each year, JWU’s College of Food Innovation & Technology (CFIT) hosts the Future Food Scholarship Program for applicants in culinary, baking & pastry and other foodrelated majors, and you’re invited to apply.
Finalists will be invited to campus to showcase their recipe in person for top scholarship consideration, up to full tuition for all four years of study!
Admissions Application Components
• Common Application OR JWU Application
• High school transcript(s)
• Essay (optional but encouraged)
• Standardized test scores (optional and totally up to you)
Application Deadlines
• Nonbinding Early Action 1: November 17
• Nonbinding Early Action 2: January 15
• Regular (Rolling): July 15
“I hope one day to be a household name, so I think that Johnson & Wales is the perfect fit for me. Seeing all the JWU alumni who have graduated from the university is inspiring, and I want to be like them.”
Gabby Smith ’28 Winner of the 2024
Future Food
Scholarship