New England Culinary Institute was created twenty-seven years ago to fill a void in culinary education. The existing model for culinary education at the time simply didn’t emphasize the ethic of daily, intensive real life experience that can only come from the pressure and demands of kitchens and restaurants that are serving the public. NECI’s founders, Fran Voigt and John Dranow, were confident that small class sizes were necessary for skill and content mastery. Since our first graduating class of seven students in 1980, NECI has maintained an instructor/student ratio of 10:1 or less. “Equipment and buildings don’t teach,” says founder Fran Voigt. “People do.”

Since the beginning, NECI has grown from seven to more than 500 students, from one program to eight, and from one restaurant on one campus to multiple food service outlets across two campuses. By combining the European apprenticeship tradition with American academics and entrepreneurship, NECI graduates are well-rounded, articulate, and confident professionals who are changing the culinary landscape now and into the future.