Cooking school puts up at mall
Le Cordon Bleu Dusit will temporarily move to CentralWorld as its partner Dusit International starts renovations on its previous site at the corner of Rama IV and Silom roads.
The French cooking school spent 200 million baht renovating its CentralWorld location, which will occupy floors 17-19. The space will include two additional stateof-the-art kitchens, and expand the school’s capacity from 1,000 to 1,200 students.
“If the school could recoup its investment in three years, it would be wonderful,” said Suchada Sthapitanonda, executive director of Le Cordon Bleu Dusit.
Ms Suchada said the new location is temporary, but will be used for 7-10 years while the 36-billion-baht Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel, developed in collaboration with Central Group, is completed.
The development, which will include a hotel, a residential building, an office building and a shopping mall, will be ready to move in around 2024, according to a previous Bangkok Post report.
As part of their partnership with Dusit International, Le Cordon Bleu received a “friendly rate” on its Dusit-owned location at Sala Daeng intersection.
“I don’t know how friendly the new rate is, but it will be be more expensive, mainly because of the location,” she said.
The school is looking to launch new programmes to offset the cost of renovation and make better use of the new space. The standard curriculum runs for 3-9 months, but the school is emphasising its workshops that run 3-6 hours, which can allow it to tap a broader swath of the population.
Its location at a mall may be an advantage for casual courses, which could take the place of a night out for dinner. The workshops don’t come cheap. A three-hour experience will set costumers back 4,000 baht, and a seven-day course on bread retails for close to 60,000 baht.
As costs rise, the campus is also focusing on attracting more international students.
“We have competitive tuition fees and the cost of living is low. Moreover, Le Cordon Bleu’s Thai cuisine curriculum was developed here,” said Ms Suchada.