AUSTIN -- Le Cordon Bleu, the vocational school that trains chefs and food-industry professionals, has announced it will shut down its 16 campuses across the U.S.
The school will stop accepting new students on January 4, 2016. Then will begin a gradual process of closing the schools. One of the school's campuses is located in Austin.
Students currently enrolled who are in good academic standing will be allowed to finish their classes. All Le Cordon Bleu campuses are projected to remain open until September 2017, according to a company statement.
"It's a shame it's shutting down," said Kevin Binkley, the James Beard Award-nominated chef who graduated from the school in Phoenix, in 1995. "It's a tough business, even on the education side."
Binkley said he and other metro Phoenix restaurateurs will feel the impact from the closing since they employ graduates in their kitchens. Managers look to hire culinary graduates because their education gives them a "step up," he said.
Overseas Le Cordon Bleu schools, including the Paris campus where Julia Child studied, are not affected and will remain open.
Career Education Corporation tried to sell Le Cordon Bleu, but negotiations with a potential buyer ultimately failed.
"Despite our best efforts to find a new caretaker for these well-renowned culinary colleges, we could not reach an agreement that we believe was in the best interests of both our students and our stockholders," Todd Nelson, president and CEO of Career Education, said in a statement.
The statement cited recent federal regulations that limit federal funding to for-profit schools as a factor for closing.
Based on 2012 data, Le Cordon Bleu graduates nationwide reported average annual earnings of about $21,000.
