State research predicts more than 21,000 tourism and hospitality job opportunities will open up annually over the next five years.
Stakeholders in this flourishing field include everyone from students at a culinary arts kitchen to employees at a visitors center working to attract tourists to the Mountain State.
Students at Huntington’s Mountwest Community and Technical College’s Center for Culinary Arts were recently working on a proper flambé. Hospitality Management and Culinary Program Director Chef Lawerence Perry said the fully equipped kitchens here are working labs that teach students to prepare dishes at restaurant venues of all sorts.
“Whenever a student has completed their time here at Mountwest, they are basically plug and play because they’ve been able to use all that equipment that they will find in commercial restaurants,” Perry said.
First year culinary arts student Erin Hall said she came to Mountwest after reading online about the career possibilities for program graduates.
“I’m actually going to a program out in Wyoming this summer where the executive chef graduated from this program,” Hall said, “So I just saw where it could take me.”
Boone County culinary arts student Cassie Hawks graduates in May. As a high schooler, Hawks interned at the Greenbrier as part of the culinary arts WV ProStart program. Through Mountwest, she’ll go back to the Greenbrier in a few weeks, hopefully to begin her career as a West Virginia chef.
“I would like to stay working in West Virginia,” Hawks said. “I unfortunately feel like some West Virginians don’t know what high class food is, and I would like to bring that to them. But I would also like to keep it Appalachian, you know, down home cooking, but at a level that they’ve never seen before.”
Chef Perry said his students can go wherever their passions take them, but are encouraged to make menu choices come alive in the Mountain state.
“We have so many opportunities across the state,” Perry said. “We have state parks, we have hotels, there’s resorts. There are a lot of places that are needing qualified educated people that can be plugged right into existing positions.”
Nestled between a locomotive from the time of railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington and a former bank building that was maybe robbed by Jesse James, the Huntington Convention and Visitors Bureau works to put visitors into local restaurant seats. CVB Director Tyson Compton said his job is all about economic development.
“To let people know what you have to offer,” Compton said. “As far as restaurants, attractions, meeting space, then draw them into your community so that they will hopefully stay all night and then spend money in the community while they’re there.”
House Bill 2009 will abolish the Department of Arts, Culture and History – which West Virginia Public Broadcasting is a part of – and move all functions to the Department of Tourism. The bill passed the House and on March 12, went to the Senate’s Government Organization Committee. A philosophy among many in the West Virginia tourism and hospitality industries is to show the senators and delegates making decisions on funding that they will get a return on their investment. That includes Chef Perry and CVB Director Compton.
“I think the legislature really is focused on making sure that the return on investment in culinary arts and in the hospitality management program can really do its job,” Perry said. “To do that, they need to have qualified individuals. There needs to be money set aside for training and development, even for local industries that may not be looking for a certified, degreed individual can still benefit from one of our skill sets that we offer.”
“I think our legislators understand that in recent years there is a big return on that investment,” Compton added. “For every dollar the state spends on advertising that can come back as four to six dollars being spent in your community.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey says that tourism is a major economic driver. He said merging Arts, Culture and History with Tourism will increase efficiency.
And, that flambé became a mushroom and crostini dish that would punctuate just about any West Virginia palate, including ours.