Disturbing news floating around Montpelier right now.....seems NECI is in the process of trying to rent or get into as many kitchen spaces as possible in downtown. Bad for the local restaurant owners, good for NECI. Questionable for the landlords. Instead of independently owned restaurants, each with it's own character we get 4,5,6 NECI managed sites. Having worked for them for many years I do not think this will benefit the local economy. Still need to put some thought into this but it smacks of corporate dining...........
Snow on the way but not that much...still thinking early spring.
Thanks, Joe for the post. I always appreciate your unique perspective on NECI. As someone who is "actually" in the know about what is happening in NECI,rather than depending upon hearsay and rumor mongering, I would venture to say that having NECI around has actually been good for the dining public in Montpelier. There are certainly a greater variety of restaurants and chefs in the area then there were in Montpelier when I was a student or when you were a chef here at the school.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that if and when NECI chooses to operate more restaurants in the area, our focus will not be on corporate dining but on providing a full complement of dining styles, food philosophies, and operations for our students to experience. Frequently, NECI does get accused of working for it's own good especially by disgruntled students, dissatisfied former and current employees, and even, occasionally, by the general public; however, I think that if your blog readers look at the totality of the impact that NECI students, graduates, staff and former staff (such as yourself) have had on the local community, quality of food,new food services, local farm businesses and bulk food service in Vermont, you might find it to be far more significant than you elude to in your blog entry. If NECI were the scourge of all restaurants in Montpelier, there would be no Sarducci's, Black Door, Phoebe's, Julio's, Coffee Corner, Rhapsody or Kismet. There would be no reason for new restaurants to open like Skinny Pancake or Samosaman; the cafe at the Hunger Mountain Coop would never have renovated to accommodate its dining public. Positive Pie and That's Life Soup would have gone bust a long time ago. Birch Grove Bakery & Cafe, Red Hen Bakery and other bakeries would not succeed here. The reality is that NECI has been helpful in promoting a dining mentality in Montpelier.
Seems to me that there is plenty of room for competition and growth in Montpelier. I can think of multiple places in town that are ripe for opening a business- maybe another soup business like your sideline- would that damage That's Life Soup? I think that you and others might be forgetting that regardless of whether or not NECI opens 4,5, or 6 new restaurants or kitchens, or whether someone else does it, it would hire local workers, benefit all the farms in the area and the food distributors, why even the landlords would benefit. The tax base grows as a result which is probably good for everyone in Montpelier. Empty store fronts would be active and show what a vibrant and thriving community we work or live in.
New England Culinary Institute is a business. Why shouldn't it be allowed to grow if it needs too? Would you be commenting if it were your business that needed to grow or if it were Sarducci's that wanted to open another business?
Thanks though for the insights.
Tom Bivins
New England Culinary Institute, Executive Chef
Well put Tom and all valid points. I agree that competition is healthy and good. That is the purest form of Capitalism. The nuance that I am concerned with is the consolidation factor. Quite frankly I would like to see all the restaurant space in town up and running by individual owners. All the benefits that you mention above would still be obtained and I believe you would have a more stable and vibrant restaurant scene. To use an agricultural analogy it is monocropping versus multicropping in particular where business management practices are concerned. NECI has benefited the Montpelier area over the years and it has also caused it's share of problems as well. Thanks Joe
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