TCTC Culinary Arts Academy Addition and Renovations

Located at the Trumbull Career & Technical Center in Champion Township near Warren, Ohio, the TCTC Culinary Arts Academy renovation and expansion, designed by Phillips Sekanick Architects, transformed an outdated culinary facility into a contemporary teaching kitchen, restaurant, and hands-on career-technical learning environment. The project replaced a kitchen and equipment dating largely to the school’s original 1978 construction, creating a modern facility designed around current food-service operations, culinary instruction, and hospitality education.

Phillips Sekanick Architects reorganized and expanded the culinary program to bring instruction, food preparation, restaurant operations, and hospitality training together in a more efficient environment. The completed facility includes a significantly larger commercial teaching kitchen, multiple student workstations, a modernized dining area, and collaborative instructional space. By incorporating adjacent space into the program, previously separated activities were consolidated into one coordinated culinary center. Upon completion, TCTC reported that the new kitchen was approximately twice the size of the original facility.

The renovation supports one of TCTC’s most popular career-technical programs. Culinary Arts Academy Supervisor Melissa Starkey emphasized the need for a “modernized, state-of-the-art kitchen,” while Superintendent Jason Gray called Culinary Arts one of TCTC’s “shining stars.” The expanded facility was designed to support increased enrollment and provide students with industry-relevant spaces similar to professional food-service environments.

Students now use the facility to operate Cafe 528 Restaurant & Bakery, gaining practical experience in front- and back-of-house restaurant operations. The program provides instruction in cooking and baking, sanitation, restaurant management, menu planning, catering, banquet and event planning, dining-room service, and hospitality.

The TCTC Culinary Arts Academy demonstrates Phillips Sekanick Architects’ experience in educational architecture, career-technical facilities, culinary and commercial kitchen design, restaurant and food-service architecture, renovation, and specialized learning environments. The project gives students a professional-quality setting for hands-on learning while supporting TCTC’s continued investment in workforce and career education.