Culinary Careers Program

What Culinary Careers Program does

Culinary Careers Program (C•CAP) is a U.S. national nonprofit workforce development organization founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York City. It provides culinary education, career development, scholarships, mentorship, and job placement support to underserved students seeking pathways into the food and hospitality industry, serving over 25,000 students annually and roughly 400,000 students cumulatively, with $76 million in scholarships awarded over its history. Programs are delivered free of charge to students through direct partnerships with schools and training facilities across the United States, and the organization supplements program delivery with a flagship annual National Benefit event in New York City that honors culinary professionals and serves as its primary fundraising vehicle. The organization is led by founder and Chairman Richard Grausman, Chief Business Officer Jennifer Solomon, and Executive Director Christina Grdovic (appointed January 2026), with the new ED bringing prior executive experience from Wonder, Food & Wine, and Goldbelly.

C•CAP is funded entirely through charitable contributions and event-driven fundraising; it does not charge students for services and has no disclosed earned-income or productized offerings. The go-to-market model is event-centric: a single annual gala anchors donor engagement and press coverage (distributed via PRNewswire), supplemented by direct program delivery to student populations nationwide. There is no disclosed technology platform, no apps or APIs, no proprietary AI or data assets, and no funded R&D footprint — the operating model is human-capital-intensive (11–50 employees) rather than technology-led. Leadership's stated strategic priority under the new ED is to expand culinary education and career development programs nationwide, signaling an emphasis on programmatic scaling and donor base broadening rather than product or technology expansion.

Name

Culinary Careers Program

Legal name

Culinary Careers Program

Website

https://culinarycareers.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Culinary Careers Program (C•CAP) is a U.S. national nonprofit founded in 1990 that provides culinary education, scholarships, mentorship, and career placement free of charge to underserved students seeking food and hospitality careers, serving 25,000+ students annually.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Workforce Development & Vocational Education

NAICS

Technical and Trade Schools (61151), Other Technical and Trade Schools (611519)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Professional Culinary Arts (Chef Training) (EDAOAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Institutional & Commercial Kitchen Training (Schools/Healthcare/Corporate) (EDAOAKAL)

Keywords

• Culinary education
• Workforce development
• Youth career training
• Culinary scholarships
• Nonprofit mentorship

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: As a nonprofit workforce development organization, C•CAP generates revenue primarily through charitable donations and fundraising events. The annual National Benefit event in New York City serves as a key fundraising vehicle.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Culinary Careers Program (C•CAP) is a national nonprofit that delivers culinary arts education, life skills development, and career pathway support to underserved teens across the United States. The organization provides free training, scholarships, mentorship, and job placement assistance to help students enter the food and hospitality workforce.

Product overview

Culinary Careers Program (C•CAP) is a national nonprofit workforce development organization focused on food and hospitality. The organization provides culinary education and career opportunities to underserved students across the United States, serving over 25,000 students annually. C•CAP has supported nearly 400,000 students and awarded $76 million in scholarships through its programs. The sources do not describe specific named product offerings or modules.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Culinary Education Program
• Scholarship Program
• Mentorship & Career Placement Program

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Chef Chintan PandyaminorOthersChef Chintan Pandya is being honored at the 2026 National Benefit event for his mentorship efforts and support of C•CAP's mission to provide culinary education to underserved students.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Others

• Year Up: Year Up is a large nonprofit providing workforce training and career placement for low-income young adults. It is comparable to C•CAP on the youth-workforce-development model and beneficiary profile, but operates in tech and business rather than culinary.
• Per Scholas: Per Scholas is a nonprofit providing tuition-free tech training to underserved adults. It shares C•CAP's free-to-student, workforce-development-for-underserved-populations model, although its training domain is technology rather than culinary.

Direct peers

• Institute of Culinary Education: ICE is one of the largest U.S. culinary schools offering career-focused training in culinary arts and pastry/baking. It is directly comparable to C•CAP in the culinary-training category, though ICE is a for-profit institution serving tuition-paying students rather than underserved teens.
• Culinary Institute of America: The CIA is the most prominent U.S. institution for professional culinary education, offering degree and certificate programs. It competes in the same culinary-career-training category as C•CAP, serving a different (tuition-paying) student segment.
• Johnson & Wales University College of Culinary Arts: JWU's College of Culinary Arts offers degree-granting culinary and food-service programs. It is comparable to C•CAP in the culinary-workforce development category, although J&W is a four-year university serving tuition-paying students.
• Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts: Escoffier is a national for-profit culinary school offering diploma and degree programs. It competes in the same career-focused culinary education category as C•CAP, primarily serving tuition-paying adult learners.
• DC Central Kitchen: DC Central Kitchen is a nonprofit that provides culinary job-training to adults facing barriers to employment — closely aligned with C•CAP's mission of using culinary education as a workforce pathway for underserved populations.
• Hot Bread Kitchen: Hot Bread Kitchen is a nonprofit providing culinary training and workforce development for immigrants and women from underserved communities. It shares C•CAP's model of using food/culinary skills as a route to economic mobility.

Emerging players

• Restaurant Opportunities Centers United: ROC United is a nonprofit focused on improving wages and working conditions in the restaurant industry and offers some workforce-development programming. It overlaps with C•CAP on the workforce-development-for-underserved dimension but is more advocacy-oriented.

Broad incumbents

• National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation: NRAEF is the philanthropic arm of the U.S. restaurant industry, providing scholarships, workforce development, and education across the food-service sector. It is broadly comparable to C•CAP on industry-funded culinary workforce development, though at much larger scale and from an industry-association base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ccapinc
• Facebookfacebook.com/CCAPinc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/careers-through-culinary-arts-program

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Culinary Careers Program