Goldring Center For Culinary Medicine

What Goldring Center For Culinary Medicine does

The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine (GCCM) is a non-profit academic unit within Tulane University School of Medicine, founded in 2012 as the first teaching kitchen operated within a medical school. Its core function is to deliver evidence-based culinary medicine education through hands-on cooking classes that bridge nutrition science and practical cooking skills, targeting three primary user groups: Tulane medical students (electives, fourth-year rotations, and dietetic intern programs), licensed healthcare professionals (CME courses), and the New Orleans community (free 6-week cooking class series). The flagship deliverable is an interdisciplinary curriculum combining chef, dietitian, and physician instruction, supplemented by a digital recipe library and condition-specific educational handouts (diabetes, PKU, heart health) hosted on a Moodle-based online platform.

The business model is hybrid and primarily non-commercial: community classes are free to public participants, undergraduate and elective medical training is funded through Tulane University, and continuing medical education is offered at $200 per session with 3-4 hours of CME credit. Supplemental revenue comes from private fee-based classes for corporate events, birthday parties, and team-building (in-person up to 20 guests or virtual via Zoom), and from government grants such as the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program supporting the Fresh & Local Market Match program. The center operates from a single physical teaching kitchen within The ReFresh Project, a 60,000-square-foot community health hub in Midcity, New Orleans, co-located with nine partner organizations including Crescent City Farmers Market, SPROUT NOLA, and Liberty's Kitchen. Strategic partnerships extend the program's reach to Son of a Saint (youth mentorship), Tulane University Center for Brain Health (veterans with TBI), and Johnson & Wales University (fourth-year away rotations).

Name

Goldring Center For Culinary Medicine

Legal name

Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University

Website

https://goldringcenter.tulane.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine is a Tulane University School of Medicine teaching kitchen program that delivers evidence-based culinary medicine training to medical students, licensed healthcare professionals (via CME), and New Orleans community members through free hands-on cooking classes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical Education / Culinary Medicine

akta.pro primary industry

Medical Schools (MD/DO Granting) (EDAHAGAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Healthcare Clinical Professions (CME/CE for Nurses, Allied Health, Pharmacy) (EDAAALAC), Culinary Arts & Cooking (Baking, Pastry, Global Cuisines) (EDAAAGAG), Nutrition, Special Diets & Wellness Cooking (EDAOAKAJ), Cooking Classes & Chef-Led Workshops (THAJAGAI)

Keywords

• Culinary medicine
• Medical education
• Cooking classes
• Community health
• Nutrition training

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Grants: Grant funding from Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program supporting Fresh & Local Market Match program, which provides cooking classes to SNAP shoppers while supporting local farmers.
2. Continuing Medical Education (CME) Fees: CME courses offered at $200 per session for physicians, physician assistants, registered dietitians, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, nurses, and certified diabetes educators. Classes provide 3-4 hours of CME credit.
3. Private Class Fees: Fee-based private cooking classes for corporate team-building, birthday parties, bridal/baby showers, and other events. Offered both in-person (up to 20 guests) and virtually via Zoom.
4. University Funding: Operational funding through Tulane University School of Medicine as part of the academic institution's medical education mission.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine operates a teaching kitchen that delivers culinary-medicine education through hands-on cooking classes for medical students, practicing healthcare professionals, corporate or private groups, and the general public. It combines clinical nutrition concepts with practical cooking instruction, charging fees for CME and private classes while offering free community cooking classes.

Product overview

The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine (GCCM) is the first teaching kitchen operated within a medical school, founded in 2012 as part of Tulane University's School of Medicine. The organization offers a comprehensive portfolio of culinary medicine programs including free community cooking classes, medical student electives, fourth-year rotations, continuing medical education (CME) classes for healthcare professionals, and private event classes. Digital resources include an extensive recipe database organized by category (beverages, breakfast, entrees, salads, snacks, desserts, etc.) and educational handouts covering cooking techniques, nutrition principles, and disease-specific guidance. GCCM also maintains community partnerships including programs with Son of a Saint, Tulane Center for Brain Health, and Fresh & Local Market Match. Student engagement is supported through the Culinary Medicine Society leadership board.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Cooking Classes Free hands-on cooking classes open to New Orleans community members that teach practical nutrition and culinary skills for healthier everyday eating.
• Medical Student Culinary Medicine Electives Curriculum-integrated elective coursework for Tulane medical students combining clinical nutrition science with hands-on cooking instruction.
• CME Classes for Healthcare Professionals Continuing Medical Education sessions priced at $200 each that teach healthcare professionals culinary-medicine concepts to apply in clinical practice.
• Private Cooking Classes Private, paid cooking classes available for groups, corporate events, or special occasions at the teaching-kitchen facility.

Quantifiable outcome

• First dedicated teaching kitchen implemented at a medical school
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The ReFresh ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Goldring Center is strategically located within The ReFresh Project, a Community Health Hub in Midcity, New Orleans. The 60,000 square foot building, restored from an abandoned grocery store post-Katrina, houses nine organizations working to achieve health equity. The ReFresh Project was established to help address health disparities in the surrounding neighborhoods.
• Crescent City Farmers MarketcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGCCM partners with Crescent City Farmers Market for the Fresh & Local Market Match program. This program, funded by the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program grant, provides free hands-on cooking classes highlighting local and seasonal produce to SNAP shoppers, while supporting local farmers through dollar-for-dollar matching for fruit and vegetable purchases.
• SPROUT NOLAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity garden partner. GCCM classes sometimes include visits to SPROUT NOLA's community garden as part of the programming, particularly for kids cooking classes.
• Son of a SaintcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGCCM has partnered with Son of a Saint since 2022, teaching young men, their mentors, and caregivers cooking skills and nutrition education during 2-hour hands-on cooking classes at the Goldring Center teaching kitchen.
• Tulane University Center for Brain HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGCCM provides nutrition education and hands-on cooking experience for veterans with traumatic brain injury as part of the 3-week Intensive Outpatient Program. The program explains how diet and lifestyle play a role in improving brain health.
• Johnson & Wales UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGCCM offers Tulane fourth-year medical students a month-long away rotation at Johnson & Wales University's culinary school in Providence, RI. Students participate in hands-on culinary labs, culinary nutrition classes, and academics related to Medical Nutrition Therapy.
• Liberty's KitchenminorOthersCo-located tenant within The ReFresh Project community health hub. Works with youth and young adults facing barriers to employment in the food service industry.
• FirstLine SchoolsminorOthersCo-located tenant within The ReFresh Project community health hub. Charter school network serving New Orleans students.
• Broad Community ConnectionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization behind The ReFresh Project, working to achieve health equity in surrounding neighborhoods through community-centered programming.
• Alliance for a Healthier GenerationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerProduced and featured GCCM in a video shown at the 2017 Innovation Award ceremony, showcasing the program for medical student training and community nutrition education.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Oldways: Heritage nutrition-education nonprofit promoting Mediterranean and traditional diets; overlaps thematically with GCCM's Mediterranean-diet curriculum and runs parallel CME and consumer programming.

Direct peers

• Stanford Medicine Culinary Medicine Program: Medical-school-affiliated culinary medicine curriculum with clinical nutrition emphasis; serves as a peer institution and competes for recognition, faculty, and grant dollars in the same category.
• UMass Memorial Medical Center Culinary Medicine: Runs an established teaching-kitchen-based culinary medicine program serving medical residents and community members, structurally similar to GCCM and a benchmark for in-hospital integration.
• Health Meets Food: Provides the leading culinary medicine curriculum licensed by numerous U.S. medical schools. Direct competitor and counter-positioning to GCCM's in-house curriculum, and the principal alternative for medical schools adding culinary medicine programs.
• American College of Culinary Medicine: National credentialing body for culinary medicine, runs the culinarymedicine.org Moodle platform that GCCM also uses, and offers the certification pathway GCCM's CME students pursue. Advisory board partner and the closest organizational peer.
• Teaching Kitchen Collaborative: Member organization of teaching-kitchen programs across hospitals, medical schools, and universities. GCCM operates in the same category and would be benchmarked alongside these institutions; collaborative membership drives shared research and standards.
• Boston University Culinary Medicine: Medical-school-based culinary medicine program with hands-on teaching kitchen and nutrition electives; competes for the same medical-student audience and national visibility.

Emerging players

• Cooking Matters (Share Our Strength): National community cooking and nutrition education program serving low-income families; overlaps with GCCM's free community-class mission and competes for the same SNAP-adjacent grant funding pool.
• Wholesome Wave: National nonprofit doubling SNAP benefits at farmers markets and running nutrition incentive programs comparable to GCCM's Fresh & Local Market Match; competes for the same Gus Schumacher-style federal funding.

Others

• Liberty's Kitchen: New Orleans youth culinary training nonprofit co-located inside The ReFresh Project; adjacent mission (workforce + food) and a direct ecosystem partner that GCCM's programming regularly references and coordinates with.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/goldring-center-for-culinary-medicine

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Goldring Center For Culinary Medicine