What would the loss of SPSCC’s culinary program mean for Olympia’s food scene?

South Puget Sound Community College’s Culinary Arts and Baking & Pastry Arts programs — among the programs the college is recommending for closure — support not only students and graduates but also the South Sound’s food scene.

Alumni, students, restaurateurs and foodies have had strong reactions to the Feb. 9 announcement. Some are questioning the reasons for closing the programs, and many are hoping to persuade the college to reconsider. The Board of Trustees is set to meet in March or April to make a final decision.

Some instructors also say that students are waiting to begin both programs, although college spokeswoman Kati Sagawa disputes this and says there is no waitlist.

The college’s Percival Restaurant, which serves as a laboratory for students in both programs, was turning diners away last week because it was overbooked and full, according to the college.

“This has been a call to action for a lot of people,” said Jean Whitesel, a culinary arts student who’s been working in the dining room. “We’ve had people come in and say: ‘We’re not going down without a fight.’”

Students have been circulating a petition drafted by the South Sound Federation of Teachers, Local 4603, which can be signed online (https://forms.gle/LUX7T472vRuvWL8c9).

“It breaks my heart,” said Frances Erickson, who’s been a regular at the Percival Room since 2018 and has followed talented graduates to such restaurants as Mi Luna Cuban Café in downtown Olympia, run by 2024 grad Miriam Xiomara Padilla.

“As a foodie, I think this is a program that should never go away,” Erickson said.

The college is facing financial challenges, and did an analysis of the Paralegal, Culinary Arts, and Baking & Pastry Arts programs that “found that most local jobs in these fields do not require formal education credentials and do not give hiring or wage advantages for education,” a news release from the college said earlier this month.

The impact of the proposed closures on the larger restaurant scene was a theme repeated over and over in interviews with chefs and restaurateurs as well as foodies.

Baking & Pastry Arts Professor Melanie Shelton is perhaps the most obvious example of how far the training the college provides can take a graduate.

Shelton graduated from both the culinary and baking programs and went on to become one of Olympia’s best-loved pastry chefs, creating elaborate vegan and gluten-free plated desserts at the Bearded Lady Food Co., which closed in 2015 when she took the job running the Baking & Pastry Arts program.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the programs and what they gave me and the mentorships and connections and skills to go on to open my own business and then to be a professor in the program,” Shelton said.

“Kitchen leadership is a fundamental part of what the culinary program teaches,” said Padilla, who also runs the kids’ culinary program at Bayview School of Cooking. “We don’t just learn about cooking the food and prepping the food but also setting up a kitchen, communicating, problem-solving, creating schedules and budgeting.

“In this industry, people without a culinary background can eventually make their way up to being executive chefs or managing a kitchen, but it takes years,” she said. “Something I could have done in maybe five, six, seven years, I was able to do in two because I went through the program.”

At Mi Luna, sous chef Ivan Flores is also an SPSCC graduate, as is the restaurant’s baker. There’s often an intern from the program in the kitchen, too.

All of the students must complete internships before graduating.

“At the Bearded Lady, we always took interns from the college because they came to us with real-life commercial-kitchen experience,” Shelton said. “It was a great resource, and I know other businesses in the community will be missing those opportunities to have interns and to have graduates work for them.”

Chicory Restaurant, which closed in December, offered internships to several students from the culinary program and at least one from the baking program.

“The majority of the interns wound up working for me,” said Elise Landry, who will soon open Gold Standard with husband Adam Wagner. “They were some of my most valuable employees.”

Her view — like Shelton’s and Padillo’s — is quite different from the conclusions the college reached about whether the culinary and baking programs give students an advantage in finding jobs.

“It’s a challenge to find skilled labor,” Landry said. “SPSCC is teaching a lot of really important fundamental skills that give those students a head start.

“As a business owner downtown, I see a lot of growth and opportunity in Olympia, and that’s continuing to increase,” she added.

Percival Restaurant

What: The restaurant is staffed by culinary students and features desserts made by students in the baking program.

When: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays. The last regular day for winter quarter is March 5. On Thursday, March 12, there’ll be a special Pacific Northwest-inspired buffet featuring crab, salmon and chowder. The restaurant is expected to reopen for spring quarter on April 29.

Where: Student Union (Building 27), South Puget Sound Community College, 2011 Mottman Road SW, Olympia

Reservations: Email percivalrestaurant@spscc.edu; reservations are strongly suggested.

Details: https://spscc.edu/campus-life/food-drink.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify information regarding students waiting to begin programs and the status of Percival Restaurant.

This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 5:15 AM.