LOS ANGELES, California – The Hospitality Training Academy (HTA) was proud to announce and the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art Culinary Training Facility. To celebrate, HTA hosted Ribbon Cutting and Community Buffet event on May 7, 2019. The HTA is proud to expand the reach of its programs through this new, fully equipped kitchen facility that will allow it to provide the most up-to-date, industry-recognized training to a broader and more diverse population due to its centralized location at the heart of Koreatown.

The celebration also marked the culmination of the HTA’s first Culinary Apprenticeship cohort at this Koreatown facility. The HTA Culinary Apprenticeship is an intensive 7-week training program registered with both the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and State of California Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS). After completing the training, participants will move on to work as apprentices and workers, as Line Cooks, at one of HTA’s 160 union employer-partners including luxury hotels and concessions at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The students prepared a buffet for the celebration to break bread with its 145 elected officials, guests and community partners.

Julie Su, Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, cut the ribbon along with other elected officials, including City of Santa Monica Councilmembers Terry O’Day and Greg Morena and Los Angeles Community College District Board Members Mike Fong and Scott Svonkin. UNITE HERE Local 11 Co-President Kurt Petersen; City of Los Angeles Workforce Development Board (WDB) Executive Director, Gregory Irish; Los Angeles County Workforce Development Aging & Community Services (WDACS) Acting Director, Otto Solorzano; HTA Chair Tom Walsh-Garcia and Executive Director Adine Forman ; and Faith and Community Empowerment (FACE) Executive Director Hyepin Im, were also present to show their support of HTA. These strong partnerships play an integral role in making the HTA’s programs successful.

About the Hospitality Training Academy

The Hospitality Training Academy provides job training and placement services to who are underserved and underrepresented in the hospitality industry, in partnership with UNITE HERE Local 11 and its 160 union employer-partners in order to support them through a path to gainful employment. The HTA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, a Taft-Hartley labor-management partnership, and the recipient of private foundation, and Federal, State, and local grants that allow it to do this work to serve Angelenos with barriers to employment and connect them to good, union jobs.