Rick Erwin Dining Group Establishes Greenville Tech Scholarship Fund
August 18, 2011
GREENVILLE, SC – August 18, 2011 – The Rick Erwin Dining Group has established a scholarship fund for culinary studies at Greenville Technical College. Plans call for the group, owners of Rick Erwin’s West End Grille and Nantucket Seafood Grill, to help create the culinary workforce through this program.
The company will contribute $6,000 annually, with a portion of the funds establishing an ongoing scholarship fund and the remainder providing one $500 scholarship each semester for a student in the Culinary Institute of the Carolinas at Greenville Tech.
“When an industry leader like the Rick Erwin Dining Group steps in to assist our efforts to grow a well qualified workforce, that’s a win for everyone,” says Dr. Keith Miller, president of Greenville Tech. “We appreciate the generosity that is providing a foundation for this partnership.”
At Greenville Tech’s Culinary Institute of the Carolinas, chef instructors offer a caliber of education once available only by traveling to Charlotte or New York. Programs include an associate degree concentrating on baking and pastry arts or culinary arts. Certificates are available in baking and pastry arts, catering, culinary education, hospitality management, and sales/catering and events management. In addition, a transfer agreement with University of South Carolina gives students the opportunity to complete two years at Greenville Tech before earning a bachelor’s degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management.
These programs qualify graduates for positions as sous chefs, pastry chefs, personal chefs, catering directors, hotel or restaurant managers, or certified culinarians earning strong salaries. Healthy job growth is expected for the restaurant industry in South Carolina, with a 23.9 percent increase in jobs or 26,600 positions by 2017.
Since its opening on May 11, 2005 in the heart of downtown Greenville, Rick Erwin’s has consistently garnered awards for excellence, including being named among the Top 50 Restaurants by Open Table—a distinction bestowed upon only two restaurants in the entire state.
