Beer City needs beer employees — and who better to provide high quality education and training for our metropolis’s brewing and food operations than Grand Rapids Community College and the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education?
The Craft Brewing, Packaging and Service Operations Certificate is the school’s response to the industry’s growing hiring needs that go beyond solely understanding the brewing process and includes mastering the entire brewery operation that is needed to run a successful business.
The certificate program includes fieldwork experiences and an internship at a brewery or brewing-related operation. Course topics include brewing, fermentation principles, packaging, labeling, merchandising, marketing and operations management — including laws and tax regulations.
Amy Koning, Associate Dean of Operations, says industry partners, including many of the largest brewers in the city, were the catalysts for the program at a time it became apparent that the rapid growth of the industry and the demands of the job market far exceeded the supply of trained workers. With a highly successful culinary arts program that is routinely named one of the best in the country and established connections with the restaurant industry, GRCC’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education was a logical place to design and offer a program.
The centerpiece of the Craft Brewing, Packaging and Service Operations Certificate is a fully functional brewpub,
The Fountain Hill Brewery, which is operated by students enrolled in the program which began in the summer of 2016. “The brewpub is a lab, just like the Heritage Restaurant,” Koning says, referring to a restaurant run by culinary students. “Students are in class when they are brewing and serving when the brewpub is open.”
The program is two semesters long and includes an internship for completion. Koning says the next cohort is full, with 18 students enrolled. There is currently one full-time instructor and two part-time faculty serving in the program.
The Fountain Hill Brewery is open to the public but has limited hours.
Hours of operation are:
5:30-7:30 p.m. on the following Thursdays/Fridays
Fall 2016- September 22-23, 29-30
- October 6-7, 27-28
- November 3-4, 10-11, 17-18
- December 1-2
Winter 2017:- January 19-20, 26-27
- February 2-3, 9-10
- March 16-17, 23-24, 30-31
- April 6, 13-14
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Job News Editor
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