Food for thought: what's cooking at Johnson & Wales University teaches students and adds zest to Charlotte's financial district.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: PICTURE THIS

Late in the afternoon, along West Trade Street just a few blocks from the heart of Charlotte's financial district, there rises a sweet aroma. It's the smell of success, though not the financial kind. It is of croissant and tart, yeast roll and pie. Dressed in white, just beyond the plate glass and close enough to touch from the sidewalk outside, students of one of North Carolina's newest institutions of higher education busy themselves in their classroom, amid stainless steel and clanking utensils.

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In four years, Johnson & Wales University's Charlotte campus has risen like a souffle, buoyed by a booming industry and raised expectations of foodies willing to make superstars of those whose fare appeals to their palates. Not for nothing have Wolfgang Puck and Emeril Lagasse become household names. "The hospitality industry and food service have been around as long as the human race," says Art Gallagher, president of the school. "But in the last 15 years or so, the electronic media has had a tremendous impact on them."

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Johnson & Wales came here in 2004, consolidating its Norfolk, Va., and Charleston, S.C., schools in an urban setting anchored by a 300,000-square-foot, five-story academic building and 750-resident dorm. "We look slick and modern, but truly we're a working-class institution," Gallagher says. About 80% of the 2,550 students enrolled are the first in their families to attend college. Half are from North Carolina. Founded in 1914 in Providence, R.I., Johnson & Wales also has campuses there and in Denver and North Miami.

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