CALIFORNIA FOCUS / The Gourmandise School of Sweets & Savories Announces Expansion in March at S

The Gourmandise School of Sweets & Savories announced expansion plans for a new, larger location at Santa Monica Place. Set to open late March 2018, the new state-of-the-art cooking school will be more than twice the size of the current location and offer an elevated culinary experience for food enthusiasts and chefs of all ages and skill levels.

The new location will be directly across from the recently announced Zimmer Children’s Museum, and neighbor to ArcLight Cinemas and the recently expanded The Curious Palate, which also outgrew its original Santa Monica Place location and opened a larger, enhanced restaurant earlier in 2017.

The new home of The Gourmandise School will offer three kitchens, including two classroom kitchens and a third demo kitchen, to accommodate more students, expanded class offerings, and larger scale culinary events. The location will be fully outfitted with countertop and major appliances courtesy of KitchenAid and will include a new, extensive retail area, offering goods and ingredients from local, sustainable purveyors. An exposed glass store front window will give those passing by an opportunity to observe the hands-on cooking classes and live demonstrations.

"Our vision is to continue to offer hands-on cooking and baking classes, teaching people great techniques using the best seasonal and locally sourced ingredients", commented Co-Owner, Co-Founder and Pastry Chef, Clémence Gossett. “The new expanded space will allow us to offer these classes and workshops to more students through more classes from our pool of 17 well-loved and respected chefs"

The Gourmandise School has quickly become LA's most revered culinary education, offering highly specialized courses such as bean-to-bar chocolate workshops, cheese-making and cooking classes featuring global cuisines. The growing popularity of the unique classes and high demand for private parties ultimately led to the need for expansion. The new location will bring an additional layer of cultural programming and culinary adventure to the community of Santa Monica as well as further enhance the customer experience at Santa Monica Place.

“It has been exciting to watch the growth of The Gourmandise School over the past few years, and we are thrilled to facilitate the expansion,” said Julia Ladd, Assistant Vice President, Property Management, Santa Monica Place. “The larger location will add new innovative and experiential elements to Santa Monica Place.”

The Gourmandise School of Sweets & Savories class schedule will continue at the current location while the new space is under construction. Grand opening celebrations and expanded class schedules will be announced soon. Visit TheGourmandiseSchool.com for more information.