Danielle Carlisle established the school in 1977 to train chefs using the European education model.
These suits cited data tending to provide substantial support for the allegation that CCA led students to believe they would be chefs after graduation when, the complaint alleges, graduates start in entry-level jobs available to those without culinary degrees, making culinary school an economically irrational purchase.
[5] In 2012, while the class settlement was pending, new questions of more recent placement rate wrongdoing were raised by the school's own accreditors.
[6] The school restaurant has been closed and 25% of the faculty has been laid off effective December 31, 2012 due to drastically declining enrollment.
The final main campus was in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of the city at 350 Rhode Island Street.
The facilities included professional kitchens, student-staffed restaurants, lecture classrooms, a library, and a culinary laboratory.