New England Culinary Institute

[1][2] NECI was founded on June 15, 1980,[3] by Fran Voigt and John Dranow.

[6] The institute ran a number of restaurants in Montpelier, and also provided food service for Vermont College and National Life.

The institution's official statement about the closing stated that "the pandemic proved to be the burden that we could not overcome.

As directed by the State of Vermont we closed all our retail operations in March 2020, which severely limited our ability to continue to deliver a college level, hands on culinary education, on an economically viable basis.

Alumnus Alton Brown, students, faculty and other staff had just celebrated the 40th anniversary of the institution's start.