Solutions from Ukraine: Ukrainian chef to establish modern culinary school in Kyiv

Chef Yevhen Klopotenko is embarking on a project to establish a modern culinary school in Kyiv, leveraging the support of partners and utilizing the resources of an existing professional technical institution.

Yevhen Klopotenko reported this.

What is the solution?

Klopotenko aims to create a culinary school in Ukraine that is comparable to Le Cordon Bleu, the premier culinary academy in France and renowned worldwide.

"We will unite the best experts in the industry to jointly modernize one of the educational institutions in Kyiv, turning it into a model of professional education in the hospitality field at the Le Cordon Bleu level," he wrote.

He already held negotiations to implement this idea in 2019-2020, but the project failed to materialize.

How does it work?

Klopotenko and Mayor Vitalii Klychko signed a memorandum on the modernization of one of the educational institutions in Kyiv. The project is being implemented with the participation of partners:

• Swiss Embassy in Ukraine,
• UMAEF.

Klopotenko emphasizes that the initiative goes beyond just setting up an educational space. It also involves developing a modern curriculum, providing educational materials, and offering practical training for future hospitality professionals, including chefs, bakers, and masters of restaurant and hotel services.

"There are already many good culinary vocational schools in Ukraine, but I want to create one, an example of which I saw in Paris at one of the leading vocational schools in the world.

Here, along with the best world practices, we will also teach Ukrainian gastronomy with our terminology and techniques and talk about specifically Ukrainian products and dishes," he noted.

Yevhen Klopotenko added:

"And who knows, maybe the time will come when the winners of "MasterChef" from different countries will come to Kyiv to study at the best vocational school in the world. I believe in it because people make dreams come true!"

For reference:

In 2020, Klopotenko was appointed as one of the ambassadors for vocational education reform. This role involves modernizing cook training methods, establishing a new professional standard, and enhancing teacher qualifications.

In October 2024, the government allocated 2 billion hryvnias to organize free hot meals for primary schools. As of the end of November, 93% of educational institutions had used the subvention funds and introduced free meals for students in grades 1–4.

Free meals for primary school students will continue in 2025.

As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers [Ukraine's government – ed.] continued funding the project to reform vocational, technical, and professional pre-higher education, "100 Workshops." UAH 540 million has been allocated for the current year.

The "100 Workshops" initiative was launched in the spring of 2024.

In addition, during the meeting on October 25, the government adopted decisions to develop the education sector. This year, the government plans to upgrade 100 training and practical centers in vocational education institutions completely.

Moreover, the first culinary hub for training chefs and retraining personnel for educational institutions was opened in the Mykolaiv region, based on a vocational college.