New Culinary Institute
New Home to Award-winning Culinary Studies Institute Coming 2025
We have broken ground on a 78,000 square foot addition that will house OCC’s award-winning Culinary Studies Institute. The estimated $74 million, three-story addition housed on our Royal Oak campus will feature three classrooms, two demonstration kitchens and five teaching kitchens providing students with the most up-to-date culinary learning facility in Southeast Michigan.
The new facility will also feature a 2,372 square-foot restaurant on the third floor with a sloping ceiling, large glass windows and 360-degree views of downtown Royal Oak, known for its hospitality, cuisine and vibrant culture. The restaurant will offer the community a new dining option where culinary students will prepare and serve fine-dining recipes as part of their training.
OCC has broken ground on a 78,000 square-foot addition that will house the College’s award-winning Culinary Studies Institute on the college’s Royal Oak campus. Learn more in this video.
Additional Building Features
- State-of-the-Art Culinary Facilities: Explore a stunning third-floor space complete with a restaurant, bar, banquet hall, and wine room. The banquet facility will be open to the public for event rental.
- Daily Dining: Enjoy fresh, daily food at our first-floor café and retail shop.
- Advanced Culinary Facilities: Utilize our cutting-edge meat fabrication kitchen with a Fierio Forni pizza oven and dry-age cooler.
- Innovative Learning Spaces: Learn from our chefs with instructional video technology that will be live-streamed in our state-of-the-art demonstration and teaching kitchens.
- Global Culinary Connection: Our flexible teaching and learning spaces have remote access to diverse kitchens around the world and space for academic conferences and national culinary competitions.
- Sustainable Future: Our facility is designed to be environmentally friendly and adaptable to future trends, including a food waste recycling program.
Building Facts-at-a-Glance
- Location | Royal Oak Campus, 739 S. Washington Ave. Royal Oak, MI 48067
- Building Square Feet | 78,400
- Estimated Project Cost | $74 million
- Opening | September 2025
- Number of Floors | 3
- Classrooms | 3
- Kitchens |
- 2 - Demonstration Kitchens
- 4 - Teaching kitchens
- 1- Teaching Restaurant and Banquet kitchen
- Restaurant |
- 2,372 square feet with an additional 3452 square feet of flex space for special events
- Full bar
- Custom glass wine storage room
- General Contractor | Barton Mallow
- Architect | Harley Ellis Devereaux
East View
Northeast View
Southeast View
The 2023 Culinary Institute Beam Signing photos are in!
Thank you for joining us to celebrate the construction progress of OCC’s new Culinary Studies Institute facility. We can’t wait for it to be ready! View Photos
