Yssingeaux, France – 10 June 2022 – The École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie (ENSP), a world-renowned reference in the art of pastry, located in Yssingeaux in the Haute-Loire department of France, today inaugurated the start of work on its extension in the presence of Alain Ducasse, founder of École Ducasse, Benoît-Etienne Domenget, CEO of Sommet Education, Laurent Wauquiez, President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, and Pierre Liogier, Mayor of Yssingeaux. At the heart of a real estate project scheduled for completion in September 2023 and managed by Atrium developers in partnership with Alliade Habitat for the lodging section, the École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie will enjoy the benefit of a 2,300 m² extension, including new laboratories as well as student accommodation adding to the historic castle that houses the prestigious school.

Created in 1984 and taken over in 2007 by Messrs Alain Ducasse and Yves Thuriès, over the past 40 years the École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie has unquestionably established itself as the ultimate school of excellence and reference in the world of the Confectionary Arts when it comes to training in pastry, chocolate, confectionary, ice cream and baking.

With its 17 pastry chefs and 25 teachers for its academic courses, the school trains 1,500 students from 60 nationalities throughout the year. 

The broad portfolio of programs meets all training needs in the field: post-baccalaureate courses such as the three-year Bachelor's degree in French Pastry Arts, or the CAP, intensive courses for people in retraining, such as the two-month Essentials of French Pastry Arts program or the eight-month Diploma in French Pastry Arts.

In addition to these programs, a catalogue is offered of 68 professional training courses held on site by Meilleur Ouvrier de France award-winners, World Champions and well-known experts. The great names in French and international pastry-making have trained here and return to fine-tune their techniques.

The project caters to the ENSP's need to expand due to the exponential demand for pastry training which has been accelerating for the past several years.

Housing three new classrooms and four laboratories as well as the creation of 36 apartments for students, this extension of the ENSP will allow the École Ducasse to host a larger number of French and international students while responding to increasing requests for professional training.

Elise Masurel, Managing Director of École Ducasse, enthuses about this major new development within the Ecole Ducasse network, "After the opening of our Campus at the gateway to Paris in 2020, this new project allows us to embed the excellence of our schools even more strongly on French soil, in parallel with its international development.”

Luc Debove, Director and Executive Chef of the ENSP, World Ice Cream Champion and Meilleur Ouvrier de France Glacier, winner of the Ordre National du Mérite Agricole, and project leader, comments: "This extension is the result of a wonderful group project supported by Laurent Wauquiez, Regional President, Isabelle Valentin, Member of Parliament for Haute-Loire, and our mayor of Yssingeaux, as well as by the private companies Atrium and Alliade. It is not only about the ENSP that is becoming the largest French school dedicated to the Pastry Arts, but Yssingeaux and a whole region that is becoming a strategic center in the world of pastry-making.”

About École Ducasse

École Ducasse is a network of schools founded in 1999 by multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse, dedicated to the transmission of outstanding French expertise and excellence in culinary and pastry arts.

École Ducasse runs three schools in France – Paris Studio, Paris Campus and the École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie – as well as international schools in the Philippines, Brazil, Thailand and India. All are united by a desire to share a passion for gastronomy with seasoned professionals as well as food enthusiasts, career changers and students. This broad portfolio of programs aims to meet all training needs: from short programs for experts or food enthusiasts to intensive two-, four-or six-month programs, to three-year undergraduate programs and bachelor’s degree in culinary and pastry arts.

École Ducasse is part of Sommet Education, worldwide leader in hospitality education.

For more information: https://www.ecoleducasse.com/en

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