The Academy is our source of pride.
And as with all things at Lavonne, the Academy has a backstory to it too.
The Story
When Chef Vinesh was still a student, he decided to specialise in baking and developed a passion for chocolate. The more he researched, the more he felt the lack of advanced chocolate courses and academies in India. This got him thinking, and a realisation dawned on him- that there were probably other students out there, with similar needs and limited avenues to pursue them through. And so, he decided to start a world-class academy of his own.
He approached Chef Avin Thaliath to partner with him, and the experience and expertise of Chef Avin proved to be the key for this dream to take shape. Having travelled across the world and done multiple courses in different counties, Chef Avin had his finger on the current international standards and trends in baking. That, along with him having worked with City & Guilds previously, provided the perfect avenue to set up the Academy.
City & Guilds
Founded in 1878, City & Guilds Group is one of the foremost vocational education provider and training institution in the world. The Group offers services to trainers across numerous industries. They also support colleges, and are deeply committed to furthering education programmes in different fields.
Discernibly, being certified by them meant going through an extensive checklist to see if their standards were met.
But we passed the test, meeting all their requirements.
And that’s how the Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry Arts, India’s first International Baking Academy, and the only one affiliated to City & Guilds in the country, was established. And in doing so, we made history.
The Course
We offer a Diplomê in Patisserie, which is a rigorous 480 hour programme that gives our students not only a thorough theoretical grounding, but also ensures that they gain as much hands-on experience as possible.
The aim is to provide them with an extremely solid foundation, with the fundamentals down pat.
To ensure this, our faculty are all chefs from renowned 5-star hotels, backed by years of experience, and a deep awareness of international trends.
While the course itself is extensively based on Patisserie related topics, we also do some out-of-syllabus teaching on Chocolate and Wedding Cakes, as a value-add for our students. International Chefs are frequently brought in to deliver guest lectures, so that our students can gain international exposure without having to travel there themselves. You can get extensive details on our course here.
We’ve seen four batches graduate from the Academy so far, and the demand for the course has only been increasing.
The Academy is our source of pride because this is where we nurture and produce skilled artists, batch after batch, and send them out to revolutionise the world of baking.
While the Academy is the core of Lavonne, two other parts, the patisserie and the supply store, make us a complete unit.