Senior Emma Alward prepares to serve hors d’oeuvres at the grand opening of the $7 million expansion of the Biddeford Regional Technology Center, which includes a culinary arts department. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

BIDDEFORD — Elected officials and school leaders spoke over the soft sound of apron-clad students preparing smoked salmon blinis with ham-wrapped figs and caviar in the brand-new extension of the Biddeford Regional Technology Center.

The new culinary arts program has been in operation for about four weeks, and Tuesday’s celebration of the center’s $7 million expansion was the first major event catered by students.

The wing includes space for new culinary arts, hospitality and athletic training programs, as well as expanded EMT, plumbing and heating courses. The extension will also house the Biddeford Adult Education school’s secondary school programs and classes.

The district received a major grant from the Maine Department of Education for improvements in 2022, part of a multibillion-dollar Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan investment.

Tuesday morning, faculty, administrators and students gathered for the ribbon cutting of the expansion building built by Gorham-based Great Falls Construction.

State officials, including Governor Janet Mills broke new ground on the site In June 2023. The center was one of four in the state awarded money for career and technical education projects. It serves students from Biddeford, Saco, Kennebunk and Old Orchard Beach.

“Biddeford has long been a beacon of innovation and industry. From the textile mills that once powered our economy to the high-tech companies that now call our city home, we have always been at the forefront of change,” said Superintendent Jeremy Ray. “This expansion is just the next step in a proud tradition.”

The center used to serve only upperclassmen, but now offers 20 programs to more than 500 students, he said. He also said it used to appeal to students who weren’t interested in college, but that’s no longer true.

Third-grader Connor Moore prepares crab cakes during the grand opening of the Biddeford Regional Technology Center’s $7 million expansion, which includes the culinary arts department. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Dwight Littlefield, the state’s director of career and technical education, said the center’s opening aligns with the goal of increasing technical education statewide.

“We have seen a 20% increase in six years, serving more than 10,000 students statewide.” he said. “Biddeford alone has seen a 54% increase since 2020.”

Paulette Bonneau, the center’s director for 10 years, said it has long wanted to offer programs such as cooking and hospitality to meet the demands of growing industries in the area.

“We are a hotbed of tourism and restaurants, Biddeford has become known as a food town and at one point we knew that was a destination for us and we looked at different options,” Bonneau said. “But we were ready and when this money came along we knew what we wanted, we put in all our effort and were very successful.

Steve Ogden runs the culinary program. He said this inaugural class prepares students to work in the real restaurant industry because they were part of building the program from the ground up.

“This will be the only year kids open restaurants. That’s what they do, they order things that actually arrive every day. “They unpack, organize, inventory,” he said. “Twenty years from now they might say yes, I helped create that program.”

Ogden said 17 students are enrolled this semester, but the program will have a capacity of approximately 30 students. Junior Caleb Tardif said he is loving the classes so far, especially cooking.

Biddeford Mayor Martin Grohman addressed the crowd during the grand opening of the $7 million expansion of the Biddeford Regional Technology Center on Tuesday. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

“It’s just like a science,” he said. “You need the right stuff, a little too much will ruin everything, a little too little will ruin everything.”

Tardif is one of the students who plans to go to university; He wants to study physics or chemistry, but he says that this technical background will help him find a job in a restaurant when he goes to school. He said he highly recommends the program to future students.

“This is something different from their normal classes,” he said. “And it’s definitely an experience.”

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