Northland cooking school closure linked to fraud probe

The closure of the Culinary Institute of New Zealand, in Kerikeri, came as a shock to staff and students. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A Northland culinary school which closed down suddenly last month, putting tutors out of work and students in limbo, was owned by a company caught up in a Serious Fraud Office probe.

But the good news for students at the Culinary Institute of New Zealand, on Kerikeri's Waipapa Rd, is that a Queenstown firm has bought the buildings and equipment and plans to re-open the school in February. It had 31 students at levels 3 and 4.

The Culinary Institute was part of the Quantum Education Group, which has been owned since 2014 by New Zealand's largest private training college, Intueri Education Group.

Earlier this year Intueri revealed that Quantum was the subject of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) enquiry. Quantum had already been investigated by the Tertiary Education Commission regarding a mismatch between claimed success rates and actual student numbers, and ordered to repay some of its government funding.

At the end of November, Intueri offloaded almost all its Quantum courses. Many were taken on by another provider, Academy New Zealand, while others, such as the Culinary Institute, had been due to close down.

Intueri's interim chief executive, Rod Marvin, said the company was looking to close the institute "after a review of the operations needed for 2017".

"However, we are really pleased for our staff and students that the Queenstown Resort College [QRC] have agreed to take over operations."

The decision to close the culinary institute was not related to the ongoing SFO enquiry, he said.

QRC chief executive Charlie Phillips said his company had a long-term plan to start a culinary course in Northland to complement its hospitality management course in Paihia but the closure of the Culinary Institute had fast-tracked it.

"The opportunity came up, it's a rare opportunity, so we took it."

QRC was rewriting the programme to make it more up to date but current students would be able to carry on. A level 5 course would be added, making it a two-year programme.

Mr Phillips said about 15 students had indicated they were keen to continue when the institute re-opened in February. Details were still being finalised but the fees would be similar to those charged by the previous owners.

He would not say how much QRC had paid for the institute, except that it had bought the assets only. It had not bought the school as a going concern.

QRC opened its Tai Tokerau Resort College in Paihia in early 2016. It has 45 students studying hospitality management and aims to double that number in 2017.

Mr Phillips said the culinary institute would complement QRC's college in Paihia, especially with the tourism boom and nationwide shortage of chefs. Students would have the option of living in QRC's hall of residence in Paihia.

Meanwhile, the SFO confirmed yesterday that its investigation into Quantum was ongoing. It would not, however, make any other comment.

The SFO usually deals with cases involving more than $2 million or matters of public interest.