Aiming to make its presence widely felt, the Tirupati-based Indian Culinary Institute (ICI) plans to get into customisation of preparing delicacies for premier institutes and organisations, apart from offering consultancy services.

An autonomous institute under the Union Ministry of Tourism, ICI has only two campuses — at Tirupati and Noida in the entire country. The Tirupati campus, the bigger one, is in touch with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to customise lunch being served at the Tirupati airport, following the Noida institute’s tie-up on similar lines with the Navy.

“We have plans to provide consultancy services in future, as the hospitality industry is all set to make a mark,” says its administrative officer George Alexander. The institute shot to fame after it conducted cookery contest recently for students of IIT Tirupati.

Nurturing ambitious plans after moving into its sprawling permanent campus located behind the Renigunta airport, the institute has announced MBA (Culinary Arts) from the next academic year. A chunk of the students who completed the three-year BBA programme have secured placement in premier star properties, one of them in a seven-star hotel in Dubai with a starting salary of ₹87,000.

“Our students have career opportunities as chefs, kitchen managers, train/flight/navy services, institutional caterers and shipping and cruise lines, apart from becoming entrepreneurs, nutrition experts and consultants,” asserts its academic in-charge M. Thirulogachander.

Entrance test

ICI expects good patronage for the BBA and MBA entrance test to be held on May 16, the last date for applying online being April 27. The exam will be held simultaneously in Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, Patna, Tirupati and Thiruvananthapuram. Information can be downloaded from www.ici.nic.in or www.thims.gov.in.

Anyone with a minimum of 50% in Plus Two can apply for BBA, but options for admission into MBA are quite narrow as it requires one to be a graduate in hospitality, hotel management or culinary arts.

Hoping to make the most of the government’s skill development initiatives, ICI pins hopes on the Skill University announced by the State government recently, headquarted at Tirupati.