DC Chef Brian McBride once said that he—like most chefs—can’t imagine being anything but a chef…but if he had to do it all over again, in addition to cheffing, he would get “a business degree with a minor in accounting.” The food business, it turns out, is a business after all. And the most talented food people need business skills to navigate the at times byzantine and creativity-numbing U.S. venture capital and regulatory food systems with passion intact. (Don’t even get me started on scaling up to international systems.)

The prestigious Culinary Institute of America (CIA) has always understood that a heart for food must have a mind for business, for good work and talent to touch as many people as possible. Today, the CIA is