The Beginning
In 1993, before the creation of the Sous Chef, KP Education Systems was called KP Systems Multimedia. KP Systems Multimedia produced computer based corporate training, multimedia design, and programming services. They maintained relationships with high end clients such as Honeywell, American Express, Jennie-O Foods, and Fannie Mae. Although this venture was successful, the desire to change the world in a meaningful way was not being realized.
Moving to Education
In 1997, Nai-Yih Wang and Michael Murray took their computer based corporate training experience in partnership with Chef Dominic O'Neil, and created a company based on a shared vision of improving culinary education for all students, no matter what learning style. This company was called KP Culinary® to signify their commitment to culinary education. Since then, it has designed, written and produced The Sous Chef ( a French phrase meaning "under the chef" or the chef's assistant.) The Sous Chef was born originally out of a professional development workshop. Nai-Yih Wang and Michael Murray took Dominic O'Neill's professional development workshop material and created a computer based corporate training module similar to ones they had created for Honeywell, American Express or Jennie-O Foods and produced the first version of the Sous Chef. This product was eventually sold to the people attending the workshop as a follow up and review copy so they would not forget anything taught during the original two week course. Since then the Sous Chef has continued to grow encompassing many new culinary areas not covered in the first program. As the product grew, the original niche of professional development workshop disappeared and it is now sold directly to the teachers. Since not every teacher was attending Dominic's workshop to get hands on training, the interface of the Sous Chef had to be improved with a focus on ease of use and adaptability to various types of learners. Soon, the teachers were using the new and improved tool to teach their own students, thus creating a demand for a full fledged educational solution.
The Last Pieces of the Puzzle
Nai-Yih Wang, Dominic O'Neil and Michael Murray determined the best methodology for moving forward in the new educational environment was to have Nai-Yih Wang form a new company designed to directly interface with the various organizations interested in the Sous Chef. KP Culinary® would continue to produce the instructional material for the Sous Chef but be freed of the burden of the day to day operations of sales, marketing, and interfacing with the public. The new company formed by Nai-Yih Wang is called KP Educations Systems denoting their new focus on complete solutions for the various educational problems of the public. KP Education Systems listened to the customers and designed the all new interface seen in the Sous Chef 7, called KPI3. Additional products and frameworks have also been designed, such as the web based Culinary Fundamental Series and the network based KPI3. These program frameworks and new content creation methodologies pioneered at KP Education Systems are allowing us to create the products of the future, today.
Looking Toward the Future
We are transitioning the Sous Chef from a educational resource to a full competency based assessment driven curriculum. We are also committed after completion of the Sous Chef conversion process to take the knowledge we gained, and the trust we earned from the 1200+ schools using the Sous Chef and create additional education products to fit various niche education environments that our customers desire. If you have any programs you wish we would create please Contact Us.