Brightwater: Training the Next Generation's Chefs and Food Leaders In Northwest Arkansas

Bentonville’s food scene didn’t get great by accident. We’re joined by Marshall Shafkowitz, Executive Director of Brightwater, to explain how Northwest Arkansas is building culinary and hospitality careers that actually meet the moment.

We talk about why Brightwater is intentionally called a Center for the Study of Food rather than a traditional culinary school. The mission is bigger than teaching someone to cut, chop, and plate. Marshall breaks down Brightwater’s three pillars, food as business, food as art, and food as wellness, and how they connect to the local food system. Farmers, ranchers, distributors, restaurateurs, grocers, and customers are usually separate conversations, but Brightwater trains students to link them, understand where food comes from, and make purchasing choices that strengthen the local economy and reduce waste and carbon footprint.

You’ll also hear who Brightwater serves, from high school students to learners in their 80s, plus short workforce development programs for people who want job-ready skills without a degree. We get into what “teaching the whole person” looks like in a kitchen classroom, why instructors stay industry relevant, and how Brightwater graduates quietly shape the visitor experience across Bentonville restaurants. If you want a reason to stop by, Marshall shares how the doors are open at A Street Market, with an art-filled campus vibe, outdoor spaces, and a student-run retail butcher shop with Burger Friday.

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Transcript

Brightwater And Bentonville’s Food Boom

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to a new American Town. Listeners, I am your host, Graham Cobb, and I'm thrilled today to be joined by Marshall Schaffkowitz, Executive Director of Brightwater. For those who don't know, Brightwater is the culinary institution training the next generation of workforce in Arkansas. Marshall, food has become a huge part of really the fabric of Bentonville's kind of vibe. Absolutely. Visitors, when they're here, they see the restaurants and new concepts. And I'm sure that on social media we see the chefs, but you don't what you don't see are, like I said, the folks preparing the workforce, the right people, the skills, the soft skills, the hard skills that are required to fuel that culinary growth. Can you talk to us a little bit about that role that Brightwater plays?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

When we think about the growth of Northwest Arkansas, and we've got this great vibrant, growing food scene. Well, you need that training area. You need the who's going to train the next level of managers and sous chefs and entry-level people. And you know, Northwest Arkansas Community College, which Brightwater, a Center for the Study of Food is, is a school within NWAC and part of the workforce division. There was at this inception, there was this tiny little program. And while they were producing graduates, they weren't producing graduates that could fill the need of the growing community. So we had this gap in workforce development. So I'm going back 2005, 2006, conversation started. A couple of really smart individuals in the community said, we're bringing all these really cool restaurants in. Ropeswing Group had started, but there was no talent development. We got to partner with somebody. And from that, this idea of Brightwater came up of let's partner private and public partnerships together to create something that doesn't exist in Northwest Arkansas. Arkansas has got has had this great culinary program down in Little Rock, part of UA Pulaski Tech. Right, right. Fantastic program, but it's three and a half hours south, and you're not going to train somebody to drive back and forth every day. Nope. So, with intention, the partnership created. And that was between the Walton Family Foundation, community members, the Walton family themselves, and the community college to develop a dedicated large format culinary school that actually grew into something that is beyond what we call the normal culinary school. And that's Brightwater. So we filled that gap. And now, nine years later, I can't believe it's nine years later since the doors opened, we've been bringing culinarians in and graduating students that we can find all over Northwest Arkansas.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Aaron Ross Powell That's outstanding. Trevor Burrus It's got to be challenging, but I'm certain that it's cool and rewarding. You

Leaving Chicago For Northwest Arkansas

SPEAKER_00 3:20

came here from Chicago, right? Yes. Talk a little bit about that journey and maybe what was the magnet of Northwest Arkansas that got you to leave Chicago?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Aaron Powell That's actually a really, really funny story. So I was running for City College of Chicago, the second largest community college school system in the country, you know, 126,000 students. I was running this program called Washburn Culinary and Hospitality Institute. Washburn and the school in LA were going back and forth for the oldest culinary programs in the United States. We were 80 years old when I was when I was the executive dean of the program, ninth person to ever run the school, reported directly to the chancellor of city colleges, and to that time dot lined to the mayor. So I was the food guy for education for the city. And fantastic job, wonderful people, vibrant community, south side of Chicago, forgotten area, you know, rough, gritty, but wonderful. And while I was there, I kept getting this headhunter calling me. Hey, got an opportunity. Didn't want to hear it. Hey, got an opportunity. I'm like, no, I'm I'm happy where I am. And then I finally said, okay, let's talk. So we started the conversation, uh, and this was about a six-month process of me saying, I'm not really that interested in Arkansas. Aaron Powell Sure. And as a side note, my father, years ago, before Walmart was really big, and Sam Walton was still talking to vendors, actually sold directly to Sam Walton. Aaron Powell Oh, wow. He was a magazine publisher. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

That's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Aaron Ross Powell So I had heard stories of him coming down to Bentonville from being a child. And it was, oh, Bentonville, Arkansas. That's going to be interesting. They called, we talked, and I finally said, sure, let's have an interview. Video interview with the staff from the community college from NWAC, and it was absolutely cool. Oh, wow. Just great people, very authentic, real questions, hard questions that made me think, okay, this is a possibility. And then I started my research, like really diving into what was happening in Northwest Arkansas, what was the change, multiple interviews. I came down on a shareholder weekend, stayed in the last hotel room, got the last rental car from XNA, because I flew in from Chicago at like 11 o'clock at night, and drove into the campus, and that was my aha moment. It was, okay, this is really neat. This is not not what I was thinking. Started the interview process, met the staff at Brightwater, met the leadership of NWAC. I had what 12, 14 people on my interview committee. So the largest interview committee that NWAC has ever had. And this is this is to be the second director of the school.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

And at that point, I was so excited listening to what the trajectory could be. And my research really supported what the trajectory of Northwest Arkansas was. So I was hooked. The people, the place, the facility is just absolutely world class and not what I expected. Fast forward, they bring me down for a second interview, but this time they brought my wife down. So it was no longer selling me, it was selling my wife on it. And you know, on a personal note, we have a child with a very rare autoimmune disease. Okay. The college went out of their way to bring us down to Children's Northwest, to meet with the CEO of the hospital, to meet with the chief medical officer, uh, because she's one of 365,000 people in the world with this disease. So care was really, really important to us. And they made the effort to say, no, it's here. We will help you find that care. We'll make sure that you as a family, not just you as a employee, because I wasn't an employee at that point. I was still going through the motions. But to go that extra step was really beyond. And in my career in education and my career as a chef, nobody's ever done that.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

And that really hooked my wife. Aaron Ross Powell I love that. I love that. Trevor Burrus It was it became very important, but it also set for us as a family what the standard of Northwest Arkansas was. That's right. And how we treat people. And that standard is stayed with me and stayed with my family the entire time that we've been here. And I'm coming up this August will be seven years with NWAC and with Brightwater.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Aaron Ross Powell Well, we're grateful for that. Aaron

Why Brightwater Is Not Traditional

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Ross Powell So it's Brightwater is called the a center for the study of food. Is that right? It's not a culinary school. Is there a difference? Trevor Burrus I mean it's not called culinary school. What is the difference there?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Aaron Ross Powell So when you think of the traditional culinary schools, you come in and you're learning how to cut and chop, you get a little bit of the math and the business behind culinary behind running a restaurant. Being a center for the study of food allows us to actually broaden that conversation, because we're not just this culinary program where you're learning technical skills to go out and just find a job. We have so many different walks of life that walk into our building to become students that just a regular culinary program, we wouldn't meet the consumer, the customer, and I call my students customers, what for what they need or what they want to do on their trajectory to find success for themselves. So with that, we focus our program on food is business, food is art, food is wellness, and surrounding the entire conversation with the food system and focusing really heavily on the teaching students about the utilization of the local food system. So if you if you think in a line, you have the farmers, the growers, the ranchers, then you have the broadline vendors, you know, our produce companies, our our Cisco's and Benny Keith world, and then you have the restaurateurs, and you've got grocers in there and restaurateurs, and then you have consumers. What we do, and it's usually separate conversations, what we do is link all of the conversations. Have the student talk to the grower, have the future chef talk to the farmers and the ranchers, let them understand where their food actually comes from. Because that deeper knowledge and that deeper understanding creates a deeper respect for the business. And now they can work with the broadliners to say, no, I only want to work I only want to buy local. So now we're helping the economy. That changed the local economy. Now that changes the conversation with the consumer. So this is we went down to Turnbuckle Farms and we brought all of their uh zucchinis. So you're helping the family that owns Turnbuckle Farm. And that's what I'm selling in my restaurant, or that's what I'm putting on my sandwich. That conversation educates the consumer about shopping local.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Aaron Ross Powell It is a much different approach. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Full disclosure, I grew up in pizza. Everything my only monetizable skills I learned in pizza and punk rock. But talk about how that what does that mean to the student? And what does that mean to the kind of student that's coming to Brightwater?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Aaron Ross Powell Well it speeds up the education process. So every chef at some point in their career gets why am I not buying my zucchinis or my flowers or my or my steak from the guy who's raising it down the road. We all get there at some point. It's either through organically getting there or we're taught. Most chefs, you know, I grew up in New York City, and there wasn't a farm within an hour drive of the island of Manhattan or the five boroughs. So I learned it later in my career. What we're by speeding that process up and teaching the students and showing them I've got this great board at the school. Every local farm and company that we buy from, and it's all within 55 miles of the school, it's right there for you to see. These are who we purchase from. This is who we support and supports us. Now they're thinking because they get to see it every day. They see it on the food that gets rolled into their classroom, into their labs, or what we sell at the butcher's lard or our retail butcher shop. That's all local product. So when we do that, we're speeding up that conversation. So now when that graduate goes out, they get to influence, either influence a restaurant they walk in and say, hey, you know, when I was at school, we brought all of our A, B, or C from that farm, from we bought all of our apples from A orchards or from one of the other fantastic orchards we have in Northwest Arkansas. That's who we bought all of our apples from. We weren't supporting a farmer who's 15 states away and had it took 18 days for that case to get to us. We're trying to make people think: how do we impact our communities by what we purchase, by what we produce? Because it it all links together that food is business, it's keeping it local, keeping it here, understanding how our money works, that food is art, looking at what the farmer does in that in that growing and being able to talk about this beautiful product they produce, to putting it on the plate, to transforming it into something that a consumer wants to buy, to wellness. So now we're we're helping to reduce carbon footprint by having trucks drive thousands of miles to bring us a product, to eating local. We know where our food is coming from, we know how it's going to impact us. So all of our pillars are all linked together in how we're trying to make a difference, a change in our students to become thought leaders, not just practitioners. So they they have influence on whatever restaurant they go into, or whatever business they start, or if they're going to work as a buyer for one of the big companies around here, they can influence conversation because now they have knowledge.

Who Enrolls And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Students that are entering Brightwater, is it somebody like me at age 19 going, I just need to make 25 cents more an hour working at a pizza restaurant? I like is it someone who is thinking about starting business? Are there people later in their careers? Community college has such a diverse group of students.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: It's that yes and it this is the cool thing. We're open enrollment. If you if you can enroll at NWAC and be accepted into our program, and there are there are some hurdles that you have to go into. You have to be academically you have to have that academic ability to get into our certificates or our associate degree programs. Okay. You can come to school. So and at whatever point in your journey, that's that's part of our mission. You know, you can come into this industry, and this is what I love about the food industry, you can come into it at any point in life. And our students show that. We have high school programs, and we have uh what's called the golden, the golden age waiver, where if you're above retirement commun retirement age, you can come and only have to pay your student fees. You have to sign up for it, it's a whole program at WAC, and in the state of Arkansas. But I so I have students who are 17 and I have students who are in their 80s.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

That is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

And some of them, this is not their goal. This is I wanna be a better cook at home. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Right. Right. But this is this is the journey I want to take. I want to go into the restaurant business. And then we have a program where there is no bar to entry, and that's our workforce development program. And that's a skill, that's a skill training.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

So it's not our certificate programs, it's a short program, it's eight weeks long, uh 120 hours in our culinary and our baking program, where we're going to teach you the basics to get a job. And at some point, if you want to come back for a certificate or a degree, absolutely, you can definitely do that. But that workforce program, that's that I want 25 cents more an hour. Right. And my boss has said, I need a little bit more skills. Right. I don't need a degree. Because not everybody needs a degree. Some people just need that skill development. But if we want to go further in our careers, degrees become a little bit more important, especially if we go down that corporate track. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Right. Right. Well, look,

Teaching Skills Plus The Whole Person

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I'm grateful for the work that you're doing, especially in this not to sound I'm going to sound old, but especially in this day. Trevor Burrus Seriously, where uh we do less with our hands, we create less things, you know? And then we also serve each other face-to-face less and engage with so investing in creating, nourishing, and then service and connecting is a really I mean that that is beyond culinary. Those are life skills.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Absolutely. Absolutely. We're not there to just teach a technical skill.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

We're there to create a whole person. And you know, when you look at our classes, our classes are 80 hours long when you're in an certificate or a degree program. So our workforce program is 120, total 120 hours. We're really teaching you a skill, and then we want you to go find employment, and we're going to help you do that. When you're in the certificate or an associate's program, one class is 80 hours long when you're in a lab class. So you're spending 20 hours a week with incredibly talented chefs who are sharing their knowledge, their skills, the outcomes for the class, learning objectives, things we want you to do, but you're also working on interpersonal communications, presentation skills, math, science. You're doing this every day when you are in class. Because when we think about a recipe, we take a recipe and we've got to multiply it or we've got to reduce it. Right. That's math. The art of cooking is transfer of heat. We're talking about the utilization of science at that point. So how does heat impact a product, a protein, a structure, a cell structure? What happens when we apply heat to it? Chemistry of mixing seasonings together. Is it salted, salty, or saltless? That's actually skills that are developed while working under the tutelage of some of the most incredible chefs I've ever worked with. And 26 years in higher education, in education, the talent that is in Northwest Arkansas from the restaurants to the people that I get to work alongside every day is just limitless.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

I think I saw you at uh uh the Amazums on Gala, right? And I won't name names, but you talk about the chefs that these students get to learn alongside. Some of the most successful chefs in Bentonville have gone back to work at Brightwater. Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. I mean it that's that in itself is a testament to the power of the college and the in the the curriculum.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Aaron Ross Powell You know, I uh honestly, Graham, I think it's a testament to the culture that we've built. And it's a and it's not just the culture of of Northwest Arkansas and Bentonville, but it's also the culture that we've built at Brightwater. Um we're not the all-out subject matter experts. No one can know everything. So when we bring some of these incredible chefs in as guest speakers or as instructors, it's they have the talent and the knowledge to come in and teach, but they have the passion for it. They have the want to share who they are with the next generation. And it's beyond just teaching the skills. They want to teach them from their mistakes. And that's something that's something that uh is so different from a from a program perspective, uh having running run programs, big programs across the country, to what we do here. Um, at one point I had a I was with uh a very big set of culinary schools. It's 17,000 students across the United States. I would give up all 17,000 students and the 500 instructors that we had for the team that we have at Brightwater, not just for their knowledge, but because what they do to try and make a change in our industry, they do that every day when they go in. They talk not just about their successes, but how they bounce back from their failures and created themselves. Or reinvented themselves. So students know. And again, it's that giving that leg up. And all of our instructors stay industry relevant. They're either going out and working in restaurants, they're running small catering operations where they're picking up new clients or they're personal chefs, or they're consulting for big name companies in recipe development. I encourage the staff to do that so they stay current and relevant to what's happening today, and then they bring it back and they share that with our students every day. Again, it's amazing to watch every instructor in their own little ways impacting our greater community because I go out and I see our students in almost every restaurant.

Workforce Impact On Restaurants And Tourism

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Wow. I'm glad you brought that up because two things I want to hit on. One is what this means to the visitor experience. Like what does it mean to, you know, I'm an old chamber guy, so what does it mean to the economic landscape of a city like Bentonville? And then for tourism is such an important piece of our economic puzzle, what does it mean to the visitor experience just to have the professionalism in the way that you uh you build professionals?

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Aaron Ross Powell Well, so you know, to that to that economic side of it. Well, it's the workforce. You know, when you walk into restaurants, you may not see somebody that has bright water on their on a chef coat. You don't know that. But what they're doing, what those graduates or what those students, because we encourage all of our students to actually work while they're in school. Many of them work full-time jobs and go to school full-time. So yeah, it's it's getting them ready for restaurant work. That's restaurant work. So you know you're getting ready, you're getting ready now. Um when they go out and they're they're in the restaurants, they're having impact on those businesses, which is having that financial impact to our community. It's what helps us thrive because they're there, they're working, they're learning, and they yeah, they move from restaurant to restaurant. Uh that's just our industry. Sure. Our industry is transient, and that's okay. We actually encourage go learn, learn great things, learn something you never want to do again, and then make it your own. And that's part of growing and maturing as a person. So we want our students to do that. Now, what does it mean for the uh visitor?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

We have thriving restaurants. We have restaurants where you go in and you enjoy a meal and you come back. You come back and you think of, wow, that was the best biria I've ever had, or that pizza was just rocking. And I didn't think I was going to find that in Northwest Arkansas. Right. That barbecue, wow, where did that come from? I wouldn't have thought of that. Or that bagel. They've got New York style bagels here. Like, what's going on? Well, the people who are making those products, crafting that, using their hands, using the skills that they've learned, or running those businesses as sous-chefs and line cooks, or the executive chefs, or the CDCs, and that's chef de cuisine for those who are there. They're making an impact, but it's kind of this little hidden thing. They're Brightwater students or they're Brightwater graduates, or they're gone to Brightwater, they graduated, and now they're working for one of the larger companies here in Northwest Arkansas, and they're buying the food that's going on the shelves, or they're helping to develop products that the next generations are going to have. So our students, while you don't always see them walking around with the big Brightwater chef coat and the and the banner, they're there. And they're making a they're making an impact. It's not a silent impact. They're helping our community thrive and be what it is.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

So uh it's a pretty cool campus. It's

Visit Brightwater’s Market, Art, Butcher Shop

SPEAKER_00 26:17

a very unique campus. You know, for our listeners or our visitors, or somebody who lives in Bentonville, where can they go and like get a peek if they can do that?

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Aaron Ross Powell Oh, doors are always open. Okay. So our doors are always open, and we are located at the A Street Market, right inside the market. Uh it's this cool public-private space where you've got vibrant restaurants, beanabar, chocolate uh factory, a brewery, food trucks, right next to the momentary. So you can hang out at one of the restaurants there and see a show or hear a show just sitting there. We're located right in there. And you can walk in. And here's the cool thing that not everybody knows about Brightwater. Not only are we our Center for the Study of Food, a Culinary Institute, we're also an art gallery. We've got art from all over the place. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Well, of course you do. It's Bentonville. But it's super cool art.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

And we've got messages from chefs who have visited us from all over the world, who come in and give time and energy and effort to our students and to the community. Come in, visit us, walk around. We made it an art gallery, and we were really intentional on the choices we made of the hard surfaces and the soft surfaces to give people inspiration. So you walk in and you go, wow, this is super cool. And hopefully it inspires you to either get into art, get into food, get into the business, and enjoy Northwest Arkansas. So it's taking what you see around town, and we bring it right in with us. So that art is there. Come see it. Walk our gardens. You get to see all of the butterfly trees that we have sitting out. That's right. Our out our outdoor spaces. You can come grab a burger on a Friday through the butcher's larder or a sandwich. This is news to me. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Our retail butcher shop. It's our newest program. It's been around for about a year. We have a student-run retail butcher shop. We're bringing back that tradition of old school butchery. So we teach whole animal butchery from whole cows down to shrimp. Think of everything in between, all but the shrimp is local. It's all within 55, 60 miles of the school, so local ranchers, and we sell those cuts right to you. They're cut by the students, they're sold by the students, we've got deli meats that you can buy, and on Fridays through the summer, we do Burger Friday.

unknown 28:49

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

I'm going. You'll remember that I uh the most impressed I've ever uh the best impression I've ever made on my family was the holiday ham that I got from Brightwater this uh this past holiday. Marshall, thank you so much.

Why They Choose To Stay

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Uh always a great conversation and uh enjoy your perspective. I enjoy your attitude, and I'm grateful for the impact you're having on my city. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Well, thank you, Graham. It's such a pleasure. And I live here too.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Our city. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

You know, and here's the thing: I think the biggest testament to Northwest Arkansas, Bentonville, I've choosing to raise my family here. Trevor Burrus, Jr. That's right. And it is just such an amazing place to live, and it's growing and changing every day. So it's the coolest thing to drive around and go, wow, what's coming in there? Who's going to be here next week? It is just amazing to raise a family here, run this vibrant program that we have, and be part of the community.

unknown 29:47

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Well, we're glad you chose us. Well, thank you. Thank you. Whether you're a visitor or you call Bittenville home, visit Bittenville is here to keep you connected to the people, the places, and the experiences in our new American town. Check the show notes for links to our website, social channels, and our newsletter.