Chef Celeste Gill is expanding her business ventures in downtown Baton Rouge to include a culinary institute and catering and event space.
Gill has signed leases for a two-story building at 520 Spain St., near St. Charles Street, as well as for space the culinary nonprofit Triumph Kitchen formerly occupied inside the Family & Youth Service Center at the corner of Government Street and Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive.
Gill says she found the buildings while looking for new catering space downtown.
“I have a few restaurants, but both of those spaces are not conducive to my catering business,” she says. “I have a large catering contract, and I need more space.”
The building on Spain will be transformed into high-end catering and event space, which Gill says she will use and open up to other licensed caterers. She envisions an intimate space for small gatherings like baby showers, birthday parties, and business meetings.
The 1,300-square-foot building will undergo a complete buildout, says Gill, who operates Chef Celeste Bistro in Main Street Market. The city-parish issued commercial remodel permits Monday. Gill hopes to start booking events there in the early fall.
She has more elaborate plans for the Government Street space, which has a private dining area and kitchen. She wants to host and cater large events and may open a small coffee shop and bakery.
Gill plans to offer cooking classes and open a culinary institute for people who “need a new lease on life, but can’t afford to go the traditional route.”
The venture, she says, would allow her to give back to the community.
“I give back a lot all the time. I just don’t tell people,” she says. “Now I want to do it on a larger scale.”
Gill has yet to file the permit application for the site but expects to do so soon. She’s also planning a series of cooking classes that will be held there this summer. Gill also has established the Chef Celeste Culinary Institute Foundation from which she’ll operate the school, tentatively called the Chef Celeste Commissary Kitchen. She hopes to open sometime next year.
