LEWISTON – Demand is growing in Lewiston-Auburn for restaurant workers who know the difference between sautéing and baking, between a layered cake and a rolled cake, said Dan Caron.

Caron is chef and head instructor of the culinary arts program at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center. His high school students run Green Ladle, a catering business and seasonal restaurant.

“I get at least one call a week, sometimes two, from restaurants looking for cooks,” Caron said. His students are finding jobs as sauté cooks, fry cooks and banquet cooks.

He estimated that 80 percent of his graduates go on to a two- or four-year culinary arts college. Others get jobs out of high school and most work at area restaurants while in his program.

In the past year, 12 new restaurants have opened in the area, Caron said. “Lewiston-Auburn is finally getting noticed as an area that can support local restaurants.”

Former students are working at Mac’s Grill, Fish Bones, DaVinci’s Eatery, the Ramada Inn.

A few years ago when Auburn’s Hilton Garden Inn opened, Caron took his students to meet the catering manager for a tour. She was a former student, Caron said.

“She brought me into the kitchen. The night cook was one of my previous students. Then I went in the dining room. Two of the waitresses were my previous students. It really is a good feeling to see that we’re feeding restaurants so well.”