Chef Janet Crandall is a lecturing instructor of Culinary Arts at CIA’s New York campus, where she teaches Culinary Fundamentals to aspiring foodservice and hospitality professionals. She brings a dynamic blend of experience as a chef-instructor, private chef, consultant, and butcher—infusing her teaching with real-world insight and hands-on expertise.
Raised in the restaurant world, Crandall grew up in her family’s café, which her parents operated for 38 years. Before entering the culinary field, she spent her 20s in the beauty industry as a makeup artist and salon/spa manager. In 2003, she traded her brushes for a knife kit and enrolled at the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center).
Her exceptional talent was quickly recognized, and upon graduation, she was recruited as an assistant chef and later promoted to chef-instructor. During her tenure, she worked alongside culinary legends including Chefs Jacques Pépin, André Soltner, Alain Sailhac, Jacques Torres, and Cesare Casella.
Next, she honed her skills as a butcher, working with renowned meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda, and went on to serve as executive chef and head butcher at Wyebrook Farm—a farm, market, restaurant, and events center in Honey Brook, PA. Her work was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Grid Magazine, and other publications.
Crandall began her teaching career as an instructor at L.A Kitchen, which reclaimed healthy, local food that would otherwise be discarded, trained unemployed men and women for jobs, and provided healthy meals to citizens in need. Upon its closure, she became executive chef instructor at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, designing and teaching the curriculum for their new culinary program while preparing 400 meals a day for the center’s occupants. In 2022, she joined CIA.
When she’s not in the kitchen or the classroom, Crandall can be found gardening, working with our local environmental group, Orange Environment Inc., which includes founding a pollinator support program, advocating against food waste, and working to eliminate food insecurity. She also mentors underprivileged culinary students by placing them in professional kitchen situations to gain experience. Cooking for friends and family on Sundays is one of the highlights of her week.