The New England Culinary Institute (NECI) was a private for-profit culinary school in Montpelier, Vermont. It was founded on June 15, 1980, by Fran Voigt and John Dranow. The first NECI class, conducted by Chef Michel LeBorgne, had seven students. The enrollment rose to approximately 800 in 1999, but fell to 500 in 2015 and to around 300 at the beginning of 2017. A second campus was operated in Essex, Vermont, from August 1989 through August 2009.