In 1999, through a partnership with Le Cordon Bleu, Brown College began offering a Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Program, the first such program to be offered in North America. The program started as a certificate program and in 2002 began offering an Associate in Applied Science degree in Culinary Arts. In October 2003, an Associate in Applied Science in Pâtisserie & Baking program was added. All of the programs operated as a division of Brown College through January 2005.

Effective February 2005, the programs formerly offered at Brown College were transferred to a newly created institution, Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Minneapolis/St. Paul. Both Brown College and the new institution are owned by Career Education Corporation. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Minneapolis/St. Paul is a branch campus of Western Culinary Institute, Portland, Oregon, which has also been affiliated with Le Cordon Bleu since 1999.