Culinary Café open to community

Sept. 13, 2018

 

     If you want to get a taste of what Ashland Community and Technical College’s culinary arts students do each day, stop by their café for lunch.
     Located on the Technology Drive Campus and open to the community, the Culinary Café is open from 11 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Monday-Thursday and is operated by students in the program. Each day, students prepare a made-from-scratch à la carte menu that features regional and international dishes, such as fried chicken with mashed potatoes, gyros, pulled pork, bourbon glazed salmon or jerk chicken. In addition to each day’s main dish and dessert options, there are also burgers, chicken sandwiches and French fries, as well as a full salad bar.
     “Students rotate stations, serving a week to two weeks per station, depending on the size of the class,” said Peggy Bradley, program coordinator. “Our stations include bakery, desserts, salad bar, grill and savory food preparations. Students also serve food to our customers, giving them valuable human resource skills and front of the house experience.”
     In addition to the café, students in the culinary arts program get training in food safety/sanitation, basic fundamentals of culinary arts profession, baking, meats-seafood’s-poultry, international and classical cuisine, foodservice cost control and hospitality human resources management. Students must also pass a national exam in sanitation sponsored by the National Restaurant Association called ServSafe Certification.
     The program offers an associate degree with three different options: Culinary Arts, Catering and Food and Beverage Management. There are also three diploma and seven certificate options.
     To find out more about the Culinary Arts program, visit ashland.kctcs.edu/education-training/program-finder/culinary-arts.aspx or contact Bradley at peggy.bradley@kctcs.edu.