Love (of Cookies) in the Air at Central Campus Kitchen
Central Campus kitchen
Love (of cookies) was in the air Monday morning in the kitchens of the Central Campus Culinary Arts & Restaurant Management program where gifts of romance was rolling off the assembly line in the form of Valentine’s Day cookies.
The program received orders for $1,000 worth of the holiday treats and Chef John Andres and his students were busy scooping, baking, frosting and bagging the goodies for customers all over the district.
“The proceeds will benefit our program by helping to afford everything from student uniforms to class fieldtrips to competition entry fees,” Andres said. “Business is good.”
Besides learning how to prepare and serve everything from soup to nuts, students in the program learn entrepreneurial aspects of the hospitality industry. The Central Campus Café, a lunch business that operates on select dates throughout the school year in the same space that plays host to school board meetings, is another example of that aspect of Andres’ program. Students also cater special events throughout the year.
As students filed in to their locker room before class on Monday to change into chef togs their teacher shouted out the agenda for the day.
“We have five things to get done today,” said Andres, after scrubbing his hands and gloving up, like a doc prepping for a major surgery. “Cookies, cookies, cookies, cookies – and cleanup.”
It’s a sweet class – if you can get in. Andres has a waiting list that would be the envy of a five-star restaurant on a Saturday night. The curriculum even includes the chance to play Cupid – for a profit.
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