Culinary students at The Howard School have a new commercial-grade kitchen where they can gain real-world experience in the food service industry.
Part of the See Rock City Inc. Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Howard, the kitchen was designed to be true restaurant quality. It features a walk-in fridge and freezer, flat-top griddles, deep fryers, broilers and much more.
Officials from Hamilton County Schools unveiled the kitchen at a ribbon-cutting Wednesday.
"We are so excited because we know the opportunities and the doors that this will open for our students," Executive Principal LeAndrea Ware said Wednesday. "Also, here at Howard, we talk about how do we not only change the trajectory for those students that are in front of us each and every day, but also the trajectory for generations to come."
The facility is one of the district's future-ready institutes, which provide programs of study in a variety of fields. Some prepare students with credentials to enter the workforce straight out of high school, while others offer post-secondary education credits.
Howard's hospitality institute offers students two pathways: food service and customer service.
Chef Patrick Kirby and Chef Gregory Whipple head up the food service side of the program.
"We're here to mold the next generation of food not only for Howard, but for the city," Kirby said Wednesday. "This is 'the' facility and it will be 'the' facility for cooking in Chattanooga ... if not Tennessee."
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Whipple said the culinary program takes three years to complete. Students spend the first two months learning about safety before being allowed to cook.
"The first year is all about foundations," Whipple said in an interview following Wednesday's ceremony. "It's really slow sometimes for the students because they don't understand what this has to do with cooking. But it's all about knife cuts. It's all about learning how to weigh, learning how to measure. And then as we progress into year two, then they start to put these things together and do some simple dishes."
In year three, students learn about food presentation and gain work-based experience, Whipple said.
On the customer service side of the program, students learn how service can affect the overall quality of restaurants or businesses.
"There are perceptions about the hospitality industry in that it's all entry-level positions," hospitality and tourism management instructor Jami Pierson said in an interview Wednesday. "But hospitality and tourism, including culinary, is one of the largest industries in the United States. So (we help) our students to see that there are many, many career opportunities."
The institute was established in 2019 with a $250,000 pledge over five years from See Rock City Inc. Hamilton County Schools officials said they are in the process of signing another agreement to continue the partnership into the next five years.
Howard also houses the Erlanger Institute of Healthcare & Innovation, the Institute of Robotics & Welding and the Institute of Architecture & Construction.
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327.