NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Tea Room cafe and bakeshop at Charles H. McCann Technical School serves as a reminder that gourmet chefs and restaurateurs can advance at a young age.
"Students are fully trained in dinning room service, à la carte food preparation [and] quantity food preparation," said Patrick Cariddi, coordinator, during a visit to the program in late October.
Students enrolled in the school's Culinary Arts Program learn hands-on skills used to work in all levels of food service industries. Within the program there are multiple group and individual projects structured to ladder difficulty levels from freshmen to senior year.
"My favorite part about the program is baking something and seeing the finished product," said culinary arts student Jordan Sartori. "My goal is to own my own bakery when I'm out of school."
As a high school senior, Sartori is near the final stages of the culinary program and has aspirations to continue his culinary expertise after graduation.
Once a student completes his or her training at McCann Tech two degrees are received, one in a traditional high school education and another in one in specialized training in a technical major. This school has the only American Culinary Federation certified program in Berkshire County.
The culinary program is also incorporated with a business class in which seniors are taught employability and entrepreneurial skills related to everyday tasks encountered in the workshop areas, according to Cariddi.
It has been formally a part of the program for two years now and is going very well, he said.
Two-thirds of students last year went on to either work in the field or to further their education through other culinary programs, he added. There are 45 students enrolled in the program this year with 15 freshmen who entered the exploratory stage at the start of the academic year.
"It's not that every student runs out of here and jumps into business [ownership] but it gives them a little bit of foresight," Cariddi said. "Some people in the culinary field have lifelong goals to own their own restaurant, bakery, or catering [service] so it gives them those needed skills that are out there."
The tearoom typically operates on a rotation schedule in which students are assigned new workshop stations throughout the week, according to Melissa King, the program's manager.
The stations are divided by students working at the bakeshop window, in dining services and on kitchen foodline, she said.
Students use a point of sales, or POS, computer system at the bakeshop window and dining room services. POS systems are common in restaurants and other food establishments today, she added.
Students cycle positions to learn how to work in all areas of a restaurant and to interact regularly with teachers at different stations, according to King.
Sophomore students are assigned positions to be a hostess or usher and as they advance to junior year, they work more behind the scenes in the kitchen, she said. The hot station and the sandwich station are usually student favorites, she added.
Senior students are able to take on further cooking experiences when applying to be a part of the co-op portion of the program. Students are taught managerial skills and entrepreneurial lessons to enhance their knowledge toward working in the real world.
"We have a student who graduated here many years ago then went to co-op at Cozy Corner in Williamstown and he's still there today, so it truly depends on the students and what their future plans are," said Cariddi.
Students build close bonds within the co-op program and are often given job offers after completing the program. Another restaurant that students work at is Freight Yard Pub, Cariddi said.
"We just made baked cod and my favorite dish to make is the chicken parm," said culinary arts junior Kiana Tovani. "I'm thinking about going to [work] at Williams College during my senior year to take part in co-op," she added.
The tearoom allows students to interact with customers, classmates, and teachers in an informal setting to prepare them for future career endeavors.
Family members of students often visit the tearoom to have a meal and see them in action.
Tearoom customer Michele Vareschi said her daughter is a sophomore in the culinary arts program and she has enjoyed eating in the tearoom on multiple occasions.
"She has always cooked at home but now that she is cooking all the time, she's getting more and more eager, and is always searching for more recipes online," she said.
Among all tasks and assignments students complete in the culinary program are quantity food preparation, group projects and food competitions.
In quantity food prep, students make about 325 lunches a day for all the students in the other vocational programs in the high school.
"Today the students made macaroni ham and cheese and they made the cheese sauce from scratch; a lot of the things we cook are made from scratch," Cariddi said.
The world-cuisine project assignment enables students to work individually on a dish but they all work together to prepare it.
"Each student is given a country and they choose a dish from that country, then have to develop a menu for that country and work together to prepare it for the menu that week," Cariddi said.
He said students also do individual projects such as the SkillsUSA challenge and practical exams to test their knowledge on cooking thus far.
"As they [students] get older they get to be the managers and leaders in the field; we have some students that get the chance to be HACCP [Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point] manager, said Cariddi.
In this position, a student must overview sanitation and safety check list protocols, he said. In the beginning of the culinary program, freshmen are taught nutritional values that are put into play here.
"It's a nice transition to start them out young and teach them all the basics then as they get older and become more advance we put them in more leadership roles," said Cariddi.
"I love the culinary program because this is what I want to do with my career after school," said culinary arts junior Blaize Pandell.
According to Cariddi, the program has an articulation agreement with schools such as the Culinary Institute of America, Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, Berkshire Community College, Schenectady (N.Y.) Community College.
The tearoom switches between fall, winter, and spring menus to gain customers and to offer a wide range of food options. It is open to the public every other Tuesday morning from 10:45 to noon. The room will reopen after winter break on Feb. 2, 2016.
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The world-cuisine project assignment enables students to work individually on a dish but they all work together to prepare it.
