Recruiting future chefs and servers
All the restaurants are provided with the same kinds of food supplies, and they are free to decide what kind of menu they would like to create. Throughout the day the teenagers will plan, prepare, cook and serve a three-course dinner for parents, teachers, local policymakers and maybe even some regional celebrities. Three judges are observing the students all day, and evaluate the process based on levels of planning, preparations and follow-through, in short how everything from how the table is set to how the food is presented on the plate.
-Our intention with Youth Restaurant is to create interest and engagement in culinary, food and restaurant studies. Throughout the day the students get the chance to experience what it means to work with food in a restaurant. Both the restaurants and the students agree that this is a great way to show off the business, says Geir-Rune Larsen, the manager for The Professional Food and Restaurant Network in Trøndelag. He is also the head of the food and hospitality program at Strinda High School.
Larsen is one of the passionate people promoting the Youth Restaurant concept and has witnessed the results of this recruitment strategy.
-At Strinda High School the number of applicants for the Food and Hospitality program has increased considerably over the past few years. Many of our students now started out as participants in Youth Restaurant when they were in middle school.