The classroom is spilling over into the business world in one Macon school.
It’s a great combination -- fine dining and low cost. For just a few dollars, you can get a four-course meal and help out some students at the same time.
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Those meals include things like: a lemon truffle vinaigrette salad, seared scallops, beef short ribs, along with hazelnut, sea salt and caramel over a variety of chocolate truffles.
“It’s a ridiculous bargain, we serve a four-course meal for $10," said Hutchings College and Career Academy instructor Chef Stuart Hardy.
Before the food is served here, learning how to cook it, starts here in the classroom at the career academy.
“Just really close hands-on training, we try to make sure we’re giving recipes, we’re doing demonstrations, we’re going over the menu before kids are producing food so we have all the questions answered and they know what they should be producing," said Hardy.
The culinary arts program integrates chef training with a real-life dining experience. Students prepare and serve a weekly menu in the Compass Rose dining room on campus, in exchange for college credit.
It’s a fast-paced learning environment that reflects a real, working restaurant.
“That’s what most employers and colleges are looking for out of their workforce, out of their students, is to operate at an elevated level producing quality food," said Hardy.
It’s a system that works for the students.
“We actually get a lot of experience that other students don’t get, considering that we have a restaurant and we’re serving a lot of people and it’s fine dining. It’s not like regular hamburgers and fries," said student Tristian Tatum.
The career academy is located on Anthony Road in Macon and lunch is served every Friday. You can make reservations for Compass Rose online by clicking here.