MACON, Ga. — Cooking up culinary skills in the classroom and on the road is the goal for the culinary program at Hutchings College and Career Academy. The Bibb County Board of Education recently approved the purchase for a "Mobile Food Truck Learning Lab."
Zoey Watkins is a junior at Howard High School, and she says, "Basically, I just like the fast pace of work, just the fast pace and how we help each other."
She's in her second year in Hutchings' culinary program and plans to continue for her senior year.
"After college, I could see me as a chef. I could see that. I can see me going to culinary school because I am already getting credits for it, so I don't see why not," Watkins said.
"We want to make sure that they have employment opportunities. We want to make sure that they have the background to enter the food service industry with a bunch of experience," Stuart Hardy, the Executive Chef instructor for Hutchings College and Career Academy, said.
Hardy says right now, they have a restaurant and catering service.
"It's like real fast-paced. You got to come in and do this and that. It's really getting us ready for what we're going to do," Watkins said.
But the food truck will add even more experience to the students' plates.
"It's very feasible for a student to maybe go out and find a small business loan and finance a food truck versus trying to find a brick-and-mortar restaurant and hire 50 staff members and try to make that start. It's a big leap," Hardy said.
Watkins says she's excited to cook things up on the road.
"It's just more stuff to taste more stuff to eat, you get to learn more," Watkins said.
The food truck should also help the students get more involved in the community.
Hardy says he hopes to consistently park the food truck in downtown Macon.
"We want it to be that the community supports us and that we're there to support the community back in turn. We just want to be more involved," Hardy said.
Hardy says with supply chain shortages, it's difficult to say specifically when they will get the food truck rolling. He hopes it will be by January of next year.