Meeting & Agendas

Chef Herrington opened meeting at 1:05pm with greeting guests and introductions.

The department will be moving to Highland (fall 2019) and have been working with a committee to discuss the plans (showed slideshow for vision). We have complied our """"dream” kitchens and learning environments. The culinary department will be a huge hub of ACC at Highland. Culinary will be on the ground floor near the atrium. We will have a restaurant running 5 days a week (breakfast, lunch, dinner) Kitchens: 3 skill labs, 1 pastry, 1 bakery, restaurant will have their own We will have a separate purchasing area. We would like this area to only be accessible to faculty/staff and would like students to keep out of this area. Kitchens: 1200 -1500 square feet each. They will have 4 station so no more than 16 students per class and would like the kitchens to be as open as possible. It has been requested that everything be able to be stored underneath and to be on casters. Equipment: We have met with Le Cordon Blue and we have been working with them to see if we can utilize their equipment at the new location. They have equipment that is not on our “wish list” that it would be really nice to have. Also, we maybe relocating to their campus for the next 3 years. Nothing has been finalized that this time. Bakery and Pastry: Front part would be a bakery. Pastry would be temperature controlled so classes could be run year round. Right now we cannot run classes each semester due to the temperature. Restaurant: Requested it be a very contemporary, kitchen. Currently trying to decide if it should be behind glass or completely open. We would like everything to be moveable; do not want tables bolted down. We want to be able to make the most of the space and does not really want to use booths. -Vance suggested that suggested that the glass could slide away so so that you could have the best of both worlds. -Carol noted that just because there is glass doesn’t mean that there is 100% cleanliness. She also noted that it is a great teaching tool to have it open -Vance noted that it would be a great opportunity to have the flexibility to open the glass up so that you could have guest chefs or demos -Vance asked about wine service. We will have beer and wine license when relocated. Dr. Rhodes would like to open a microbrewery. They are arranging a trip to El Paso to view their facilities. - Vance asked about catering/events? Yes, they will be heavily relied upon for ACC catering and events once they are relocated. There is talk of the open atrium space being used for events, but we do not want education to fall behind catering. We are educational first. -Carol noted to make sure there is enough prep space. Hoping that the restaurant helps get the students thru the capstone classes faster. Restaurant will have it’s own dry storage, walk-ins, etc. The kitchens would all have their own walk-ins. Hallway for the purchaser to access walk-ins so that they are not having to go through the kitchens. Each kitchen would have their own supplies so students would not be going into purchasing area. Vance suggests having the hallway become one large walk-in with dividers or doors. That will allow more kitchen space. Will also save money, as each kitchen will not need their own individual walk in. Door key codes could be used to control access. Carol uses separate doors for their coolers. Could cut a ton of money out of the budget. Have reach-ins in the kitchens. What equipment will be taken from EVC to HLC? Basically nothing. The equipment at EVC will be in use until the other campus is opened so there will be no turn around time to get it moved and inspected. They will be able to take some of the smaller/movable items. There will be space for the Herb Garden over at HLC. There will be a grab n go area. Increase production in classes such as basic foods. They would also like to be able to sell baked goods and cakes. Internships would be a possibility for this area. This would most likely be in a centralized location in the mall. This would not be a full kitchen.

We are in the second semester of the 60 hours degree plans as well as the classes we combined. ACC is rolling out Guided Pathways. Students will have access to academic advisors that will specialize in culinary. They are able to meet with the students prior to the student meeting with us. ACC is starting Guided Pathways to help students successfully complete degrees and make the process easier. With the hours cut back on the on the degree plans we are now seeing more students double majoring. Intermediate Foods is one of the new classes and it is going really well. This class is allowing students to get out from behind the cookbook and put the skills they have learned to use. Chef Waggoner is going to be developing a new class, a lot of our students with to open/own a food truck. Therefore, we would like to offer a class where students are able to start a food truck “business” start to finish. We are hoping to obtain grant money for this project. The students would go through the process of purchasing a food truck, getting it inspected, coming up with a business plan, marketing, etc. Then following semester it could be staffed with students. The truck could travel to campuses for food sales and then also be used for offsite catering. They would then sell the truck to obtain funds to run the course again. This course would be a restrictive elective.

David Waggoner is now a full-time faculty member as of this semester and we are glad to have him on board full- time. Mitch Witkins is a new adjunct professor with us this semester. We have a new adjunct coming on this summer. She has a strong background in pastry. This will allow us to run a lot more of the elective classes. We are looking to hire one additional adjunct. It can be challenging to find candidates that are qualified. If you have anyone that you could recommend, please let us know.

The pastry study abroad trip to France unfortunately, did not make this year. Several students had to drop out at the last moment, which made the number too low to go this year. We will be running it next year. The hospitality department is running a study abroad internship program this year in Italy and is open to culinary and pastry students. The study abroad program is really great and has a lot of opportunities. Students get to pick the type of operation they want to work in so if the student wants they can choose to work in a hotel, restaurant, small family bakery, etc. Students are required to interview with the companies. They will be there for four weeks, but during this trip they can only complete 110 hours in Italy. They will need to complete additional hours prior.

We require internship for all of our degrees. 226 hours are required to be completed for the course, which is about 20 hours week. We are having a trouble securing internships at this time. It seems that they are getting kicked out of the system/hiring process, as they do not have enough experience. The other issue could be that they are not willing to work around their class schedules. We encourage the students to start looking for their internship as early as possible. If anyone is able to assist us with internship opportunities, or know someone that could, we would greatly appreciate it.

Las sheets are two-sided form that we use to evaluate the students. Students fill one side out one side and the instructors evaluate them on the other side. We changed it up so we are more specific on the quality of work. We made it more specific so that students have a better understanding of their grade.

We are becoming stricter with our uniform policy. We require them to wear: skullcap (or cloth floppy hat), checks, apron, and logo on jackets. Really enforcing this now so that it reinforces professionalism. We have requested changing rooms for the new facility. Vance Ely brought up that lockers bring on the issue of cleanliness and security.

Vance and Carol highly recommend that security cameras be set up at the new campus, not only for safety, but also for liability. You are opening yourself up to a much larger area, more community access and then the student liability when they become “employees” at the restaurants. Carol highly suggests starting to propose these questions now to protect yourself and your students. Carol brought up that cameras have come in handy with customers have come back with lawsuits. Stephanie thanked everyone for their time and continued support. Meeting adjourned at 2:12pm. Next meeting TBD.