Daily breakfast at the Marketplace in the Career & Technical Education (CTE) classroom behind the Patrick County School Board Office began on Monday, September 9.
Patrick County High School (PCHS) Assistant Principal/CTE Director Trey Cox said breakfasts are offered every school day from 8:30-9:30 a.m. and will include coffee and pastries. A soft opening of the program’s lunches was also held on Wednesday, September 4, with school board office staff receiving pre-ordered salads and cupcakes.
“So, pretty much she has the class divided up into groups, a salad group, a chicken group, a group making the croutons. It was a pretty impressive showing, I’ll give her credit for that,” Cox said of the CTE teacher. Employees in the Patrick County Administration Building will most likely be the next group the culinary arts classes cater to, he added.
While the class is still working out the kinks in the marketplace, Cox said the current plan is to have lunches sold twice a week. A start date has yet to be announced, but the idea is for the early week meal to be held on Tuesdays — something on the lighter side like salads and quesadillas. The end of the week meal on Thursday will be something heavier, like pasta or a meat dish.
“Start the week light and give them more time to make a bigger meal” at the end of the week, he said of the class members.
Cox noted the culinary arts classes also plan to distribute a survey to get feedback from customers on the food and suggestions for future meals. Students will then use the suggestions to decide what meals to create for the following week.
“We don’t want any overages. We run on a tight budget, and we just want to make sure we’re not losing any money. I don’t want them to make 74 dinners and only sell 16, so we have to send out the requests and get them to fill it back in in order for us to start making it for next week,” Cox said.
Surveys will be sent out on Fridays and the necessary items will be purchased on Mondays. Cox added he has no doubt the culinary arts classes will be able to mass produce the food needed to operate.
The Marketplace is entirely student-run, and Cox noted his only role is to collect the money and take it back to the students, who will then reconcile it.
“They’ll do all the parts of it. They had an ingredients per cost sheet up, and go by it to figure out how much money they were making on each salad, how much money they were making using the chicken, how much money they were making with the cupcakes and ingredients in this batch and that batch. They’re doing it all,” Cox said, adding students taking the lead was the purpose of the project.
“They did the marketing. They’ve come up with flyers, they’re doing that part as well. That’s all part of the standards that go along with culinary,” Cox said, and getting the Marketplace up and running has been a long process.
“We wanted to make sure it was done right. Because they’re not going to order it just because we’re the school if it’s not good,” he said with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t, I mean that’s your money.”
He believes the prices are also reasonable, with lunches mostly between $10-$15.
“You pay that for a bad meal” from fast food restaurants, “which is not very good for you either,” Cox said, adding that students in Culinary Arts II will be running the breakfasts. Those students are also already SERV Safe Manager certified.
“They can go and get a job anywhere as SERV Safe Manager, so it’s being prepared by kids who are well-versed on every safety rule,” Cox said, adding the students have a lot of plans for the Marketplace, and he hopes it goes well.
“I hope we keep doing it because it is so great for the kids. They’re getting on the job experience, and we can’t teach that. You can’t teach interactions with the public. You can’t teach the things that they’re having to do with the market and stuff, and dealing with the money,” he said.
Students are also gaining experience just by being enrolled in the classes and being in the kitchen, Cox said, especially if they plan to enter the culinary field after high school.
“That’s our job – to get them ready to leave and for them to find something to do when they leave. Mrs. Perry (PCHS Principal) says three things all the time, and I truly believe it with all my heart, you’re either enrolled, enlisted, or employed when you leave here, and that’s what we want,” he said.
Wooden items like crates, tables, bird houses, American flags, and cellphone holders made in CTE classes also will be available for purchase. “We’re going to get some shelving in to house our plants and stuff from the greenhouse” so people “don’t have to go to the school all the time, they can actually get them here,” he said.
Cox said the wood for the tables were donated and the school “didn’t spend a dime” for them. “They cut them out. The small ones are like $40, and the bigger ones are $80. They’re heavy duty too. They’re not light,” he said.
Bird houses cost $15, big phone holders are $10, small phone holders are $5, crates are $15, and the American flags are $50. Cox said the flags are a popular item, and it’s challenging to keep them in stock.
“We had a back order of like 16 last time I looked. People love them. It takes them (students) a little time to do them, but they’re just so nice and they’re gonna last,” he said.
