Send a kid to … culinary school!
It started just a few years ago, but most food industry professionals took it with a grain of salt. New hires for restaurant kitchen duty were often not as skilled as they said they were. And applicants for upper-level positions that required certifiable experience, such as executive chef or general manager, were fewer and further between. And new hires sometimes didn’t make it through the season. And nowhere was this trend more obvious than in seasonal resort communities, not the least of which is Delaware’s Cape Region.
Chefs and restaurant owners whom I interview all agree: Skilled help in busy kitchens is getting harder to find. Five years ago you would not have seen job fairs here at the beach in the late winter. Now, as the 2016 summer season approaches, you need look no further than the Cape Gazette to see display ads and classifieds that include job fairs held by giants such as SoDel Concepts, Big Fish Restaurant Group and Touch of Italy - some with refreshments and other goodies to attract talented and dedicated culinary professionals to their ranks.
The Delaware Restaurant Association has stepped up to the plate with the well-regarded ProStart program, a nationwide, two-year, industry-written curriculum for high school students that teaches culinary and management skills needed for a career in the restaurant and foodservice industry. A significant number of these students continue into nationally accredited culinary schools. Some even return to Sussex County to become part of the business of eating here at the beach. Wouldn’t it be nice to increase those numbers!
To that end, Touch of Italy restaurants and RehobothFoodie.com have teamed up to form the 501(c)(3) Culinary Scholarship Fund. Tuition assistance is available primarily to students who successfully complete the classroom/practical levels of DRA’s ProStart program. At the moment, the only Sussex high schools that offer the programs are Seaford Senior High School and Cape Henlopen High School, but more are in the works.
Applicants who successfully complete the ProStart programs will be eligible for tuition assistance for their first two years at an accredited postsecondary culinary school, i.e., a culinary school that can demonstrate successful educational outcomes, specifically job placement. Students will be required to maintain a certain grade level in order to qualify.
This coming Tuesday, March 8, kicks off the first fundraising effort for the Touch of Italy/RehobothFoodie.com Foundation. The event is modeled after Italy’s celebrated Carnevale. The Rehoboth Beach Touch of Italy will morph into a traditional street fair with music, masks, auctions and bountiful food, wine and beer from five of Italy’s notable regions. The event will even pay homage to good ol’ Sussex County, Delaware with a special booth offering the Rehoboth Foodie’s fried chicken, nitro-coffee from The Point Coffee House and local beers from Dogfish Head. A basket of fine wines (worth over $4,000) that includes a $250 bottle donated by Teller Wines will be auctioned off, along with a limo-based progressive dinner at three SoDel Concepts restaurants and a wheelbarrow-full of Dogfish Head brews. Attendees will take home gift bags loaded with local products and treats.
In addition, an all-expenses-paid trip to Tuscany will be raffled off, with the winner selected and announced in late April, live on Delaware 105.9’s Sip & Bite with the Rehoboth Foodie. Raffle tickets and admission to Carnevale can still be purchased at any Touch of Italy restaurant, at TouchOfItaly.com/Carnevale or by calling 302-212-0171.
Help keep our fledgling chefs, line cooks, restaurant owners and managers right here in Sussex County by being a part of Carnevale this coming Tuesday night. I promise you will not leave hungry!
Bob Yesbek is a serial foodie and can be reached at byesbek@CapeGazette.com.
