TAMPA, Fla. — Some Hillsborough College culinary students are getting a new recipe for learning while the college works on its new culinary facility.
Students are completing hands-on instruction inside Feeding Tampa Bay’s Causeway Center, giving them an opportunity to continue their culinary training while also getting firsthand experience with the nonprofit’s day-to-day food operations.
Doreen Dougherty serves on both sides of the partnership. She is a chef at Feeding Tampa Bay and a Hillsborough College culinary student nearing the end of her degree.
“I think it’s just really incredible that we can, especially me as a student too, that we can collaborate,” Dougherty said. “I think it’s really interesting and amazing to see students come in and see our day-to-day operations, what we do here.”
Students are getting experience with a wide range of tasks inside Feeding Tampa Bay’s bistro kitchen.
“A lot of chopping vegetables, making salads, a lot of presentation,” Dougherty said. “We also do making sandwiches, making sauces, grilling chicken, making marinades for the chicken as well and helping with setup.”
Louise Black, culinary program manager at Hillsborough College, said the experience gives students an opportunity to develop skills and confidence through hands-on work.
“Some of them have never done this type of hands-on work before,” Black said. “So to see them go from being shy and meek in the beginning and not really sure what to do, to towards the end being able to run the entire restaurant is an amazing transformation.”
The partnership is also giving students exposure to large-scale food operations and hospitality while allowing Hillsborough College to continue its culinary instruction during the transition.
Feeding Tampa Bay President and CEO Thomas Mantz said the collaboration began as a way to address the college’s immediate need for kitchen space, but both organizations see opportunities for a broader relationship.
“We wanted to solve their immediate problem, which was space and opportunity,” Mantz said. “But the longer-term relationship we can have around building degree-seeking programs together, certification programs, GED programs — all things that Hillsborough College offers that our campus can provide.”
Mantz said bringing Hillsborough College programs to Feeding Tampa Bay could also connect people who visit the nonprofit’s campus with additional educational resources.
“What they can do is bring the important resources they have to the folks on our campus,” Mantz said.
Hillsborough College is relocating its Culinary Arts program and developing a new teaching kitchen at its Ybor City campus. College officials say they are in the early stages of designing the new space.
For now, the partnership with Feeding Tampa Bay is keeping culinary students in the kitchen and both organizations say it could be the first step in a longer-term relationship.