The Columbia Area Career Center’s (CACC) culinary classes will hold their second annual sale Thursday, Oct. 27. The buffet-style service will feature Thanksgiving themed food with a vegetarian option, charging $5 a meal. The food will be completely student cooked and prepared, with the proceeds going back into the culinary program.
Culinary students have worked diligently the past week to get ready for the upcoming sale, which aims to offer people a chance to sample the Thanksgiving menu before order forms are due.
“We have to start promoting our Thanksgiving sales, which are actually around Thanksgiving, so we have to get our order forms out by the end of October or [the] beginning of November,” Head Chef Brook Harlan said. “We wanted to give everyone at least a week before the forms are actually due.”
Despite being considered ‘work’ and taken for a grade, most students love the classes, with any preparation going into the sale being considered fun and exciting.
“A lot goes into [the sale],” Culinary 2 student and junior Sam Ventrilo said. “People are here for a long time working, before and after school, during AUTs and lunch. It’s just that every component of every dish needs to get done for Thursday, so it’s pretty busy, but there’s not really a lot of stress because we all really enjoy it.”
In order to allow potential buyers a chance to preview the Thanksgiving sale options before purchasing, Harlan and the culinary classes assembled some holiday favorites that will be sold at the buffet. Because of the sale’s success in the past, Harlan feels confident that the event will follow the same path as before.
“We’ve tweaked the menu over the years to see what we can do to get the most number of people the best food possible,” Harlan said. “We do anywhere from 500 to 650 [sales], so when the student lunches come through it’s extremely packed. We start at 10:30 a.m. and it’s basically nonstop until 1:15 p.m.”
Aside from raising money and previewing a menu, the sale provides students with a lot of valuable hands-on experience from working with everyday types of food.
“My preparations have gone really well so far,” Culinary 2 student and senior Annie Lottes said. “The class is a lot of time commitment, but nothing is very challenging per se. It’s a lot of fun and I plan on going to culinary school after I graduate so this is the kind of stuff I really love doing.”
The sale will take place during both student lunches with the menu available here: http://www.caccculinary.com/p/cacc-culinary-menu.html