Beginning in 1996, Bernie’s Place has reopened its doors for a new school year on Sept. 13, 2017 with a new menu and restaurant. Bernie’s Place is a non-profit restaurant ran completely by students in the culinary class at McKenzie. Many of the students who take this program hope to pursue this career and work in a restaurant.
“My parents had me cook at home for a while and I just liked the interest and it just seems cool and I could really open up my own restaurant one day,” junior Drew Clardy said.
Once it opens, its schedule is Wednesday to Friday from 11a.m. to 1p.m. The restaurant prices its foods very affordably and customers can buy a range of meals from soups to cakes. All funds go back into the program to pay for foods, materials, etc. Students leave program with 8 credits if they complete all three years. They rotate between all the positions in a typical restaurant to get the feel and experience of what it’s like.
“Five dining room servers, host, cashier, expeditor, salad station, fryer, grill station, sandwich station, baker, hot foods (makes the housemade soups), dishwasher. The students rotate through each position, so everyone can experience each position. They only spend three days in each position, so it is definitely a learning environment,” culinary arts teacher Gracie Sahm said.
On Monday and Tuesday, the two days the restaurant isn’t open, students learn cooking techniques and how to cook meals that aren’t on the menu.
“They participate in labs involving international cuisine, meats, seafood and poultry, salads and garnishing, cost control, purchasing and inventory, sustainability etc,” Sahm said.
Once Bernie’s Place opens, students will spend three blocks running the restaurant. The class follows the National Restaurant Association’s ProStart curriculum and once they finish the class, they are eligible to earn college credit from Ivy Tech or Vincennes as former student Ashley Clark did.
“I took this program in 2014. I did it for one year and I’ve always been interested in cooking so I took this program and then I went to Ivy tech. When I was finished and got my culinary degree and now I am here, helping out as a assistant instructor to help Ms. Sahm out and help the kids learn how to do different things in a restaurant,” Clark said.
The menu of Bernie’s Place changes from year to year. This year two new items that will be added are Tilapia Po’ Boy and Pulled Pork BBQ sandwich.
“We just brainstorm which one will be a hit seller based off of our past menu,” Clark said.
Only students who have been in the program for two years can work in Bernie’s Place. This is because they must pass their safety test and learn many important skills in cooking before fully running a restaurant.
“We also teach knife skills and teach them how to operate all the commercial equipment. They learn the point of sales system and we go through server training,” Sahm said.
Typically that means senior year they can work in the restaurant unless they began the course their sophomore year. One thing that can be concluded is that students learn a great deal about cooking and get to be exposed to the full experience of what it’s like to run a restaurant.
“There's a lot of stuff that I haven’t made before that we get to do in class and Ms. Sahm teaches us about pots and pan that I have never even seen in my life,” Clardy said.