Duncan, FAHS make catering debut
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October 20, 2009 • Jacob Byrnes
Filed under Local, News
Fort Atkinson High School is known for its athletics and academics. Soon FAHS will be able to add a third specialty to the list: cooking.
Kevin Duncan, the new family and consumer education teacher at FAHS, used to run a catering company out of Seaside high school in Oregon State, where he used to teach. The school ran a successful catering business with students as the employees catering for school events, the local community, and community parties.
“For example if a teacher wanted to throw a taco bar party for his/her students, we would include the cost of the ingredients and the labor in the bill. We tried to make about a 33 percent profit,” Duncan said.
The company was a class and students interested had to go through an interview process due to the class’ popularity. The class also included a state of the art industrial kitchen; professional chef attire was worn and included visits by chefs from local four star restaurants, guest speakers and field trips. Only junior and seniors were allowed to join and the students were not paid for their work.
“The class was treated as a business. We learn how to run a restaurant and all the money we made went into purchasing the ingredients and kitchen utensils for the class. It’s a lot like the first year of culinary school and it looks good on a resume,” Duncan said.
Duncan also trained several students to compete in various cooking competitions, one of which was broadcast on the Food Network. The biggest cooking competition in Wisconsin is Pro Start, which is held in Madison; some are also held by culinary schools.
“We entered three competitions last year, but students had the opportunity to enter more. Our school placed in the top quarter of out fifty schools and went on to the national,” Duncan said.
In order to join the catering company students will have to have completed Foods 1 and 2, and should be interested in entering the field of culinary arts. So far, about ten students have signed up for the class. Mr. Duncan also plans on getting in touch with local restaurants, such as The Fireside and Central Coast as possible employment opportunities for students during the summer.
Cooking is experiencing a resurgence in popularity due, in part, to the popularity of the Food Network, shows like Hell’s Kitchen, and the notoriety of celebrity chefs such as Rachel Ray and Wolfgang Puck. Some schools have even made cooking classes mandatory to help curb the effects of obesity in the future by teaching students to eat healthier.
“I try to include healthy organic ingredients and we prefer to buy locally because it supports local farms and we try to cook every thing from raw base ingredients.” Duncan said.
Along with a new foods teacher, FAHS soon might be getting a kitchen make over. Mr. Duncan would like to knock down the wall that separates the kitchen area and the office space between the two classrooms. In the new space there will be a fully equipped industrial kitchen complete with gas stoves, dishwashers and refrigerators. The remolding could pose a problem with the budget for the foods class, which has a budget around $8,000. Kitchen remolding, isn’t cheap new refrigerators can cost $800-$1,300 while new gas stoves can cost $400-$600, and when one figures in the in the cost of food, and utensils the food budget could go over the $8,000 budget. In order to function, the catering company would need a separate budget, which in these economic times might not be possible. The class curriculum has also been changed, new and more difficult recipes have been added to the course and a new course, culinary arts which will be available to students who have completed Foods 1.
“It’s more of a complex class and we make more complex dishes then in Mrs. Straub’s class, but its more fun.” Junior Eric Wargowsky said.
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