Serving up skills: The 4-H's Restaurant Challenge camp teaches children valuable skills beyond preparing dishes
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on July 25, 2017 5:50 AM
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Natalia Estrada, 8, helps team El Sombrero color their sign during the Restaurant Wars day camp at the Wayne Center Monday. Each day of the camp involves field trips and group activities to prepare the two teams for a restaurant war Thursday.
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Payton Kirby, 10, Natalia Estrada, 8, and Selam Foery, 10, color a poster for team El Sombrero Loco during the Restaurant Wars day camp at the Wayne Center on Monday. Each day of the camp involves field trips and group activities to prepare the two teams for a restaurant "war" Thursday.
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Alyssa Bruggeman, 11, discusses her teams menu and healthy options of the nachos they were planning to serve Thursday. The team changed their mind and decided that fish tacos would be healthier and just as tasty.
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Aidan Stepper, 11, whose team also chose a Mexican restaurant theme holds up the Mexican Fiesta team sign for critique. Michelle Estrada, also pictured, used the signs as an example of marketing and liked the clean design. Members of both groups decided the typeface should be more bold so it is easier to read.
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Guillermo Estrada, 12, struggles to cut a design draw in cardboard as his team, Mexican Fiesta, works on the sign for their restaurant. Each team is responsible for marketing materials, a menu and cooking a meal for a group of up to 12 people on Thursday.
Running a restaurant involves quite a bit more than simply having a clean kitchen and preparing tasty food -- a lesson which a group of kids are learning at the 4-H Restaurant Challenge camp this week.
The four-day camp began Monday, with 10 campers learning the fundamentals of the restaurant business.
Camp leader Michelle Estrada took the group downtown to visit Torero's Mexican Restaurant on John Street to see how the staff there keeps the place running.
Payton Williams and Jessica Summerlin, both 10, were excited to see how the kitchen worked. They explored the freezer, saw how the cooks prepared food and asked "a ton of questions," according to Payton.
The camp then moved on to Five-Star Restaurant and Caterers on Berkeley Boulevard, where they got another look behind the scenes.
From there, the group returned to the Wayne Center, their home base.
Estrada split them up into two five-member groups, each tasked with creating a "restaurant" to be unveiled on the last day of camp Thursday.
Creating this mock restaurant while learning about the business is the core of the Restaurant Challenge.
The campers work together to design every aspect of their establishment, from the type of food and name to the menus and signs.
Along the way, they learn about cooking, marketing and nutrition. Payton, for her part, was excited for the cooking to begin.
"I love cooking," she said. "A while ago, I made myself an eight-piece pizza. Well, the dog ate half of it, but I made it for myself."
This is the camp's second year in operation. After the initial tours on Monday, the campers will spend the rest of the week learning and preparing their restaurants.
On Tuesday, they will visit Odom Farms, to learn where food comes from. Next up will be Nutrition 101, followed by lessons on creating a shopping list and Cooking 101.
Wednesday will include food and kitchen safety lessons, grocery shopping and setting up tables and decorations.
The campers will also have to determine who will fill what role in their group, be it waiter, manager, cook or another role.
All of this will culminate on Thursday, when the campers' parents are invited to join the kids at their restaurants' grand opening. The kids will cook food and try to serve as many people as possible, collecting tips along the way to split among their team.
Estrada said that the variety of lessons the kids get is what makes the camp special.
"This is basic life skills," she said. "Most of the kids who come to my camp say they come because they like cooking, but I don't just teach how to cook."