It is midday at PJ's Restaurant and uniformed servers are putting the finishing touches on tablecloth-draped settings as the winter sun warms the room from a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.
Beyond the dining room a bustling kitchen is chopping, stewing and braising ingredients, preparing the line for service. Dressed in chef whites and calling "corner!" as they pass one another among a sea of stainless steel, this crew will serve lunch to a crowd of paying customers - but they're not here for a paycheque.
This is HTM *3090 Restaurant Operations led by U of G alum Chef Monika Kruszka, and her staff are students in the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Mangement at the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics.
A hospitality program at the university level is unique, Kruszka says, as are its goals. Students are learning restaurant operations from the ground up, to step into roles overseeing a business, in management or ownership. "They're learning food costing, budgeting, analysis," she says.
The first four weeks of the full-credit course are a traditional teaching and learning environment in the classroom; the last six weeks are devoted to running PJ's.
There is an interdisciplinary element to the course - of the 18 students each semester, approximately half are studying hospitality and half are nutrition students from the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences (HHNS).
Many others are in Hospitality and Tourism Management, a four-year bachelor of commerce major that's also available in co-op and a three-year accelerated degree option.
Real-world learning without leaving U of G
While PJ's doors don't open until 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, students begin their day in the morning with food prep, bar set-up and preparing the 80-seat dining room for the day's reservations, walk-ins and take-out service.
"All the students call each other Chef," Kruszka says, of her kitchen crew. "There's fun but also respect. That's how the industry works."
Students rotate through front- and back-of-house positions each week, designing themed menus with options for vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free diners. The kitchen and bar are full service, the meat halal and ingredients are sourced locally and organically wherever possible, like the Detour Coffee pouring from the espresso machine.
Capping the class size makes both learning and lunch service manageable and mirrors the benefits of co-op style education without having to leave campus, Kruszka says.
Third-year Applied Human Nutrition student, Marcus Z. says the skills he is learning go far beyond the restaurant industry. "I didn't expect to learn so much about people, working as a team, while also learning how to prepare healthy, delicious meals," he says. "I've learned the most during my time at U of G in this class."
The students designated as that week's hosts and servers greet diners upon arrival, escort them to their seats, provide direction on the menu, and take payment when the meal is over.
One difference - no tipping. "That just feels wrong," says Kruszka, who is able to offer a reasonably-priced menu given some of the typical business expenses (labour, rent) are alleviated.
"My goal is to train students for how the restaurant industry should operate, not necessarily the way things have historically been done," she explains. Gone is the high-heat, high-stress, zero tolerance kitchen full of yelling and toxic language. In its place - laughter, camaraderie, patience and a sharp focus on safety.
Developing leaders for a sustainable, equitable world
Following each service, the class conducts a post-mortem, breaking down what went right and what went wrong, what needs improving upon, what was executed well. "That's a learning opportunity for all of us," Kruszka says. "By the end, these students are industry experts."
The course prepares students on a foundational level, Kruszka says, while redefining leadership and business education to respond to a changing world. Following Lang's philosophy of business as a force for good, she notes, "ethical and collaborative business leaders are unquestionably the future."
PJ's Restaurant is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Feb. 4 to April 2. Click here for menus and reservations.
