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THE PINE STREET INN’S FOOD SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAM
Plan B!
By JULIA REISCHEL
del.ico.us
reddit!If you flame out of college and develop a substance-abuse problem that destroys your life, you've taken the first step toward getting into one of Boston's best culinary programs. The Pine Street Inn won't accept anyone into its food service training program unless they're affiliated with one of the shelter's programs in "early sobriety" and have the endorsement of a trusted social worker. Technically speaking, that makes the 10-week kitchen-training course one of the most selective in town, and for good reason: Once you're in, you get a basic culinary education, a stipend and a good chance of immediate employment--the program's reputation and close relationship with the 99 Restaurant chain has helped graduates get gigs across the state.
"Usually, I can at least get someone an entry-level job," says Michael Barnhart, the kitchen manager of the program. "Anyone that leaves here can step into a kitchen of their choice and be trainable at that site."
As a classroom, the training program uses the Pine Street Inn's industrial food kitchen, which serves hundreds of people at lunch and dinner. "It's a great way to lean how to cook and deal with large volume, institutional-style cooking," Barnhart says. "I'm doing 1,200 for dinner and 600 for lunch, so they get exposed to quite a variety of foods." Trainees also work in the staff cafeteria doing short-order cooking, and they spend the first seven weeks of the course getting classroom instruction.
Six times a year, Barnhart walks 20 trainees through the basics of food safety, food identification and cooking techniques. "They learn all the different cooking methods," he says. "How to braise, how to roast, etc. They learn how to do table service. Product identification: what's a cucumber versus a tomato. You'd be surprised at how hard that is." Wow.
At the end of 10 weeks, Barnhart sends his students out into the world, where they've got experience that gives them the jump on the competition. "They can go into a kitchen and have a clue what's going on," he says.
