KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After closing for two years, the Cardinal Café at Manual Technical and Career Center is back open for business.
"Our Cardinal Café is a perfect example of a situation where you bring real world learning to life," Principal Christopher McNeil said.
Senior Kareem Doolin says working in the café is his favorite part of the day.
"I don’t think there’s a single one of us that comes here everyday and is like, 'I really want to go home, I don’t want to be here.' We’re all kind of here and the moment we get here, it’s our favorite part of the day," Doolin said.
Everything is made from scratch.
"Cause if we teach a kid how to open up a box, that’s what they’re going to learn in the industry is how to open a box," Chef Thomas Belisle said. "We’re not giving anybody the benefit and empowering them the way they need to be empowered in a real-world teaching situation, if we do that. I don’t have a single student here that does not performing at the top of their game every single day."
Each student on Belisle's side has their food handlers card.
"They’re not limited," he said. "They can go out to the industry immediately when they pass that test.
In the meantime, students will take orders, make new recipes that are both savory and sweet.
"It’s a real-world education and just getting us started what the world is preparing us for," junior Noah Thomas said. "I work at Hawaiian Bros and the first thing that perked their ears up was, 'oh you have culinary arts as a class.'"
While students prepare different baked good and recipes, they're learning skills that'll give them options after high school.
"I'll be brutally honest, some of our students are not gonna have the opportunity to go to college, so we’re teaching them a life skill because every one of these students is going to be cooking for a parent, a child, a spouse at some point in their life," Belisle said. "It's a life skill."
It's a life skill Doolin plans on taking with him when he opens up his own coffee shop.
"If I feel this way about cooking other peoples recipes, I can only imagine how it’s gonna feel it’s gonna be opening up my own coffee house," he said. "Only thing I can say is if you’re not down here, you're kind of missing out. No guarantee I’ll save anything for anyone."
The café is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Anyone is welcome to come and support the café.
All money raised goes back to the culinary program.
