U of W eateries offer diverse fare
By: Trevor Suffield | United Way in the News | Archive 2009
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Canstar Community News Limited, Thursday August 6, 2009
Reproduced with permission.
University of Winnipeg students will soon be able to take a gastronomical tour around the world without leaving the campus.
Ben Kramer, formerly of the Dandelion Eatery, will be overseeing the food preparation for three different eateries at the University of Winnipeg that will be staffed mostly by recent immigrants.
The pilot program, which received more than 200 applications, has already begun training approximately two dozen people from as far away as Cuba, Ethiopia, Sudan and Moldova on all aspects of the food and hospitality industry.
The four-week course is split into two weeks of classroom work and two weeks of hands-on experience, and covers topics such as meal preparation, customer service, and safe food handling.
The Manitoba Tourism Education Council is overseeing the classroom work, which began July 23 and finishes Aug. 7.
Shannon Fontaine, chief executive officer of the MTEC, says the DFS program will give participants an edge when looking for jobs.
"Whether there's 20 people applying for a job or 50, the fact that you have training is going to give you a greater advantage," Fontaine says.
Lori Slobodian, coordinator of training and client relations at MTEC, says that participants are learning from a workbook called Tourism Essentials as well as a new pilot program called Canadian Workplace Essentials.
Ben Kramer, former chef and general manager of the Dandelion Eatery, is the program's executive chef, and he’s almost as excited as his students.
"We get so many different countries represented that even if I just learned a little bit about food from their culture, I'd be very happy," says Kramer, who is encouraging food suggestions from his multicultural staff.
"The potential for growth, not just for them but for us, is huge, and it's definitely a two-way street."
Kramer says all the food will be made from scratch and he will try to stay local and organic wherever possible, while not sacrificing quality.
Kramer, who lives in Riverview, says that despite a tight timeline to get things up and running, he hopes to stage some dry-runs before the eateries open.
Students will be able to choose from Café Bodhi, Malecon, a Spanish boardwalk-type cafeteria featuring foods of the world, and Pangea's Kitchen.
Kirsten Godbout, the former general manager of Bread and Circuses, will manage the operational side of the eateries and says they have already received more than 200 applications.
Godbout, who lives in Niakwa Park, says that as well as staffing the eateries, they will be offering a catering service.
"We will be catering local functions inside the buildings, and we're hoping to do a considerable amount of external catering," she says.
The graduates of the program will eventually be invited to invest in Diversity Food Services.
Spearheading the initiative are the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation and SEED Winnipeg, with funding from the United Way, Manitoba Labour and Immigration, and Employment Manitoba.
