I think the culinary profession is an exciting
field to go into: it’s dynamic, it is constantly
changing, there’s trends in food.
There’s so many different areas you can
go into.
I love the page of the kitchen, the fast page,
the rhythm of it.
And I love the camaraderie among the teachers
and the students.
It’s really a fun place to come be and learn.
It’s just such an eye-opening experience
for you.
You get hands-on training; everything that
you do is everything you’re going to do
in real life.
You can get a job worldwide in food, you can
work on a cruise ship, you can work in a resort;
you can do small, you can do large.
There’s just such variety here.
You get to handle customers and understanding
and knowing the real world will be like.
It’s not one of those programs where, “Oh,
I’m just going to skip a day.”
You come in wanting to go to class.
What you’re going to find here is find real-world
teachers that are going to give you real-world
experience.
They’re going to get you ready and prepped
to go out there and work.
We offer both degrees and certificates.
We offer a certificate in Introductory Baking,
we offer a certificate in Culinary Arts & Hospitality
Management, as well as a degree in Hospitality
Management for the students.
So they’re welcome to do any one of those
or all of those if they’re interested, and
then it just depends on what their goals are
in terms of where they want to work in the
industry.
We have a lot of students that graduate and
start their own catering company or a food
truck.
They work in a bakery, a restaurant, a hotel
environment, work for a caterer.
We have graduates that are working as the
Pastry Chef at Ella Restaurant here in town,
the Pastry Chef at Biba in town, the Pastry
Chef at Waterboy here in in town, the Executive
Sous Chef at Ella.
We have students working at Gary Danko in
San Francisco as well.
I’ve owned a bakery for about 30 years,
Tarts & Truffles, a local Sacramento bakery.
Before that I made pastries in a french restaurant.
My background really helps me teach the students
what it’s like in business.
I’m not just here to teach them how to make
a cake at home, which they will learn to do,
but this is job training.
The teachers here are amazing.
Each one is unique.
No two teachers are the same in this program.
Chef Judy is an awesome instructor.
Working with her has actually been a pleasure
because a lot of the stuff that she teachers
is real life.
She’s no-games.
This is what’s going to happen in the real
world, and if you can’t be prepared for
it then this is not the job for you.
So I try to get them to do some time management.
I keep telling them use your baker brain,
your baker brain is going to say “What’s
next, what’s next?”
Instead of doing one apple pie today, you’re
really doing 50, so what can we do to speed
things up.
So the business background really helps for
that.
Rather than just knowing baking, I know the
business end of it.
The new facilities offer the students the
opportunity to work in a multitude of lab
classrooms which are specifically designed
for different teaching styles and learning
needs.
We have a baking laboratory which is specific
to baking with multiple types of ovens.
We have an introductory lab which has more
ovens and stovetops so that students get individual
practice on items that they need to do.
And we have a more advanced kitchen which
is designed for multiple large-scale catering
large-scale production.
We’re learning everything from how to bake
french bread, to make rolls, cookies, biscuits
scones, european pastries, napoleons, european-style
layer cakes, american-style layer cakes.
So the icing you saw us do today will be for
our final exam where we’re going to have
to ice a cake and do some writing on it as
you would want a cake to look to be sold professionally.
And then there’s also the culinary cooking
side of it, where we learn what’s the difference
between braising and stewing, and just all
the little details that you don’t really
think about when you’re cooking at home.
We have a student-run, fine-dining restaurant
that is open 3 days a week, Wednesday, Thursday,
and Friday.
We do serve lunch only and the students run
both the front of the house as well as the
back of the house as part of that.
the Sacramento Bee has given that restaurant
4 stars in its last three reviews.
We have a food theory class in professional
cooking and other classes that lead up to
the Oak Cafe.
The students that are in the Oak Cafe are
preparing all the food there, that’s on
them.
That’s a real exciting class for our students
especially now with out great new facility.
Everything that we have in the facility is
at a professional level so that students have
the opportunity to work with the same sorts
of ovens and equipment they would see in a
regular restaurant.
You know that this is how it will be in the
real world.
Nothing is sugar-coated.
Everything is student-run.
We’re on a time schedule.
We have everything set up.
We have a second class that we call “front
of the house” or Dining Room Management
those are your servers.
You’re expected to be there like any restaurant,
early morning and you stay until the work
is done.
It’s such a different experience.
It’s wonderful to see the food go out, the
food plated, being set up, and coming back
completely empty.
[Customer speaking]
Oh that’s beautiful!
Look at the pomegranate seeds.
The current facility holds 70 people.
We do about 110 to 120 lunches a day through
there.
Additionally on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
we have a retail bakery that is open and the
baking students come in as early as 6 AM to
start their baking to make sure they’re
ready to run the bakery each day.
The Candy Lab is a temperature controlled
room.
We have marble slabs on the countertop.
And that is usually in our advanced baking
class.
So they make caramels, and they make truffles,
and they temper chocolate, and they make all
kinds of different candies.
The benefits of this program over other programs
are first of all the price.
As a community college, you have only a small
price that you are going to be paying.
You’ll be walking out of this with a degree
and not a whole lot of student debt—which
is really important because no matter where
you graduate from, you will be starting as
an introductory line employee.
So you’re not going to be making a huge
wage, and it would be terrible to start with
huge debt as you go into that.
We get money from the restaurant and the bakery,
coffee cart that we run that pays for all
of our lab materials.
So our labs don’t cost anything.
Essentially it’s tuition, books and equipment.
So it’s very economical and very affordable.
Even though it’s the same class every semester
that I teach, it’s always different.
And the students are fun.
I love working with the students.
I have all ranges of ability and all ages
in here.
And this is a beautiful environment.
It’s just fun!
It’s fun to come here.
I think that this is the best route for anybody,
especially if you cannot afford a private
institution and you do not want to be in debt.
My best bet is to come here and learn all
that you can, because these teachers and chefs
are willing to teach you, and so are your
peers.
They all have different experiences as well.
I highly suggest coming here.
You learn so much in this program that I’m
going to be leaving as a whole different person.
The facilities here are outstanding, and the
instruction here is among the best that you’ll
find in Northern California.
If you ask any chef in the Sacramento region,
they will definitely tell you to come to American
River College.
