GTCC programs springboards for careers in restaurants, hotels
GTCC programs springboards for careers in restaurants, hotels
Jason Jones knows his way around a kitchen, but he also knows that a successful restaurant goes beyond what appears on a dinner plate.
Jones, 27, is executive chef and general manager of 223 South Elm, a fine-dining restaurant in downtown Greensboro. A graduate of GTCC's culinary technology program, Jones credits the school with giving him the variety of skills he needs to be valuable to the restaurant, where he's been working since 1999.
In addition to heading up the kitchen, Jones helps plan the menu, which revolves around the restaurant's "innovative Southern cuisine" twist.
From the jumbo lump blue crab cakes with balsamic slow-cooked collards to the garlic confit mashed taters, Jones uses fresh ingredients when preparing each item on the menu. "We let the menu do the talking," he says.
But he also has a hand in re-crafting that menu four times a year, each time showcasing new specialties. He says the kitchen staff's primary focus is on perfecting each serving.
"I like to concentrate on one dish at a time and am very careful about the seasonings I use ... I welcome feedback from our clientele," he says.
Related but distinct pathways
GTCC offers curriculums in hotel and restaurant management, and culinary technology, the latter of which Jones completed.
Students who pursue culinary technology come from all kinds of different career backgrounds, including human resources, accounting and even engineering, says Joyce A. Hill, department chairwoman of the Katherine A. Ragsdale School of Hospitality Education on GTCC's Jamestown campus. "Our program is creative in a fast-paced environment," she says.
The management program overlaps culinary technology in some areas, but diverges onto a path that focuses more on guest services and management skills for students who want to pursue supervisory or ownership roles in restaurants, hotels, resorts and other hospitality businesses.
Those who want to learn to cook but also are interested in hospitality management may want to consider tackling both curriculums, which would take three years to complete.
Ambition goes a long way
Hill has been at GTCC since 1990, so she has seen her share of dedicated students such as Jones. "He has a fabulous attitude" that has driven him to learn about every aspect of the restaurant business, Hill says.
That's apparent, she adds, when GTCC's food and beverage service evening class takes a field trip to 223 South Elm for a fine-dining experience to celebrate its last class of the semester. Jones prepares and explains each course of the meal, and is even so detail-oriented as to fix the placement of a fork if it is so much as a half an inch from where it's supposed to be.
"My students always ask, 'How does he know so much?' " To which Hill replies: "Because he wants to know so much."
That attitude and ambition, she says, is why Jones, who didn't pursue the hotel and restaurant management track, has become such a strong front-of-house leader on top of his success as a chef.
More about the programs
Hill says classes stay at capacity in both the GTCC programs; currently there are about 350 culinary tech students and about 80 hotel and restaurant management students.
The culinary program emphasizes hands-on classical cooking principles. Courses include menu design, baking, sanitation practices and garde manager. Instruction for the latter teaches students how to prepare cold foods, craft displays for banquet tables and chisel out ice carvings. The class is especially applicable if a student decides to pursue a catering career, Hill says.
Real-world experience crucial
In addition to the know-how they gain in class, students in both programs must also fulfill two 160-hour internships before graduation.
"Internships give students hands-on, real-world experience," Hill says, adding that she encourages students to find their specific interest, such as baking or fine dining, and find a place that best accommodates that interest. Once they decide what their focus will be, students may choose to intern with a local hotel, a casual restaurant or a country club, for example.
Many new graduates stay in the Triad, Hill adds, but some have moved to New York, New Orleans and even Denmark for jobs.
One of Jones' internships was working under a talented chef he met in Winston-Salem during an internship at the former Adam's Mark Hotel.
Jones has also had mentors and plans to return the favor in the future. Right now, though, he says he's quite content working in the heat of the kitchen, where he feels right at home.
Special sections writer Patrick Collins contributed to this story. Contact him at 412-5934 or pcollins@news-record.com
GTCC programs springboards for careers in restaurants, hotels
Jason Jones, executive chef and general manager with 223 South Elm in Greensboro.
Nancy Sidelinger Special Sections PhotographerWant to know more? To learn more about GTCC's culinary technology or hotel and restaurant management programs, call 334-4822 or access the school's catalog online at www.gtcc.edu.
