TCH Marketplace (formerly The Chef’s House) opened its doors back up to the public today after almost two months of closure amid provincial COVID-19 lockdown protocols. Offering grab-and-go take-out items, meal kits, snacks, groceries, and breakfast items, this re-structure will allow students to better adapt to the unprecedented challenges in the culinary industry posed by COVID-19.
“We’re trying to not just teach students the technical skills in hospitality and culinary arts, but also, the soft skills that are required to be successful”, says Eoghan Banks, manager of Food & Beverage and Events at the Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts (CHCA) at George Brown College (GBC).
“The silver lining of this challenge of COVID-19 is that we’re really seeing how innovative our industry can be and our students are learning first hand how to adapt.”
Since the beginning of the Winter 2021 semester, TCH Marketplace has been operating entirely online as instructors felt was the safest option for students, says Banks. When the student-run marketplace received approval to re-open, however, Banks decided this was the appropriate time to begin integrating CHCA students into their hands-on learning experiences.
Certain programs in the CHCA at GBC require students to complete a hands-on learning experience as part of their curriculum, so Banks came up with a method that was both safe and efficient to ensure all students had a chance to do so.
“We’ve reduced the number of students that work together to try to minimize the number of students that come into contact with each other every day, we try to work in smaller workgroups. So typically, we have four or five students with each instructor and they stay in their same little pod for the duration of the work placement,” says Banks.
Rotating the student groups in and out of TCH Marketplace in installments ensures that all students have the chance to experience their hands-on learning component in a safe and comfortable setting.
“I tell the students every day – if you’re not healthy and well, the rest of it really doesn’t matter. We wanted to make sure that the students were able to be in a safe environment, as safe as possible.”
For more information on menu items and operating hours, please visit thechefshouse.com.
