BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Buffalo School of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management combines the skills in the classroom with the skills in the kitchen, helping students build their own recipe of skills for success.
“Everyone here is just wonderful. I like cooking and they take that and they improve on it,” said Caden Gibson, an eleventh grader at the school. “I think there’s a lot of opportunities when taking culinary school, you can become someone here like a culinary teacher, but if you do want to do anything in culinary in your future, you also have other opportunities.”
During the four-year program, students attend regular classes along with two periods of culinary classes, adding experience to their resumes every day.
The program’s staff said the first-year students focus on career and financial management, and second-year students then enter the kitchen and learn basic skills while also making food for the school. The eleventh graders make food for their cafe, “School Grounds,” which is open to the public, and during their last year, seniors move into the bakery department.
Buffalo Restaurant Week spring edition runs April 15-21
“I always say, I wish in high school, I had this opportunity,” Michelle Cimato, a culinary teacher at the school said. “It’s not just cooking skills or cooking methods and techniques, they’re learning how to be employable, how to be a leader, how to work on their time management to be responsible, to be a team player, a lot of teamwork goes in on this–those are transferable skills they can take anywhere with them.”
For some students, like Tyler Timineri-Craig, it’s a dream to work in culinary arts. Timineri-Craig hopes to become a pastry chef one day and is currently working in the cafe, alongside his classmates.
“It’s just a great experience to be in here,” Timineri-Craig said. “It’s a great place to eat, and enjoy your time here because I think our food is honestly so good and honestly we put a lot of effort in our food, and I think people should try it.”
From breakfast pizza, to homemade pastries, to freshly carved meats and soups and sauces made from scratch, School Grounds, serves a rotating breakfast and lunch menu Tuesday through Friday.
They are participating in this year’s Buffalo Restaurant Week as well, hoping to get the word out about their school and its mission. To see their menu, click here.
“We just really want to get our name out there and give the kids as much exposure and experience as possible,” Cimato said.
For more information on the school, visit their website here.