Hilton sophomore Rebecca Stevens prepares a brownie sundae for a customer at the Prima Vera Cafe, a one-day restaurant experience at Hilton High School. Students in Carol Cowan’s Career and Financial Management class at Hilton High School got a taste of the hard work involved in running a restaurant recently when they opened the Prima Vera Café for a day. The students researched recipes from reliable cookbooks, tested them, then spent two days prepping. Everyone was involved in preparing the food, then students were assigned jobs as servers, hostesses, kitchen managers and kitchen servers.
In addition to the food prep, serving and clean up, the class had to manage their finances for the restaurant. The menu included everything from strawberry lemonade for $1, entrees like chicken scaloppini and oven-fried haddock for $6, side dishes such as poppy seed fruit salad and tortellini spinach casserole for $1, and delectable desserts including ice cream pies and banana colada sundaes for $1.50. Family members and staff are invited to patronize the café during lunch.
The course emphasizes career selection planning, interviewing and job application. Students also learn budgeting techniques, money management and basic economics through group and individual projects.
“If you’re thinking about running a restaurant, you’ll see just how crazy it gets!” said junior Bryanna Gatto, who worked as a hostess for the event.
