Photos by Ralph Freso
GCU’s culinary arts program will feature more than just an opportunity for students to start earning a minor this fall.
The program, which launched in the spring with a pilot course whose students produced pastries for the campus's five Grand Canyon Beverage Co. locations, has plans to set up four pop-ups in the fall. Two will be for smashburgers and two will feature ramen. Also, the program will host a Thanksgiving bake sale.
This is the latest plan of Gabe Gardner, culinary arts program director. The pilot elective course and subsequent minor degree in the Colangelo College of Business arrive in the midst of a vibrant Phoenix hospitality and tourism landscape known, not just for golf, but for its restaurants, resorts and country clubs.
“I think what surprised me, probably more than any other, was the amount of entrepreneurship majors that wound up in the (pilot) class,” Gardner said. “I think that both speaks to the quality of the entrepreneurship program that (Chair of Entrepreneurship) Tim (Kelley) runs, which is exceptional.
"There are a lot of students in that program who want to do something, create their own business involving food, and that wasn't something that I expected.”
The proximity of Cañón 49 to Canyon Ventures – where more than a dozen student startup businesses operate – convinced Gardner to emphasize entrepreneurship while also providing students with a more holistic learning experience to enhance their aspirations.
“When we see a good idea, we launch, and there's no bureaucracy from here to there,” the college's dean, John Kaites, said last fall. “It's an unbelievable place to be creative and to develop new programs for our students, innovation and ways to reach people for Christ.”
Gardner, who has a passion for baking, noticed the steady business at the campus's GCBCs, so put together a small group of students who baked products three times a week for the coffee shops.
“Starting in the fall, we're going to be baking five days a week and supplying all five GCBCs. The students baking those products are student workers,” said Gardner, who hoped that even the students who aren’t culinary arts minors might discover they have an aptitude for it and will be persuaded to take a culinary arts course or go beyond that.
One of the courses in the culinary arts curriculum is HTM 310, or Baking and Pastry Arts. That class will be producing baked goods for GCBC as well as turning Cañón 49 into a pop-up bakery several times a semester. It's where students, faculty and staff can purchase items with dining dollars or traditional payment options.
The Thanksgiving bake sale will allow faculty and staff, as well as students staying on campus, to order pies and pastries for the holiday.
Gardner, former director of food entrepreneurship at Local First Arizona, was pleased with the interest displayed by the 16 students who took the pilot course in the Cañón 49 kitchen.
“I've taught at culinary schools all over the country, and it was a different kind of class than I have taught before, and I think largely because of the setting and the ability to leverage that restaurant,” Gardner said.
“There’s a different mindset with GCU students. Most of them are opening the doors for people and saying ‘Good morning’ and looking you in the eye. It's just a different vibe, and everybody – faculty, staff, students, everyone – wants to be helpful and is welcoming. It's just been a really cool experience.”
With input from Dr. Jennifer Elfenbein, the business college's hospitality management chair, the curriculum was sculpted from a restaurant viewpoint to enhance the marketability and preparation of students.
The pilot class focused on basic soups, stocks, sauces and knife cuts.
Gardner also gained teaching skills in that pilot course he'll bring into the classroom.
“I took pages of notes after most classes about changing this or that, or teaching the lesson of the day but noticing that something occurred that could have changed the lesson or switched things around,” Gardner said. “So the next iteration of the (foundational culinary skills) course class will be different, and saying this in the most deprecating way that I can, I hope it’s better.”
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected].
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