LORAIN, Ohio — Years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a local high school culinary program is getting back to business as usual.
With new technology in hand, Lighthouse Grill at Lorain High School (LHS) has opened its doors to lunch customers.
“This year we got the new Toast system,” said Chef and Culinary Instructor Terra Dahlhausen. “If you go out to eat, you see the server come to the table with the tablet, they take the order, it goes right back to the kitchen and then the receipt prints and they can pay and do everything at once.”
Dahlhausen said it was important students were able to learn on the most updated technology.
“They’re learning the entry level skills to go further to become a chef, to become a restaurant manager,” she said. “They take two years of the program, they learn knife skills, they learn how to make roux and gravies, desserts, restaurant front service, using our Toast system and taking orders and bringing drinks out and from the beginning to the end of service in the restaurant.”
According to the National Restaurant Association, the restaurant and food service industry is the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer.
LHS Chef and Instructor Marisa Goodman said it takes hard work to succeed in this industry.
“Lots of hours, unfortunately, we don’t get holidays off, we won’t get weekends off,” she said. “It’s kind of nice to sit back and see how [the students] have developed throughout their two years with us.”
Each year, 90 to 100 students are involved in the program, but they reach students as early as 5th grade to start thinking about culinary as an education path. They also receive ServSafe certification, which, according to the company, "verifies that a manager or person-in-charge has sufficient food safety knowledge to protect the public from foodborne illness."
“We have a few students that are at [Lorain County Community College’s] culinary program, we have a few working at Hyde Park, we have a few students that are working at the new Gilmore Restaurant in Lorain,” said Dahlhausen. “I have students that have left and have become restaurant managers, so we have a few running the restaurant on their own.”
This is the last week to stop by for lunch at Lighthouse Grill for this school year. It’s open to the public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (April 23 and 24) from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., but you must make a reservation.
