Who is this school for?

The Community Culinary School of Charlotte is for adults who have experienced barriers to employment. Those barriers can be stereotypical drug or alcohol addiction. They can also be incarceration -- and that record follows you around.　

The 12- to 14-week training program in the culinary arts can really help recreate these adults' lives.

What do you expect from me?

There are two types of loyalties we try to have the students understand.

The first loyalty is: Be loyal to the profession. If you're going to come to school every day and tell us you're interested, then show us you're interested. Let's talk about food. Let's read the Charlotte Observer food section. If we have access to the Internet, let's go into food sites. Let's watch the Food Network on TV. Let's talk food. Let's get into the culinary side of life.

The second loyalty is: If we find you a position, which we will if you want one, be loyal to that place of business. The school firmly believes that if you accept a position for, say, $8.50 to $9.00 an hour, that if you're there and you do the deal there -- and the deal is being on time, have a good attitude, just help support the business -- that you should be able to command anywhere from at 15% to a 25% increase within a year, if you practice the two types of loyalty along with a good solid work ethic.

We ask that the students stay focused, that they stay in touch with the school and allow us to help them, and in turn we'll get them the tools they need to be successful -- everything from chef coats to knife kits to the understanding of how to give job separation notice -- how you quit a job, that type of stuff, where you give proper notice. That skill is important too, because the person you're working for now might two years from now be manager in another situation where you'd like to get a job.

We ask that the students allow themselves to be drug-free and alcohol-free - both while they are students and to carry that further after they graduate.

We ask that they just hang on and let it happen -- allow us to do what we do best, which is to offer them another view of the culinary industry, and to find them work that will help improve their lives.

How do I pay?

Let me tell you how you pay. There is a fee for the school, I'm not going to lie to you. There is an absolute fee to the school. But we're not going to exchange any money. It's more of a barter system. Here's the way you pay for the school:

In this building, 2401-A Distribution Street, there are three agencies. The largest agency, Friendship Trays, is the largest meals-on-wheels provider in Mecklenburg County. Friendship Trays is our sister agency and one we hold very dear to our heart. The executive director is Lucy Bush Carter. Friendship Trays feeds anywhere from 700 to 900 people daily.

The way that the students pay for the school is to participate in supporting Friendship Trays' mission. Whatever it takes in the morning for Friendship Trays to fulfill its mission, we have to be a part of that.

We also have the Society of St. Andrew gleaning network, which rescues food and distributes it to those in need. Program coordinator is Marilyn Marks. In the same way that we help Friendship Trays, when a truck of rescued food comes in, staff and students of the Community Culinary School pitch in to unload the truck.

Describe the typical school day

You come in at 8 a.m. Half the class will be in the kitchen in the morning to support Friendship Trays' mission until 10:30. The other half will be in the classroom. Sometime after 10:30 we all have a huge meal with everyone in the building. Then the two groups switch, and while one group learns how to clean up the kitchen, the other is in the classroom.

In the classroom, Monday through Thursday, we do everything from soup stocks to sauces, to knife skills, to mis en place workshops, other cooking techniques. It will be a lot of hands-on, participatory classes, but we will also have chefs doing demos.

Every Tuesday, we offer life-skills workshops -- how to stand shoulder to shoulder with someone who might rub you the wrong way, how to write a resume, how to understand body language.

Every two weeks we take the Tuesday job-search program and add to it with Personal Net-Gaines, which is run by Kelly Gaines. That takes the job-readiness, job-awareness program and supercharges it. It covers conversations appropriate for job interviews, conversations not appropriate for job interviews, proper workplace conversations, proper body language. The program covers the physical and mental and tools needed to be a success in the industry.

On Fridays we are dedicated solely to Friendship Trays' mission. We come in in the morning and show support for Friendship Trays. Without their support, the students would be, as they say in the industry, in the weeds. Every other Friday we support other agencies, such as Share Our Strength. We're proud to be a part of it all.

Generally then, on Fridays, we support Friendship Trays, eat, clean up then are gone. It's a short day. So Friday afternoons are the times you schedule your dental appointments, your doctor appointments, your car maintenance, your house maintenance.

Will I be home when my kids come home from school?

You'll be signing a contract that says that says you'll be at the Community Culinary School from 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. Most days ,you'll be out between the hours of 1:30 and 3.

If needed to stay later or if needed to participate in evening events you will get ample notice, and we wouldn't want you to participate in those events if we didn't think it would be beneficial to your chosen career.

If the students don't pay, where does the money come from to run the school?

The Community Culinary School of Charlotte takes no government funding. We operate on grants and gifts from corporations, institutions, businesses and individual donors. We're a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. This is our 10th year in operation. We do get some church monies. Individuals have a stake in the game too.