There’s more than just soup being served at Common Table, a training program operated by Catholic Charities of Louisville. It’s a two-for-one special.
Students enrolled in the free Culinary Arts Program, which works to reduce poverty in the Louisville area by offering hands-on job training, get an opportunity to hit the reset button and start over with a clean slate while learning a new skill set.
During the eight-week program, the students, many of whom are youth that aged out of foster care, unemployed single mothers, people who have been laid off, former inmates, refugees, or others who face barriers to employment, learn the basics of working in the foodservice industry and obtain Louisville Metro Food Service Manager’s Certification. Skills are refined through experiential learning in the kitchen as students prepare food for various catering orders.
“I’m from Boston and I came here to have a second chance,” Jessica Thomasson, a recent graduate of Common Table, told the Courier Journal. “That’s exactly what I got. To be in the industry that I love, I got a second chance to live and communicate with all different types of people. I’m currently enrolled in the advanced class at Common Table, which I get to go in the community and do some tastings.”
Program Director Laura Stevens said Common Table, 1200 S 28th St., intends to decrease poverty in the greater Louisville Metro area and provide job security and training to those who otherwise might not have access to it.
“Our goal is to be able to reach everyone in Louisville who’s interested in pursuing a career or entrepreneurship and foodservice,” Stevens said. “For them to know that we are here and accessible, even if they are not able to pay tuition at a culinary school.”
Common Table boasts a job placement rate of 81% and graduates of the program have also been hired at places including the Omni Louisville Hotel, Louisville Collegiate School, Eddie Merlot’s, Masterson’s Catering, and more.
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“Over and over, we hear from our students that the biggest thing that they take away from class is the confidence that they’ve gained and being able to walk into a commercial kitchen and know what they’re doing and feel comfortable,” Stevens said.
The successful execution of the program is contingent on the support of the general public, including customers like Rita Safranek, who has a current six-week subscription to the Common Table that includes a different combination of soup and bread on a weekly basis for $90.
“Everybody can get behind this, this isn’t charity. This isn’t a handout. This is really helping a grassroots program in our community solve a labor problem in our community,” Safranek said. “You’re helping people work and become neighbors as well as working members of our community.”
Safranek believes that this is how an “American success story” is built and gives people who might not otherwise have a foothold in the foodservice industry a chance.
The program offers “this really great white bean, kale and sausage soup,” she said. “The other thing they started doing that I love is that during the holidays they started offering gift certificates and I gave one to my nephew and his new wife.”
All of the revenue generated through Common Table keeps the program running, which is offered free to students. Subscriptions, like the one Safranek has, allow for what Common Table culinary instructor and executive chef Makeda Freeman-Woods described as “superior training and education for our students.”
By the end of the program, students should have obtained all the necessary tools that are essential for securing employment in the food industry including food safety and sanitation, kitchen safety, knife skills, food preparation and cooking methods, menu design and food pricing, nutrition basics, customer service and resume building.
“I think it’s so wonderful,” Safranek said of Common Table. “I think the work that they’re doing in giving people these skills, are real marketable skills that are needed in the restaurant industry. Everybody wants to be a chef, but the reality is, somebody got to chop the onions. Somebody got to do some of….the basic work and that’s what this program gives these people. They give them really good skills to take into the marketplace.”
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Having collaborated with several non-profits in the past, Executive Chef Makeda Freeman-Woods knows a thing or two about helping others maximize their full potential.
“My knowledge and my experience [can] help somebody else get into the position that they want in life,” Freeman-Woods said. “That helps me tremendously because it gives me some purpose to what I do. I’ve definitely been helped tremendously on my journey, so to be in this position to help others is a blessing.”
However, she believes the best lesson Common Table provides is working with others and the concept of collective efforts and labor.
“The biggest skill is learning how to team build, how to encourage people, and how to motivate people,” Freeman-Woods said. “Because a lot of times, a lot of our students come in and they have all this ability, but they have some barriers that kind of get in their way to getting to that place where they want to be. Being able to help people realize that they have all the power and ability that they need to overcome those hurdles and obstacles has helped me grow as an instructor.”
Outside of obtaining work in the restaurant and hospitality market, graduates of Common Table have gone on to pursue other entrepreneurship ventures. Recent graduate Thomasson envisions the same for herself.
“I graduated the program here and I learned cutting techniques, I learned recipes, I learned a lot of different techniques throughout the kitchen that I still use at home,” Thomasson said. “I want to open a little kitchen of my own to serve the community…I want the community to come in and enjoy my meals at a low price. I want to make it affordable for everyone.”
And second chances, just like the one Thomasson received, are what the program is all about.
“I think we all need a second chance because life is all about learning and the way that you learn best sometimes, is through making mistakes,” Stevens said. “Even though that can be a very hard lesson to learn…I think it’s critical that people are able to have another opportunity to follow their dream, to find their passion and pursue that.”
Culture and diversity reporter Jason Gonzalez can be reached at [email protected].
Common Table Culinary Arts Training
For those that are interested in registering for the program or purchasing a subscription, you can contact Program Director Laura Stevens at 502-873-2566 ext. 256 or at [email protected].
Upcoming information session on the training program include:
- March 10: 10:30-11:30 a.m.
- April 14: 10:30-11:30 a.m.
- May 12: 10:30-11:30 a.m.
- June 9: 10:30-11:30 a.m.
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