able to come into the front doors just like in any
other restaurant, sit down and have lunch.”
The restaurant area—The Crave Café—will be open
for limited hours throughout the day so that students
can try out their classmates’ cuisine.
But high schoolers won’t be the only ones dining.
Community members can stop by for a bite to
eat during business hours, and local clubs and
organizations will have the opportunity to rent out
The Crave Café for lunch meetings catered by the
students as well. Hayes also plans on opening up
the res taurant for dinner reservations one Friday per
month to give the students extra practice and the
community an extra chance to see them in action.
“At the new facility, it’s more of an open space so
that people will be able to see the students in action,”
Hayes said. “The students are the show, and I think
people are going to be really surprised because they
are such a fantastic group of young people year after
year.”
Hayes hopes to launch a
website and smartphone
app for the culinary class
and The Crave Café in
the coming months as
well. This will provide
transparency on the
café’s hours and allow
customers to order their
food online.
The motivation behind
the high-tech facilities
and opportunities to
serve stems from Hayes’s desire to give his students
the most authentic restaurant experience possible
in hopes of preparing them for culinary school
and future careers in the culinary field, or helping
them earn culinary-based scholarships to four-
year universities. In terms of maintaining culinary
excellence, his students have a pretty strong track
record so far.
Each year, a select group of advanced culinary
students participates in the National Restaurant
Association ProStart competition. The students
practice daily for several hours before or after
school and even on weekends to prepare, starting
after Thanksgiving break and ending with Spring
competition season.
The hard work pays off. In 2018, the Rockwall ISD
culinary team placed first in two rounds of regional
competition with a perfect score, first in the state
competition for the second year in a row, and ranked
#2 in the nation.
Hayes said in addition to
the scholarships, accolades
and cooking finesse
his students earned by
competing, the students
establish unforgettable
friendships with their
teammates.
“They really do develop
family bonds,” Hayes said.
When Chef Hayes steps
into his new kitchen in the
2018-2019 school year,
the hopes he has for his new culinary students will
remain steadfast.
“My hope for the students that go through the
culinary arts program, first and foremost, is that they
find a place where they belong,” Hayes said. “I think
these classes we will have at the College and Career
Academy are going to be able to provide that for
those students. Once they graduate, I hope they have
a better picture of this industry. Most importantly, I
hope I have instilled the value of hard work in them
and given them real-world experience in what it
takes to be successful.”
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