New academy to give students a taste of food, hospitality industries

Chris Villa wasn’t really into high school, but once he got a taste of culinary school, he knew he had found his niche.

Now, with nearly 30 years in the food service industry under his belt, Villa has come full circle and is returning to the high school arena. He is the lead instructor for the Culinary and Hospitality Academy at the Riverchase Career Connection Center and is looking forward to pouring his knowledge into high school students when school begins Aug. 8.

More than 150 students from Hoover, Spain Park and Homewood high schools have registered for the Culinary and Hospitality Academy in its first year, Villa said.

They’ll get to learn the principles and processes of cooking, including baking, grilling, stir frying, deep frying, pan frying, shallow frying and sautéing. They’ll learn about knife skills, international and regional cuisine, food allergies, food science, food brokering, recipe development and testing, the division of work in a commercial kitchen, menu planning, workplace safety, inventory planning, purchasing and cost control, he said.

They’ll also have a chance to learn a lot about customer service, how to create a resume and go through a job interview, and how to respect people’s differences in the workplace and deescalate conflict.

But the focus on pleasing the customer is essential, Villa said. “We think that dining is an experience more so than just sustenance to refuel,” he said.

Making the dining experience a pleasant one is crucial, including taking care of the details such as having nice landscaping and a clean parking lot, he said. “If you don’t stay on top of the minor but major details, social media will eat your lunch and pack your bags,” he said.

The academy also will include instruction on the hotel, travel and tourism industry, although that aspect probably will be developed more in the future, Villa said.

Students will start with introductory courses the first year and then choose from three specialty tracks: culinary, baking and pastry arts or meeting and convention planning, he said. More specialties will be added in the future.

The students will have access to a full-scale commercial kitchen that meets all current industry standards and includes a char grill, gas and electric appliances and state-of-the art baking and pastry lab, Villa said. They’ll learn how to cook for large groups as well as deliver a la carte dining, he said.

He wants to prepare students for jobs that include prep cooks, baking and pastry apprentices, caterers, cake decorators, sous chefs, food truck operators and management positions. He’s also big on entrepreneurship for those who want to start their own business, he said.

Eventually, he plans to open a small café at the school that will give students a chance to learn front-counter skills.

The goal is to get them both immediately employable upon graduation from high school and also ready for further education if they choose college, he said.

After graduating from a vocational high school in Ohio in 1991, Villa earned an associate’s degree in culinary arts and bachelor’s degree in food service management from Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina, and later a master’s degree in hospitality administration and management from Monroe College.

His first job after earning a bachelor’s degree was at the Terri Pines Country Club in Cullman. He later started his own company called Chef N Staff, providing temporary chefs, bartenders and servers for convention centers, country clubs and hotels.

He taught more than 16 years at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville and most recently at J.F. Drake State Technical College in Huntsville.

Now, he’ll be working closely with the culinary and hospitality programs at Jefferson State and Lawson State community colleges, which will lend equipment and faculty as guest teachers. Other community partners include Dave & Buster’s, Dreamland Bar-B-Que and the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association.

Saliba Shunnara, an incoming junior at Spain Park High School, said he’s looking forward to the academy. He has been cooking since he was 10 and has a mother, uncles and grandmothers who are chefs. His family operates four Full Moon Bar-B-Que restaurants.

“I just grew up in a whole line of chefs, and that’s something I really enjoy doing,” he said. “I love cooking and making customers happy.”

Now, he’s ready to learn more.

Villa said he hopes to keep it interesting for students such as Shunnara who have experience, as well as those newer to the field. There are a lot of talented students whose needs aren’t being met in traditional high schools, he said.