Training the Next Generation of Chefs
Students in Greater Gainesville are uniquely prepared to work in one of the area’s largest industries thanks to a magnet program at Eastside High School.
By Celia Goodyear
The Eastside Institute of Culinary Arts is an Elite 50 program, offering students school-to-career education training for the foodservice and hospitality industry, as well as a head start with college classes.
The curriculum covers the basic skills of cooking, food preparation, industry standards, hospitality, tourism and culinary education. Through it, they learn how to succeed in the different types of chef roles, as well as management skills and dining room operations.
Students can also earn different certifications required for jobs in the field.
“Students have the opportunity to earn two sanitation certifications. One from ServSafe and one from the National Registry of Food Service Professionals,” said Chef Pamela Bedford, director of the institute.
Bedford said these certifications also provide students with the Florida Gold Seal CAPE Scholarship, along with two more from the American Culinary Federation.
“My hope is that they come out loving this industry as much as I do and can go on to have very successful careers,” said Bedford. “My favorite part of the job is when they come back to visit and when I get to go and visit them at their restaurants and businesses.”
Opportunities to work in the community and gain further education are also benefits afforded to the participants of the program.
Local focus
Chef Philip Bailey-Anderson is a class of 2014 Eastside Institute of Culinary Arts graduate and has been working in kitchens for the past 20 years.
“Overall, it really laid the foundation to the culinary world as a whole,” he said.
Bailey-Anderson’s mother found out about the Eastside Institute of Culinary Arts when he was in junior high school and asked him if he wanted to attend the program for high school, as he enjoyed cooking.
“I went in and fell in love from there,” he said.
Bailey-Anderson said the program also helped him find his voice in the kitchen and gave him the skills to become successful.
In the years following his time at the Eastside Institute of Culinary Arts, he attended several years of culinary school at Johnson & Wales University. Then, he dove headfirst into the field and worked in kitchens in North Carolina and Illinois.
He returned to Greater Gainesville in 2017 and is now focused on working, farming and sourcing his food locally. His education at Eastside gave him an advantage with finding a job in the area.
“Restaurants know that coming from the Eastside program, people would have a certain pedigree,” he said. “They know they have the basic skills to work in a kitchen and the availability. It made it a lot easier to get a job around here for me.”
Currently, Bailey-Anderson is a sous chef at Afternoon, a local brunch restaurant. He also plans and prepares dinners at Swallowtail Farm in Gainesville.
For more information on attending Eastside Institute of Culinary Arts, go to https://www.sbac.edu/domain/1429.