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Los Angeles Times
24-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Culinary arts students get a slice of life in the pizza business at BJ's headquarters
Will Godoy's career path to director of talent development at BJ's Restaurants, Inc. was nonlinear. It is a point he emphasizes while speaking to a group of Marina High School students Tuesday at BJ's Headquarters in Huntington Beach. 'The path you want to take may not end up being the path you actually do take, things will always change,' Godoy told the teens. 'Certain advantages might come up, certain obstacles might have to be overcome, but at the end of the day your career usually ends up being what you enjoy.' The students from the local high school are part of the California Restaurant Foundation's statewide ProStart program, a two-year industry-backed culinary arts and restaurant program offered at about 140 California schools like Marina, Fullerton Union and Newport Harbor high schools, and the Orange County School of the Arts. They are also among the 500 California students who participated in the annual 'Experience Hospitality Week' from April 21 to 24. The career-building experience gives students the chance to explore other jobs that exist in restaurants beyond the roles of line cook and server. 'Experience Hospitality Week is a statewide event where we are sending students to see the business side of food service and hospitality,' said Natalie Tong, programs director for the California Restaurant Foundation. 'We are taking them to headquarters, to venues, to food distributors where they are going to get to see beyond front of house and back of house. This plays a critical role for high school students when they are starting to think about their career paths after high school.' The Marina High students spent the day at BJ's headquarters, meeting with U.S. Bank, one of the programs sponsors and their small business specialists to learn about business loans and other aspects of entrepreneurial finance. 'Our grant sponsorship to the California Restaurant Foundation is very important for us,' said Wendy Chau, community affairs manager for U.S. Bank. 'We are supporting community programs that help small businesses thrive, people succeed in the workforce, provide pathways to higher education and gain greater financial literacy.' After learning about business financing, students headed to the kitchen where they learned how to bake a pizza. Then they broke off into small groups and toured various departments such as operations, risk management to understand safety protocols, marketing to learn about brand awareness and information technology. Additionally, they visited the beverage department to learn about the detailed process involved when launching a new non-alcoholic beverage at BJ's 200+ restaurants. 'We know they know the four walls, they have gone into a restaurant and understand what it's like to be a customer and order food and drinks,' said Godoy. 'What we want to teach them today is how all of that comes together within our company and understand how the different departments work together so guests can come in and enjoy those moments.' Some of the students on the field trip participated in this year's ProStart Cup, a two-day competition to compete for $500,000 in scholarships. The competition is divided into two sections; a Culinary Cup and a Management Cup, so career paths in the culinary arts and restaurant management are familiar to the Marina High students. Yet, other aspects of the business they encountered during their visit to BJ's Headquarters were new to them. 'Learning about the creative department and what the design team does to make new food or how they improve to get customers to come back, is the biggest thing I did not know,' said Marina High junior David Hodson. Hodson is considering a career in the culinary arts and likes to bake sourdough bread at home during his free time. Now, he said, he'll think about the design team whenever he visits a BJ's. 'Every time I see something new, I am going to know they made that, that team designed that,' said Hodson. By introducing them to roles in the hospitality industry they haven't considered before, the California Restaurant Foundation is encouraging students to be curious about the different possibilities for their own futures and career paths. 'Students take the culinary class because they know they like to eat and they want have skills to feed themselves, but they are not necessarily industry focused,' said Morgan Molioo, the culinary instructor at Marina High School. 'Then they come here and they realize their passion for cooking can intersect with their interest in information technology, for example.' Molioo has been the advisor of the ProStart program at Marina for three years and said the California Restaurant Foundation has supported her in creating a robust culinary program at the Huntington Beach campus, just three miles away from BJ's Restaurants Inc. offices. 'The class I teach is a career and technical education class, and the whole purpose of it is to promote and expose students to career pathways,' said Molioo. Hearing real stories from successful people in the industry is one benefit Molioo identifies for her students. 'When they hear that Will dabbled in this and worked for this company or that, they come out with a sense of comfort, to be honest,' said Molioo. 'My students last year felt less pressure after this experience. They can see that these people in these jobs that really do well for themselves didn't always know exactly what they wanted to do. They ended up here because they were hard workers and they looked for opportunities. They see that and learn it is not just about having a 4.0 GPA.' Godoy put a tremendous amount of time and effort into planning the day, ensuring the students would have a thorough experience. Lesson planning isn't unfamiliar to Godoy, who actually wanted to be a history teacher before he found his way to the restaurant industry. 'I majored in American history and minored in European history, and at the same time I was bartending. When I had the opportunity to either become a teacher or move up to management, I wanted to go to management,' said Godoy. 'My classroom changed.' When the students meet in a conference room at the end of their tour — where they are served BJ's pizza, salad, sliders and salmon — Godoy shares more about his story, while answering questions and delivering career advice. The students pose for a group photo with him before returning on the school bus, and while he knows some of what he said will go over their heads today, he feels confident that one or two might take his advice to heart. 'These events are really important for high school students, mainly so they think outside the box,' he said.
Los Angeles Times
27-02-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
O.C. high school culinary students heat up the competition at ProStart Cup 2025
A Newport Harbor culinary student watched a pan of scallops intently as the seafood sizzled over the heat of a butane burner. Nearby, other students from the high school whisked saffron cream sauce and meticulously plated dollops of golden potato parsnip puree. Chef judges with white toques perched on their heads walked around the table of tense students as they cooked. 'Last five minutes!' shouted one judge. 'Heard!' the students barked back in unison. Newport Harbor was one of four Orange County high schools to participate in the 2025 ProStart Cup, a two-day entrepreneurship competition put on by the California Restaurant Foundation. The competition is just one facet of CRF's ProStart program, a two-year industry-backed culinary arts and restaurant management program for high school students that is designed to prepare the industry leaders of the future. Held this year at the Proud Bird Food Bazaar and Events Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 24 and 25, students competed for scholarships and the chance to represent California at the National ProStart Student Invitational in Baltimore. 'Programs like the California ProStart Cup and competitions like this are so important for students; it's transformative,' said Alycia Harshfield, president of the California Restaurant Foundation. 'It helps them not only think about what their future can be, they tap into their potential and they get to test their skill.' The competition is divided into two sections: a Culinary Cup and Management Cup. For the former, teams of up to four students create an original three-course menu of an appetizer, entree and dessert in under 60 minutes. The meals are judged on knife skills, safety and sanitation, taste and more. The Management Cup is a 'Shark Tank'-style competition in which teams of students pitch an original restaurant concept before a panel of judges, preparing a business plan, marketing materials and more. 'They learn so much from these experiences and our industry needs people who are passionate, curious and interested in being our next business owners, entrepreneurs and fantastic chefs,' said Harshfield. In the past participating Orange County schools have included the Orange County School of the Arts, Fountain Valley, Fullerton Union, Newport Harbor, Rancho Alamitos and Valley high schools. This year OCSA, Fullerton Union and Newport Harbor high school returned, and Huntington Beach's Marina High School competed for the first time. Early the first day, OCSA's culinary team organized tools onto a speed rack as they prepared to take the floor for the culinary competition. 'We are putting all our equipment onto our equipment cart so it will be easy to grab and we can do that super-efficiently while cooking,' said Cynthia Zhou. 'Soon we will get into what we call our 'mise en place,' prepping our ingredients before we enter the final cooking time.' The team trained extensively for the timed cooking contest. 'We have been practicing since September, twice a week. Now it's been, like, three to four times a week,' said Stella Mulholland. 'In the beginning months we were recipe testing, and by December we had our menu finalized. In January and February, we have just been drilling, doing the exact same thing over and over again to get it perfect.' Besides the main competitions, students also participated in quick-fire contests hosted by events sponsors, like Wienerschnitzel's Dress Your Dog competition and Idaho Potatoes Loaded Potato competition. Others wandered around the college and career expo, meeting with hospitality-focused companies like Coca-Cola, Habit Burger, BJ's Restaurants and more. Many of the volunteers and judges at 2025's ProStart Cup are former students who competed in past competitions themselves. Chef Dominique Valenzuela, who served as judge for the Culinary Cup this year, recalled competing with La Quinta High School when he was a student. 'Being introduced to ProStart at an early age in high school really set the foundation needed to excel in culinary school and my career,' said Valenzuela. Today Valenzuela is the executive pastry chef at JW Marriott Desert Springs Palm Desert, and he enjoys coming back to the event as a volunteer. It is a way he can pay it forward to the California Restaurant Foundation and the many mentors who guided him on his own culinary journey. 'It is definitely rewarding not only to be asked to participate in something that is so meaningful to many students here in California but also to see where I once was in their shoes,' said Valenzuela. 'I realize how many people helped support me and get me to the place where I am today, and I want just want to do the same. It is rewarding to see the sprint, the drive and the dedication.' In another area of the event, Fullerton Union High School students filed into a conference room to get feedback from judges on the vegan and gluten-free food concept Cali Roots that they had presented for the management cup. 'We have been working since October, getting our written proposal together, then building our slides,' said Ben Dennis. The students shared how much they value the ProStart program and what it has given them. 'We think the ProStart program is great, it is a great stepping stone for learning more about the food and hospitality industry, and we are very grateful to have this opportunity to be competing here,' said student Emma Kojonroj. Fullerton Union High chef and culinary instructor Mario Schwarz-Cole said he sees the difference the program makes for his students. 'I see the growth in my students, their confidence,' said Schwarz-Cole. 'It gives them great experience for the future. They growth together as a team too.' At the end of the competition, OCSA placed first in management for the second year in a row while Fullerton Union High School took third place, below Bontia High School in second place. For the Culinary Cup, OCSA placed second behind San Dimas High School, with Bonita High School in third place. Orange County students also took home awards in the quick-fire contests with Fullerton Union High School student Emily Alvarado taking first place in the Wienerschnitzel Dress Your Dog contest and OCSA student Angela Luo taking third place in the Loaded Idaho Baked Potato competition. Whether or not the winners decided to pursue a career in the culinary arts or hospitality, Valenzuela said he knows the experience the students have at ProStart Cup will be a formative one. 'The competition gives the students the opportunity to meet one another, to connect, to see that there are others that are mutually as invested and interested in getting to the next stage and that is so rewarding on all fronts,' said Valenzuela.
