The lower level of the new Ohio Union boasts a 3,697-square-foot instructional kitchen, paired up with Sloopy’s Diner on the first floor of the building.
Students from the College of Education and Human Ecology will take courses in the kitchen to learn about hospitality management and then turn those skills around to serve and manage students in the diner during the week.
“Students will get a serious amount of experience and a serious hands-on understanding of what a fast-paced environment with equipment is all about,” said Julian Giardello, operations manager of Sloopy’s Diner.
One of the instructional kitchen’s six stations was donated by Sara Lee Foodservice, which donated $75,000 to the new Union. The Hobart Corporation, headquartered in Troy, Ohio, also donated $114,308 in equipment, including a refrigerator and dishwashing machines, and it also has a station named after it. The Union is still accepting donations, and stations in the kitchen could still be named
for donors.
Although most colleges have a student-run facility for hospitality and management students, such as the ViewPoint restaurant at OSU, Giardello said the instructional kitchen contains top of the line equipment.
A typical course will have lectures in a classroom, and then lab in the instructional kitchen once a week. In the kitchen, students will learn skills such as knife handling and meat preparation, said Margaret Binkley, assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Ecology.
“Students will have a background on foods, then when they come up to work in the diner, they’ll have a better understanding,” Binkley said.
Three courses will work with the instruction kitchen and restaurant. Consumer Science Hospitality Management 350 is basic kitchen equipment preparation, with CSHSPMG 551 as a customer contact course with students learning serving and hosting roles. In CSHSPMG 650, students will learn management roles and oversee the 551 students.
Students in the courses may travel between Sloopy’s and other Union restaurants, including the Union market and Woody’s, giving students a wider breadth than just full restaurant service, Giardello said.
The instructional kitchen has five flat screen monitors, and all of Sloopy’s is monitored by camera so students can anticipate the flow of business before coming up to the diner, Giardello said.
“To be able to see what’s going on in real time and use that as a learning experience is just phenomenal,” Binkley said. “Students can look up at the cameras to show examples.”
Monday through Thursday, Giardello said, the food that students
prepare in class will be served at Sloopy’s, so students will be contributing to the diner at all times.
The kitchen also showcases a stage at the front of the kitchen where chefs from all over can visit as instructors, Binkley said. Students can watch on their monitors at their stations what happens on the stage.
Sloopy’s will also employ regular students to serve in specific sections of the diner.
Although Sloopy’s is a restaurant, there will be no tipping because students can use meal swipes as an additional method of payment.
The restaurant will have a “true diner feel,” Giardello said, with scarlet cream soda as a drink option, and breakfast served all day.
At 10 p.m. the diner will offer a late night menu.
The restaurant will be open from 6 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily and will serve liquor and Ohio-produced beer and wine, with 12:30 a.m. as a last call on alcohol.
In addition, the restaurant has a private dining room, and will contain a “Block O table,” that will seat 10 to 14 people and can be reserved by the deans of the university.
As one of Sloopy’s more unique aspects, 13 sandwiches on the menu will be named after noted OSU students, faculty, administrators and alumni.
This year Sloopy’s received 210 sandwich name applications, but anyone who wishes to enter the contest will be encouraged to write a short essay explaining why a sandwich should be named after them.
A committee will select the 13 names annually.
This year’s unveiling of the names will be 5:30 p.m. on March 16 in the U.S. Bank Theater in the Union. Sloopy’s will have bite-sized versions of all the sandwiches as samples.
