Eating in class allowed: College's student-run restaurant opens to public 

By Madison Bennett | MLive

KALAMAZOO, MI - Eating in class is not only allowed, it's encouraged at Kalamazoo's newest restaurant.

Kalamazoo Valley Community College is inviting the community to enter its culinary classroom in downtown Kalamazoo by dining in its new student-run restaurant, 418.

From the meal you're eating to the service you're receiving, students run the restaurant from the ground up.

"They're learning a whole gamut of skills and just information related to running a restaurant from the ground up," culinary instructor Rob Zimmer said. "Not all culinary schools do that. No school I went to did that."

The three-course menu is $21 a person and offers a small selection of American fare that utilizes local products and the campus' healthy eating ideology. Some ingredients are even grown in a greenhouse at the campus' Food Innovation Center.

"When we did lunch service we really focused on being very, very healthful, all the options, and we're still healthful but it's okay to use butter and cream in this class," Cory Barrett, culinary instructor, said.

According to Barrett, students in the culinary class created and executed the menu in a matter of days.

"The initial first two days we just sat down and created a menu as a class instead of just one of us, you know, dictating it," he said. "The students actually got to be a part of it, really direct it."

KVCC even went as far as obtaining a liquor license, allowing guests to enjoy a selection of beer and wine during dinner service. In place of soft drinks, which the Bronson Healthy Living Campus does not serve, 418 offers tea, coffee and infused waters.

Barrett said hands-on experience that students involved are receiving is essential, regardless of whether you're on the floor taking care of patrons or in the back cooking.

"These kinds of experiences where you actually have a little bit of pressure on you, it's not just learning to cut things into cubes, is a big difference," he said. "It's really, really important because essentially at the end of the day that's what you would do in every restaurant, in every hotel, kind of in the world really."

Culinary student Ty Mills said his experience with the program thus far has been "awesome."

"I just got out of that farming class today and I came right here and we get to prepare those ingredients that I just got done picking," Mills said.

Some of those ingredients students harvest from the Food Innovation Center include celery, which was used in a cream of celery soup served at the restaurant. Other menu items include shrimp and grits, a winter vegetable risotto, crispy chicken, chocolate cake and more.

Zimmer could not provide details on how income from the restaurant is used but said gratuity left by patrons goes into culinary student fund which allows students to do things outside of the program's budget.

"Whether you know it or not you're supporting a much deeper cause than that," Barrett said. "The education of a community is really what makes communities thrive."

The restaurant, named for its location at 418 E. Walnut St., opens for service Wednesday through Friday from 5:30 p.m. and stops seating customers around 7:15 p.m. Although reservations are not required, they're highly encouraged and can be made by calling 269-548-3200.

For more information, visit the 418 restaurant Facebook page. 

This post originally appeared Jan. 29, 2017 on MLive.com.