New commercial kitchen enhances hospitality training in Edmonton’s inner city

Norquest College has opened a new commercial kitchen funded by the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation.

The facility opened Wednesday, promising a space to teach food preparation, kitchen management and menu-crafting skills to students of the Hospitality Program.

A $1.5-million donation from 2014 was used to build the facility, while also funding tuition for many local students.

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Other community and hospitality groups will be able to host workshops or tastings in the large space with impressive downtown views.

There are currently 1,600 learners enrolled in the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation Hospitality Institute at Norquest.

Organizations like The Mustard Seed or Boys and Girls Club help place students in either the nine-week intensive program or for shorter specialty training sessions.

Corporate partners like Roger’s Place, Cineplex and Aramark then look to hire graduates armed with elevated hospitality skills expected by luxury brands.

The prominent restaurants Ayevié has now worked at expect a level of service he had not yet experienced.

“I got the opportunity to work in famous places like The Melting Pot or Rogers Place,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I got the opportunity to work in famous places like The Melting Pot or Rogers Place," he said.

Stable work in hospitality has allowed for Ayevié to also study nursing, though he says working for high-end restaurants provides a good living wage.

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As more luxury brands pop up downtown, like the much anticipated JW Marriott Hotel, the program lead says it was important that inner city residents, especially those feeling displaced by Ice District, had the economic opportunity to benefit from it.

“It’s really equipping our students with workforce-relevant training so we can get them in to industry,” said Christine Channer Auguste, “and we’re giving them those hard skills and transferable skills.”

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“To have this for the learners in the community that we serve I think is huge,” Channer Auguste said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "To have this for the learners in the community that we serve I think is huge," Channer Auguste said.

Norquest College’s Hospitality Program also does significant off-site training programs focused on preparing First Nations students for careers in travel, tourism and restaurants.