At TAFE SA’s Regency Park campus, kitchen management, hospitality and cookery students are busy putting their theoretical knowledge into practice at one of three training facilities.
There’s Results Café, where the public can stop by and buy produce including baked goods, ready-to-cook meat products and beer from TAFE SA’s microbrewery.
Or there’s the TIROS and Graduates restaurants, which open several times a year to guests and serve high-quality food at a reasonable price.
The training restaurants allow students, like Lauren and Jay who are both studying a Certificate III in Hospitality, to hone their craft in a real restaurant setting.
We Are.SA visited during a lunch service at TIROS, where the pair (pictured left) shared they were excited to gain real-life experience through the training restaurant.
“I am nervous but also want to take this experience as a chance to get outside of my comfort zone,” Lauren said.
Jay is already employed at a hotel and said they felt fortunate to be able to work while continuing to study.
“I would like to travel as far as I can with that hotel and continue to give people a personalised hospitality experience, which I love to do,” Jay said.
TIROS and Graduates restaurants are both open twice a year, at the end of each semester, and on this visit, Jay recommended the ox-tail ragu with handmade pasta.
Certificate IV in Kitchen Management students Anna and Ling (pictured right) both also suggested the pasta, along with the eggplant parmigiana.
Anna said she hoped to one day run a kitchen in a childcare centre.
“My training at TAFE SA has really given me the practical hands-on experience and theoretical knowledge to be able to dive straight in once I graduate and I can’t wait,” she said.
Ling has enjoyed the mix of practical and theoretical experiences she has gained during her studies.
“The Certificate III was more about developing practical skills like learning how to make certain foods whereas the Certificate IV has given me more technical knowledge like learning how to roster staff and laws to follow in kitchens,” she said.
Teachers provide the students with real-time feedback and guidance in a supportive environment – something Manoj Ranasoma (pictured below) was already familiar with before starting at Regency Park as a hospitality lecturer.
Originally from Sri Lanka, Manoj studied hospitality at TAFE SA himself more than 24 years ago.
“I’m proud to say I trained here (at TAFE SA) and was then offered a job as well,” he said.
“I mainly work in the hospitality course and running the training restaurants.
“We offer great quality food and service to the public that enables our students to be assessed in a real working environment.”
The hospitality students spend about five months in the classroom learning about beverage service, hygiene procedures and the different styles and settings of service.
"After that initial theoretical training, we move them into these settings serving customers in a real setting to put their knowledge to practise,” Manoj said.
Semester two bookings for the restaurants are now open and be available here. (external site)
For information, visit TAFE SA.
