Published by Communications and Public Affairs (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982 or 53338
News Release
October 24, 2003
U of G opens expanded teaching kitchen, restaurant
The University of Guelph’s newly-expanded teaching kitchen and restaurant – including a multi-purpose atrium for use as a dining room, lecture space, working laboratory and special-event facility – is open for business.
“This is a both a festive and educationally-significant occasion for the University of Guelph,” president Alastair Summerlee said during a grand opening celebration Thursday night that featured the wine and food creations of Mark Picone, the executive chef at Vineland Estates Winery and a 1986 graduate of U of G’s hotel and food administration program. The event at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) was attended by U of G faculty, staff and students, alumni, government officials, project donors and industry representatives.
“This state-of-the-art facility brings to life the University’s philosophy of learning by doing and we are grateful to the provincial government and our industry partners for their support in helping us advance experiential education,” Summerlee said. “The expansion has enabled us to increase our offerings and provide students with a first-class, hands-on environment in which to acquire the management and training skills required of the next generation of hospitality and tourism leaders, while meeting the industry demand for more and better-qualified people.”
The $3.5-million expansion project doubles the teaching restaurant’s food production space. It provides additional facilities for some 234 new students, allows HTM to incorporate new food preparation technologies and update its information systems for reservations, table management, ordering and productivity. It was funded by the Ontario government's SuperBuild program and donations to the university's fundraising campaign, including support from McDonald’s Canada, Cara Operations Ltd. and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
“The new facilities, together with the school’s broadened mandate from hotel and food administration to hospitality and tourism management, are setting the stage for the school to become internationally recognized as Canada’s premier teaching and research institution in this field,” said Marion Joppe, HTM director. “Foodservice management and research as areas of expertise have an exciting future and growth potential in this country, of which these facilities will allow us to take full advantage.”
The kitchen and teaching restaurant allows third-year students to apply their multi-disciplinary study of hospitality management in planning, purchasing, storage, production, marketing and service. It serves lunch several days a week to the on- and -off- campus communities and doubles as a fine-dining restaurant on selected evenings. In addition, the new facility will serve as a living laboratory for research in nutrition education and menu-item development in food service.
Guelph’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, founded more than 30 years ago, is among the top tier of internationally-recognized hospitality schools in North America.
For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, (519) 824-4120, Ext. 53338, or Rachelle Cooper, (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982.
