Cook Studio Cafe
by Anne Garber
The NV Food & Service Resource Group will soon open the Cook Studio Café, its newest training facility. Located in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver at 374 Powell Street, this property is the centrepiece of its new cook-training program for Youth at Risk.
The facility will have a full-service Restaurant as well as a Community workshop kitchen. Youth students will operate the Café and assist in putting on nutrition-based workshops for Community organizations. With this new facility the organizers will be able to offer Professional training opportunities to their students, as well as Wellness and Nutrition skills to those most in need.
The boldly designed 45-seat Café will include a take-out deli, open bakeshop and library area. The design accommodates their primary focus as a training facility while offering their customers a visually stimulating environment. And, of course, the fresh and fun food they offer will be a welcome addition to the neighbourhood.
The training component of the program is based on the model they have used successfully for over 12 years. Both technical and Life Skills are taught in a supportive and non-judgemental environment. Much of their success over the years has been based on providing their students with a balance of the technical and interpersonal skills needed in today's workplace. While this new group brings a different set of challenges to Instructors and staff, they are confident that this program will enjoy the same level of success they have always achieved!
Funded by Human Resource Development Canada through their Youth Employment Strategy program, this new venture is positioned to have a significant impact on both the Youth taking part in the training as well as those individuals attending the workshops. Staying true to their philosophy they are offering hard, usable skills -- as opposed to handouts and catchy slogans.
They will be holding an Open House in late August to officially kick things off, and so that community supporters will be able to see what's new and positive in the Downtown Eastside.
Should you require further information please feel free to call James Kennedy at (604) 215-9595 or Tracy Cooper at (604) 215-9597
© worldwide 2001, Anne
Garber/Recent Developments
Anne Garber's media career
spans 35 years in both print
and electronic media. She is
an author, publisher,
photographer, broadcaster and
the mother of two. Her career
as a major market Canadian
newspaper food columnist and
restaurant critic stretched
over a dozen years.
Author or co-author of 14
best-selling books on travel,
bargains, access and food,
she also contributes food and
travel features for a number
of national and international
magazines.
