The Coastal Star

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 4, 2024 at 13:02

A new commercial kitchen comes with a plan to train food service workers of the future.

The 1,000-square-foot space, part of the Hub at the alternative school Space of Mind in Delray Beach, is set up to give students and adults a chance to work in hospitality or start a food business, or to use as a catering kitchen.

Its rooms are set up as individual labs used as a creative learning center.

“Along with traditional curriculum, we teach life skills,” said Ali Kaufman, founder of the Space of Mind home-school program.
“We work with families and students who find traditional classroom learning stressful. Our mission is to rethink education and provide experiential learning.”

After beginning with a family coaching company in 2004 and growing it into Space of Mind, Kaufman has added the Hub. With money from the Community Classroom Project — the nonprofit arm of the school to engage the public — a multiuse space was built in a former event space next to the school.

The Hub building was started in 2018, Kaufman said, but “COVID and construction delays sidelined us.”

It opened in 2020, with a number of labs open to students and the public. After-school as well as adult programs include art, music, science, coding and animation, photography, studio recording and more.

The commercial kitchen, Kaufman’s ultimate goal for the school, was completed and certified in April. It serves as a commissary for student meals, and it is where students help produce the Mason Jar Munchies sold at the city green market as an entrepreneurial project. If they come up with an idea for a food product, the teaching chef, Debra Dickinson, can help with it.

Teaching life skills is crucial, Kaufman said. “Kids weren’t developing skills to leave home” in traditional schools, she said. Cutbacks and other issues took away vocational skills education.

“Our mission is to create well-rounded adults,” she said.

Kaufman’s own background includes management with restaurants such as the Cheesecake Factory. She opened several of the chain’s locations, and says that working in hospitality can lead to management careers.

The kitchen also serves as an incubator for outside food entrepreneurs, as well as a classroom for public cooking classes and a catering kitchen for events.

“We have a collaboration with local chefs — Blake Malatesta of the Wine Room, Jimmy Everett of Driftwood in Boynton, Michael Salmon of Flybird, Daniel Diaz at the Ben Hotel,” Kaufman said.

The group meets monthly to discuss the hospitality industry and ways the school’s students can help staff restaurants and kitchens in the area.

“There is a big lack of workforce,” Kaufman said. “We hope we can help train and fill positions to make a positive impact.”

The chefs not only mentor older kids at the school, offering them jobs, but teach public classes or have special dinners, such as a chef’s table to benefit the school.

Classes held at the Hub are taught by Dickinson. Most cost $75 per person.

In December they include:
• 6 p.m. Dec. 6: By the Book. Tackle recipes from the cookbooks of rock and roll music icons.
• 10 a.m. Dec. 15: Buche de Noel. Learn how to create a Buche de Noel and take home the classic cake shaped like a Yule log.
• 6 p.m. Dec. 18: Latkes
• 6 p.m. Dec. 20: Dumplings
• 10 a.m. Dec. 21: Cookies for your cookie exchange.

The kitchen will be formally opened in January with a special event. Kaufman is expecting people who want to ease into owning their own food facilities to take advantage of the space to cater events or test and produce products for market.

She also invites area chefs to ask about staging cooking classes or special dinners.

Costs for kitchen rental vary by class and use; contact the Hub at Space of Mind for more information.

Hub at Space of Mind, 101 NW First Ave., Delray Beach. 561-894-8772; https://findspaceofmind.com/register-for-a-program/.

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