Grey Owl restaurant offers students experience for real world

Working in a real restaurant at Assiniboine Community College, serving real customers, gave Sherbet Doverte the opportunity to gain the experience she needed to apply to her summer job.

Assiniboine operates the Grey Owl fine dining restaurant for about four weeks every year in January and February.

The fusion of nouvelle and classic cuisine, in a heritage dining room trimmed in solid oak, sells out every year.

The food is prepared by Culinary Arts students and served by Doverte and her classmates in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Students in the two programs also put on several other culinary events during the school year.

Having finished her first year, Doverte is now on a paid work placement at Shawarma Queen Kebab House before she returns to take her second year this fall.

“Grey Owl is just like a restaurant setup. It’s not like the instructor will tell you what to do. No. You’ll do it and if you make a mistake, the instructor will tell you not to do it next time or will guide you. You learn by yourself, with the help of your instructor,” Doverte said.

“What I learned in the events here at Grey Owl, I apply to Shawarma. I’ve met people, I’ve served people. You want to sell the food and you want good customer service, so they want to come back, not just for the food, but for the service.”

Servers must know all about the food the customers are ordering, including any potential allergens.

“Certain people may be allergic to some nuts, or something like milk. I apply that at my workplace now. I usually ask the owner beforehand, so I will have the answer whenever people ask me questions,” she said.

Doverte was a nurse and a teacher of English as an additional language in her home country of the Philippines.

She was attracted to Assiniboine by the opportunity to train for specific jobs and earn a higher salary.

Doverte hopes to be a manager of a hotel or restaurant in her future career.

Anyone thinking about coming to Assiniboine should do it, she said.

“I would say to them they will really have a good experience when it comes to going to school at Assiniboine Community College, because they’re not just learning through the classroom setup. They are also learning by doing,” she said.

Learn more about the Hotel and Restaurant Management or Grey Owl Restaurant.