HTM set to expand teaching restaurant

By: Jonathan Szydlo / Staff Writer

After ten years and over $10 million raised through the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management has decided to use a portion of that money to expand and renovate its facilities.

Of those funds, $5.6 million has been set aside for the renovation of the existing kitchen and the expansion of the HTM dining room to allow for a capacity of 150 guests, which are located on the first floor of the Hospitality Management building at the Biscayne Bay Campus.

According to Mohammad Qureshi, assistant dean of HTM who is leading the expansion project, planning for the renovation and expansion of the teaching restaurant has been in the works for well over a year now. The shell, which means the dining room expansion, will start sometime at the end of May but won’t go full force construction mode until August.

Once construction begins on the interior of the facility, the affected classes, cooking 1 and cooking 2, will be moved to the Kovens Conference Center, located on the south side of the campus.

“With the infusion of the money from the South Beach Wine and Food Festival over the last ten years, we will be able to have a true dining room as opposed to, right now, a room that we use as a dining room, but one that’s not actually designed as a dining room. Now we will be able to do a lot more in our abilities to serve the students and better prepare them for the industry which is something we are very excited about,” says professor chef Michael Moran.

As it stands, the expansion and renovation project is targeted for completion by Feb. 15, 2012, according to Chef Moran. However, Qureshi admits that with so many variables with a project of this scale, even a hurricane scare can set the whole project back.

The current project calls for a complete renovation of the way the kitchen operates and the way it flows. The kitchen will be equipped with brand new appliances, from the dish machines, stoves, and grills, to a brand new ventilation system.

Keeping in mind HTM is not a culinary school, such as the Culinary Institute of America and Johnson and Wales, but a hospitality management program, Qureshi emphasized, “This will be the focal point of our building, not our program. The focal point of our program has, and will always be, our faculty and students.”

Directly involved with the planning of the expansion and renovation project are the two professor chefs on staff at HTM, Michael J. Moran and Roger D. Probst, only adding weight to Qureshi’s emphasis on the importance of HTM’s faculty.

“The two professor chefs are completely engaged in this project, especially the kitchen. Until they sign off, the [project] won’t advance to its next stages,” said Qureshi.

“I think in order for FIU to continue to be at the forefront of hospitality schools, this is a necessary step. As a whole , this will be a huge benefit for the program. In order for students to be successful hospitality managers, they also need to gain experience in a restaurant style kitchen,” said Eli Weil, an alumni of HTM.

Once the project is complete, there are plans to utilize the facility for additional courses within the HTM curriculum, as well as electives for majors outside of HTM. However, there are no specifics available on what or when these courses will be available.

Additionally, HTM is planning on using the facility to host its own, on-site event for future South Beach Wine and Food Festivals.

“Having people come to the school and see what we’re doing will bring not only money through donations, but also excitement to the [School of Hospitality and Tourism Management] because students will be able to apply themselves to something they can truly call their own. Even though the Wine and Food Festival is a part of the hospitality program, at the end of the day you’re working at your location for your own event,” said Weil.

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