Mules Cafe opens for new semester

The Mules Cafe opened its doors late Tuesday morning to a steady stream of costumers there to eat meals made by students.

The Cafe, which is run by the culinary students from Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center, is open from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. most Tuesdays and Fridays during the school year. Usually, the only times it changes from that schedule is if the school is out on that day or the week before.

The cafe serves as a training facility for the students to put into practice what they’re learning.

Student Tyler Humphreys works on rolling chicken enchiladas at the Mules Cafe on Tuesday afternoon. DAR/Michael Shine

Instructor Brandon Moon said he has Poplar Bluff students in the morning and students from other neighboring schools such as Puxico in the afternoon. This year, he also has two adult students who are with him the whole day. The shifts change part way through the time the cafe is open, which allows both groups of students to experience the work.

Each student gets a turn at the different stations in the Cafe, rotating positions every two weeks. These include up front where they serve as waiters, bussers, cashiers and servers. Back in the kitchen, it means being on dishes, clean up and deserts, and serving as sous chef. By rotating every few weeks, students get the chance to experience what each position is like and spend time in it.

Destiny O’Brant, who is new to the program, started out on the serving line Tuesday, but she said she’d rather be back in the kitchen.

“It’s stressful because there’s so many people,” she said. “I love cooking. I want to learn more than I already know and make new friends. I’d rather be back there, but it’s hotter.”

Tuesday’s menu included fish tacos, chicken enchiladas, salad, rice and beans, cole slaw, cheesecake and churros. The same menu is scheduled for Friday’s meals as well. The menu changes each week. Moon said he tries to expose the students to food from different cultures and the philosophy behind food for each.

Along with working in the cafe, Moon teaches students about safety and sanitation — which he said is the most important part, followed by accuracy and then efficiency — different cooking techniques, communication and teamwork.

“This is a ProStart program, which is the curriculum that we use,” Moon said. “It’s recognized by the National Restaurant Association. I like to call it a restaurant training program, because they’re learning all parts of the restaurant. We talk about safe cooking temperatures, cooking techniques, knife skills are a big part of it. How to communicate effectively. We have to make sure nobody gets hurt, nobody gets poked with a knife or anything. A lot of team work is behind that.”

Moon said he tells the students the best thing they can do is go out and get a job in the field, because while what they’re doing is a good starting point, being out in the field helps with timing and the ability to work under pressure.

Moon also tries to take the students out on field trips to different restaurants, where they can meet with the owners and have a conversion with them about what cooking methods they use and other information about running a restaurant. He said they can also learn about what restaurant owners look for when doing interviews and tips for getting into the profession.

“Last year, we took them to a local restaurant, and the woman who’s Tai cooked for them, talking about what it’s like to run a business. She explained to them the different pallets an Asian kind of cuisine might have,” he said. “Any restaurant owner or manager who would be interested in coming to speak, we need those relationships with the public.

“I want to be able to take them to any restaurant and have the owner sit with them for 10 minutes, half an hour, show them the facilities and just talk to them about that real life experience ... Things that we are limited here on. There’s hundreds of restaurants here, (we’re) trying to get people to invest in our kids.”

Moon said the Cafe has a good number of regular customers who typically come during the first hour they’re open. However, he’s hoping to get more customers coming in during the second hour, so the afternoon students can get the same hands-on experience.

Lunch costs $7 and the students are able to prepare to go orders as well as dine in meals.