Teacher's Pet

I try to create assignments that get students out interacting with the industry. My recent extra credit assignment is the "Teacher's Pet," which is a calzone I developed for a local restaurant that specializes in calzones. The calzone is called the Teacher's Pet because the restaurant is edgy and it has my favorite Greek inspired ingredients: feta cheese, sausage, tangy tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes, black olives, green peppers, and bit of basil.

Students can earn extra credit points for shopping the restaurant and writing about their experience. What is even more fun is that I am giving extra credit based on this experience to three different classes; an introductory hospitality course, sales course, and HR course. In the intro class all the freshman students are required to do is go enjoy a pie and write a short essay that describes a) their views on the quality of the facility (inside and out), b) the quality of the personal service provided, and c) quality of the pie. The sales students do the same but write a) what it was about the building and its location that sold them on what was inside, b) commentary on the sales techniques used by counter staff, and c) whether the calzone they ate sold them on the rest of the menu. The HR students go have a pie and asked to sit in the restaurant and observe the employees and act as secret consultants to guess at the HR practices that might be in place to explain the observed behavior, or recommend some HR technique to correct behavior that could improve the quality of the interaction between employees guests.

The assignment is running for the month of September. They then turn their essays in to me, with the receipt of their purchase stapled to it, at any point during the month and we routinely discuss the experiences in class. One class has even decided to compile and share results with owner. All are discussed in class nonetheless.

This is a great extra credit activity that connects what learning in the classroom with what is going on at a designated restaurant. It provides for a great discussion in class in a fun an eduational manner.