‘A Hand Up:' Program Trains Underemployed Vermonters for Kitchen Work

A program in Vermont aims to help restaurants find more kitchen staff — while lifting those employees out of tough financial situations.

Community Kitchen Academy is a free job training program in Barre and Burlington from the Vermont Foodbank and the direct emergency food services provider Feeding Chittenden. The nonprofit organizations explained the program matches a chef instructor with unemployed or underemployed Vermonters. The classes emphasize professional and interpersonal skills students will need to thrive in the food service industry.

Jeanine Garella enrolled in the program after losing her job in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, as so many did. She ended up finding a new career path as a sous chef, she said.

"I think if it wouldn’t have been for the pandemic, I wouldn’t have gone in this direction," said Garella, who declined to identify her previous employer but noted that position required close contact with other people — hence the COVID-forced layoff. 

Anna McMahon of Feeding Chittenden explained the ultimate goal is to break the cycle of poverty. Some students have been at risk of homelessness. 

"It’s not just a handout — it’s a hand up," McMahon said of the education provided by Community Kitchen Academy. "It’s a huge stepping stone for a lot of folks."

CKA also addresses hunger, McMahon noted, because meals prepared in class are provided to low-income folks in the community.

The Vermont Department of Labor, well aware of how many employers in the hospitality sector need workers, praised how the 9-week program provides nationally-recognized certification in safety. Those areas include food handling, knife skills, and fire prevention.

“At the end of the day, upskilling our entire workforce is something that’s of great value to the state as a whole,” said Vermont Department of Labor spokesman Kyle Thweatt.

Thweatt added that restaurants are a meaningful employer in Vermont, because in a tourism-dependent state, they often serve as a first impression for visitors.

At Waterworks, a popular restaurant in Winooski, kitchen director Adam Raferty said he is glad to get calls with job placement recommendations from CKA. 

“Everybody’s going through the same challenges right now,” Raferty said of attracting and retaining employees.

The success strategy Waterworks has used to maintain a strong kitchen staff, Raferty said, is having a deep bench to create more flexible work opportunities than restaurant workers used to have.

“We’ve got a couple guys in our kitchen that play in bands, so Friday and Saturday nights are big nights for them,” Raferty explained. “Usually that’s a deal breaker for restaurants — you’ve got to work those nights. Well we overstaff, so that work / life balance is there.”

Waterworks hired Phoebe Laidley-Collias, a CKA grad, several years ago.

“It fueled my love of cooking,” Laidley-Collias said of Community Kitchen Academy, adding that she wanted mentorship in a creative career after she decided college just wasn’t for her. 

The Waterworks line cook said she has found a lot of satisfaction in making people happy through food.

“On occasion, people will come by and say, ‘Wonderful food, thank you very much,’” Laidley-Collins said of the customers at Waterworks who wave to staff in the open kitchen. “We just love that.”

Jeanine Garella said she is loving her new position as a sous chef, supporting the meal distribution efforts at Feeding Chittenden. She called Community Kitchen Academy the perfect recipe for learning — while uplifting people who had financial or career hardships.

“In teaching people these culinary skills and job training skills, they can go on to do great things,” McMahon said.

Click here for more information on Community Kitchen Academy.