From the outside, the Burrito Grill at the Parkland Convention Center looks like any other restaurant.
But inside, the chain is transforming from a fast-casual chain into a culinary school and cooking school, with more than 30 instructors on staff, plus hundreds of students on hand for classes and events.
“It’s kind of like a school for food, but with burgers and more burgers,” said chef Kevin Satterfield, who’s running the new restaurant.
He says his students have learned to make and serve a wide variety of meats, from porterhouse to pork belly.
The Burrito Kitchen and Grill opened in September with the help of a group of students from the University of South Florida, where he teaches.
It’s now closed for renovations, but Satterford said he’ll be back.
He said he hopes his students will get a taste of the restaurant and culinary school experience as well.
“I think that this is an incredible opportunity for me to share my knowledge, my techniques, my knowledge of the food business, and to be part of a culinary education in a way that’s fun and that’s helpful,” Satterfors said.
The new restaurant also offers a wide range of activities for students.
It offers a culinary demonstration class in which students learn to make burgers, make a taco and make an omelet.
It has a class on barbecue and an online cooking school for students to learn about making tacos and burgers.
And it offers an online food school, a cooking class and a class for adults.
The students can choose to work in the restaurant, or take classes in cooking and serving.
They can also work in other aspects of the business.
“We have more than 25 different kinds of classes in different parts of the city, so we have a variety of activities,” said Satterdors assistant chef Mike Voorhees.
The restaurant has also developed a virtual food school for the restaurant students to participate in.
He estimates the students are doing up to 25 hours of work a week, including a weekly lunch break and other free time.
Students will also have access to a library, with a computer and other materials.
The restaurants location also allows for students who work at a local restaurant to have access for a weekend.
And the students can work at the restaurant at the same time as other students.
“They have a lot of options,” Voorheyes said.
“You can work on the weekend, or you can come work on Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday.
We can have them all work together on weekends.”
The new Burrito is also working with the Parkville Chamber of Commerce to expand its restaurant.
The group is hoping to open a second location in the future.
“Our hope is to have a restaurant in Parkland within a year, and hopefully we’ll open a restaurant there,” said Michael Fosdick, the president of the Chamber of Business.
“A lot of people want to be involved in the culinary education, and we’re trying to get that going, so that it’s not just a restaurant.
It might be a restaurant, but it might also be a culinary arts center, it might be an arts center for food science and maybe it could be a museum, or it could become a food court, or maybe it’s just a dining and dining business.
We’re working to find a way to get a restaurant here in Parkville.”