Kitchen of Champions is serving more students than ever before. In 2009 our enrollment numbers reached record highs and we expect to see this steady stream of applicants continue each week. Your support makes it possible for us to offer Kitchen of Champions students life skills training, job training, and employment in the food service industry.
We encourage you to help pave the way for student success through monetary contributions. Sponsoring a student will ensure the continued success of our wonderful program.
Kitchen of Champions is grateful for the support of food industry professionals who hire our graduates or volunteer for Guest Chef Night. When you're choosing a place to dine, please consider supporting one of the many wonderful restaurants that make our community a better place.
Each Kitchen of Champions graduate has completed our intensive 12 week training program. Each individual is prescreened for employability assets including:
Current track record of reliability and stability
Current references and support network
Timely, organized and efficient
Good communications and team focus
Working “clean, neat and complete”
Working with the sense of urgency
Maintaining high customer service standards
Asking questions and checking for understanding
Solid, Comprehensive Training
Kitchen of Champions graduates are qualified at and above entry-level for the food service industry. Each graduate has been extensively trained for food handling, safety and sanitation and are comfortable in multiple food service situations.
Kitchen of Champions students have worked and trained alongside a professional chef producing up to 1000 nutritious bulk meals each day in the Kitchen of Champions kitchen. They have also worked for St. Vincent de Paul catering and up to 128 three course gourmet meals each quarter at Kitchen of Champions' Guest Chef Night event.
Back-of-the-House Training Includes:
Proper food storage
Safe food handling
Team work
Knife skills
Kitchen safety
Quantity cooking
Serving skills
Kitchen vocabulary
Prep work
Kitchen math
Inventory procedures
Specialty cuisine
Soups, Sauces, Salads
Catering
Quality Control
Consistency
Leadership
Line cooking
To consider a Kitchen of Champions graduate for current or future job openings, please contact our Employment Specialist at bforeman@svdp-alameda.org or 510.877.9212.
KC and her family have visited the St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County Free Dining Room to get a hot meal when times are tight. She knew about the Dining Room because she remembered visiting as a child – her mom was raising a family of eight on her own and when times were tough, the family would eat at the Dining Room. The Dining Room offers a hot noon meal every day, and also serves as the gateway to other services for those in need. Through the Dining Room, KC originally heard about SVdP’s Visitation Center for Women & Children. She would visit the Center to do her laundry or get clothes and gifts for her kids at holidays.
One day last year, KC was eating lunch in the Dining Room and asked someone about all the people in the kitchen wearing white chef’s coats. When she learned they were students in SVdP’s Kitchen of Champions Culinary Training Academy, KC made an appointment to find out about the program. She enrolled in the 12-week training program and gained confidence in her cooking abilities and a measure of self esteem. And she gained a pathway forward.
After graduation from the program, KC applied for and was admitted into the Culinary Arts program at Laney College – the first of her family to attend college. It all started with a hot meal ... and people who care.
Patrick, who is 32, is a recent graduate of the Kitchen of Champions. During his time in the program, his brother died and he had a baby girl.
“What made me come all the way to the end is I’m serious,” he says. “It’s always easy to be on the corner, slanging or doing whatever, but if you really got a passion for something, you should go ahead and put your 100 percent in and get what you want up out of it.”
Before Kitchen of Champions, Jerkins had trouble finding work in food service. He is sure he came close to getting a cooking job, but lacked very basic cooking knowledge. After his 12 weeks in the Kitchen of Champions, he is now prepared. Patrick was hired as a full-time employee with full benefits at the Safeway deli in Rockridge in November. He is now able to provide for his family and will build a career in food services.
Rayma was born and raised in Oakland, CA. A single mother of four, Rayma always kept her mind on working hard, caring for her children and staying out of the system. She acknowledges the need for public assistance but has always made the effort to stay away from “hand outs.” Living life on her own terms, Rayma was volunteering at AltaBatesMedicalCenter for many years before thinking about changing her vocational path.
She applied to the Kitchen of Champions in late 2008 and started the program in January of 2009. Through the SVdP network Rayma got information on the opening of Mandela Foods Cooperative and started taking various business classes there. After graduating from KOC, Rayma worked the grand opening of Mandela Foods Cooperative on June 6th, where she is still currently a worker-owner. Now, staying true to her Oakland co-op roots, Rayma is involved in a new clothing venture opening in January where she will also be a worker-owner. She also learned about this opportunity through the SVDP network. “It’s all because of your guys,” she says. “You ought to be real proud of yourselves.”
The Kitchen of Champions offers a highly structured environment in which students learn and practice professional work skills and attitudes that will serve them for a lifetime. We balance compassion and support with expectations for professional behavior that meet the demands of the workplace.
There are four main ingredients to the program:
Culinary Training at The Kitchen of Champions is taught through hands-on, real-world experience in the St. Vincent de Paul kitchen. Students work and train alongside our own staff of chefs, producing a total of up to 1,000 meals a day.
Individual Case Management helps students with the complexities of day-to-day life. Employment Specialists work with students on an individual basis, adapting to each student's particular needs and advising students on a variety of issues, including how to organize and manage daily issues such as transportation, health care, and housing.
Life Skills Training teaches students how to set goals, work as part of a team, and make positive choices for themselves. Training focuses on workplace essentials, such as conflict resolution, stress and anger management, timeliness, and personal presentation.
Job Placement and Retention Services means finding the right jobs for students and continuing to work with them after they've graduated to ensure that they retain their jobs and realize adequate wage progression.
Kitchen of Champions graduates are well-trained and ready to go to work! With your help, more than 70% of Kitchen of Champions graduates have gained employment after program completion. Kitchen of Champions graduates are pre-screened and have current referrals. Core competencies have been demonstrated and evaluated through intensive classroom and on-the-job training and experience.
To consider a Kitchen of Champions graduate for current or future job openings, please contact an Employment Specialist at kitchenofchampions@svdp-alameda.org or 510/877-8212.
Do you have a job available for a Kitchen of Champions Graduate? Please send us the details and one of our Employment Specialist will get in touch with you!
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of AlamedaCounty’s Kitchen of Champions provides a community that transforms lives by empowering men, women, and families to achieve self-sufficiency through life skills, job training, and employment in the food service industry.
To APPLY:
Turn in an application to our Community Center or Dining Room Office on the corner of San Pablo & 23rd in downtown Oakland, CA.
View the application form here (link). You are welcome to print, fill out this application, and drop it off at the St. Vincent de Paul in downtown Oakland.
For more information about the program or for information about eligibility, call 510/877-9212.
What is the Kitchen of Champions?
A 12 week hands-on Job Training program in the Culinary Arts (Cooking and Foodservice prep)
Coaching to develop strong, successful work habits.
Case Management and Support Services to address personal needs and challenges
Employment Services to help participants achieve employment
Requirements (Eligible people are):
Candidate must be at least 18 years of age
Must be drug and alcohol free
English skills sufficient to read and communicate in English
Either unemployed or under employed
Reading at a middle school level (or above) and in possession of basic math skills
Be willing to work with a team
Available to be in class from 8am to 12pm and 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, Mon-Fri
Curious, ready to learn, and willing to do homework
Must be capable of standing and walking for four hours at a time
Must be capable of lifting 50 lb.
Willing to spend one shift volunteering at SVdP Dining Room prior to start of class
The Kitchen of Champions is a culinary training and job placement program brought to you by The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County. Over the past 2 years, the Kitchen of Champions has provided opportunities for over 100 people to transform their lives, while also serving over 500,000 meals to disadvantaged men, women, and children.
Thank you for supporting the Kitchen of Champions!
