News Detail
Order Up! Stag Café Goes Live
What most students saw when the Stag Café opened on Tuesday evening was just the tip of the iceberg considering what goes into making the eatery a reality.
It takes weeks of preparation to get Entrepreneurship 12 students from the first day of class to the opening day of Stag, notably a lengthy and rigorous interview process that helps determine what roles the students will fill as part of the organization, from CEOs to kitchen workers. As many as 10 adults – including education and administration staff, interns, and a visiting business major from the UK with previous kitchen management experience – were part of the panel that grilled the potential grillers.
There are 50 students between the two Entrepreneurship 12 classes, a bigger number than usual, which necessitated a total of four CEOs – two in each class – who will have to collaborate because the Stag functions as one business with a separate shift for each of the two classes. The two junior entrepreneurship classes will also be involved in the café at some point as the year progresses.
Each year of students leaves its own mark on the Stag. Entrepreneurship teacher Ms. Mariel Solsberg says this year’s students are big on sharing their own experiences and cultures, and that will probably help shape the menu. They also hope to get out to more School functions, like hockey games and rugby matches.
New to this year’s menu is the Smashton Burger, named to honour past staff member Mr. Liam Ashton, who has been a huge supporter of Stag and helped run the program when Ms. Solsberg was on maternity leave last year, as well as a salted caramel milkshake. For the first time, the kitchen team, which is responsible for deciding the menu, has sent out a survey to all students and staff to ask what items they would like to see served.
The obstacles that students face running and working in a functioning restaurant, and the solutions they come up with are what make Stag a unique learning opportunity, Ms. Solsberg says.
“They learn from their mistakes,” she explains. “They know going in that things aren’t going to be perfect, but we encourage problem-solving and connect that to the real world.”
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Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
