One of the most popular life lessons drawn from Stephen Covey’s seminal book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is “Sharpening the Saw,” perhaps best described by U.S. president Abraham Lincoln when he said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.”
Wtih friends and Monster Kitchen Academy Students at Thai Me Up Centrio for Chinese New Year
Monster Kitchen Academy, undoubtedly Cagayan de Oro’s most popular and successful culinary school, is a firm believer in this proven adage. Before any of their Culinary Arts or Baking & Pastry Arts students are allowed to finish their course, they undergo mandatory immersion where the batch is tested in the field by hosting a real-life event which they themselves plan, finance and execute.
“This is to give our students first-hand experience on how it is to run an actual business, and not just learn how to cook or bake,” said Jan Uy, MKA and Monster Kitchen CDO President. “This is a very useful exercise once they venture into their own business as some 75-80 percent of our graduates actually do.”
The latest MKA batch to undertake immersion was Baking & Culinary Arts Batch # 26 which conducted an “Afternoon Tea” at Thai Me Up Centrio branch last 8 February 2016.
MKA Baking & Pastry Arts Batch 26
Charmaine Shepard, batch president and a nursing graduate who operates Chef’s Diner in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, said immersion gives MKA students like herself who had no formal training in baking and management.
“We do the menu, the planning, invitations, promotions, posters, target sales and organized ourselves into committees tasked with specific jobs,” she said. “Very good exposure.”
Even students with an academic background like Christian Woo, a Hotels and Restaurant Management Graduate of Lourdes College, find the MKA immersion program worthwhile, being assigned to do the liquidation and post-event financial report for her batch.
Interviewing Ms. Christian Woo at Thai Me Up Centrio
“I already experienced planning in Lourdes College before but more on the management side, so this goes to the basic level where you factor in all expenses like transportation and the like which add up over time,” she explained.
Batchmate Ayesa Katerina Garingo of Iligan City, a B.S. Special Education graduate who currently teaches English online, agrees.
Ayesa K. Garingo of Iligan City
“Immersion is very helpful to me. It’s my first time to work with a team and when you go on to business, you need to manage the people. With this activity, when you’re engaged with the public and you’re engaged with the team, it helps to teach you how to work with them, how to cooperate with them. It’s very useful to learn people interaction,” she shares.
Ayesa enrolled in MKA to learn how to develop her line of cakes and pastries which are healthy and diabetes-friendly, for people like her mom who loves sweets but has been denied it by her doctors due to her ailment. To attain her dream, she understands it takes more than one person to successfully run even a home-based enterprise.
“My most important learning from MKA is people relations, especially with your staff, you need to have good, open communications kasi if you treat your staff right, they will also work well and your business will do good,” she said.
MKA won the overall Championship (Student Category) in the 18th edition of Kumbira, the country’s largest culinary event outside Metro Manila, following up on its unprecedented three-peat as the Kumbira Overall Champion in the Professional Category from 2012-2014.
Besides garnering the overall championship, MKA also won golds for Creative Cake Decorating, Salads & Sandwiches, silvers in the Artistic Bread Showpiece and Chef Wars (where students and professionals competed on the same playing field for the first time), and bronzes in Pica-Pica Platter, Plated Dessert, and a diploma in Sugba de Oro Platter with Condiments.
It was a worthy follow-up to the MKA Silver Medal finish in the overall championship in the 17th Kumbira with 2 golds, 2 silvers, 1 bronze and 1 diploma in the hotly contested Student Division.
Headed by Chef Geni Labadan as program head, MKA Baking & Pastry Arts boasts of a blue ribbon faculty with the likes of award-winning chefs like Cathy Lopez-Dano, Rachel Baclay-Ng, Joy Arcenal, Mon Cardenas, Dio Raphael Ratunil, Queenie Subrabas, and Carsten Radke of Berlin, Germany.
Parade of Special Cakes Workshop
MKA has also hosted prominent chefs like celebrity chefs Jackie Ang-Po, Pank Ching, international chocolatier Chef Joy Pelo, Wilton Chef Albert Chiu and just last Feb 12-13, celebrity chef Sandy Daza of Foodprints (aired on Lifestyle Channel).
Upcoming short courses include a Parade of Special Cakes Workshop with Chef Geni Labadan on Sunday, Feb. 28 (9am-4pm) at MKA Cathedral Branch; a 12-day Intensive Cake Decorating Workshop starting March 14 and every Monday andTuesday thereafter; and a 12-day Intensive Bakery Workshop starting March 16 and every Wed-Thu thereafter.
12 days Intensive Bakery Workshop
Enrollment is also ongoing for MKA’s flagship Baking & Pastry Arts and Culinary Arts courses.
Available skeds are Monday & Tuesday (4 months), Wednesday and Thursday (4 months) and Sunday only (6 months). Maximum class size is 16 though the average class size ranges from 10-12 students.
Ongoing Enrollment
For more details, contact 0917-707-1245/ 8512019 or visit Monster Kitchen Academy at its main kitchen at its Cathedral Branch at the 2nd floor, Jardiniano Building, San Agustin-Rizal Street (Facing Gaston Park) or at its satellite kitchen at Mortola St. (facing Ororama Supercenter). Follow MKA on Facebook: www.facebook.com/
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