Ottawa Mission celebrating food training grads before program moves to former Rideau Bakery

By Chris Kurys

It's not the Ottawa Mission's final Food Services Training Program graduating class, but it's the last group which will have spent their entire time studying at the mission's current location.

The program is set to relocate to the former Rideau Bakery on Rideau Street, to be renamed “Chef Ric's” after the mission's renowned chef.

“Our program has been here [at the Ottawa Mission] since 2004 and moving it off-site to the Rideau Bakery is exciting because it's going to give us a lot more space to graduate more students per year,” says Chef Ric Allen-Watson.

The director of food services tells CityNews there are 10 people graduating this year, eight of whom are already employed in the industry even though finding work has been a challenge during the pandemic.

“Now we're gearing our students more to retirement homes, things like that, since with lockdowns the restaurants aren't available.”

Still, an 80 per cent success rate in this graduating year during a pandemic is quite close to the programs typical 90 per cent success rate and Watson says it comes down to a desire from applicants to change their lives.

“They understand that this program can be intense… but the students that come here, they're at a point in their life where they need to change,” explained Allen-Watson.

The Ottawa Mission is looking to run three food services programs each year at its new Rideau Street location, which will include up to 25 students in each class, instead of the typical 10-14.

And since classes will be in the former home of an iconic Ottawa bakery, Chef Allen-Watson will be incorporating a baking component in the program.

“Absolutely. It just wouldn't make sense [not to], would it?”

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