Our most popular public food events are our series of Open Kitchen meals, which are served in the dining room of our Culinary Arts Center during the fall and spring semesters. The meals feature a multi-course menu of classic dishes prepared by student chefs. Meals are served during the week and are scheduled to coincide with our students’ culinary arts classes. For a schedule of meal dates,  please visit Eventbrite. Please note that once reservations are closed, the meal will no longer be featured as an available option.

Yes, Manchester's Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts students are responsible for preparing, cooking and serving the Open Kitchen meals at the Culinary Arts Center. Staging and executing these meals provides students with real-world, hands-on training, which is an integral part of our culinary arts curriculum. Chef instructors carefully coordinate and supervise all meals. Students plan the menus, purchase the food, manage their fellow classmates and serve you in the dining room. Students are evaluated and graded based on their ability to meet the standards we set as part of this learning experience. We appreciate and thank you for joining us and for contributing to this educational process by participating as guests at our luncheons.

The Open Kitchen meals at the Culinary Arts Center typically feature a prix-fixe menu, a multi-course meal at a fixed price. Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts students plan, budget, cook and serve the meals.

Guests can make reservations through Eventbrite. 

Yes, because of the popularity of our meals and the limited number of seats, we require that all guests make advanced dining reservations. In fact, we suggest that guests make their reservations as early as possible because most of the meals sell out quickly. We do not accept walk-in guests. Hospitality Manangement and Culinary Arts students plan, budget, cook and serve the meals based on advanced reservations. You may make dining reservations at Eventbrite.

Our meals are served during the students’ fall and spring semesters (meals are not served during the summer). Dates, times and menus for our meals are made available to the public at the beginning of each semester (the first week of September for the fall semester and the first week of February for the spring semester). 

All of our Open Kitchen meals are served in the dining room of our Culinary Arts Center, which is located on the second floor of the Student Services Center.

We typically do not offer meals on weekends. Students attend classes during the week, and our meals are incorporated into our culinary arts students’ class schedules. What’s more, the majority of our students work at local restaurants, hotels and food service facilities on the weekends, which means many students are not available on Saturdays or Sundays.

We do not have the resources or the equipment to service private functions, such as weddings, but groups or organizations are welcome to contact us to discuss the possibility of making arrangements to tie one of your events or functions into one of our Open Kitchen meals or one of our catering classes. For more information about how you can tie your event or function into one of our Open Kitchen meals or a catering class, please refer to the questions below.

We invite you to contact us to discuss the possibility of using one of our Open Kitchen meals for the exclusive use of your group or organization. We conduct our meals to coincide with our students’ culinary arts classes; therefore, only certain days of the week are available. As expected, our menu prices are discounted for groups doing business related to the mission of our college.

We cater a limited number of events on campus to coincide with our students’ catering classes. Similar to our Open Kitchen meals, this type of event has to be held during our students’ scheduled class times. The catering class meets one day a week. Each semester, the catering course alternates between day and evening classes. As part of the learning experience, students work with a local group or organization (their “clients”) and plan—from start to finish—a catered event, which is held in our Culinary Arts Center. Under the direction of a chef instructor, students assist their clients with selecting a menu and calculating the costs. Menus range from hors d’oeuvres only to a complete buffet meal.

Our ability to provide this service depends on whether or not we can recruit enough students (paid or volunteer) to accommodate your request. The Manchester Student Hospitality Association is also a possibility for providing this type of service. We will do our best to accommodate your request.

We do not cater private events held off-campus. We will occasionally cater off-site functions for State of Connecticut agencies and at state facilities. Overall, the department is not equipped to be an off-premise food provider.

If you are interested in obtaining more information about the opportunities listed above, the department chairpersons, Kathy Kern or Ricardo Aragon, accept email requests from groups and organizations during the semester preceding the semester in which you are interested in hosting your event.

Please contact either of the department chairpersons and include your name, the name of the group or organization, the estimated number of guests, several dates that would accommodate your schedule, and any other important information regarding your request. We look forward to receiving your request, and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.