Costa Academy serves opportunities

Costa Academy

serves opportunities to area students

Written by ROXANN MILLER

For seven years, Michael Kalathas, owner of The Orchards Restaurant in Chambersburg, Pa., has served the right ingredients to create a recipe for local students to thrive in the restaurant and food-service industry.

The Costa Academy, a 501(c)(3), is named after Kalathas’ father, Costa “Charlie”

Kalathas, a well-known Chambersburg restaurateur who has operated the Historic

Texas Lunch diner for more than 50 years and opened The Orchards in 1994.

The culinary arts school, housed in The

Orchards at 1580 Orchard Drive, offers high school and post-secondary school students an alternative educational program through a style of teaching that fosters engagement, provokes confident decision-making and inspires leadership, said Michael Kalathas, who also serves as the academy’s president.

“We aim to have them experience the work environment now, rather than later. With our knowledge of the restaurant industry, we are able to simplify their learning process, and help them learn a trade with applied technical and soft skills,” said Kalathas, who has worked in the restaurant industry for more than 30 years.

After graduating from The Culinary

Institute of America in 2001, Kalathas returned to his hometown and took over the day-to-day operations – and eventually ownership – of The Orchards.

Kalathas said he always had a vision of creating a hands-on culinary school to give back to the community that has given so much to his family.

Orchards’ chefs Luis Acosta and Eric Monn prep dough for the brick oven pizza

station. SUBMITTED PHOTOS

Costa Academy students Brayden Arthur, Audrey Nicole and Aiden Smith plate a dinner for a banquet event.

Demand for culinary professionals

Joanne Cochran, Costa Academy board member and president and CEO of Keystone Health, said Kalathas’ culinary arts school is a much-needed local resource.

“Franklin County (Pa.) is among the fastest-growing counties in Pennsylvania, with increasing opportunities for students graduating with a certificate in culinary arts,” Cochran said.

The food-service industry workforce is projected to grow by 400,000 jobs by the end of 2022. Between 2023 and 2030, the industry is projected to add an average of 200,000 jobs each year, with total staffing levels reaching 16.5 million by 2030, according to the National Restaurant Association.

With the closest culinary school two hours away in York, Pa., Cochran said the academy meets the need for Vanilla Crème educational opportunities to train area Brulee students for restaurant careers. While the COVID-19 pandemic slowed restaurant industry growth, Kalathas said that now there is great demand for trained personnel to work in restaurants, hospitals, nursing • 2 vanilla beans • 1 quart heavy cream • 1 cup sugar • 12 egg yolks homes, retirement communities, col- Heat oven to 375 leges and schools – all of which employ degrees. food-service workers. Split and clean vanilla beans.

“You can see how much of a need Place in a saucepan with heavy there is for the academy. Let alone, cream and sugar. Bring to a boil. that this was started way before While cream is heating, separate COVID. People tell us, ‘Wow, this eggs (keep whites for later use) is absolutely unbelievable, and we and place yolks in a medium to needed this years ago,’” Kalathas said. large mixing bowl. When cream

He said that many of the area’s mixture is boiling, slowly temper head chefs were trained either at The Orchards or Costa Academy. with yolks. Once mixture is fully incorporated, strain.

Juan Lira, 24, enrolled in one of the Pour into molds on a sheet tray. first academy classes when he was a senior at Chambersburg Area Senior High School (CASHS). As a hands-on Place in oven. Fill sheet tray halfway with water. After 15 minutes, rotate until firm. Let cool, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate learner, Lira said he was interested in until ready to serve. immersing himself in the academy’s brand of education.

“I learn from books, but not as well as hands-on, and as someone who wants to own their own business one day, I wanted to learn from someone (Kalathas) who has been operating his own business successfully,” he said.

Today, Lira is one of the head chefs at The Orchards, as well as an instructor for the academy. He attributes the academy for his success.

“I learned so much from the Costa Academy. I learned people skills for sure, and how to interact with customers and co-workers,” he said. “They also taught you about on-demand cooking and how to think on the fly, which helps a lot in the everyday lifestyle that I live.”

Hands-on training

There is no cost for tuition at the academy, which prepares students for careers in the restaurant and food-service industry in approximately five months. Costa Academy accepts 20 to 25 students for its training sessions, which are held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. from August to January and January to May. The schedule includes 30 to 40 minutes of classroom instruction, followed by hands-on training in food preparation, plus cooking safety and techniques. “The program is far more than just being a chef. We teach students the science of cooking, as well as how to run a business,” said Kalathas, adding that academy graduates also earn ServSafe certification as part of the program. Currently, the academy partners with CASHS, Chambersburg Area Career Magnet School and the Montessori Academy of Chambersburg to train students. High school students earn 2.5 credits upon

completion of academy training. The program recently expanded to post- secondary students interested in food-service careers. Through a partnership with Hagerstown Community College, Kalathas said students training at the academy receive 15 credits toward their college education. “If you wanted to go to HCC, and you came and did the hours at Costa Academy, you’ll take care of 15 credits – and you only need 60 to graduate with an associate degree. This is a big opportunity for a lot of the students,” Kalathas said. Academy training is free, thanks to the support of the local community, including F&M Trust, WellSpan Health and Chambersburg Area Development Corp., he said. Bishop Diehl, 22, Chambersburg, is employed as a cook at GearHouse Brewing Co. in Chambersburg. He said the academy turned his life around when he was a junior at CASHS. “When I was younger, I was kind of on the wrong path growing up,” he said, but attending the academy helped him find his passion. “I learned about safety guidelines. I learned how to cook a lot better. I learned the different variants of stuff. I learned a lot,” he said. If you are a hard worker and passionate about food, you can make an honest living being a chef or cook in the area, Diehl said. “It (Costa Academy) can help kids who are more unfortunate or don’t know what they want to do with their life or are too poor. It really helped me out a lot with my life,” Diehl said. Kalathas said he’s passionate about continuing to share his love of cooking through Costa Academy. “I’ve been teaching people my whole life, and food is a universal language. Food is love,” he said.

For information about Costa Academy, go to www.costaacademy.org.