"We Can!" ~ RT's Strawberry Sale
by Jessalyn Kray, RT senior
LCCTC teaches skills that last a lifetime. One such example is Restaurant Trades’ annual Chocolate Strawberry Sale! And, once again, they were a big hit!
Taking a strawberry from a simple fresh fruit to a delicious sweet treat takes some work. First Ms. Price taught us how to put in the order for the 90 pints of fresh strawberries. Holy mackerel -- that’s a lot of berries! When placing an order, we must be sure to include a back-up plan because of the impending snow storm.
Once the shipment came in, students cleaned the strawberries to prepare them for the next step. Individually, each berry was carefully dried and sorted by size: small, medium, and large. We also needed to check the berries for quality; any berry that was over-ripe, or bruised, or misshapen was set aside for a different purpose later on. Only the best berries were sold to the public.
Now it was time to put in the work and skill to make sure our product was a sweet treat. It was now time for the chocolate! We used both white and semi-sweet chocolate chips to melt until into a smooth, sweet liquid. Holding the berries by their green leafy tops, students dipped the strawberries until each berry was perfectly covered with just enough chocolate. As if in an assembly line, students then went around the tables and carefully decorated each sweet treat. Some melted white chocolate and drizzled over them; some used colorful sprinkles.
In addition to outside orders in the community, RT students also sold to the students who were impressed by the beautiful berries for sale. Each berry looked like something you might see in a magazine.
Next year, Restaurant trades will plan another berry sale, and with even more practice, their technique will get stronger.
However, all and all the shop raised money for some future trips and it was a great learning experience for the students. The RT students had a blast learning about advertising, taking orders, packaging, and delivering a quality product; these are all qualities that will serve any future entrepreneur.
