Findlay, Ohio, Jan. 24, 2005 – Students enrolled in The University of Findlay’s Hospitality Management Program will prepare and serve lunch at Findlay’s Salvation Army soup kitchen from 11:30 to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25.

The students are serving the lunch in preparation for the opening of UF’s Village Café on Feb. 1.

While most of the food for the lunch will be prepared at the University, final food preparation, table setting and serving will take place at the soup kitchen.

The Village Café utilizes students from three classes to create a dining experience for patrons. The freshmen, learning the fundamentals of dining room management, will be the servers. The juniors have mastered cooking basics and are now learning to cook in large quantities. The seniors, as managers of the facility, have devised the menu. The dining room serves as a living classroom for those in the University’s hospitality management program.

UF’s Hospitality Management Program offers a four-year baccalaureate degree, a minor and an emphasis in the MBA curriculum. The rigorous program, which is housed in the University’s College of Business, prepares graduates for careers in the lodging, food service, travel, tourism and recreation industries. Students take classes such as food production management, lodging operations and hospitality financial management along with marketing, business management and accounting classes.

Students get hands-on experience through professional service hours, working in the program’s Village Café where meals are entirely planned, prepared and served by students, and through internships at places like Walt Disney Resorts at Disney World in Florida and the Westin Hotel on Hilton Head Island.