Never Stop Learning
"My current position allows for creativity and a lot of enjoyment, and it's all thanks to my education at Holyoke Community College."
Editors's Note: This is one of three Culinary Arts Alumni profiles that appear in the Spring 2018 issue of HCC's Alumni Connection magazine.
By RONNI GORDON
Cooking is a competitive industry, and not just on TV, so Charles J. Wood wanted to do something to make himself stand out.
Wood earned his certificate in Culinary Arts from HCC in 2014, and then, while steadily employed as a cook, he kept working toward his associate degree in Food Service Management, taking courses before his busy workday.
"I thought I would need more to get ahead," he said. "I had the certificate and I had the experience in the industry, and I wanted to gear toward management, the financial side of restaurant management. You can never stop learning in this business."
Wood, now 23, is chef de cuisine – head chef – at the Irish House Restaurant and Trinity Pub, which opened last March at the Irish Cultural Center of Western New England in West Springfield. He has one HCC class remaining and expects to finish his degree online this summer.
Previously lead sauté cook at Delaney's Grill and the Mick, he was chosen to head up the restaurant and pub when the Log Cabin/Delaney House partnered with the cultural center to open the facility.
Wood credits his HCC education with teaching him what to do when charged with food cost control, hiring and firing, ordering, and general daily restaurant operations.
"My current position allows for creativity and a lot of enjoyment, and it's all thanks to my education at Holyoke Community College," he said.
In high school, the Westfield resident earned money washing dishes and doing food preparation. He liked cooking with his mom, and by extension, decided he would like cooking in a restaurant.
It all comes down to this: "I like making people happy."
First, he enrolled in HCC's Culinary Arts program, learning basic cooking techniques, rules of sanitation and food presentation.
"I was never a great student in high school, but then I went to college and it changed my outlook," he said.Courses such as Culinary 230, "A La Carte Cooking and Service," in which they design and execute a menu, prepared students for real life. (The course description reads: Speed and accuracy of production, plate presentation, communication, and efficient service are main elements of study.)
He said he's glad he didn't go into it expecting it to be a "cool, fun ride" like it is on some TV shows.
"It's grueling hours, it's tough work, and it's hot," he said."The HCC program does a good job preparing students for what they're up against in the real workforce," he added.
As a student Wood did a cooperative education stint at Westfield State University, cooking for the food service department there. After graduating from HCC, he worked as a member of the banquet kitchen staff at the Log Cabin/Delaney House and as grill/sauté cook at Delaney's Grill and the Mick, working his way up to lead sauté cook.
In his current position at the Irish Cultural Center's pub and restaurant, he oversees the kitchen staff, food production and ordering. And he cooks.His goal is to become an executive chef and to one day own a restaurant, possibly specializing in his favorite foods: seafood, Italian, and pub fare.
For now, he's looking forward to completing his one remaining class – Sociology – which fits right in to restaurant work.
"It's the study of people," he said, "and you're dealing with people."
PHOTO by CHRIS YURKO: Charles J. Wood '14
