February 26, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Every weekday morning at 6, the kitchen at New Course in downtown Washington fills with its crew, including up to 20 apprentice chefs learning to carve turkey and roast beef and make biscuits, chicken salad, and other items from scratch.
The breakfast and lunch items they prepare are sold at the nonprofit group’s bustling deli at Judiciary Square, across the street, which serves nearly 500 patrons daily. Besides the low prices — nothing on the menu exceeds $6 — what makes the restaurant different from other Washington eateries is that the apprentice chefs were once homeless, have served time in prison, or have endured long stretches of unemployment.
Over the past 17 years, New Course has provided culinary-arts training and placement services to 400 men and women. If the trainees successfully complete the group’s four-month course, they are ready to apply for jobs at restaurants and caterers. Until the economic downturn, over 80 percent of New Course’s graduates went on to secure full-time food-service jobs.
New Course provides its graduates with more than just a certificate, says Will Doscher, the group’s executive director. In addition to learning to cook, he says, they are expected to be prompt, dress in uniforms of white smocks and blue chef’s hats, and practice good customer service.
But there have also been disappointments along the way, he says, estimating that up to 40 percent of trainees drop out before completing the program.
The organization’s annual budget is roughly $650,000. Mr. Doscher says that New Course is largely self-supporting, earning approximately 60 percent of its gross revenue from the restaurant, and 40 percent from its expanding catering service.
Here, Pamela Bowen, now a recent New Course graduate, rolls a tray of food from the group’s kitchen to the restaurant.
