About The Program
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Urban Kitchen was created as an opportunity for students, ages 10-18, in the Yakima Valley to gain incredible life skills while working in a fun, culinary environment. But not only will the students gain culinary skills, they will also gain business skills as they learn to put what they've learned to work:
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In an actual restaurant environment. 
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The 4-month program takes place in three phases throughout the year. Classes will run (approximately) Tuesdays & Wednesdays from 4pm-6pm.
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Phase I - Culinary Skills & Creativity - 8 Classes
Students will start by learning food safety, and receive their food handlers card from the Yakima Department of Health Services. They will learn about their senses, and how their senses interact with ingredients. They will learn knife skills, as they are taught to break down a whole chicken, or filet a salmon!  They'll learn how to pick out the best fruits and vegetables, and how to determine which herbs and spices are appropriate for various dishes. They will then begin learning how to create various recipes that will act as base recipes throughout their journey. Throughout these 8 classes there will also be opportunity for creative competition as they experiment with some of their newly learned skills. 
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Phase II - Continued Culinary Skills & Business Leadership - 16 Classes
Students will begin learning various facets of business leadership from incredible local business leaders, including one of our founders, David Allan of Allan Brothers Incorporated. They will discuss how to create a business plan, and then compete in teams to create the winning business plan for their restaurant pop-up at the end of the program. Once their business plan is developed, they will begin to learn customer service, budgeting, marketing, branding & advertising. 
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Along with learning new business skills, they will still be learning in the kitchen as well. They will be working with more ingredients, cooking methods, and learning cultural intricacies. And there will be more creative competitions as well. 
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Phase III - Continued Culinary Skills & Pop-Up Preparation - 8 Classes & 3 nights of pop-up
In this final phase, students will be workshopping their menu for the restaurant, creating their menu items, and honing their skills. They will also be implementing their business plan in regard to budgeting, marketing, branding and advertising. During this phase they will also have the opportunity to visit a working restaurant kitchen to see first-hand how they are run. 
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The actual pop-up portion of the restaurant will take place at a location to be determined. We work with local businesses, restaurants and foundations to provide a dedicated space that will give the students a true-to-life restaurant service experience.
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The cost for this program is free, being offset by generous public and private funding. Because of this, there will be very low toleration for absence from classes, poor behavior, etc. The kitchen is a lot of fun, but it can also be very dangerous. Our class is limited to 15 students at a time, which means many students will apply, but only a few will make it in to each 4 month session. Please do not apply if you do not believe that you can fully commit to the program in it's entirety, with a high level of respect for yourself and others. 

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If you are between the ages of 10-18, and feel that you would be a good fit for this program, please feel free to apply. We accept applications throughout the year, and will contact you when we are getting ready to start our next 4 month class. 
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APPLY NOW!