Before Peter* enrolled at the MacKillop Education Geelong school, he was disengaged from education.
He was anxious and unmotivated, and he found it hard to make friends.
Once he started at MacKillop, Peter’s teachers discovered his passion for cooking. As Peter’s interest in the school’s kitchen - known as the Bittersweet Café - increased, his learning and school attendance improved. Soon, he was regularly trying new recipes, taking orders from staff and students, and cooking for school community events.
Now, Peter has another reason to continue his education. When he becomes a senior student in 2025, he can work in Geelong’s newest hospitality hotspot, the Bittersweet Café food truck.
The Bittersweet Café food truck is the expansion of the Bittersweet Café, a project launched at the MacKillop Education school in 2018. Teachers developed the Bittersweet café project as an original way to help senior students to engage in learning. The resulting café now caters to fellow students and teachers.
Buoyed by the café’s success, the Bittersweet team set its sights on a bigger dream – to take its café on the road – and thanks to the support of the Geelong Community Foundation and the Percy Baxter Charitable Trust (managed by Perpetual Trustees) the dream has been realised with the Bittersweet Café food truck.
Skye Staude, Co-Principal at MacKillop Education Geelong school, explains how the café and food truck offer an alternative way to learning traditional subjects like Maths and English.
“Measuring, weighing and ordering ingredients help kids build numeracy skills, while planning menus develops market research experience and improves literacy skills”, says Skye. “Working as a team also helps develop social and problem-solving abilities.”
The Bittersweet Project aligns to the Victorian Education and Training (VET) Cookery and Workplace Skills certificates, meaning that senior students can complete a range of certified industry courses and learn practical hospitality skills, all of which help with future training or employment opportunities.
*Name altered to protect privacy.
