HAVERHILL — It's all about chocolate. The students came up with an idea for a family-style restaurant where the all-day breakfast menu drips with chocolaty creations — and they took first place at a statewide competition.
Now it's on to the nationals.
Next month, the team of culinary arts students from Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School will compete against 46 teams from across the nation for a chance at college scholarships in a national restaurant management competition.
Whittier seniors Jessica Blanchette, Andrea Licciardello and Nicholas Mayo, all of Haverhill, said they weren't sure what they were getting into when they agreed to enter the annual ProStart Student Invitational Competition hosted by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
The three students and friends competed against three teams at the state event in January in West Newton for the honor of representing Massachusetts at the national event in Kansas.
"They probably realized how much work it was to prepare for the event," Licciardello said about three other teams that dropped out before the competition began.
ProStart is a national restaurant curriculum for culinary arts students that Whittier uses.
"We had to come up with an entire business proposal," Blanchette said about her team's plan for a restaurant they named Pro Chocolate.
"It was a lot of hard work,'' she said. "It required a whole checklist of things."
The Whittier students labored over their plan, debating every design detail — from the kitchen layout to restaurant seating to the linen napkins and milk-chocolate-colored carpeting.
"It got to the point where we were texting every night and chatting with our culinary arts instructor Cathie Baines," Licciardello said.
They used Whittier's kitchen to develop and test nine chocolate-laced breakfast recipes, including their "wiffle waffle," which features a choice of chocolate chips, cranberries or chocolate walnut, with a side of chocolate maple syrup.
"We came up with the food first, then we added sports names," said Licciardello, who was in charge of the menu.
Blanchette drew inspiration from Whittier's culinary arts kitchen and Poet's Inn Restaurant when creating her restaurant's floor plans, while Mayo got tips on advertising from marketing students.
Students and staff at Whittier wanted the presentation to be outstanding, so they offered advice and assistance. A graphics instructor helped with the restaurant logo, while a graphics student photographed their chocolaty creations.
The team got more advice from the judges at the state competition and said it will help them present a better plan at the national event.
"One judge suggested we track our results so we know how many people came to our restaurant with the coupons," Mayo said.
Judges also suggested they reconsider their restaurant's hours of operation.
"We didn't think about the times of day people go out to eat," Licciardello said. "We were thinking more of our staff than the public."
Taking first place in the state event came with $3,000 in travel expenses that will pay for the students' trip to Kansas.
"It's pretty cool to represent our school, our city and our state, and maybe it will encourage more kids to come to Whittier and study culinary arts," Licciardello said.
"I think we shocked and surprised a lot of people at the state competition," Blanchette said.
Another Whittier team composed of students Matthew Capprini, Kyle Briggs, Meaghan Sweeney and Kyle Murray participated in a cooking contest at the state event, in which they received an honorable mention.
In November, Capprini, Briggs and Sweeney were part of a Whittier team that worked backstage as prep cooks for a road tour by Food Network star Guy Fieri. The event was in Lowell and Whittier was invited to participate by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
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