Hospitality students put their game faces on

'2 redheads and the wannabe' entertain patrons at the Scoreboard Bar and Grill

Third year Canadore College Hospitality students put their game faces on this afternoon as they officially opened the ‘The Scoreboard Bar and Grill’.

“What we’re doing here is a program. Half of us are in Hotel Resort Management and the other half in Culinary Management and this is our third year, so we come together to open a business for 10 weeks,” explains student Andrew LaPlante.

“We have 10 weeks to break even or we do not pass … so that’s what we’re doing right now.”

LaPlante says the students feel the pressure to succeed as the past three years investment has boiled down to the final project and says failure is not an option.

With televisions broadcasting sporting events and live entertainment, the students have paid attention to every detail in order to encompass the feel of a traditional sports bar and grill.

“We have taken all the steps throughout this program to not do that … and we are 100% not going to do that because we are prepared because of the program,” he states.

LaPlante says the project also offers students true hands on experience.

“The culinary students are mainly in the back in the kitchen. They rotate through all the kitchen positions, while the Hotel Management students are out here running the dining room part of it. Over the ten week period we’ll switch from server, to cashier, to bartender, so we get all the experience of a restaurant.”

He also says that they have taken great strides to focus on their target market of low budget students that live on and off campus.

“What we’ve done for them is create an inexpensive menu,” he says.

“Usually that has to do with low quality food, but we’ve got quality food. Our menu is one of the best I’ve ever seen and it is very tasteful. Our prices are lower then I’ve ever seen in town in North Bay, but the food is incredibly great.”

The Scoreboard can be found in the Canadore College Dining Room D102 every Thursday night from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Reservations for groups of 10 or more are welcomed.