Some of the participants in a planning session for a hospitality and tourism grant are from left, Emmarie Flores of Silver Schools, Jean Hertzman of NMSU, Judy O'Loughlin of the Grant County Extension Service, Kelsey Patterson of Revel and Mary Ann Marlar of Vicki's Eatery.

Photo and article by Mary Alice Murphy

On Wednesday, June 26, 2019, Grant County Extension Agent Judy O'Loughlin brought together two groups of community members active in the schools and in area tourism-related businesses.

Receipt of a Freeport-McMoRan Foundation Hospitality/Tourism Training $18,000 grant led to the planning meetings.

Summary of project: New Mexico State University's (NMSU) School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management and Grant County Cooperative Extension Service will develop the workforce for one of Silver City's biggest industries by delivering food and beverage and guest service training workshops. The workshops are currently unavailable despite the hospitality/tourism industry's size and economic importance in Silver City. Workshops will be presented eight times to up to 200 high school students/recent graduates, and current foodservice employees and event staff. At least half the group will take a national food handler certification course, and participants at the supervisory level will take a national food safety manager certification course. The training will better prepare participants to accept and keep local hospitality jobs, advance in hospitality/tourism careers, and remain in Grant County to pursue employment. Once the curriculum is written, training can be repeated well into the future.

The planning sessions at the Grant County Extension office were led by Jean Hertzman of the NMSU School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, which is part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

The training sessions will be developed in July and August.

"This is training for before and after a person has a job in the hospitality or tourism industry," Hertzman said. "We hope to have the first workshop in September, with more coming in October."

Hertzman told Emmarie Flores, who teaches Silver High School culinary classes, that students could get certified in high school and be able to get a job before or after graduation.

In guest service classes, the grant provides for about 200 to be paid for in full, with about 25 in each workshop, so there will be no fee for the workshops.

"We also want hospitality guest training to train the trainer, if we can get the money to continue the program," Hertzman said. "Books and fees are a big part of the grant. We also have budgeted for gift cards as an incentive to take the courses and for certification after the courses are completed."

She talked about the ServSafeTM training for anyone handling food. Hertzman said there are a couple of ways for a person to get the training to qualify for a New Mexico Food Handler's Card. One way is to go to a website, pay $15, take the course online and pass the test at the end. "Or Judy can purchase books that students can study from and take the written test or purchase online access to the test. It's cheapest if you do it all online. It is available in English or Spanish. The easiest way to do it is online, but it's hard to pay for if, as in the case of the schools, there are 100 students wanting to take the test."

O'Loughlin suggested talking to the head of the NMSU Extension Service Tom Dean to see if the schools could somehow charge the grant for the trainings.

Mary Ann Marlar, co-owner of Vicki's Eatery said when the requirement to have the food handling card came along, "we paid for our current employees to take the course online."

Hertzman said the grant had budgeted $1,500 for the online tests. "But for the food safety management class, a more advanced class, it's better to get the book."

She noted that the Food Management test has to be proctored whether taken on paper or online.

Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce president and director Scott Terry said Watts Hall has excellent internet connection and could possibly be available for students to take the test in the computer lab.

Gary Stailey of the Grant County Youth Continuum of Services said that a lot of students may need evening or Saturday training sessions.

Marlar suggested that a database of those certified be created to make it easier for local restaurants to find new employees.

O'Loughlin noted that the New Mexico Environment Department is really enforcing whether people have the ServSafe training. "Everyone has to get the cards."

Hertzman said the Food Handler's Card is recognized in the state and nationally.

"As part of the grant, we will have a website likely as part of the Extension Service," Hertzman said. "We will also promote the trainings on social media, probably Facebook, Instagram and possibly Snapchat."

O'Loughlin said the whole community needs to know about the trainings and workshops, because "tourism is economic development."

Marlar also suggested that for those in all areas of hospitality, they need to know what there is to do in the area. "Too many don't know what there is to do. We need to give them the card of 101 Things to Do in Silver City."

Stailey said as part of their training they should be required to do the things, so they know about them.

Marlar said she was willing to pay for her employees to attend the trainings.

Hertzman said the food handling alone requires about 8 hours of training.

"In general tourism, you need to develop a combination of online and face-to-face training," she said. "It kind of depends on the destination."

Terry rhetorically asked and answered: "Why is it important for the server to know about what goes on in town? Because if the customer gets an answer, the server gets a better tip."

Marlar said teaching teamwork and co-worker support is also important.

Stailey asked who the target population of the grant was. Hertzman replied: "Restaurants and their employees and students."

Stailey asked if it were 50% for high school students and 50% for out of school or first-come, first-serve.

Hertzman indirectly replied that the grant includes 100 food handler tests. "The materials we develop can be used for train the trainer." She said the National Restaurant Association has developed a new program, called ServSuccess for people to get certificates for different positions in food.

Marlar said she would appreciate training on how to supervise employees.

An afternoon session was held, and deliverables were determined to be the training workshops, ServSafe training and Tourism/Guest Service training.

Determined overall were the general tourism training needs: what is tourism and why is it important to the community, knowing the community, available resources, what jobs are available in tourism and hospitality. General guest service training needs included the importance of customer service, general etiquette and manners, professionalism, importance of showing up for interviews and work, aspects of quality service, clear communication skills, not holding inappropriate discussions with or around guests, making suggestions about menu offerings, dealing with difficult guests and situations and cooperation/teamwork with co-workers.

For scheduling of workshops, it was deemed important that they not conflict with festivals and events or other busy business periods.

According to O'Loughlin, ideas for assessment of the programs were not discussed much, but would likely include pre- and post-test surveys, evaluating changes in guest service through mystery shoppers and possible use of satisfaction/comment tools. Evaluating the number of job applicants and increase in qualified applicants would be self-reported by employers. Creation of a database would be evidence of the increase in qualified potential and current employees.