In the hustle and bustle of the fast-paced restaurant/food service industry world, every single day is punctuated with critical business decisions that impact the bottom line. And when it comes down to a big company like Sharis Management Corporation, which runs Shari’s Restaurants across the Northwest, you might think that the human element might get lost in the midst of running such a big operation. Not so – in fact, the exact opposite is true.

When the company was slated to open up a new store in Tualatin, Vickie Irish, who is the vice president of Human Resources and Workforce at Sharis, invited area ProStart high school students to participate in the new store training sessions. This was a rare opportunity to learn, hands-on at the ground level, what it takes to open up a new store, while gaining a well-rounded training in all operational aspects.

Robert Mendoza, a junior from Chris Dickman’s ProStart class at Woodburn High School, immediately jumped on the training opportunity and saw the chance to enhance his dream to be an executive chef. With one year of ProStart under his belt, he was keenly interested in the experience being offered at Shari’s to see how a restaurant runs and how to work the line in a restaurant.

When Mendoza arrived at the in-store training in June, he made his way to Vickie Irish and greeted her, who in turn introduced the student to Chef Keith Erickson, who was running the training for the thirteen attendees. Chef Erickson, Shari’s Corporate Chef and Director of Culinary Development, agreed to take Mendoza under his wing, and assisted with the ProStart student’s progress during the training. Mendoza’s professionalism made a big impact on Shari’s staff.

“My immediate impression was that he fit right in,” recalled Irish. “He learned the mission statement right away, and Robert and Chef Erickson finished up the entire training with a cooking demo together.” Irish also was quick to mention, “ProStart provides a good job of teaching the basics but not the specifics which allows for training in the workplace. The students we have worked with have a great understanding of food management and safety. They are easy to mold and are excited about being in the industry- they have that new enthusiasm that is always great to work with!”

Shari’s has been a strong supporter of ProStart and has been involved in contributing to the program through funding support and hiring students. “If you want to be in the restaurant industry in five or ten years, these are the people that you will be hiring. If you tend to complain about ‘not finding qualified people, this is the program that provides that training, and supporting it is the answer,” Irish concluded.

For Mendoza, this training opportunity opened new doors and he was especially enthusiastic about working with the chef.

“He knew so much,” said Mendoza excitedly. “I learned how to plate food, got to use the slicer and learned how to stock the walk-in freezer. I also got the highest score in the Shari’s food safety and got a pin. I already knew that I wanted to be in food service, and going to Shari’s gave me a whole new perspective that you can achieve your goal,” he added proudly.

In order to attend the in-store training, Mendoza was excused from classes to attend. This opportunity fueled his fire. “I would love to work at Shari’s- this whole training experience was incredible- I was there to learn.” Since returning home, he has applied at the Woodburn location and is waiting to hear back on his status.

The Shari’s success story with ProStart goes even further. Mike Perez, who is an assistant manager at the Shari’s restaurant at Eugene’s Santa Clara location, is a former ProStart student who graduated from Willamette High School five years ago.

Perez recounted how ProStart helped give him the skills to start his career. “Before starting ProStart- I was lazy, didn’t want to do anything but play professional sports. It was an accident that I actually started the ProStart program. After the first month, I heard of an opportunity to work at the Oregon Electric Station. It was there where I first fell in love in the restaurant industry. All of my family have met in restaurants - my grandparents met in a New York restaurant, and my mom and dad did the same in a Los Angeles restaurant- in fact they ran a deli together for seven years,” said Perez.

Having been around restaurants and then discovering his passion in high school has fundamentally changed Perez’ outlook on life.

“This industry has showed me that I could have a very good time and still work. I got a passion for it when I realized this. It didn’t have to be hard work and boring… it could be hard work and fun. And I found out that I liked hard work!”

Perez was a junior at Willamette High School when he got the internship. A lot of what the class was about was basic culinary and food service information, and Perez learned business math, recipes, and also the basics on planning, organizing and running a restaurant. He has since then built that foundation up and applied it to his real-world experience.

“ProStart is all about getting the basic experiences to build the passion for the restaurant and foodservice industry. Enjoy it, build a passion for it, and then take it to another level. I can say it’s the first opportunity I had, and also my first love of work, and I will always have the passion I built from when I got my start!” said Perez. He is now into his second year of working at Shari’s and loving every minute of it. This sentiment is shared by Irish and Shari’s Vice President of Research and Development Kevin Bechtel and President Larry Curtis, and is a great illustration of a corporation giving back to the ProStart program and reaping the benefits of productive employees like Perez.