Helms College, located in Macon and Augusta Georgia

Polly's Hospitiality Culinary Arts Diploma

CUL 101 Food Safety and Sanitation

(35 Clock hours)
This course is an introduction to food environmental sanitation and safety in a food-production area. Attention is focused on food-borne illness and their origins and on basic safety procedures followed in the food service industry. Maintaining a safe environment while operating, cleaning, and maintaining all equipment is important. Topics also include: cleaning standards, OSHA and MSDS guidelines. Laboratory practice parallels class work. The National Restaurant Association (NRA) ServSafe certificate exam is administered at the end of the course. Successfully earning this certification is required in order to graduate from either the certificate or diploma PHI program.

CUL 103 Introduction to Hospitality & Culinary Arts

(35 Clock Hours)
An introduction to the management perspective in the organization and structure of hotels, restaurants, and clubs. Students will also be exposed to the importance of industry contacts, resume writing, time management, and must perform a hospitality occupational interview. The student will receive an overview of knowledge pertaining to forces that shape the hospitality industry, tourism, destinations, and how they interact with the hospitality industry, related businesses that serve the traveler, how services affect the industry, managing and working in the international market, and what the future holds for the student in the industry overall. Students will write a term paper pertaining to issues that are current in the industry, and will be required to conduct research in the field pertaining to that paper.

CUL 105 Basic Principles of Cooking

(231 Clock Hours)
This course introduces the student to the fundamentals of food preparation terms, concepts, and methods. Special emphasis is given to basic cooking principles, recipe structure, knife skills, and the concepts and techniques of stocks, soups, and sauces. The student also learns to apply knowledge of laws and regulations relating to safety and sanitation in the kitchen.

CUL 107 Nutrition

(35 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105
This course introduces the basic principles of nutrition. It explores the relationship of nutrition and health in learning about the functions and sources of nutrients. Basic nutrition trends and dietary guidelines in the kitchen are discussed. The transformation of basic recipes into more nutritious ones is developed. This course provides current issues in nutrition to include reviewing the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, energy balance, vitamin supplements and food fads.

CUL 109 Management and Supervision

(35 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105
With a focus on managing people from the hospitality supervisor’s viewpoint, this course prepares students for the transition from employee to supervisor. The course stresses effective communication and explains the responsibilities of a supervisor in the food service operation. It also examines the different styles of leadership and develops skills in human relation and personnel management including such topics as functions and theories of management, leadership philosophies, communications and motivational theories. A strong emphasis is placed on employee relations. Although the course is primarily theoretical in nature the main focus will always be toward real world, hands-on applications. Federal laws in the food service industry, i.e., American with Disabilities Act (ADA), and sexual harassment and discrimination laws are presented.

CUL 111 Restaurant Techniques

(231 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105
This course focuses on practical hands-on training in the kitchen and dining room and will be the students first experience in a live practical restaurant setting. All students will rotate through the traditional stations in both the Front and Back of our public dining facility, based on attendance. The guest relations and timing of service are also emphasized as students learn classical food preparation preparing designated menu items and customer service aspects to guests in Edgar’s Bistro, the Polly’s Hospitality Institute’s teaching restaurant. The emphasis in the back-of-the-house is on quality food preparation and timing to adequately prepare each student for a la carte restaurant and hotel employment. The students will focus on traditional American Regional cuisine, prepared and cooked “a la minute”, from a menu card. All cooking techniques will be reinforced throughout this class, as well as organization, plate presentation, and proper mise en place.

CUL 115 Baking and Pastry

(66 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105, 107, 109, 111
In this course students are presented with the fundamental principles of baking including ingredient identification and recipe modification, weights and measures as they apply to baking. Through lecture, demonstration, production, tasting and testing, students learn basic cake batter methods, yeast-raised dough mixing methods, lamination, cookie dough, quick bread, batters, fillings, and glazes with emphasis on the formulas. Students are introduced to the various baking supplies and equipment in the kitchen and their proper use, storage, application and maintenance.

CUL 117 Hospitality Marketing

(33 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105, 107,109, 111, 115, 117, 119
This course concentrates on marketing for restaurants, hotel, and convention/conference venues. Problems and characteristics specific to the venue will allow the student to be able to develop a comprehensive approach for marketing a hospitality operation. This course covers planning, organizing, directing, and analyzing the results of marketing programs in the hospitality industry. Emphasis is placed on market segmentation and analysis, product and image development, sales planning, advertising, public relations, and collateral materials. It stresses the marketing orientation as a management philosophy that guides the design and delivery of guest services. Upon completion, students should be able to prepare a marketing plan applicable to the hospitality industry.

CUL 119 International & Classical Cuisine

(132 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105, 107, 109, 111
This is an in-depth study of the cuisine of the International and European continents. Advanced hands-on techniques will be utilized in the production of classical cuisine menus. Studies will be required on the foundation of cooking and the chefs associated with the development of International and Classical Cuisines as we know it today. An historical hands-on application will be emphasized in the cuisines of Escoffier, Carême (Carême), Verge, Bocuse, and others globally. Cultural implications in the preparation of foods and the selection of menus will be emphasized. Plate presentation, mise en place, organization, and utilizing the fundamental techniques of cooking, will be reinforced at all times.

CUL 121 Menu & Facilities Planning

(33 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105, 109, 111, 115, 117, 119
The course is directed with the guidance of an instructor acting as both a mentor and coach. Lectures will be given on a normal class schedule and attendance is required. This real world emphasis will make for a challenging, detail oriented project, designed to allow the student an opportunity to experience how such a project is created and the amount of important work required to succeed at such a venture. This course will introduce the fundamentals of menu design and layout with emphasis on the application of menu mix, inventory efficiency, seasonality, and merchandising of food service operations. Included in this course will be an emphasis toward concept development via menu driven components, kitchen layout requirements, product utilization, and some recipe development. In this course, students will gain the information necessary to produce a business plan and proper design for their future food service establishment. The course requires a menu, feasibility study and representative example of the facilities layout, i.e. blueprint, mock up or rendering. During this course, each student will create from their own vision, a business plan, a design layout, heavy and small equipment specifications, as well as a scale model and/or layout, which will meet all current health, fire and building codes. Emphasis will be on correct space planning, budgeting, operations planning, menu and facility design, and advertising and marketing strategies.

CUL 123 Purchasing and Culinary Cost Control

(33 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105, 107, 109, 111
This course introduces the student to the purchasing and receiving procedures and the flow of goods in quality food service operation. Primary focus is on product identification; the ordering, receiving, storing, and issuing process; and sales and service which results in achievement of an operation’s profit potential. In this course, students will understand the planning and control process in the food and beverage industry. Menu pricing, cost-volume-profit analysis, food, beverage and labor cost are included. Special attention will be given to the areas of inventory control, production projections, cost determination and analysis, income control, field of labor procurement, training, costs associated with labor, as well as implementing labor cost savings techniques. The students will also be instructed in purchasing procedures for food service operations, the theory of the flow of goods, purchasing trends and cycles, ethical and legal considerations of purchasing and creating and comparing product and bidding specifications. In this course the students will be provided with laboratory experiences to allow for hands-on training in the areas of inventory, proper receiving and issuing techniques, product quality and comparison testing and decision making as well as the evaluation of product purchasing based on cost and quality.

CUL 125 Banquet & Catering Techniques

(198 Clock Hours)
Prerequisites: CUL 101, 103, 105, 107, 109, 111, 115, 119
This course focuses on practical hands-on training in the specific culinary venue of banquets AND catering and will be the student’s first experience in a live practical setting in the Anderson Conference Center. This course emphasizes an in-depth study of a variety of catering operations including planning, organizing, marketing and executing receptions, parties and special events. The application of banquet and catering principles such as serving and managing banquets will be stressed in conjunction with American, Russian and Buffet service styles. Banquet sanitation is also covered.