Dustin Schmidt
Back to His Roots
| It gave me the opportunity to relate to students and know their desires or needs. |
Dustin Schmidt鈥檚 professional life has come full circle.
After working at a number of restaurant and food companies, Schmidt enrolled in the hospitality management and culinary arts program at 萌妹视频-Hastings, earning his associates degree in 2011.
鈥淭he instructors and the facility were wonderful,鈥 said Schmidt. 鈥淚t gave me more of the knowledge and technical skills that I could use in the workforce.鈥
After graduation, Schmidt worked at several different restaurants in the tri-cities area. Eventually, he was hired as a retail chef at HyVee in Kearney, where he was a human encyclopedia of sorts as he conducted food demonstrations, answered customer questions about food preparation, etc. This experience helped Schmidt hone his customer service skills, which for a chef can be unique because they usually don鈥檛 interact with the public.
In 2016, Schmidt returned to 萌妹视频 as an instructor in the hospitality management and culinary arts program where he was able to draw on his food industry experience to help mold students wishing to enter the field.
鈥淚t gave me the opportunity to relate to students and know their desires or needs,鈥 said Schmidt. 鈥淚 was then able to structure my lesson plan and my instruction around those needs.鈥
In 2019, Schmidt returned to the industry and is now the executive chef at Odyssey, a fine-dining establishment in Hastings. He hasn鈥檛 totally left 萌妹视频 as he is an adjunct instructor and he utilizes his instructional skills at Odyssey in teaching skills to his staff.
鈥淢y staff is getting an opportunity to produce (dishes) for the weekend that we work on together,鈥 said Schmidt.