Hospitality Management students have an excellent variety of labs and facilities for their learning.
The Discovery Room is VIU’s fine-dining restaurant, open to the public four lunches and two evenings per week. Our loyal following of local patrons and VIU staff and students are drawn to the affordable prices, fabulous hillside view of the city, mountains and Strait of Georgia, and not least of all, cuisine that competes with the best in the city.
This 36-seat fully licensed fine dining facility is operated by professional staff at lunch and by hospitality students on Thursday and Friday evenings. First and second-year students receive hands-on training as servers and managers during their rotation of roles in The Discovery Room. All menus change weekly and offer a variety of soups, appetizers, main courses and desserts. All meals are prepared, cooked and presented by the culinary students, under chef instruction.
Second-year Hospitality students also receive basic culinary instruction in the teaching kitchen, which helps to develop respectful relationships and understanding of back-of-the-house demands.
Students have the opportunity to serve at major events and banquets throughout the year, held both in The Discovery Room and in the larger banquet hall, The Royal Arbutus Room.
The signature event of the year, Festival of Trees, is held in the conference Centre in downtown Nanaimo each November, with all 1st and 2nd year students in attendance.
Learn more about the Discovery Room
Vistro - Capstone Course
This lab is one of the program’s “capstone” courses, in that it brings together all learning to date in a realistic business operation, complete with real product, real service, and real guests.
Second-year students are responsible for the organization and operation of Vistro; a restaurant held in the lower cafeteria each Monday for 6 weeks in second semester. Under the guidance of a chef instructor, students plan every aspect of the restaurant from designing the menu, staffing, marketing, cooking, serving, clean-up and evaluation. Vistro is a huge hit with students, faculty and guests, as it provides an opportunity to support the students’ best efforts, and the food is delicious and extremely affordable.
The Front Office Computer Lab
The “Inn Control Training School” is a simulation software package for a 45-room hotel with a variety of rates and packages. The Hotel offers a Restaurant, Lounge, Bistro Bar and Banquet facilities. The simulation exercise takes students through the stages of the guest cycle: Reservations, Registration, Occupancy and Departure, completing practice sessions similar to what would occur at the front desk of a hotel.
Food Lab
Students learn basic culinary skills in the kitchen labs. Topics include the use of hand tools and production equipment, recipe and measurement analysis, cooking methods and concepts, yield analysis, and the production methods of the basic food categories.