Macon Magazine

She described Hutchings as the best of both worlds, allowing students to stay at their home school while working at Hutchings toward who they want to be as adults. "Our goal is to create life-changing experiences aligned with our mission for students to be enrolled, employed or enlisted, and we've added entrepreneurship to the list," she said. According to Tiffany Andrews, director of workforce development at Middle Georgia Regional Commission, "We provide career coaches to Hutchings to ensure students have the tools they need to continue their education, find employment, enlist [in the military], or create entrepreneurship opportunities. By collaborating and braiding funds, we're able to remove barriers that prevent students from maximizing those opportunities." Private and home-school students also are eligible for dual enrollment study at Hutchings, a little-known fact that Washington is working to improve. "We need to do a better job of getting the word out about the 10 pathway opportunities at Hutchings, from valedictorians to students who need extra help or direction," she said. LATEST VENTURE — MAC SHACK FOOD TRUCK The latest culinary brainchild of the Hardy/Robinson duo is Mac Shack, a food truck specializing in pasta. Like each operation within the Hutchings culinary portfolio, the emphasis is education and inspiration. Hardy said, "The food truck introduces students to a line cook's job, or hostess, or whoever takes the money at the counter. They'll experience more customers at a faster pace and more unknowns. In the Café, we control the number of people and exactly what each person is served. With catering, there are no surprises. The menu is finalized a week in advance, and we know what customers are eating and when they're eating it." With Mac Shack, Hardy's goal is another footprint on a consistent basis. "We're planning to park somewhere downtown, having no idea when or how many people will show up to the window. We're still working out times, days, and locations, but are thinking that students will prep early in the week and take the truck out later in the week. In advance we'll post on our website when and where the Mac Shack will be located. We want to create consistency so customers can depend on our times, days, locations, and menu. We'd also like to park Mac Shack at high school football games and offer it for catering, too." ON THE DRAWING BOARD Chefs Hardy and Robinson have another new project on a back burner, one that's been carefully researched and fills a local void. Their newest venture will be a conference space and coffee shop located in the former Bowen Brothers Clothiers location at 484 Mulberry St. in Downtown Macon, owned and operated by the Bibb County Board of Education. Washington reported, "The goal is to house a baking and pastry pathway there. The students' work-based learning (WBL) will be the coffee shop where they'll sell coffee and FEBRUARY/MARCH 2023 | maconmagazine.com 71

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