The Executive Grille

The culinary arts program started at Jane Addams Business Careers Center in 1997, followed by the opening of The Executive Grille restaurant in 1998. 

The program has grown significantly over the years, drawing in many interested students looking to develop skills in a professional kitchen.

Our student-operated restaurant was open to the public and served the staff and students of the building until the closing of Jane Addams in the spring of 2021.  It is a district and local favorite for lunches, holiday events and bake sales. The Grille remained open to the public on the Jane Addams campus until its new state-of-the-art facility was built on the East Tech campus. 

The brand new dining room and training kitchens opened to the public in February 2023.  The facility was built over the old swimming pool, which allows the restaurant to have its own dedicated customer parking and entrance.

The Executive Grille on the go, the first of its kind student-operated food truck, premiered with high praise in the summer of 2018.  The food truck is a refurbished school bus retro-fitted with a mobile kitchen.  Our food bus appears at many local food truck events and private parties, mostly in the summer months.

Students of the program run both the front and back-of-the-house stations of the restaurant preparing all menu items. The bakery & pastry students prepare all the desserts plus hundreds of pounds of Christmas cookies every year, along with many pies, pumpkin rolls and cheesecakes.

Upon graduation, our interested students either enter the work force or attend highly respected culinary programs like the three listed on our student/parent page.  Many of the positions currently held by our culinary graduates include; restaurant/bakery owner-managers, culinary teachers, kitchen managers, franchise managers, nutrition specialists, hospital food service workers and catering staff.

If you are a creative, passionate individual who loves working and interacting with other people, then you are perfect for a career in hospitality management and culinary arts.  Put on an apron and start your training with us. Our program is three years, grades 10-12.