Tiger Cafe - Wills Point ISD

Wrapping up Day 2 of the Culinary Educator Enrichment Workshop! Today we proofed and baked the cinnamon rolls we started yesterday, made cream cheese frosting, pâte à choux pastries with pastry cream and chocolate ganache, homemade ice cream, gluten-free orange cake, mole, mac and cheese, breaded fried chicken, rice, asparagus, pickled onions, candied pecans, and honey mustard vinaigrette salad.

Two days full of new techniques, new skills, and plenty of ideas to bring back to Tiger Café this year!

Today I kicked off the Culinary Educators Enrichment Workshop at Grayson College in Denison, TX and spent the day learning right alongside other culinary instructors.

We reviewed food safety and sanitation, practiced chicken fabrication, prepared a velouté sauce, and discussed industry best practices. The afternoon shifted into baking and pastry, where we started cinnamon rolls, orange cake, pâte à choux, pastry cream, and other products that require multiple stages and techniques.

Every new technique, recipe, and industry best practice learned this week will help strengthen the experiences we provide our students at Wills Point High School and continue growing the Tiger Café program.

Some of today’s projects are still in progress and won’t be completed until tomorrow, which has been a great reminder that quality food production often happens over multiple days and requires planning, patience, and attention to detail.

🐯 BIG NEWS FROM TIGER CAFÉ! 🐯

For the first time, Tiger Café will be opening after school for Wills Point High School students!

Whether you’re headed to athletics, band, cheer, FFA, UIL, practice, rehearsals, meetings, or just need a snack before heading home, Tiger Café will be open on select dates this fall to serve students right here on campus.

Located in the CTE Hospitality Room, Tiger Café is more than a place to grab food—it’s a student-operated learning lab where Culinary Arts students gain real-world experience in food production, customer service, point-of-sale operations, inventory management, and hospitality.

Students can enjoy affordable snacks, drinks, and specials while supporting their fellow Tigers and helping build the future of our program.

📅 Check out our Fall 2026 operating dates and snack menu below. We will have our full Tiger Cafe' drink menu available as well.

Start planning ahead, bring your appetite, and stop by before your next activity!

🐯 Real Skills. Real Service. Real Experience.

🌟 Student Spotlight: Michael DeLuca 🌟

When Michael joined Tiger Café and Culinary Arts this year, he brought a strong work ethic, a positive attitude, and a willingness to learn. Those qualities helped him earn an opportunity at La Pradera, where he started in the dish room learning the importance of teamwork, organization, and keeping a kitchen running smoothly.

His dedication and reliability quickly caught the attention of restaurant leadership. After demonstrating his skills and work ethic, Michael was invited to take on a serving role and work directly with guests. More recently, management approached him about moving into the kitchen and training as a cook—an opportunity that speaks volumes about the confidence they have in his potential and future in the industry.

At Tiger Café, our goal is to help students build real-world skills that lead to real opportunities. Michael’s journey this year is a great example of what can happen when students show up, work hard, stay coachable, and take pride in their work.

We are incredibly proud of Michael and excited to see where his culinary journey takes him next. Congratulations, Michael! 🐅👨‍🍳

🚨 Summer Camp Update! 🚨

The response to our summer camps has been incredible!

Tiger Café Academy is officially full, and all 25 students who registered have been accepted into the camp.

Due to high demand, we increased the number of spots available for Cubs in the Kitchen from 10 to 20, and the camp is now full with a waiting list. Families on the waiting list will be contacted if any spots become available.

Emails have been sent to all families who registered for either camp. If you signed up, please check your email for important information and next steps. If you do not see an email, please reach out to me.

We are excited to welcome our future Tigers into the kitchen this July for a week of cooking, baking, creativity, and hands-on learning.

Thank you for your support of the Wills Point High School Culinary Arts program. We can't wait to get started! 🐯👨‍🍳👩‍🍳

Today I stopped by Tiger Café to shut down equipment and clean out inventory for the summer. As I worked through the walk-ins and coolers, I found pizza ingredients and lemonade that wouldn’t make it until next school year.

In Tiger Café, we teach students that good operators look for opportunities to reduce waste while building relationships and promoting their products. Instead of throwing away perfectly good inventory, we turned it into an opportunity to share a little hospitality with staff members working across the district this summer.

In the restaurant industry, product sampling is a powerful marketing tool. Sometimes the best way to introduce people to your products is to simply let them experience them.

Today’s lesson wasn’t about cooking. It was about inventory management, hospitality, marketing, and customer relationships—the same real-world business skills our students learn through Tiger Café every day.

It's a great day to be a Tiger!!

Student Spotlight: Olivia Corrao

One of my Who’s Who choices this year, Olivia has been a vital part of building Tiger Café from the ground up. Throughout the year, she has helped shape what Tiger Café has become through her hard work, leadership, and commitment to excellence.

Olivia is the student behind our famous Cowboy Cookies recipe (yes, that’s her recipe!) and mastered our Texas Sheet Cake recipe that became a favorite with customers and staff alike. Whether working in production, helping with caterings, or serving customers, she has been a key contributor to Tiger Café’s success.

Olivia got a job at Taco Bell in Canton just last month, and in only one month she has already earned Employee of the Month and been promoted to Trainer, where she is now helping train new employees.

This is exactly what Tiger Café is all about—developing real-world skills, building confidence, and preparing students to enter the workforce ready to succeed. I couldn’t be more proud of Olivia and all she has accomplished. The future is bright for this young lady! 💙🐾

As we wrapped up the 2025-2026 school year, Tiger Café was still hard at work until the very last minute!

Today, students packaged and labeled individual cheesecake slices for the Education Foundation to distribute to staff across the district. While we didn't make the cheesecakes ourselves, our students were responsible for preparing them for distribution, focusing on presentation, organization, efficiency, and attention to detail—skills that are essential in the food service industry.

There couldn't have been a more fitting way to end the year than serving others and representing Tiger Café one final time. Thank you to everyone who supported our students throughout the year. We are proud of what we've built together and excited to see where Tiger Café goes next.

Tiger Café wrapped up our final catering of the school year today, and what a way to finish. 💙🐅

Looking back at where we started this year compared to where we are now is honestly incredible. These students have grown so much — not just in cooking skills, but in confidence, teamwork, communication, problem solving, time management, and professionalism.

Today’s setup wasn’t just “making food.” This was real-world culinary and hospitality experience:
✔️ Catering production
✔️ Food presentation
✔️ Portioning and display
✔️ Customer service
✔️ Team coordination
✔️ Time management under pressure
✔️ Workforce-ready culinary skills

From charcuterie boards and pinwheel trays to desserts and catering displays, our students took pride in every detail. The growth in their systems, organization, and presentation this year has been amazing to watch.

As their teacher, I could not be more proud of the work they accomplished this year. And the best part? The students are proud of themselves too — because they know how far they’ve come.

Tiger Café started as an idea, and this year it truly became an operation. 💙🐅

Today in Tiger Café was all about the behind-the-scenes work. 🧼🐅
Students tackled some deep cleaning and then worked on perfecting chili cheese fries and cheese fries. Real kitchen work takes both great food and a clean kitchen!