Open Monday - Friday 8 am to 3 pmClosed State and Federal Holidays
Utah Correctional Industries “Serving Time Café” is a restaurant open to the public located on Prison Property next to the UCI Showroom. The Serving Time Café opened their doors for business December 7, 2009 with three staff and five inmate participants. The Serving Time Café serves both breakfast and lunch, with breakfast available all day. All of the food is prepared, baked, and grilled by inmates involved in a culinary arts program. These inmates learn many of the skills necessary to successfully work in the fast paced environment of the restaurant industry. Inmates start participating for the Serving Time Café as dishwashers and dining room attendants and work their way up to prep cook, baking and cooking on the grill. The Serving Time Café serves a wide variety of menu items from hamburgers to deli sandwiches, daily soups to specialty desserts, bacon and eggs to breakfast burritos, you’re sure to find something to satisfy your appetite. The Serving Time Café also offers catering services for your business luncheons, retirement parties, and conferences. You can choose from box lunches, deli, vegetable, and cheese platters, or a variety of entrees to meet your business luncheon needs.
The staff and inmates working at the Serving Time Cafe were featured in a positive story on a public television program. The story touched heavily on the cafe, the impact on the offenders who get to work outside the fences and interact with the public, and on UCI’s self-sustaining operations. To see the video, click here, or click the photo above. Thanks to Carolyn Price for her participation and continued efforts, and thanks to her staff and UCI for this great asset.
Professionalism and courtesy are just two of the many valuable people skills offenders learn by participating in our Serving Time Café program. These skills will assist them greatly in their employment once they re-enter society.
The ability to positively interact with others is an invaluable skill in both the professional environment and in the personal lives of our offenders. The result is an increase in self-confidence, an improvement in work performance, and an elevated level of happiness and fulfillment.
While in this program, offenders not only learn all aspects of food preparation, but they earn a food handler’s permit that they can take with them when they are released. They also learn how to fulfill orders, maintain the kitchen and dining room, and a number of other skills. Additionally, they rotate through these jobs every two weeks so that they all have the opportunity to learn each position and are able to fully appreciate one another and what it takes to be a team.
The food industry is vast, and even with emerging technology, will likely always have a dominant presence in our society. Having worked for Serving Time Café affords our offenders the ability and skills to work in any position within the food industry upon their release.
