Classroom and food truck: Macon students learn culinary skills at the Mac Shack. See inside

There’s no doubt you’ve eaten mac and cheese before, but you’ve never had it freshly crafted by the hands of Bibb County’s future chefs.

The Mac Shack is a mobile learning lab for culinary students at Williams S. Hutchings College and Career Academy that trains them for real-world entrepreneurial experiences through the preparation of gourmet pasta dishes.

“It’s all about the students and doing whatever we can do to forward their education in the culinary arts and give them some empowerment,” said Shawn Mentzer, the Mac Shack’s lead chef instructor.

Senior Amari Fannin said his childhood passion for cooking encouraged him to enroll in the program.

“I started watching YouTube videos, and I just wanted to try it,” he said. “I decided to say, ‘Hey, why not just go to the next step and take it seriously?’”

The Mac Shack makes it easier for novice chefs like Fannin to take that next step. They can fulfill community catering orders and create cuisine for the Compass Rose Cafe, Hutchings’ student-run restaurant that serves high-quality four-course meals weekly.

The Bibb County Board of Education approved the purchase of the food truck in 2022, and school district officials hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Mac Shack last week.

Behind the Scenes

Fannin said working behind the scenes at the Mac Shack can be hectic at first, but understanding time management and teamwork skills makes serving meals simpler.

“It teaches me how to work with a team. On the food truck, communication is really big,” he said. “You have to make sure things are propped the right way so that we can all serve our customers the best possible dish.”

Executive chef instructor Stuart Hardy said the Mac Shack provides a different experience than the school’s cafe and meal kits.

“Now that we have a food truck, we have students preparing food from scratch for production. So, they understand the pressure and time constraints and the safety and sanitation needs that are required for this industry,” Hardy said.

Mentzer said each pasta dish will include homemade cheese sauces and fresh veggies grown from the school’s garden.

On the mobile lab, students also learn how to operate a pasta extruder machine for over 30 types of pasta shapes and doughs, such as egg pasta and gluten-free pasta, he added.

“Understand that extruded pasta is a bit different from a ravioli,” Mentzer said. “It’s a pasta that’s pressed through a die. Then, it’s cut, and then, we have to dry it. So it’s a pasta that you can’t typically make very easily by hand.”

Recipe and menu creation for the Mac Shack takes between a week and a month, with the pasta-making process taking about three days, Mentzer said.

“We think it’s fair to show them the higher-end of culinary art versus teaching them something simple like taking a frozen burger and frozen french fry and throwing them in a fryer,” he added.

What’s on the Mac Shack menu?

The Mac Shack showcases mac and cheese’s versatility by dividing its menu into two sections: hand-tossed pasta and fried pasta.

Customers can enjoy hearty dishes like the B.B.Q. Mac, which features applewood smoked pulled pork, caramelized onion petals, Tillamook cheddar bechamel sauce, and fried pork rinds topped with a homemade smokehouse drizzle.

The B.B.Q. Mac is one of the food truck’s current eight gourmet pasta options, which are served with roasted meat and vegetables, Hardy said. One portion costs $12.

The cost of specialty pasta selections like the Lobster Mac are determined by market prices.

And if customers are looking for a classic comfort food to be battered and deep fried into spherical perfection, then Mac Bombs are always ready to go at the mobile lab.

Each crunchy, cheesy order comes with five bombs of choice and one dipping sauce for $8. Flaming Cheetos, Buffalo Chicken and Krab Rangoon flavored Mac bombs are currently available.

Hardy said the food truck’s vegan, upscale and southern-cultured options ensure inclusiveness regardless of which menu section customers order from.

“We want the menu to be all-encompassing so that all people – young, old and in between – can enjoy the meals,” he said.

The food truck operates during Hutching’s class hours, which are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

But on rare occasions, the four-wheeled pasta supplier may host events in the late evenings or even on weekends if chef instructors believe it will benefit the students’ experiences, Hardy said.

“We’ve done weddings and wine tasting for larger events if we feel like it is an introduction to showing students a different avenue to food service,” he added.

All Mac Shack catering inquiries can be made on the Compass Rose Cafe website.