In the December edition of The Stampede, Staff Writer Parker Marshall covered a new project happening at Clearfield Area Junior-Senior High School: The Bison Bistro. The Bison Bistro is a restaurant delivery business that is run by the students and staff in Ms. Mease’s classroom. Since the last edition, the Bison Bistro has received funding and served its first round of meals to staff around the school.

The first round of meal serving took place on December 7, 2018, and The Bison Bistro sold ten meals across the school. Ms. Mease recognizes the learning experience of serving the first meal,  stating: “Our first day of preparing and serving meals was a learning experience.  It went smoothly. We did have a couple of issues with time management, but that was to be expected for our first trial run.  We figured it out and had everything delivered…hot and on time!”

The Bison Bistro has already been beneficial to students that are involved. The students are learning valuable skills that can be applied outside of school and used for the rest of their lives. Members of The Bison Bistro are gaining knowledge in cooking skills, safety rules, good hygiene, budgeting, smart shopping skills, how to make a profit, and valuable socialization skills. Along with the educational aspect of running The Bison Bistro, Ms. Mease knows that her students are happy running the project: “They enjoyed it very much! Especially seeing the smiles on the faces of the faculty members who participate.”

If faculty members want to buy a meal from the Bison Bistro, the next meal date is planned for January 18, 2019. The meal will be a low-carb, keto-friendly meal, giving a healthy option to all the staff who want a meal. One staff member, Mrs. Moyer, highly recommends supporting The Bison Bistro, and she had a great experience with her last meal. “I had a wonderful experience purchasing a meal from The Bison Bistro. The menu was chicken and biscuits served with mashed potatoes and gravy and corn. The food was delicious, the serving was plentiful, but most exciting was having the students deliver my meal, hot, at lunchtime. Their smiling faces showed they were proud of their hard work and seeing that made the whole experience even more enjoyable,” said Mrs. Moyer.

When asked if there was anything else Ms. Mease would like to share with the readers, she responded: “We would like everyone to know that our meals are made fresh for the three lunch periods and all staff is more than welcome to order!  You don’t need to eat in the faculty room in order to get a meal.  We would like to extend our services to all staff in the school building.  We are looking to adapt the way we take orders and would appreciate any input from staff members.  Also, our meals are packed and delivered as “take-out” meals, so they are very “transportable”, and could be put in the refrigerator to eat later, if you would like.  We are also thinking about extending our meal prep services so that we could have meals ready at the end of the school day for staff to take home for dinner.  We are going to see if there would be enough interest in this service to make it worthwhile.  Please watch for new and exciting things to come from the Bison Bistro Café!”