BLOC Teaching Kitchen  

Food. Friendship. Future.

BLOC Teaching Kitchen is a partnership with Kroger's "Zero Hunger Zero Waste" initiative and operates in two locations- State St. in Lower Price Hill and McPherson Ave. in East Price Hill.

The McPherson Ave. location offers the SOAK (Souls of a Kitchen) Culinary Course, which is a free, 8-week program that trains students (ages 16-24) for work in the food service industry. Many of these students have behavioral issues, learning disabilities, have dropped out of high school or are ex-offenders. Participants are trained in food safety, sanitation, basic knife skills, classic cooking techniques, commercial kitchen operations and equipment use. They are also prepared for the ServSafe Certification. Students learn respect, teamwork, self-confidence and professionalism as a recipe for success. SOAK is lead by Chef J. Pitts, who has had great success training students and finding them job placements in the culinary field. Chef Pitts brings over 40 years of culinary experience to this program.  

The State St. location offers classes for Western Hills High School 12th grade students with special needs. There are also after school programs and summer camps for teens (ages 13-16) and junior chefs 12 and under. The kids learn about agriculture, practice culinary skills and catering. There are weekly themes to make learning fun. Lead by Chef Steph, she wants students to understand where their food comes from and how it’s prepared. It doesn’t just magically show up in a drive thru window. Cooking is an art. 

BLOC Teaching Kitchen also partners with Santa Maria Community Services to align the needs of our community by offering our program to referred students seeking training and employment. Santa Maria helps provide stipends for youth, supplies, job coaching outside the kitchen and help with with ServSafe certification costs.  

For information about programs at the McPherson Ave. Teaching Kitchen, contact Chef J. Pitts: chefjpitts@gmail.com

For more information about programs at the State St. Teaching Kitchen, contact Chef Steph: chefstephmiller@gmail.com