The evening of Friday, July 19th 2019 saw the grand re-opening of our training restaurant, The Tea Room @ CTI.A short and sweet ceremony introduced the Tea Room to the community with a brand new team of staff ready and able to serve delicious, quality food in the welcoming space with a smile. The staff, all of whom but one hail from the soil of Eleuthera, include CTI instructors and graduates along with experienced chefs who delighted the palettes of the crowd with scrumptious hors d’oeuvres and refreshing drinks as the ceremony took place.
“This is a school, a training center,” OEF CEO Shaun Ingraham said in his remarks, emphasizing that CTI is a place for anyone who is into “supporting people, young people especially, in growing into a vibrant career here on Eleuthera.” He encouraged everyone to support the hotel, farm, and restaurant knowing that all the money they spend goes toward education.
The Tea Room was initially opened last year during the second Learn and Earn Program, where it was run by Hospitality students as part of their Culinary training. Charvette Strachan, one of the Culinary instructors at that time, expressed great joy in seeing the restaurant now officially staffed and opened full-time to the public. “I’m so proud to see it all come together like this,” she said. “It was a lot of hard work to get to this point.”
The official ribbon cutting was performed by Shaun Ingraham and Miss World Bahamas 2019-2020 Nyah Bandelier, after which the doors were officially opened for business. Dinner service began right away, and attendees were able to dine in at beautifully set tables or take their delicious food to go.