Food Programs and Services

The kitchens at K-State Olathe are a resource for the community. We partner with groups, such as K-State Research and Extension and Olathe Parks and Recreation, to provide programs and workshops that address popular topics and provide timely how-to advice over a broad range of food subjects.

Past programs include:

• Holiday Meal Updates
• A Fermented Foods Primer
• BBQ 101
• Demonstrations at the Olathe Farmers Market

Professional development training is mandatory in today's highly competitive and ever-changing food industry. K-State Olathe can create programs to fit the many needs of food industry professionals.

Examples of programs include:

• Food Handler Food Safety
• HACCP for Restauranteurs
• Sous Vide and Cook/Chill Variance plans
• Artisan breads
• Pet food research and development

Our goal is to assist you with teaching science through the use of food science and to further educate the public in concepts and best practices of food safety. We have developed programming that uses multiple teaching techniques to reach the greatest number of student needs, with an emphasis on embedding hands-on pieces into the content. We also customize content to meet specific needs and goals.

Programs can be held in our research kitchens or brought into your classroom.

Examples of programs include:

• Functional Ingredients in Food
• Deconstructing a Popular Dish
• Four Simple Concepts for Food Safety
• Taste and Flavor Workshop
• Fermented Foods

Collaborate with us

To explore the possibilities for your class, please email Bryan Severns, director of food programs and services.

Our kitchens are fully stocked and ready for anything. If you can dream it, you can create it right here.

Research and Development Kitchen

• Combi oven
• Rotating rack oven
• 4 gallon steam jacket kettle
• 25 gallon steam jacket kettle
• Braising skillet
• Single fryer
• 30 quart mixer
• 3-well hot table
• 3,600 watt microwave
• Blast chillers (x2)
• 4-door cooler, wheeled (x2)
• 2-door freezer, wheeled
• 8x16 walk-in coolers (x2)
• 16x16 walk-in freezer
• 4-burner range with sill oven

Demonstration Kitchen

• Convection oven
• Hood and fire suppression
• 24" gas char broiler
• 4-burner hot top
• Under-counter refrigerator
• Split sink for hand-washing and prep
• Seating for 20
• Wired for sound and video capture
• Maple butcher block counter tops (x2)
• Direct access to main kitchens and public hallway

Five Station Teaching Kitchen (A and B)

• Double stacked convection oven
• 6-burner ranges with convection ovens (x2)
• 4-burner ranges with still ovens (x2)
• 2-burner induction units (x2)
• Prep tables with sink and drawers (x5)
• Ranges on wheels with quick gas disconnects
• Hand sinks (x3)
• Large capacity ice machine

Outdoor Cooking Lab

• 2-burner hot top
• 30" char grill
• 48" under-counter refrigerator
• 8" stainless steel prep table
• Portable hand wash sink
• 60" barbecue smoker

Bistro Restaurant Kitchen

Designed to serve 100-150/meal period.

• Stacked convention ovens
• Griddle
• 24" char grill
• 4-burner hot-top
• Refrigerated base
• Double fryers
• Pass-through cooler
• 3-bay hot well
• 2-bay soup well
• Double commercial panini sandwich grill
• Beverage cooler
• Ice machine

General Service

• Freeze dryer
• Bowl chopper
• Food dehydrator
• Ice cream making machines (x2)
• Sandwich prep tables (x2)
• Warmer/Proof boxes (x2)
• Extensive large and small industrial equipment pieces
• Counter dough sheeter
• Bag labeler and sealer
• Piston filler
• Pressure cookers (not for commercial canning) (x3)

Additional Information

The kitchen space features a poured epoxy floor and all prep tables are hardwired with outlets. The main kitchen and teaching kitchen each share large hoods. We also have a pot filler spigot behind the tilt skillet.

Loading and unloading is easy when you choose to use our main kitchen, which has direct access to the loading dock area. Since ease-of-access is something we're conscious about, we also have many wheeled items in our kitchens for convenience and cleanability.

Our space also features:

• Food storage separate from non-food and chemicals
• A large capacity coffee station located in the back of the teaching kitchen
• Large equipment storage area behind the teaching kitchen
• Mop closet off the back-corner of the teaching kitchen
• Mop sink/station in receiving area at the entrance to the dock area
• Fully-equipped dishwashing area with high temperature conveyor machine and triple sink, hose reel and china storage room