COLUMBIA, S.C. — For students at the University of South Carolina’s College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management ‘pie day’ is a 17-year volunteering tradition.
“I specifically made all the tomato fillings, actually made it a few days ago. We also put together the boxes and wrapped and really just get everything ready to go so everyone can get in and out of here pretty quickly,” said senior Hallie Jolly.
The pies are cooked in the McCutchen House restaurant, which is student run. Jolly said experience in restaurants like McCutchen and the restaurant she currently works at also give good experience.
“For not only communicating with the customers, but also being able to work in a setting where people are managers and being able to learn how to be in situations with customers and employees and what to do,” Jolly said.
The senior hopes to graduate and get into corporate event planning at hotels.
Allen Wallace, communications director with the college, said it's a good opportunity for students to get involved in many hospitality areas.
“We always get a lot of student volunteers because event planning goes hand and hand with the hospitality industry. We have students who want to do event planning for a living and organizing something like this, taking all the orders, being sure that-- we have a line as I look right now, being sure that it moves smoothly, keeping things going is an important thing to learn. But, also it's a lot of fun,” Wallace said.
This year the college sold about 600 tomato pie kits and chocolate walnut pies. Many of the pies are ordered ahead of time, but the college always has extras on standby for people buying last minute.
The revenue will go back into McCutchen House to keep students cooking for years to come, according to Wallace.