STORM LAKE, Iowa (KCAU) It starts with planning the meals and ends with serving the community. It’s a process that gives Storm Lake High School (SLHS) culinary students real-world experience.

Since the early 1990s, Storm Lake High School’s “Kreative Kitchen” has been giving students the opportunity to operate their very own restaurant.

Instructor Whitney Davis said all the work is done by the students; she just supervises.

“This is a really student-driven program. They have to plan everything,” said Davis, who is going on her 13th year as the Family and Consumer Science teacher at SLHS. “Their first assignment is creating the menu. And they are responsible for getting the groceries, prepping the food, cleaning, and doing all the things you would need to do in a restaurant.”

Everyone is invited to participate in the lunch, whether it’s dine-in or take-out. School staff members said they appreciate the variety and the delicious meals.

“It’s good food. They share the menu at the beginning of the trimester, and we can pick what we want. Today was really good,” said one of SLHS’s guidance counselors, Jodi Theisen.

Senior student Joel Ramirez Parra took the class to learn how to cook for himself and has been encouraging his peers to do the same.

“It teaches you how to cook for yourself. Like, if you go to college and you’re by yourself, you wouldn’t be stranded not knowing what to do and relying on takeout all the time. You could just cook something for yourself,” said Parra.

Davis said the 2025 season of the Kreative Kitchen has been a great success.

“Last week was our first one. We did it just for district staff. And I don’t know how many messages I got before we were even done cleaning, saying, ‘This was one of the best meals. We love it.’ They really love to give the kids feedback,” said Davis.

The Kreative Kitchen has five more lunches scheduled for the remainder of 2025, with one occurring every Friday until November 7.

More information on the Kreative Kitchen can be found on their website.