Mitch Tonks - Dartmouth Academy

Mitch Tonks throws his name behind Dartmouth Academy with training restaurant.

Dartmouth Academy was proud to announce that its partner for the training restaurant in its rebuilt campus will be celebrity chef Mitch Tonks.

This will be a unique venture between an educational establishment and a restaurateur of Mitch’s standing – and will create a hub of food-learning excellence helping young people from the South Devon area to become top-quality food professionals. 

Mitch also shares a strong vision with the Academy to focus on the importance of a good lunch for students and how it has its place as a daily enjoyable social event. The restaurant will also give them the opportunity to get used to a working environment and earn money whilst still at school.

Provisionally named ‘The Rainbow Room’, the restaurant will serve as a place for students to learn about how a restaurant runs, enjoy great food and will be run as a top quality commercial restaurant in the evenings. Mitch is keen to stress that this is not a school dining room being used as a restaurant more a restaurant being used to serve the school. 

Profits from the operation of the ‘Rainbow Room’ will supplement the cost of student lunches so that every student gets to eat exactly the same quality food from the daily changing menu. It will also support the cost of running the Academy as a whole.

Mitch said: ‘This project is the first ever of its kind and I believe it will add another dimension to Dartmouth Academy. I hope, with the team, to be able to create a first class stand-alone restaurant that the academy and students can be proud of and want to be part of, throughout the whole process leading up to and after the opening. 

First published March/April 2012 By the Dart.