Students and staff can sometimes run into the problem of trying to find an upscale meal without breaking the bank.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, however, lunch at Ellington’s is put forth by the students of Family Consumer Nutrition Sciences 320. Seating for lunch takes place from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The meals are $9, though the real story lies in what goes on behind the scenes.

Each lunch at Ellington’s, located in the Holmes Student Center, has a special theme, which was assigned randomly to students the first day of class.

Along with getting assigned a specific role in that group for their kitchen day, the group has to make their own menus and figure out the décor for their day. Different positions inside each group include a general manager, an executive chef, a sous chef, a dining room manager and a marketing manager.

Each group of four to five students receives a group name and two service days.

“We spent three weeks in the computer lab finding recipes and making sure they meet our nutrition guidelines because there are two choices for every course [appetizers, main courses and desserts],” said senior hospitality major Theresa Stafford.

For the group whose service day it is, each member has their own tasks-along with the group members whose jobs are delegated by the group in charge-whether they be hot food cooks, cold food cooks, servers or bussers.

The class is group-work intensive and the class itself is classified as a lab, running from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“It’s definitely different [from] any class I’ve taken,” Stafford said.

FCNS instructor Joan Quinn said the class helps students develop other skills outside of managing a resturant.

“I think it really prepares them for any management positions, not just restaurant management, because they have team-building skills that they work on, they have people management skills, and just dealing with the public is a big deal,” Quinn said. “They have leadership skills that they garner in this class and time management is a big deal. And so really, it gives them lots and lots of skills that they can use almost anywhere. “

Quinn said she believes the hands-on approach used in the class is essential to the students’ learning. She said most of the skills learned in class and taken with them to future employment are not suited to a situation in which students sit in desks.

“It’ll help us in any field of hospitality just because there’s so much that goes into preparing for this,” said junior hospitality major Gina DeFano. “So it will definitely prepare us for our careers.”