Panelists from the food industry talk to students at a forum at Johnson & Wales about careers in the food/hospitality field. About 500 high school students were there.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

Gerry Fernandez says the American dream is still alive in the restaurant business.

Fernandez is president and founder of the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance, which is based at Johnson & Wales University.

Last month the alliance hosted an event, attended by about 500 Rhode Island high school students, called Showcase of the Stars , which featured Fernandez and a group of successful restaurant professionals promoting their industry.

“I’m asking you to consider our business,” Fernandez said to a group of students. “It’s a business where you can start at the bottom and work your way up. If you start out by pushing a broom at American Express, you will never be the CEO of American Express. In our business, it’s possible.”

In an interview during a lunch break, Fernandez said the food and hospitality industry is a particularly good place for minorities or immigrants to start careers, because there are entry-level jobs available for people with limited skills and experience, plus plenty of room to move up. “You can go from dropping French fries to owning the business,” he said.

Fernandez said immigrant labor is crucial to the restaurant business. “We’re not a political entity, but the fact is that restaurants wouldn’t be operational without immigrants. We feel the laws have to be changed. The system is broken and needs to be fixed.”

Fernandez, 50, founded the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance in 1996, while he was a sales executive with General Mills, in Minneapolis. A Johnson & Wales graduate, he joined General Mills in 1992. Before that he spent more than 10 years as a manager at area restaurants, including The Capital Grille, Hemenway’s Seafood Grill & Oyster Bar and The Old Grist Mill Tavern.

The high school students attending the showcase gathered in the Xavier Auditorium at Johnson & Wales, where they heard from a panel seated on the stage: Patricia Bando, vice president of auxiliary services (which includes dining) at Boston College; Elizabeth Coveney, vice president of sales for Coca-Cola North America; Cheryl LaBanca, corporate sales manager at the Radisson Airport Hotel; Paul Leech, chief administrative officer for Dunkin’ Brands; Barrie Lobo, regional director of service & culinary for Morrison Senior Dining (which provides services to retirement communities); and Bob Crowley, vice president of operations for Chelo’s Hometown Bar & Grille.

Roaming the aisles of the auditorium, Fernandez and Ikimi DuBose, sous chef at the Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott, moderated the event. Fernandez is an energetic and accomplished speaker who is clearly at home in front of an audience.

Bando told the audience she had originally planned to become a doctor — until she saw her first cadaver. Then she decided to become a dietitian, which led to her to career in food service.

Crowley said he didn’t do well in college because he could never get up for his morning classes. The restaurant business, though, was another story: “I didn’t have to get up in the morning, and I ended up with a pocket full of money at the end of the day.… I decided that was God’s plan for me, I was going to feed people.”

Lobo said he was introduced to food service while he was a Marine. “That’s where I learned the basics — sanitation, how to break down a recipe, all that good stuff.”

Fernandez asked panelists what young people should do if they’re looking for jobs.

“Keep coming back,” said Crowley, from Chelo’s. “None of us have enough good people. And when you come, it’s important to make a good first impression. Some people come in with a hat on sideways, flip-flops, baggy shorts. Don’t look like a bum, look sharp. And don’t come in the middle of lunch or dinner, because we’re going to be busy.”

A teacher at the William M. Davies Career & Technical High School asked about education.

“You’ll be going to school all your life,” said Fernandez. “If not a university, it will be a company sending you to a training session. But you’ll always be learning.” A key thing to know, he said, was how the business you’re in makes money.

Panelist Cheryl LaBanca, an unwed mother at 18 who didn’t graduate from high school (she went on to get her GED), said her greatest career accomplishments were getting her associate’s and bachelor’s degrees from Johnson & Wales in front of friends and family. “Because I never graduated from high school, it meant a lot,” she said.

Many of the questions from the high school audience were highly pragmatic. How many hours did the panelists work? What kind of cars did they drive?

Some of the panelists said they worked a 40-hour week, some said they worked many more, although those that put in longer hours often enjoyed considerable flexibility when it came to time off. As for the rides, they included a Lexus, an Infiniti, a Honda Accord, and a company-owned Jeep.

Providence is one of 11 cities where the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance is taking its Showcase of the Stars this year. “We’re trying to plant the seed… these are our potential employees,” Fernandez said.

asmith@projo.com