ST. PHILIP'S COLLEGE CULINARY ARTS ... - Alamo Colleges

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ST. PHILIP’S COLLEGE CULINARY ARTS STUDENT ACHIEVES EARLY CAREER SUCCESS
WITH TOP-RATED GREEN JOB IN RETAIL SECTOR FOR 2011
Business at vegetarian and eco-friendly Green Vegetarian Cuisine has tripled since Mia Martinez began
working there, now the student has been named to staff the firm’s second location, and the business has
received the San Antonio Business Journal 2011 Going Green Award in the retail sector
SAN ANTONIO (Sept. 14, 2011)–––A St. Philip‟s College culinary arts student who specializes in
creating vegetarian food and beverages is also enjoying success as an employee at an original business
which has just been awarded the San Antonio Business Journal 2011 Going Green Award for best in
class efforts to build a sustainable future for the Alamo City in the retail sector.
The student with best-in-the-green-economy credentials is Mia Martinez. Martinez is the night manager at
Green Vegetarian Cuisine at 1017 N. Flores St., located downtown, staffed by additional culinary arts
program students and co-owned by brothers Chris and Mike Behrend. Mike Behrend is a former St.
Philip‟s College culinary program student and visionary executive chef of the award-winning eco-friendly
business which has employed many students from the college‟s top-rated culinary arts program since
opening in 2007. Green will be among green leaders recognized during an award luncheon Sept. 16 at
Pearl Stable.
What makes Martinez‟ success unique is that Green‟s business has tripled and the business has received
a high award for sustainable practices since the Behrend brothers asked her to become their primary
cook. The brothers have also asked her to open their second location which debuts in San Antonio this
spring. Opening a second restaurant as a staff member during this global economic recessionary period
is an enviable feat for Martinez, and having earned the trust of both the brothers and their loyal customers
to produce the vegetarian food that people demand before she graduates from college has the 2009 Lee
High School graduate ecstatic.
“I was working here to support myself for about a year when my employers came up with a supportive
way for me to complete my degree by allowing me to complete my internship with Green,” Martinez said
with a smile as she picked basil from the restaurant‟s urban garden. “It's madness and we've grown so
much. The summer was crazy for us, so busy every day,” said Martinez.
“I'm really lucky to have places where I can pursue both the college degree and the job of my dreams
close to home. I sit in class thinking how to come up with vegan menu sets and options. Vegetarian
cuisine is horribly overlooked. I have friends asking, „do you just serve salads‟ ”
“I heard of Green only two months before applying to work there. I've been a full vegetarian for a year,”
she said. “I started out as a server, and I got to be a night cook and slowly got to work more and more at
what I love. My boss asked for someone to step up and run the grill on our biggest night (Sunday), and I
took the challenge. I challenge my bosses to be up front with me and let me know how I‟m doing.”
“I was planning to go to Chicago for four-year college, but I got a scholarship to go here. I‟m enjoying the
ride and the great opportunities it‟s provided so far,” Martinez said. “I‟m totally obsessed with healthy food
right now. I‟m extremely happy for the sudden push by San Antonians to be healthy and fit. It‟s San
Antonio‟s time for healthy food. Green is a place where customers and employees are in really close
communication at all times,” said Martinez. “We recognize faces, and the restaurant is small. The pace of
work is crazy with modifications to plates you do not see at most restaurants. We can be very
accommodating and we provide samples. It helps having college-kid friendly prices. Three-four culinary
arts students eat here regularly,” she said.

“Seventy percent of our business is non-vegetarian, and our advertising is all word of mouth,” explained
Chris Behrend. “Our business has tripled in 19 months. We open our next Green restaurant at NW
Military and Wurzbach. We are clean. We listened to all of our core customers to improve for them and to
make being a vegetarian easy. They have eaten with us since the day we opened the door. We offer
southern vegetarian food and Texas music. We‟re proud of it and where we come from,” he said.
“The community colleges help people get jobs where they make a difference,” executive chef Mike
Behrend said with a grin. “St. Philip‟s College is at the forefront of education, from clean energy to
culinary arts, and it‟s inexpensive. Mia can go there and still have a job and take care of her personal life,
compared to other schools which charge 10 times the tuition and do not allow students to work,” he said.
“Our employees realize how much everything we do as humans revolves around what we eat,” Mike
Behrend concluded. “Mia started out as a waitress part-time and moved to prep and will work at our new
location. She‟s a vegetarian and able to do everything she‟s proud of. She‟s invested in what she‟s
doing.”
The St. Philip‟s College Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts offers five primary programs
and a full-time faculty member and advisor to work directly with students in each area. All programs
involve students in classroom-based learning experiences, as well as lab experience, and work-based
learning during a practicum course. The culinary arts and restaurant management programs of the
college received an Exemplary rating from the American Culinary Federation Foundation Accrediting
Commission in 2008. St. Philip‟s College is one of only 25 schools worldwide with the ACFF Accrediting
Commission‟s Exemplary status and is rated Exemplary by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board–––an agency of the Texas state government whose staff oversees all public post–secondary
education in Texas. For information, contact the department staff at (210) 486-2398, or book reservations
with the student-operated restaurant Artemisia‟s at (210) 486-2EAT.
CAPTIONS:
01: St. Philip‟s College culinary arts student Mia Martinez is the night manager at Green Vegetarian Cuisine, recipient
of the San Antonio Business Journal 2011 Going Green Award. A specialist in creating vegetarian food and
beverages, Martinez is one of several students the firm has hired as interns and employees from the college‟s
culinary program, which is one of only 25 to earn a best-in-world Exemplary rating from the American Culinary
Federation Foundation's Accrediting Commission. (SPC IMAGE | PATRICK EVANS)
02: Business has tripled at Green Vegetarian Cuisine, recipient of the San Antonio Business Journal 2011 Going
Green Award, since St. Philip‟s College culinary arts student Mia Martinez was hired to work at the city‟s only allvegetarian
restaurant. (SPC IMAGE | PATRICK EVANS)
About St. Philip’s: Bishop James Steptoe Johnston of the St. Philip‟s Episcopal Church of the West
Texas Diocese founded St. Philip‟s College in 1898. Today, St. Philip‟s College, a member of the Alamo
Colleges, is a multi–campus institution and serves a semester enrollment of more than 11,000 credit and
more than 8,000 continuing education students. St. Philip‟s College is a Historically Black College and a
Hispanic Serving Institution. As “A Point of Pride in the Community,” St. Philip‟s College is among the
oldest and most diverse community colleges in the United States.