Ben Riseman, a marketing intern for the College of ACES, covers student life from a student’s perspective. In this piece, he highlights one of the college’s most immersive experiential learning opportunities: The Spice Box is a capstone project that gives hospitality management students full creative and operational control of a fine dining restaurant.

My first time going to the Spice Box was about a month ago, but I wish I had learned about it years ago, because I’m confident it provides one of the best dining experiences in the Champaign-Urbana area. From the food and service to the décor, the whole production is as good as it gets.

The Spice Box is a fine dining restaurant run by the students of hospitality management in Jordan Brotherton’s FSHN 145 and 443 classes. Once, or sometimes twice a week, the restaurant opens with a different theme and menu set by a senior student in the 443 class.

“Since its creation, the Spice Box has been used as a learning laboratory for students in the hospitality management major to be tested on their skills and knowledge that they have acquired during their time at Illinois,” Brotherton said.

Brotherton, who was an undergraduate in this program and has a background in the hotel industry, has seen his journey come full circle.

“It’s an absolute dream job teaching here, and never in a million years would I have thought that I’d get the opportunity,” he said.

According to Brotherton, this capstone is one of the main differentiators of ACES’ hospitality management program from other similar programs across the country.

Learning the food side, especially in the hospitality industry, can be very difficult. If you can learn this and get really good at it, the management piece, the operations piece, those skills are so incredibly transferrable. I’ve seen so many students be able to go off and do some absolutely incredible things.”

Their work starts in the fall in a relatively new class called FSHN 439 – Design Thinking for Restaurants. Students plan, test, and pitch their own restaurant concept to create a full-service dining experience at the Spice Box. This prerequisite course makes sure the students have all the knowledge they need and are fully prepared to run the restaurant when their time comes in the spring.

The restaurant I attended was “Haus & Hjarta” (house and heart), a meal themed and inspired by hospitality management senior Ava Novak’s Swedish heritage. The day before opening night, the class prepared by setting up the dining room.

Senior Mallory Stiegman is assuming the role of maître d’, which is the head of the wait staff and ensures the setup for the front of the house is in line with Novak’s vision. The team polishes the silverware and glassware, decorates the dining room, and delegates tasks to the freshmen on the team.

The restaurant is open from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and can accommodate a maximum of 150 reservations. The crowd usually consists of friends, family, and any other people in the area looking for a unique fine dining experience.

With over 130 reservations, Novak’s restaurant was a full house. For Novak, this moment has been a long time coming.

“I feel like we’re all pretty close here, it kind of feels like a family. We spend every week together, so I’m really just excited to see all my hard work come to life,” Novak said on her biggest takeaways from the event.

“To have my friends and family see all of the work we’ve put into this project, it’s not just a semester thing. We have been thinking about this since we were freshmen.”

The attention to detail is extremely apparent from the decoration of the dining room to the quality of the menu and efficiency in the kitchen. Oh, and by the way, the food tastes incredible.

I can’t wait to see what they do next.

The Spice Box is open every spring semester. For updates, menus, and to reserve your seat, visit spicebox.illinois.edu/dining-events.

This transformational experience prepares students to lead in the hospitality industry and beyond. You can support this work by contributing to student experiential learning opportunities in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. To support The Spice Box and more of these experiences, visit go.aces.illinois.edu/give, select “Other” as the gift designation, and enter “Spice Box Hospitality Management – 333588.” For more information, contact the College of ACES Office of Advancement at 217-333-9355 or acesadvancement@illinois.edu.