We were lucky to catch up with Dominic Hawkes recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dominic, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
About a year into the pandemic, having changed the way we taught students in the school district and across the country, I started taking advantage of every resource I could find, to aid student learning. This included creating a lot of visuals, including creating a YouTube channel, “Chef Hawkes.” A textbook publisher, SDC Publications reached out to me, having seen what I was working on with the suggestion of writing a textbook for high school students, accompanied by videos. It took several months to persuade me, as we were so busy dealing with the changing education world, but as we started discussing the possibilities of the project, I became very aware of issues in our Culinary Arts world. Students are encouraged to achieve certifications in their field of study and the Food Safety Manager certification is a big one, as they are college & career ready. I would see every week of the semester, posts of disappointed instructors, devastated most or sometimes all of their students had failed. At the same time, I was realizing some of the methods that we were using were having great results. After the publisher brought me together with a master co-author, we started in earnest. The end result of the project, which continues to evolve to this day is a visually stimulating textbook, a workbook with recipes activities, games and projects and a whole slew of online resources for the students and instructors to take advantage of. (Introduction to Culinary Arts Management: Safety, Recipes & Certification.) Dan and I are very proud of the program we created, which now develops students capabilities with their learning style, to maximize their success. This has also spurred on a new textbook, for professionals in the industry and the post secondary market, with more excellent resources to help these individuals to success. (The Food Protection Manager’s Handbook.) I never started these projects with the desire of selling books, it was all to do with developing my own course for my students to benefit and then open this up to anyone else it could benefit. We are very pleased with the great results and how many students we have helped so far.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Dominic Hawkes is a Master Chef of Great Britain with over 29 years of experience in the food service industry. He began his culinary journey in London’s finest hotels, including the Ritz, Radisson Edwardian & Prince Regent, and the Dubai International Aerospace Show. With a diploma in culinary arts, diploma in food hygiene, and certification in nutrition & health, and wines & spirits. Dominic later completed a bachelor’s degree in business studies, majoring in hospitality studies.
After working for Bank of America’s Corporate Food Services in their corporate center, Dominic became the Food & Beverage Director at Charlotte City Club, where he worked for 19 years before transitioning into teaching Culinary Arts. Since 2019, he has been teaching at the Lancaster County School District Career Center in South Carolina, where he is certified to teach and proctor certifications by the National Restaurant Association, including ProStart Culinary & ServSafe.
Dominic’s commitment to education is exemplified by his successful efforts in 2022 when he and the Lancaster County School District Career Center became the first secondary school in the Carolinas to receive American Culinary Federation accreditation, certifying students with the coveted Certified Fundamentals Cook (CFC) certification.
Dominic’s dedication to his students was further highlighted during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns when he swiftly adapted his classes to an online platform. Since then, he has shared his valuable insights with audiences worldwide through his popular YouTube channel, Chef Hawkes. In 2023 he with his co-author Dan Stine published their first textbook & program “Introduction to Culinary Arts Management, Safety, Recipes & Certification.” The fastest growing culinary arts & food safety textbook in the US. In February 2024 he, again with his coauthor, published a second textbook, “The Food Protection Manager’s Handbook.” A textbook and supporting materials to assist college students and professionals in the industry to earn the same certification.
His tireless efforts in the culinary arts also earned him multiple accolades, including multiple features on PBS Charlotte (WTVI). He has been very generously recognized in South Carolina and nationally for his work in education:
SCACTE New teacher of the Year 2020-21
SCACTE FYI Conference New Teacher of the Year 2021
South Carolina ProStart Educator of Excellence 2022-23
National ProStart Educator of Excellence 2022-23
South Carolina Dept. of Education Culinary Award 2022-23
SCACTE FYI Conference Teacher of the Year 2024
Lancaster County School District Career Center Teacher of the Year 2024-25
SCACTE Teacher of the Year 2024-25
Dominic is an instructor with the South Carolina DIRECT CTE teacher induction program and a SC 4.0 evaluator for Lancaster County School District. He also works with the American Culinary Federation accreditation team, travelling to evaluate new and re-accrediting culinary programs around the country.
Dominic is happily married to his awesome educator wife Courtney of 23 years and has two amazing children, Jack & Tate. (Who followed different paths in Career & Technical Education (CTE) in high school too.) Courtney has been a big part in Dominic’s transition into education. Not only being supportive, and helping guide him into a very different environment, but to also succeed in ways he never expected.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Knowing that we have high school and post secondary students who struggle with the very legal and science based subject of food safety is a challenge that I am driven to help. Knowing teachers, especially those who have had a career in an industry and want to teach the next generation, but struggle with classroom management, lesson planning, paperwork and rules a successful teacher need to know is something I feel I can assist with too.
Working with all stakeholders in education is important for success. Finding innovation to assist students to be successful with their best learning style and assisting educators to find the ability to be successful is a passion of mine. When an educator is able to pass on their knowledge in a way that students absorb it and become independently creative, special things happen. Think of the general trudge through a lesson, where students may be resentful to be in the classroom and create behavioral issues. If students look forward to learning, and become followers of the teacher, the education can be accelerated and depth of knowledge can soar.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Whether working on innovative educational programs for students or assisting educators to find their stride, I love the effects it has. Hearing about successes for anyone in the education field that I may have played a small role, is such a rush. It is the reason why I was drawn into education.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sites.google.com/lcsd.k12.sc.us/chef-hawkes/home
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dominic.hawkes.94
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-hawkes-mcgb-67b676169/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chefHawkes
Image Credits
1st image Lancaster County School District
2nd image SC ProStart
All other images – Hawkes