Aspire’s first food-service trainees serve a practice lunch

Aspire’s first food-service trainees have put 10 weeks of preparation into a three-course practice lunch, taking responsibility for both the dining room and kitchen. The program prepares people with disabilities for restaurant work. Aspire’s September 21 account describes the rehearsal and the next step for successful trainees: a paid internship with an employer partner.

The guests were Aspire staff and participants in its Life Enrichment program in Hillside, Illinois. Trainees greeted diners, took drink and food orders, prepared dishes, served each course and practiced resetting tables for new guests. The session was called Powered by Pasta.

Restaurant companies helped shape that preparation. Aspire names Lettuce Entertain You, Home Run Inn Pizza and The Buona Companies as development partners. In Aspire’s July 29 launch announcement, Home Run Inn CEO Dan Costello said his team had supported the training kitchen’s design. He said the aim was to let trainees learn in a setting that reflects restaurant operations.

The announcement listed jobs such as servers, bussers, hosts, greeters, dishwashers, food runners and prep cooks. It described preparation in the Weinberg Career Academy’s simulated kitchen alongside hands-on experience at restaurant locations. Aspire also said a federal grant covered trainees’ job-coaching and internship expenses.

The current FAQ identifies the funding as a Department of Education Disability Innovation Fund grant that pays program staff and waives all trainee fees. It also describes quarterly cohorts in each industry.

The current food-services program schedules three days a week onsite and one offsite day. Onsite work combines simulated restaurant tasks with classroom skills such as communication and resume writing. Activities in the mock kitchen and restaurant cover customer service, food safety and time management. Fitness work is intended to build stamina for job-related tasks. The offsite day includes job shadowing, safety seminars and networking. Successful trainees are promised an eight-week paid internship, with a job coach for the first two weeks.

Aspire’s program FAQ, which covers food services and distribution, lists internship pay at $17 an hour and a typical schedule of 12 to 20 hours a week. Shifts last at least five hours, including a 30-minute lunch break. After an internship, a permanent job may be offered if the trainee performs well.

The FAQ says Aspire can help trainees learn to use public transit or Uber and apply for paratransit. Aspire does not provide transportation directly.

Employers can participate by hosting workplace visits for trainees. Aspire offers participating businesses training for their teams to help them create workplace opportunities for people with disabilities. They can also hire successful trainees for eight-week internships.

The model began outside restaurants. The FAQ traces its origins to Wesco, an employment partner that needed skilled employees in distribution. The two organizations developed training for those roles, building on the Weinberg Career Academy’s work with an industry-specific approach.

Aspire’s November 11, 2025 account documented the ribbon cutting for a warehouse training space. It described practical job training and career-readiness coaching in surroundings intended to resemble the workplaces trainees would enter. Aspire reported the launch of its first food-services cohort on July 29, 2026.