From theory to practice: Institute Lyfe students work on real-world projects

Institut Lyfe, an international school for hospitality and restaurant professions, places experimentation at the heart of its teaching and training programmes. Students are encouraged to create, test, innovate and confront the realities of the professions they will pursue after graduation.

In recent weeks, students on the Bachelor in International Hospitality and Restaurant Management at Institut Lyfe have taken on two major challenges as part of their training. Second-year students opened a pop-up restaurant, while third-year students responded to a client brief in real-life conditions.

These two immersive learning experiences were highlights of their training at Institut Lyfe, where motivation plays a key role in the success of these projects.

From concept to service: the opening of a pop-up restaurant for second-year students on the Bachelor in International Hospitality and Restaurant Management

For second-year students on the Bachelor in International Hospitality and Restaurant Management, the project begins with brainstorming and creativity sessions: what direction do they want to take their pop-up restaurant in? What kind of world do they want to immerse their future customers in?

Once the ideas are down on paper, it’s time for two weeks of immersion in the kitchen. Working alongside a chef trainer, they learn the necessary technical basics and stock management, learn to work as part of a team and create their menus.

This step is essential: it enables them to be autonomous on opening day, to take responsibility for their own establishment and to be able to provide service at lunchtime and in the evening for five days. These culinary skills, combined with their management and service skills, enable them to fully embrace their role within a pop-up restaurant.

Then comes the moment when ideas finally come to life: students work on their identity, atmosphere, decorations, communication, find partners… and finally welcome their first guests (students, staff and external guests).

This Pop-Up project trains students in the Bachelor in International Hospitality and Restaurant Management programme at Institut Lyfe in the operational management of an establishment: team coordination, reservation management, service organisation and continuous improvement to ensure that customers leave with a smile, which is the main motivating factor for the success of their project. After the roles have been assigned, some students take charge of coordinating the service and the dining room, while others naturally take on leadership roles in the kitchen.

Thanks to educational projects such as Pop-Up, students can become managers of establishments in France and abroad after graduation. This was the starting point for Jade Frommer and Annaïg Ferrand, two alumni of the Institut Lyfe who, after graduating, launched Ephemera: immersive restaurants located in several cities across France.

We train our students to become much more than managers: we prepare them to think and act like true entrepreneurs by developing the skills, boldness and vision necessary to turn their ideas into successes.

Envisioning the future of Château de Montchat: a strategic project for third-year students in the Bachelor in International Hospitality and Restaurant Management programme

For third-year students on Bachelor in International Hospitality and Restaurant Management, the challenge takes on a more strategic dimension: responding to the brief set by L’Hermitage de Moly, owner of Château de Montchat, the only château located within the city limits of Lyon. This is a very timely project, as L’Hermitage de Moly announced the acquisition of Château de Montchat just a few days before the project was launched.

The students first familiarised themselves with the two challenges set by L’Hermitage de Moly. The first was to reposition Château de Montchat as a more upmarket establishment, while the second was to come up with a distinctive concept to upgrade the existing garage, a 500 m² covered space that had been little used until now.

Based on these two issues, the students had fifteen days to analyse the context, identify levers for change and propose solutions tailored to the client’s expectations, while staying within the predefined budget.

A total of thirteen teams tackled these topics, and all of them came up with ideas that were equally creative and relevant. Each group presented well-thought-out, justified and detailed concepts, incorporating context analysis, creative proposals and operational feasibility, while taking into account the constraints communicated by the client.

By entrusting a school and its students still in education with practical projects such as this one, L’Hermitage de Moly offers future professionals the opportunity to develop project management skills.

These two educational projects fully illustrate the DNA of Institut Lyfe: to train future professionals during their schooling to be capable of innovating, taking responsibility, adapting and managing experiences in their entirety. By enabling our students to work on concrete projects in real-world conditions, Institut Lyfe helps them strengthen their creativity and rigour: essential skills for becoming innovative professionals in the hospitality industry of tomorrow.

Find out more about the Bachelor’s Degree