Meat and Potatoes Program at Deli : Los Angeles Officials and Jerry’s Famous Team Up to Train 325 Prospective Workers for Careers in the Restaurant Industry

Want to learn how they stack the pastrami so high on rye at Jerry’s Famous Deli? Or how they get just the right amount of mayo in the potato salad?

Now you can attend deli school.

Under a program approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council, Jerry’s Famous Deli and a San Fernando Valley job training center have teamed up to teach 325 wanna-be restaurateurs the finer points of delicatessen work.

Although the council allocated the $324,000 in federal funding Wednesday, Jerry’s Famous began last month to provide the 80 hours of hands-on training for manager and cook positions at its new restaurant in Westwood.

For its part, the Studio City-based deli chain is hiring and paying the workers an average of $11.40 an hour, according to a city report.

The program includes computer training and regular exams on how to deal with customers, keep inventory and--perhaps most importantly--make the perfect corned beef on rye, which is one of Jerry’s most popular sandwiches.

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City officials say the partnership is one of 17 such training programs that the city has backed with public funding. But they say they are in the process of approving another six in the next few months.

“Many more are coming down the pike,” said Morrie Goldman, chief of staff for Councilman Mike Hernandez, who is spearheading the effort.

City officials say these programs have an advantage over traditional job training efforts because they guarantee a job when the training is over.

“Who best to be involved in the training than the prospective employer,” Councilman Joel Wachs told his colleagues before the unanimous vote for the funding.

Under the yearlong program, the San Fernando Valley Comprehensive Job Assistance Center will be paid $21,200 to recruit, assess and refer candidates to the deli.

Another $303,000 will pay for salaries, personnel costs and other elements of the training program.

Jerry’s Deli opened a new restaurant last month in Westwood, where most of the training is taking place.

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But Guy Starkman, director of operations for the restaurant chain, said plans are in the works to open three or four additional delis in the next few months, including locations in Van Nuys and Woodland Hills.

He said the program allows the restaurant chain to train many employees at once and to only accept candidates who have been thoroughly screened by the job assistance center.

“We used to train people at the stores,” he said. “We would just put an apron on them and tell them to get to work. Now they go to a classrooms and learn on the computers.”

He said that many busboys, bartenders and waiters end up as corporate executives at Jerry’s Famous.

But if they don’t go that far, he said that the training will put graduates on a successful career path.

“Because we have such an assorted menu, when you learn how to cook at Jerry’s you are basically prepared to cook anywhere in the world” Starkman said.