Hotel, restaurant and institution management students looking for careers in fine dining are practicing planning meals through an International Meal series.

About every other week this semester, groups of four students enrolled in a fine dining management class design a menu, each from a specific cultural background.

Wednesday night’s meal, featuring beef tenderloin, garlic red-skinned mashed potatoes, baby carrots (if available), five onion soup, mixed greens, and apple pie, focused on the Midwest at the Tearoom in MacKay Hall.

Brett Horton, adjunct assistant professor of hotel, restaurant and institution management, said his goal for the students is “to make the experience as realistic as possible.” He said the class does a little of everything.

“The students have to plan the service, buy the food, provide service and manage fellow students,” he said.

Valerie Schramm, senior in hotel, restaurant and institution management, and member of the American meal group, said each group has to do everything itself and it involves a lot of difficult planning.

“We have to figure in not only the cost of food, but also things like decorations and wine,” Schramm said.

There isn’t a specific budget the group has to follow, but “the goal is to make a profit,” she said.

Schramm said the atmosphere of the International Dinners is a lot different than the lunches that are normally served in the Tearoom. One difference she pointed out for dinner on Wednesday was a student from the music department playing the viola. There was also a choice of two wines served with dinner and candlelight.

“It is a lot of fun,” Schramm said, “People can go and see what other students have to offer.”

Tickets for the remainder of the semester are sold out, Horton said, but he “encourages people to call and be put on a waiting list because some are relatively short.”

Tickets are $25 a person and reservations can be made by calling 294-9371.

Dinners for the rest of the semester will feature African cuisine Oct. 24, Southeast Asian Nov. 7, German Nov. 14, and a seven-course French meal Dec. 5.