Taylor’s Culinary Institute’s loaf & latté: From Classroom to Café, Students Take the Lead
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| [L-R] Stephane Yan, Project Manager, loaf & latté, Professor Dr Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, Executive Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor’s University, Dato’ Loy Teik Ngan, Chairman, Taylor’s Education Group, Chef Frederic Cerchi, Head of School, Taylor’s Culinary Institute and Chef Fleurine Synaeve, Senior Lecturer, loaf & latté at the media launch of loaf & latté, an on-campus commercial artisan bakery that brings real industry operations directly into the classroom. |
Cooking is one thing. Running a café is another.
At Taylor’s Culinary Institute, students get to experience both.
loaf & latté, the on-campus bakery café, is not a simulation. It operates like a real café, with students responsible for daily production, service, and stock management. Bread is baked. Coffee is served. Customers walk in expecting consistency, not excuses.
Every morning follows a familiar rhythm. Dough is shaped. Ovens warm up. Coffee machines start humming. Students move between stations, learning quickly where timing matters and where mistakes cost time.
Every day in the bakery is a lesson - from shaping the dough to serving the first cup of coffee. That line, shared through loaf & latté’s social posts, reflects how learning happens here - through repetition, responsibility, and real pressure.
Students rotate across production, service, inventory, and customer interaction, experiencing how a café actually runs from open to close. It’s not just about technique. It’s about understanding how decisions affect workflow, team morale, and the customer experience.
For some students, the learning goes further. High performers step into management roles, overseeing operations and guiding peers. The question shifts from “Where will I work after graduation?” to “What am I capable of running?”
In Malaysia’s F&B industry, where many concepts fail due to operational blind spots, this exposure matters.
"I’ve learned more here than any classroom could teach - balancing service, production, and customer expectations every day," shares Herman Wong, ASEAN WorldSkills Gold Medallist. His experience reflects what hands-on culinary education can unlock when students are trusted with real responsibility.
The café also connects effort to outcome. Artisan breads, pastries, and latte art reach real customers every day. Students see reactions immediately - what sells, what doesn’t, what needs adjusting. Learning becomes tangible, not theoretical.
Malaysia’s F&B scene doesn’t suffer from a lack of ideas.
It suffers from weak execution.
By placing students inside a working café, loaf & latté trains them on the realities that actually matter - workflow, consistency, and accountability. Long before the first rental deposit is paid. Long before equipment loans and staffing problems turn ambition into pressure.
Credit: loaf & latté
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