A Student-Run Restaurant in the Heart of Campus

North Fork, NMU’s Teaching Kitchen, is a dining laboratory developed, staffed, and operated by NMU’s Food Service Operations and Hospitality Leadership students. This full-service restaurant, event space, and classroom provides unique opportunities for our community, students, and industry to come together. While the restaurant is continuously used for student education, we are open to the public based each spring semester.

This unique dining opportunity evolves with our students' goals and aspirations as they lead our menu creation and service style each semester. While operating the Teaching Kitchen, students gain experience developing and managing a fine-dining kitchen, dining room, and service staff in a hands-on environment.

When guests dine at North Fork, they actively participate in educating tomorrow's hospitality leaders. While we train for guest satisfaction, the Training Kitchen's overall goal is to advance our students' education. 

RESERVATIONS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Service has concluded for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Thank you to all who supported us during the spring of 2025. During our six weeks of operations, program students served over 350 four-course meals, expanding their technical and personal skill sets. 

The North Fork’s operations will return in the spring of 2026, but you can follow The Jake at NMU on Facebook to follow along with events and happenings throughout the school year.

Guests can anticipate our annual opening one week after NMU’s spring break through the end of the academic year. Reservations for these dates open in mid-February each year. 

Want to receive email notifications about our events? Join our mailing list!

HL students

"Make the most of all the experiences you will have in this class and don't forget that, no matter how tedious the work may feel, it all comes together to help build you up and push you to grow further into your future."

Brenden Yannella

Our Students are the Leaders

Male hospitality student plating

Thoughtfully Curated Menus

The first two years of the Hospitality program are spent largely in the kitchen learning the foundation of professional cooking. As students grow in their education and build upon this knowledge, they're given the support, guidance, and freedom to explore these new concepts and confidently express themselves with the dishes they create.

Our students are the stars behind the menu of each restaurant menu. Through careful curation, trials, and collaboration, the students thoughtfully design each menu to ensure a gastronomic journey for our guests.

North Fork Final Menu 2025

Menus are developed as part of our coursework. Our menu is entirely created, tested, and finalized within our first seven weeks of class. The program takes pride in this significant accomplishment from our student body and prioritizes this educational accomplishment.

Take a look back at our spring 2025 menu here!

Female student works in the front of the house serving restaurant guests

An Unforgettable Dining Experience

The students are at the helm of the front of the house as well. Their leadership skills are on full display as they expertly coordinate the dance between the kitchen and the waitstaff, allowing the restaurant to hum along as they work with grace under pressure.

Our students are able to anticipate guests' needs and expertly describe each deliberate choice made with the menu, decor, and theme. Their education builds to these moments when they work as a team to build each event from the ground up, the greatest reward earned when our guests are enjoying their hard work.

Frequently Asked Questions

We're located in the Northern Center on NMU's campus in room 2217. Visitors may park in the Lee Drive parking lot or the West Kaye parking lot. For detailed instructions on our location, please see this map.

Reservation needs vary based on event type. During the North Fork's spring operations, table reservations are required, while limited walk-in bar service will be accommodated on specific dates. Please visit the NMU ticketing webpage for further information.

We accept cash, check, and credit or debit cards.

While tipping is not expected, we allow guests to tip as they see fit. Across all program events, any funding provided in addition to the cost of the guest's ticket is considered a donation to the program. These donations go directly to serving the student body through investments that enhance the classroom experience, meet industry trends, and strengthen the sense of community within the hospitality programs. The designated student body selects, researches, and finalizes these investments. 

By pooling donations for this purpose, the program’s student body gets a say in the future of our classrooms, recognizing they are making investments for future generations they can be proud of as alumni.

We do not have a dress code requirement though most guests dress for business casual.

During themed events, we do encourage our guests to have as much fun as possible, but more than anything, we want our guests to be comfortable and to ensure our students gain hands-on experience.

North Fork cancellations must be placed five (5) business days in advance by contacting NMU Ticketing at tickets.nmu.edu or 906-227-1032 in order to receive a reservation deposit refund. Cancellations made less than five (5) days in advance are non-refundable.

Guests arriving late will be provided a grace period of 15 minutes. Arriving past this grace period may result in being seated at the bar or loss of reservation.

Program events will have individual cancellation policies based on event type. Specific information regarding these policies can be found on the event's NMU Ticketing webpage.

Contact Information

Contact Information

North Fork, NMU's Teaching Kitchen, is located in the Northern Center Room 2217 on Northern Michigan University's campus, 1401 Presque Isle Avenue in Marquette.


Faculty & Staff

Loganne Glendening | Associate Professor

Phone: 906-227-1958
Email: lglenden@nmu.edu


Alden MacDonald | Assistant Professor

Phone: 906-227-2601
Email: agriffus@nmu.edu