December 2005:
Number 500
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A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.758.3849. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: Dec. 2 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, student correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Nick Young, photographer; Layout by Publications
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Former student owns restaurant in Rockwall
By Sydney Portilla-Diggs
Student Correspondent
In 2001, Kim Hoegger attended Collin and one of the courses she took was Basic Food Preparation. Since then, she has kept in contact with Collin’s Hospitality Chair Karen Musa.
Her restaurant, the French Pear Café, was featured in Discover DFW, a resource for newcomers and natives, as one of the Top 13 in consumer delights. It is not surprising at all. The café is decorated with a combination of French country décor and classic renaissance style.
On the walls, Kim has hung large paintings of voluptuous femme fatales by Luciana Amirgholi. The tables are topped with doilies and vases filled with raffia. The café windows are dressed in heavy drapes that puddle on the stone floors. Although the French Pear Café would blend in some Mediterranean locale, it is located in downtown Rockwall.
The former Collin student opened an antique store called the French Pear. She began to serve coffee to her patrons, and the store became more of a gathering place. Eventually, Kim saw the need to expand and opened the café right next door. At the beginning, Kim did most of the cooking, but it got to be too much too fast.
Currently, the café serves breakfast and lunch; dinner is served by reservations only. The French Pear employs two chefs: Dagmar Carruth formerly of Renaissance Garden and Cindy Howell an intern from the Art Institute. However, Kim still oversees what comes out of her kitchen.
She usually has about 10 people on her wait staff. Incidentally, three waitpersons are Collin students. Kim considers herself to be a “typical mom.” In addition to running her restaurant, her days consist of chauffeuring her four children: 14-year-old Corey, 13-year-old Kelli, nine-year-old Cara and eight-year-old Christopher between hockey, soccer, drill team and football.
According to Kim, her husband is the amazing one. Steve Hoegger, of Steve Hoegger and Associates, is the CEO and president of his own company. Kim comes by her entrepreneurial spirit naturally. According to Kim, she grew up in a family where all women worked.
Her grandmother Modena Cary Ross worked in an era when women did not work outside of the home. Ross owned a nursery and flower shop. She was the first woman to receive the Sturdy Oak Award given by the Nursery Men’s Association. Hard work continues to be a part of Hoegger’s philosophy. The French Pear continues to flourish because of it. The café recently added a banquet room which seats 40-50.
Currently, the café hosts banquets, corporate lunches, brunches, wedding receptions, showers, boxes lunches, caters and makes deliveries.
The French Pear is located minutes from Collin’s Rockwall Campus at 106 N. Goliad in downtown Rockwall.
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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