It’s an environment
you know very well.
Perhaps too well.
Maybe you’ve been accused of
making a career out of college.
On the other hand, why not?
Many restaurant, hotel and
country club chefs have traded
their commercial kitchens for a
career in noncommercial college
and university dining, and they
wouldn’t go back.
A few decades ago, there were
no university chefs. College
dining was designated as
institutional feeding. Today,
many campuses have a handful
of chefs, and they are doing
amazing things.
If you aspire to TV-chef respect,
you can have it in college dining
— although maybe not of “Top
Chef” proportions. It’s more like
the Food Network’s “Dinner:
Impossible,” says Matthew
Babbage, CCC, executive chef
at New York University in New
York. You serve a huge volume of
people within given parameters.
Instead of feeding a room full of
guests a restaurant’s featured
fare, you’re feeding a multitude
of students from numerous
countries, some with dietary
issues, and they are all with
you every day for every meal,
expecting something interesting
and a variety of food.
It’s like feeding a city. In fact, it
is a city for Donald Miller, CEC,
CCE, AAC, executive chef at
the University of Notre Dame,
Notre Dame, Ind. The university
has its own power plant and
fire department, along with a
hotel, football stadium (think
concessions), retail units and a
$7.5 million catering operation.
Miller oversees culinary for
the whole thing, including the
250 cooks on campus. With
a background in hotels and
country clubs, he has been
with the university for 23 years.
Picture yourself in campus
dining, either at a school that
operates independently, such
as Notre Dame, or working
at a college or university
for a contract management
company such as Philadelphia-based Aramark, Sodexo Inc.,
Gaithersburg, Md., or Compass
Group North America’s
Chartwells, Charlotte, N.C.
The benefits are many, the
challenges are varied and the
possibility of moving up, around
or abroad, is likely.
High class
Campus dining is all about
cooking stations. “The choices
have gone from pink, white
and gray meats to authentic
foods, whether international,
regional or conceptually, such
as vegetarian, vegan or locally
sourced,” Miller says. He
credits the American Culinary
Federation (ACF) for its
influence in turning college
dining from a cafeteria to a
culinary culture. Some schools,
such as Notre Dame, have an
ACF apprenticeship program
and their own ACF-sanctioned
culinary competitions.
After Kevin Blaney graduated
from Johnson & Wales University
in Providence, R.I., many years
ago, he worked in hotels and
resorts along the East Coast for
more than a decade. The school
didn’t mention noncommercial
or contract foodservice, only the
commercial industry, he says.
Now he’s been a chef in higher
education for 19 years and has
been with Chartwells for nine
years as regional executive chef
for the Northeast, overseeing
47 higher education accounts
throughout New England.
“Today’s students are much
more food savvy,” he says.
“Millennials grew up knowing
what the Food Network was
and have had the opportunity
to dine out more. Their dining
experiences are far more
advanced than a generation ago.”
“When I went to college, the
choices were take it or leave
it,” Blaney says. Now students’
expectations are higher
regarding healthful choices and
support of the local economy
and environment. The student
body is more globally diverse,
so there must be a wide variety
of global cuisines with authentic
recipes and ingredients.
Wendy Benney, Sodexo
executive chef at Colby College
in Waterville, Maine, has helped
lead the culinary team to the
distinction of being named
one of the two top colleges
nationally to earn “best campus
food” for a decade on The
Princeton Review website. She
has worked for Sodexo for 16
years, the first five years in
corporate services for business
accounts and the last 11 years
in campus services. She notes
that campus dining has gone
from “trough cooking” to being
on top of themes and trends.
“We’re rock stars. The culinary
world has blossomed,” she
says. “We’re finally getting
recognition.”
Colby College, Waterville,
Maine, has been named
one of the two top colleges
nationally to earn “best
campus food” for a
decade on The Princeton
Review website.
The vastness of the student
population and the college
infrastructure allows colleges
to lead in some foodservice
trends. Some operate their own
farms, allowing them to shine in
sustainability and local sourcing,
says Eric Cartwright, CCC,
executive chef for the University
