Our New Normal, Volume XVIII

The New Jersey native and Virginia Commonwealth University graduate oversees the operation of Collegiate’s Centennial Hall cafeteria.

Though he’s been in the food service business since his college days – first at Covenant Woods, then as retail district manager for Thompson Hospitality Corp. where his clients were Virginia Union, Virginia State, and Hampden-Sydney – he’s new to Collegiate and to Lexington Independents, the organization with whom the school contracts to run its cafeterias.

Centennial Hall on the Lower School side of campus is open for business once again after a 16-month, Covid-dictated hiatus.

So…welcome to yet another edition of Our New Normal, a series of offerings that (hopefully) demonstrate how the Collegiate community is managing in this who-could-ever-have-imagined? period in history.

What’s your new normal? I asked Robert, acknowledging that since he just recently came aboard, he might not have the same frame of reference as someone with more time in grade.

“Judging by the obvious observations,” he began, “I’ve got carts full of trays and plates taking up storage space. That’s new. We have to use individual container boxes, so I presume this is different than what happened in the past. I’ve got silverware, actual silverware, back there as opposed to the cutlery kits that we use now that are disposable after one-time use. That’s new too. We have all the items that were used in the past that were out on the floor and had homes but are now stuck in certain areas. Configuring space has been a really big challenge for us.

“Also, the students aren’t in here eating. They’re taking their lunches with them in individual containers that are plastic and recyclable. They eat outside or in their classrooms, six feet apart. When they’re done with their lunches, they put them in big bins that are lined around campus. Those are then returned here where we’ve got someone emptying them and handing them to the utility man in the dish room. That’s definitely different.”

How do you control the flow of kids through the cafeteria so they don’t congregate? I asked.

“We stagger lunch periods,” he replied. “The earliest we eat is 10:45. That’s a junior kindergarten pickup.  We’re not having the junior kindergartners walk through the line (as the other grades, faculty, and staff do). We have a month-to-month sign-up sheet (for JK). I’ll get an email with everyone’s order throughout the month. We’ll prepare them in to-go boxes in the back of the kitchen and have them ready for the (JK) teachers or assistants to pick up and take to them to eat.”

Seems a bit like DoorDash, I observed.

“It’s almost as if it’s a catered meal every morning for the junior kindergartners, if I can compare it,” Robert said. “They get everything that’s offered on the line. They get quite the assortment of goods in their containers. For example, if we have pizza and they pick pizza as opposed to the other items we offer, they would get a slice of pizza. They would get whatever side was offered that day. They’d get a cup of yogurt. They’d get one sliced or diced fruit. Grapes potentially as well. And then a vegetable. If it’s dessert day, you add that in too. It’s quite the assortment of goods.”
  
How would you assess the degree of difficulty this year?

“It’s been difficult,” he said. “I worked through most of the pandemic so I have a lot of experience about what to expect. That’s the kicker…what to expect. And the supply chain. Every single week, I order certain items, and every single week I get a call from my rep. Doesn’t matter if it’s the produce company, my main food distributor, or paper. We’re out of souffle cups. We’re out of cups. We’re out of chicken. We’re out of beef. We’re out of curry. We’re out of this. We’re out of that.  Can we substitute? That’s a daily problem.”

“It’s a team effort,” he said. “It really is. Everybody knows what needs to be done to complete the job. We pull together. We come together to make a game plan and try to execute it the best that we can. This industry is full of surprises. You can have a 90% idea of what to expect, but there’s always that 10% variable. Someone drops something on the floor. Something overcooks that would have been out on the line. Now it’s thrown away and needs to be remade. What if a product comes in and is soiled and needs to go back on the truck but was on the menu?

“That happens daily in this industry. You come together and see what you can make instead. It’s a day-to-day thing, but that’s what I love about the industry. I like the variety, for better or for worse.”

“This is the best client I’ve ever had,” he quickly replied. “I get happy having conversations with people. For example, one student does a dance every time he checks out. He taps his finger on the fingerprint machine, does a spin. He changes it up daily. We talk about it. It cracks me up. 
  
“I’m definitely committed here. I like the test. I’m here to keep the program at a level of satisfaction and improve it going forward. I’d like to leave some imprint or legacy of when Robert Mucciolo was here, it was top notch. I pride myself on that. That’s where my head space is. Some days are harder than others, but this is what I do, and I love it.”
~Weldon Bradshaw