“DEAR ERNIE”™
Great Ideas, Hints and Insight From America’s Smartest College & University Dining Services Professionals

Dear Ernie,™

“In College Catering, a little trust, some recognition, with just a dash of ‘daring to be different’ can go a very long way.”

“When I assumed responsibility for the catering operation here at Ferris State University almost six years ago, we had some problems. The menus were tired and, in many cases, out of date. There was a complete lack of vegetarian and vegan alternatives. The catering team was reluctant to try anything new,
different or with a higher flavor profile and any group larger than 24 made everyone nervous.

The first thing I did was stir things up on the menu. I brought in recipes from consumer magazines and even a few from TV shows and asked our catering team to try them out. Some were Asian, Indian, Central and Latin American, Caribbean and few fusion menu ideas that I’m positive seemed pretty far out for a central Michigan audience.

For the first few weeks, my team kept giving me that, ‘Are you totally out of your mind?’ look every time I did it. Then we tried a few of them in a major dinner reception hosted by the President of the University at his home. I’m sure some of my crew thought it was the end of the line for all of us.

After the event, the President and his wife came back to the kitchen and in front of my team members they started to rave about how interesting the new items were, how many compliments they were getting from their guests and how refreshing it was to have something different on the menu.

That kind of feedback helped turn my entire catering team into ‘idea people’. Now every time we have an event on the calendar, we have a constant stream of new ideas such as TV, magazines, trips they take overseas and from their grandmother’s recipe book.

The crew competes to bring in the best new ideas for our menus and when we find a recipe idea that we add to our selection, the crewmember’s name gets assigned to it. Right now we have about seven items on the menu named after our catering team members. One of our most popular appetizers for the last six months has been ‘Bob’s Veggie Stuffed Mushrooms’; most of the guests are surprised to learn that it’s a vegetarian item. And every time a customer chooses it, Bob beams like a new father.

The interesting thing is it’s still pretty much all the same crew I had when I started six years ago. It’s exciting to see what an open mind, a motivated catering team and a little personal recognition for good ideas can do for your catering operation.”

Stan Vallier

Catering Service Manager, Ferris State University

Big Rapids, Michigan