Managing Through Crisis: A Q+A with Food Service Management
![]() by Shona Simkin Food means many things too all of us. It’s a source of comfort, nostalgia, nutrition, sustenance, diversion, creativity, community, and more. For those who also count it as a profession, the coronavirus pandemic has wrought an avalanche of challenges: social distancing, new hygiene and sanitary guidelines, production and supply concerns, and particularly for those in the restaurant industry, loss of income. On the HBS campus, we look to Restaurant Associates (RA) for thoughtful, delicious, creative meals; for a smile and quick conversation as we wait for our sandwich or check out with our plate of hot food; as well as for catering and service at our many events. We sat down with Andrew Falzone, director of campus and food services, Todd Mulder, RA general manager, and David Fillippetti, RA executive chef, to ask them about what this experience has been like. The University recently announced that all contract employees, which include dining workers, would be paid through May 28. Does that include HBS? ![]() When did you realize that the pandemic would present unique challenges to HBS food service? What was the next event that caused a shift? Falzone: With the March 15 announcement from Governor Baker, we started thinking about how we would serve the community with limited resources. David and his team went into procurement and production mode to prepare frozen meals to have on standby. To date we have 13,500 meals, which can feed our current population three meals a day for well beyond three months. These are in reserve to roll out if we find ourselves in a situation where we need to supplement our fresh program as it exists today or make a full-on change where we have a much stricter lockdown protocol in place. What have been some of the greatest challenges? Fillippetti: For us in the kitchen, we had to adjust to producing a high volume of food while maintaining social distance. And we’ve had to reassure employees who are worried about getting sick that we’re being vigilant about ensuring safety, and we’re also squashing rumors. The human resources side has been tough. But we’re also used to heavy volume, and it all clicked quickly. It's almost like a long, drawn-out commencement week. We all feel the stress of the situation, but we just draw on our past experience with commencement, reunions, and all the large functions that we do. Everyone came together quickly and we just did what we know. ![]() What’s next, if you can anticipate that at all? Have there been any bright spots? We’re also happy that we’ve been able to make substantial donations through Food for Free; surplus food as well as some that we took in from other RA accounts in the area that had closed service. And while we've done a good job stocking up on our frozen food inventory, our hope is that we won't have to use it. If that’s the case, we're planning to donate all of that food. Mulder: I think I speak for all of us that we're very grateful to be part of the HBS community. We have colleagues at places that are closed, and we feel very grateful to be here. It's been the most challenging few weeks of our professional lives. We’ve been reacting to the fast-paced changes, while also going through the emotional stress that all of us are experiencing. We've been through the Marathon Bombing, we've been through 9/11, and those events somewhat helped us prepare for this, but nothing could have really prepared us for this. I'm really proud of what our management team and the hourly associates have done. People have kept a really positive attitude, coming to work with the knowledge that they're essential and that what they do is really important. They know it's potentially dangerous to their health, but that this is what they do. This is our role, we're proud of it and want to continue to do it. Being part of this community has been a huge relief to us in all the steps the school is taking to help keep everyone safe. |
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