This week’s discussion hosted one of our own staff members, Chef Hans. Though Chef Hans may look a little intimidating in his white chef suit and tall physique, he is actually one of the kindest, down-to-earth, humble people at Cornell. He explained how he started off working on a farm and recalled times when he pig roasted right in his house on the farm. He then decided to make the move to Cornell. He was very skeptical at first because he did not want to limit his cooking style and become a follower of the institutionalized meal plan recipes. In the beginning, Chef Hans worked in Bethe House under the cook there. He said he did exactly what he was afraid of doing–cooking out of cans and following recipes. Slowly, though, he began to let his passion shine through and motivated the workers to cut broccoli and cauliflower and onions rather than purchase prepackaged ones. He then moved on to Risley where he completely redesigned the menu. From there, Chef moved to Rose where he currently works today.

The Chef is adamant about three things: one, fresh foods over prepackaged/canned foods, two, creativity in foods, and three, employee morale. In regards to fresh foods, did you know that the Chef imports fresh seafood from Boston twice a week? The company catches the seafood and it is served within 3 days of catching it at Rose dinners. This news was completely new to me and really amazed me. No other place in the vicinity has the financial capabilities to order fresh seafood at large volumes and serve customers at reasonable prices. Chef Hans is also very experimental as he constantly brings innovation and fresh ideas to his menu. Tonight for instance, he decided to try making lamb belly although he’s never cooked with this meat before. Taking risks proved to be successful when he received positive feedback on his food. For instance, he realized that the employee was being stressed out when he/she was given the mundane job of making quaesadillas. And, the Chef realized that when they sit too long, the quaesadillas were becoming soggy and students were not very satisfied. So, Chef Hans decided to replace the quaesadillas with housemade salsas. This employee now enjoyed the benefits of having the ability to use his/her creativity while removing the stress of constantly making quaesadillas that were quickly becoming soggy. This is just one way how Chef Hans is able to boost employee morale and in effect, improve the overall quality of the food.