ALUMNI
‘A Foodie at Heart’
Turning food into an experience comes naturally to Gendreau. “The field of hospitality suits my personality — I am a foodie at heart,” Gendreau said. “I love to be part of an industry that is ever-changing, based on a basic human need and brings people enjoyment.” As a self-proclaimed foodie, Gendreau loves to read cookbooks and food anthologies. She can trace her interest in cuisine and in the hospitality industry back to her years at Cal Poly Pomona. “I ventured into my first restaurant job while I was still a hospitality management student at Cal Poly Pomona,” Gendreau said. “My early work experience, coupled with the hands-on education and individualized attention I received at Cal Poly, really nurtured my love of food and prepared me for a career in the hospitality industry.”
Giving Back
experience with food and beverages.” Working on a college campus was very fulfilling for Gendreau. As a director, she had the opportunity to not only cater to students as customers but to work with students as employees of the many campus food venues. “The university environment is high energy and filled with a flow of new ideas,” she said. “People come and go. They grow within the environment, then leave. It is very nurturing and energizing. I thrived there. I liked the newness of the freshmen, and the experience and optimism of the graduating seniors.” Similarly, Gendreau said Disney is filled with the drive she felt on college campuses. “The people I work with now have a real sense of adventure and awe,” she said. “We are more than a workplace. We are a community, where each member feels ownership.”
A Sixth Sense
FALL 2011
A good encounter with food involves more than just the food, according to Gendreau. It involves the whole story. “Whether you are at a sushi bar with a friend, or sitting in a field talking with the farmer, the setting and the people make a difference,” she said. Gendreau relates the experience people have with a meal or a snack to a sixth sense — similar to taste and smell. The notion is one she found applicable to her work at Disney and on college campuses, and it is something she ties back to her Cal Poly days. “If you’re going to have a Satsuma mandarin from the Cal Poly Farm Store, your enjoyment is all the better knowing that they are grown on university land and that Cal Poly sustains that crop,” she said. “I worked in those groves as a student and for me it is about the feeling, the story, and the history of the food.”
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Since graduating from Cal Poly Pomona, Gendreau has reached out to college students by providing guidance with resumes and job searches. She advises students to include on their resumes the skills they have acquired through direct job experience, classroom training, club or organization leadership and volunteer work. Gendreau also enjoys giving back to the university by participating each year as a member of the Cal Poly Rose Float Alumni Association. She sees herself as an extra resource for students during the weeks leading up to Decoration Week and, of course, Decoration Week itself. “As a student I was involved in the Rose Float many years ago,” she said. “I am happy to return as a mentor for students. I am available to teach them how to apply professional techniques to their float decorating and how to manage volunteers. I can provide guidance on how to set up a timeline and keep people moving.” During the college years, Gendreau said extracurricular activities are critical to future success as they foster better, more well-rounded students. In addition to the Rose Float, she participated in Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) and the Pi Sigma Epsilon business fraternity.
News
College Dining
Before joining The Walt Disney Company in 2006, Gendreau worked for Spartan Shops, Inc. at San Jose State University as associate director and director of dining services. She supervised residential dining, catering, vending and 13 retail restaurants servicing more than 29,000 students, faculty and staff on campus. In addition, she has served as the manager of dining services at University of Southern California. Directing food service for a university is about accommodating the campus lifestyle and meeting the students’ needs, Gendreau explained. “Just as Disney is about customer choices, the college campus is about students having a choice,” she said. “Do they need coffee and a pastry? Or do they want to sit with friends and have an enjoyable dinner? We have to be able to provide what they need in the way of an
Dean Feinstein presented Gendreau with the award.
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