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Penn State Beaver Roar
Features
December 2016
Chefs serve more than just food to RYAN LOCKHART Staff Writer
rnl5086@psu.edu
On a typical morning at Penn State Beaver, Chef Lesli Kelly enters the Brodhead Bistro kitchen via the rear loading dock doors and starts to prepare for the day by turning on equipment and starting to make food for the students here at Beaver. Kelly begins her day by making breakfast foods such as pancakes, bacon, sausage and more before preparing lunch. Kelly has been a chef at Penn State Beaver for 25 years, since she graduated from culinary school in 1988. Taking a moment from her work, Kelly says her favorite part of working with Penn State is that it’s a small place and everyone is close. “We are pretty much family,” says Kelly. Around noon, Chef Chris Geary arrives and starts to focus on dinner. Geary has been part of that family since 2009 when he was first hired as a Housing and Food Services worker. Geary, who has 34-years cooking experience, was promoted to chef in October. As Geary prepared steaks and mushrooms for dinner, he also revealed that he liked working on all different kinds of foods like pastas and sauces, but his favorite would be anything that was new and challenging to make. Geary said the best part of working here was working with great people and great student workers. “I love working for Penn State. This is the best job I’ve ever had,” said Geary. “This is a great place to work. It’s like one big family.” Geary and Kelly said with big smiles that at least once a day a student will come back and thank them for the great food and hard work. The two have been known to be like parents to the students, and make it a point to know everyone’s name. They will even help students whenever they need something, since they care for the students here so much.
Geary wiped the sweat from his face and said that the hardest part about working at Penn State is whenever the Bistro runs out of food and must inform students that they are out of what they want. Preparing the right amount of food can be quite a challenge, because while you don’t want to run out, you also don’t want a ton of leftovers, either. If there are leftovers from dinner, such as steak or chicken, Geary said the Bistro will serve that food the next day as part of a chicken or steak salad. Anything left after that gets thrown out. “Getting food isn’t simple” says Jeremy Lindner, the director of Housing and Food Services. “The
most important thing is to stay organized.” The Bistro tries to keep up with student needs by using a computer system called Food Pro which keeps track of what students order and how much of that product is sold so that the Bistro can be prepared for the next time they have that item. Every time you make a purchase at the cash register, Lindner said, it keeps a record of the purchase. It is important to pay attention to the inventory being sold and how much. “Food Pro uses button pushes on our machines to show what the sales are,” says Lindner. Lindner explained that Penn State Beaver gets much of its food from
a warehouse at University Park, though produce comes locally from Beaver County Fruit Market. The Bistro orders food two weeks away from when they need it so that it can be sure to have it on time. The menu in the Bistro repeats every four weeks. Students can find Kelly in the kitchen from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., as she focuses on breakfast and lunch. Geary is in the kitchen from noon to 9:30 p.m., but will be switching to a 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift soon. Once all the work is done and dinner is served, Geary makes sure that all the equipment is cleaned, checks on the student workers, makes sure everything is turned off and goes home.
Above: Chef Lesli Kelly prepares raw vegetables for the salad line, a popular lunch option in the Brodhead Bistro. She has worked as a chef at Penn State Beaver for 25 years. Right: Chef Chris Geary steams baby carrots in preparation for dinner on campus. Geary was recently promoted as a chef in October. He says that it is the best job he has ever had.