Bon Appétit Managerial Team Discuss Commons Operations
Every day, most Reed students walk into Commons, grab their food, and sit down for a meal, or just take it to go. However, Commons serves as the place of work for many staff and students alike, with their management working hard to best provide food for the entire college each day.
“We really don't want students to have to think about coming to Commons, y'all have enough to think about. I want…our students [to] feel like they can just kind of walk in and not think about it…they know that they're gonna get something that they like. It's gonna taste good. The service will be good and I'm not going to get sick because something wasn't labeled correctly,” says Michael Bucuvalas, the General Manager of Bon Appétit at Reed College since August 2023. Bucuvalas began working with Bon Appétit in 2013 at Lewis & Clark, before becoming the Director of Dining Services at Reed in 2018, and then General Manager in 2023.
Jesse Fairman, the Executive Chef of Bon Appétit at Reed, added, “Every Bon Appétit is different. We're different than University of Portland, we're different than Willamette, we're different than the other places because every college [has] different groups of students, you know, so we need to make sure that we're trying to mold to what you all need, and what you're looking for…As a chef, like, if I was running my own restaurant, I'd be like, this is what my menu is…and if you don't like it, don't come here, right. But that's not the case here. You're gonna come here, and you have to come here. So let's try to work together to get some food that you all like.” Fairman began working at Bon Appétit in 2008 at Lewis & Clark, moving to the now-shut-down Marylhurst University before coming to Reed in 2013 as the Executive Sous Chef before later being promoted to his current position.
Also part of the Bon Appétit managerial team at Reed are Ken Blanchard, Director of Dining Services, who operates Commons, Marketplace, and Canyon Café, and Gina Warneke, Director of Catering. Bucuvalas added that “Jesse's job, obviously, while he runs the kitchen in the culinary team, he also has a lot of involvement in the other two areas [referring to Blanchard and Warneke’s jurisdictions], because he produces the food for them. So he kind of laterally spans everything.”
Regarding Fairman’s job responsibilities, he remarked “In the kitchen itself, I have about 45 employees… Anywhere from [a] dishwasher to the cooks to anything that anyone's producing food within the kitchen, whether it's grab and go, or whatever. So a lot of me is involvement in what their day-to-day is…payroll, different things, computer stuff, menuing, working with the catering team, also cooking stations, helping serve food, making sure that…food is open on time, the lines are open, so at five o'clock, or when you come in at noon, and…we can get you through the lines as quickly.”
An average day at Commons looks a little different for Bucuvalas, who says “In terms of what's going on in Commons, I'm more just a support really, the salaried managers kind of make sure we are on the timeline that we need to be on for that day. And you know, all the boxes are getting checked. And usually, I'm just really trying to support them in any way I can. Because really, in my role I'm dealing more with I feel like managing the financials. And then some of the kind of the other more administrative stuff with the operation.”
An integral aspect of Commons are both its rotating menu each day and rotating stations for each meal time. On that topic, Fairman says “We try to offer food throughout the entire day. So like, you know, Taquería is open until four so when Taquería closes, the Grill then opens back up. So there's something always hot for someone to come and get something... So as far as menu concepts, they've all kind of grown through the years. We used to do Taquería, I think in 2018…but we had it open from 11:30am until 7pm, and it didn't close. And so where rice bowl concept came in was we had a lot of students during the dinner time would come in and just get rice and protein and vegetable rice and none of the other stuff. So they were looking for something different. So I think a lot of stuff comes from the students' interests.”
As upperclassmen know, menu and station changes also shift from year to year, with meal options often being traded out for other ones. On this, Fairman commented “It has a lot to do with students' wants and needs because some groups of students… have different needs, some years and others. [When] I first started people wanted vegetarian, per se, or vegan, they wanted more legumes and more tofu and soy, and that kind of stuff. But some of the newer generation or newer groups of students are looking for more meat substitutes. So it's kind of evolved now. And like next year is going to be different. So we kind of look at it year to year. And so sometimes by the end of the year, we have it ironed out.”
On keeping beloved menu items around, Fairman says “It's gonna be a little different for next year, but we tried to get some of those popular things like mac and cheese, and that totally never really changes. You know, listening to people [about] how much they get excited about grilled cheese day, which I think is pretty simple. But at the same time, it's comfort food, right?”
One such menu or station option that was brought back from retirement as a result of newly appointed senator Phillip Dussin's campaign promises, was late-night pizza, now served on Friday nights. Fairman mentions “Late night pizza started in 2017. So it was something that was added to see how it would go. And it went well, for a while..It's funny to hear what students think reasonings are sometimes why things come and go because they're not always what they are.” In explaining why late-night pizza was actually retired, Bucuvalas explained “Our late-night pizza station just wasn't very popular…so the numbers really didn't support me continuing it. We felt like the larger percentage of our late-night guests were getting food from the grill.”
“We always want to listen…we look at Commons as the students' kitchen and dining room…just like at home, you go downstairs to the kitchen and find what you need, they can do that here as well. So, we're always happy to listen and work towards an alternative, you know, it wasn't realistic for us to bring back late-night pizza in its entirety, now, because there are a whole lot of different reasons why that's not possible. But like, we could do it Friday night. So like, absolutely, let's do it.”
Best accommodating the dietary needs of students remains a priority of Commons management. In emphasizing this, Bucuvalas noted “We've had things that have come to us a little bit more official through DAR [Disability & Accessibility Resources]. So that's another way students can kind of meet with us, depending on how severe their food allergy or food restrictions might be.” He went on, stating “We work with student Senate, we're trying to work with meeting with them every two weeks. That's been really beneficial, especially if we can keep that going consistently. We do comment cards which are pretty helpful… we try to make sure our information is visible. So they [students] could also just shoot us an email if like, that's more comfortable.”
Bucuvalas mentioned additionally, that “Hopefully this article helps students identify who we are, and can help to encourage them to come speak with us or our team. When they have questions about allergens…or concerns, we're happy to speak with them, and if we need to meet more or set up like a more official meeting, that's part of our job.”
On the same topic, Fairman added “If you're like, hey, on Thursday, can I have this? You know, as long as it's obviously advanced... I can't always get everything in either…it's all about what I can order. But if you have suggestions…we have whatever dish on Thursday. Or it can be like, this is my favorite family recipe dish, and you can come over and we can have a conversation about it so that I don't mess up your family [dish]. Because you also got to think about when it's not like a household recipe where you're making for six people we're going to make for like 150…When you scale up recipes like that, they don't always turn out the same. So, you know, we're gonna try to do our best.”
Better incorporating sustainability practices in Commons is also a goal of the management duo, with Bucuvalas saying that “[We’re] reminding students that like they're more than welcome to, in lieu of a to-go container, take any of the plates and bowls, pencils with you, there's plastic wrap available to wrap something else, as opposed to using it to-go container.” Fairman added “Before the pandemic, we had no to-go containers, instead, the only thing we ever had was paper cups and lids… We were trying to go away from that [when the] pandemic started, right? And all of a sudden, now we can't get rid of to-go containers…everyone's got the preference, but we ran the Eco-Tainer program was really big so you could get those containers to take with you.”
Overall, a clear goal of both Bucuvalas and Fairman is to create a friendly and comfortable environment in Commons by providing quality food and being as approachable as they can. If you see them around, feel free to start up a conversation or just shoot them an email.