When I was offered the promotion from Unit Manager to Regional Supervisor for Campus Cooks, I thought, “Piece of cake. I’ve got this.” Running an operation was nothing new for me. I’d run restaurant kitchens, catering kitchens, and was a significant principal at a retail grocery store. At one point in the past, I had even branched out from operations and taken the additional role of marketing manager for a change in pace. I’ve always been keen on new goals and challenges, so Regional Supervisor sounded like a significant next step.

And while it has been a significant next step, after my first week as a Regional Supervisor, I realized that I wasn’t so much being handed a piece of cake as a recipe for a cake. My next steps were to source the ingredients, measure, mix, bake and decorate several cakes from this recipe. And additionally, I realized that the recipe needed to be altered slightly for each house I was to provide the cake.

Okay, enough with the cake-baking metaphor for a minute. When I started as a regional, I quickly discovered that my work begins long before the chef preps that first meal. It is my duty to ensure we have an appropriate kitchen, find out the needs and wants of each house, and find the right chef for each house. From there, I have to ensure the chef is properly trained, that all standard operational procedures are being followed, that we know exactly what the client expects of that chef and his staff, and make sure that the chef knows exactly what the client expects.

Then starts the paperwork and the conversations. I’m viewing menus. I’m watching ordering. I’m talking to vendors. Additionally, I am the liaison between the house management and the chef and the chef and the company principals and the company principals and the house management. Whew!

Luckily, I have the entire Campus Cooks team behind me. From John and Carl in our training department to our directors of operations, a dedicated staff is eager to help me mix, bake, and decorate these cakes. So, yes, it is a lot more than a piece of cake, but I’ve always believed that a cake tastes better when we make it ourselves.

– David Thornton, Regional Supervisor