Hayes to deliver service, improvements

Warm pizza, productive service and nutrition information are only three of the changes that have been made in Doane's food service.

Joining those changes is Anthony Hayes, Sodexo Foods new General Manager.

Hayes replaced former manager Karen Becker, who resigned three weeks ago. Hayes is looking to make improvements to the dining at Doane and is already seeing results of what, he says, will be a long process.

Eight years ago Hayes, who goes by Tony, worked for Creighton University and was responsible for running its largest dining hall, but even that job title isn’t as daunting as patching up Doane College’s Dining needs, Hayes said.

“When I arrived here, there were some good things in place,” he said. “There were also some things that would be unacceptable at Creighton.”

Hayes has a passion for his job, and has experience in dining service. He’s been the general manager for the Garden Café in Omaha and also worked at Austin Steakhouse. Although he doesn’t have a culinary degree, he says he’s well trained and can cook just about anything.

After only three weeks at Doane, Hayes has already implemented a new features, including a full dairy bar, a pasta station and choice of three pizzas.

Hayes said he had an enthusiasm for cooking and planned to add ‘tricks’ to his meals including shaping the pizza crust in different ways to make meals more fun.

Sodexo, the company which Hayes works for, sends a core menu every four weeks. Hayes then formulates the food selection based on those core menus. Along with these core menus, Hayes has set up a nutritional guide in both the Cafeteria and Tiger Inn so students and teachers could see the nutritional value of each meal.

“I think that will be good information for students and their families,” Hayes said.

Along with the changes Hayes has already made, he has bigger ideas for Doane. He said he looked to reshape a lot of what students and faculty have grown accustomed to. He said to look for noticeable changes next semester, such as changes in the menu.

“Sloppy Joes shouldn’t be a main entrée,” Hayes said.

He said he believed the food situation would be an easy fix but staffing issues may not be as easy because he had staff issues to address.

For now Hayes said he would try new ideas and continue to etch and sketch until he found one that clicked with students and faculty and was open to student concerns and requests.

“This is going to take a lot of work, Hayes said. “I’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg. You’re paying for service and we need to deliver.”