Issue date: Nov. 7, 2002

Profile

NAME: Dave Pawloski
OCCUPATION: Food Supervisor, Brody Hall Cafeteria

Are you stressed out just thinking about serving Thanksgiving dinner for 20 relatives? How would you feel about serving up to 5,000 meals every day? That’s all in a day’s work for Dave Pawloski, food supervisor at the Brody Hall cafeteria.

Pawloski has been in food service on campus for 19 years, spending the last five of them as a supervisor at Brody, which is the largest non-military cafeteria in the world, serving more than 2,300 students from five different residence halls.

As one of two full-time supervisors on the morning shift, Pawloski works from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. overseeing an operation that includes 30 to 40 employees.

“We get a lot of help from student supervisors, too,” says Pawloski. “But serving two dining rooms and a take-out operation from one kitchen takes a lot of people and a lot of hard work.”

During his time on campus, Pawloski has seen food service in the residence halls change quite a bit.

The selection and quality has improved drastically, Pawloski says.

“When I was a student here we didn’t have chicken nuggets or the options to have cereal any time of the day,” he says. “Today we have an incredible selection and even offer select cuts of prime rib at special holiday dinners.”

Since 90 percent of the residents of Brody Complex are freshmen, Pawloski’s operation is usually his guests’ first experience with “dorm food” and the feedback is very positive.

“The amount and type of food we have here is unbelievable,” says Pawloski. “It would be hard to believe that anyone could be dissatisfied.”

-- By Lisa Mulcrone