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Tyson Food Chicken Production Plant/Aramark Business Dining East Region
Wilkesboro, N.C.
Nominator: Elizabeth Hansmann, director of strategic positioning & sales, Aramark Business Dining
“For over 10 years, he has overseen all aspects of daily operations of the dining facilities at Tyson Foods, including menu strategy, production, food safety, staffing, service excellence, client engagement, and financial responsibilities.
John has worked tirelessly long hours at the production plant during his tenure and is dedicated to doing whatever it takes to keep his staff and Tyson Foods’ employees safe, healthy and happy.
For the last eight weeks, Tyson Foods has been open around the clock as COVID-19’s nationwide lockdowns have put a strain on the food system in the United States. As a critical provider for the food system, Tyson Foods’ production has extended into both a third shift and a mandatory added weekend service.
John led his team through the schedule changes and the ever-increasing safety inspections
with professionalism. He has kept not only the Tyson clients involved, but the outside Aramark team informed of working conditions and service changes at the plant with multiple check-ins throughout the day.
As more Americans transitioned to stay-at-home mode during these past eight weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus and prevent a crushing load on U.S. hospitals, they have relied on a core group of essential workers to provide the goods and services that keep the basics flowing in a stripped-down economy.
With President Donald J. Trump executive order to keep meat plants like Tyson Foods open, John and his team have been feeding those workers deemed essential and they have not been subject to stay-at-home orders. John and his team have taken extraordinary risks every day to show up at Tyson Foods to provide food service to all Tyson Foods’ employees. They don’t just come to work for a basic eight-hour shift as they have in the past; these individuals are working effortlessly during this very tumultuous and unprecedented time.
John has also made an enormous impression on the Tyson Foods team. It is evident that they appreciate and respect John for what they see him do every day. Tyson Foods’ Brent Woods commented, ‘We could not ask for a better partner than John. John listens and works to do his best to meet our ever-changing needs. John has met daily with our complex manager and me to develop a strategy and keep moving in the most positive direction. John is great, telling us what he can do vs. telling us what he can’t do! We appreciate John’s commitment and partnership!!!’
John has quickly gained the trust and respect of his peers, client and leaders. His hard work has gone above and beyond during challenging times. His willingness to commit and push through the last eight unrelenting weeks has been astounding and showed a resilience that people today can look up to.”
IOC/Rio Tinto Kitchen Camp/Aramark Canada
Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Nominator: Lucy Niro, senior regional marketing manager, Aramark Canada East
“Marco has worked for Aramark Canada for five years, starting as a dishwasher, and up until the pandemic, he was a cook helper, assisting with prep work without actually cooking. But because of the pandemic, he received fast-track training to serve as chef.
Aramark is the food service provider for the IOC/Rio Tinto Kitchen camp, which is a construction camp in which guests who work on projects for IOC/Rio Tinto sleep and eat. The camp also has one area reserved for IOC/Rio Tinto employees, train maintenance and train drivers who are flown in and out of Quebec and Newfoundland and deemed essential workers because they carry food/fuel to towns between Labrador and Quebec.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many IOC/Rio Tinto employees who fly to and from Quebec declined to work, fearing for their safety due to the dire situation in Quebec, a Canadian province that has the highest number of COVID cases in Canada while Labrador City registered no COVID cases.
At the start of the pandemic, Marco was not required to work because Aramark kept flying in chefs, who were then deemed essential workers, from Quebec and Newfoundland. Yet, Marco elected to keep working and be re-trained as a chef, at greater risk to himself.
Aramark’s back-up plan (in case chefs were denied entry from governments and/or airlines stopped flying to and from Quebec to Labrador City) was to train someone local. Marco heeded the call. Here’s what one camp guest (IOC/ RIO Tinto train crew worker) had to say about Marco, who now knows them all by name and every evening greets them with a smile: ‘Marco pretty much knows what we want before we do. We interact with him at a different level now; he has become more like a buddy/ friend.’
Because remaining camp guests and the IOC/Rio Tinto employees are required to work during the pandemic, they appreciate that Marco makes them feel welcomed and their lives a little easier when they are away from their families, by providing them with a home-cooked meal and a smile.”
Medline Industries, Inc./Aramark Business Dining Central Region
Northfield, Ill.
Nominator: Elizabeth Hansmann, director of strategic positioning & sales, Aramark Business Dining
“Phil has worked at this location for the last two years. His primary responsibilities at Medline Industries Inc. have been back-of-house dining services and culinary operations.
As schools across the country started to shut down classes due to the growing fears of coronavirus, the disruption of normal operations impacted students and their families, teachers, staff and surrounding communities, as well as threatened the ability of many school systems to ensure that their most vulnerable student populations receive nutritious meals. This was especially true in the Chicago Public School District where Chef Phil and his team helped to ensure that these individuals in the school district stayed nourished during this unprecedented time for our country.
Chicago Public Schools started serving over 250,000 meals daily at the onset of the shutdown. Because the demand was high, Chef Phil Manolis and his team switched production to assist the school district with home delivered meals to students who could not travel to pick up at the distribution sites. Each student received three days of breakfast and lunch meals in the meal kits.
Phil displayed incredible care, compassion and professionalism as he supported his local community while putting himself at risk to help feed children and families during this unprecedented time. Phil’s dedication truly makes him a food service hero.
While working with the school district, Phil ensured his staff’s safety by following sanitation and social distancing protocols and he also developed an operational plan to lead his team to produce and deliver over 1,500 meal kits per day.
Phil led a team of 30 hourly employees to produce 108,000 meals in total to help feed and support Chicago Public Schools in a time of great need.”
In the photo, Phil Manolis is in the center wearing the blue mask.
Lantic Sugar café/Aramark Canada
Montreal
Nominator: Lucy Niro, senior regional marketing manager, Aramark Canada East
“Robert has been committed to selling and serving with passion since she began his career with Aramark 14 years ago. Over the years she has built many relationships with customers and clients and successfully gained a high level of client satisfaction and confidence. Robert is currently the frontline manager operating the cafeteria at the Lantic Sugar, which operates a cane sugar refinery in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In this role he always goes the extra mile to ensure that clients feel welcome and appreciated. To uphold a high level of compliance for health and safety procedures and high client satisfaction during the pandemic, Robert worked long hours and days in the best interests of his team and clients.
Robert has done an exceptional job to ensure that all required policies and procedures have been put in place throughout the pandemic. With safety top of mind, he has also gone above and beyond to raise the spirits of his team of direct reports and our clients at Lantic. For example, he takes the extra effort when communicating his menu to also pass along positive messaging. Additionally, he has coined every Thursday as ‘All will be ok’ day and has a special menu item to highlight this theme.
Aramark and the Lantic community alike continue to feel fortunate to have such a conscientious and passionate leader in Robert, who has taken charge of the food services at Lantic during this difficult time. Weekly initiatives such as “All will be ok” day are a testament to his devotion towards his customers and clients at Lantic. The following is a quote from our client at this location: ‘Robert is a loyal and devoted employee. He provides an excellent service to our employees, more specifically he demonstrates exceptional customer service skills. Robert goes above and beyond when organizing special company events.”
Charles River Laboratories/Aramark Canada
Montreal
Nominator: Lucy Niro, senior regional marketing manager, Aramark Canada East
“Stéphane is innovative, passionate and a team player. His inviting demeanor and strong customer connection make him a true role model for front line employees. This unprecedented crisis has been no exception; he has risen to the occasion and worked alongside his frontline employees throughout the entire period in order to service the Charles River community who are considered an essential service.
For Stéphane, a reduced population and a partial shutdown of food services does not mean limited and repetitive options for his clients. He optimized this new food service model to continue to provide creative solutions to his clients all while keeping safe practices and food waste top of mind. Stéphane continues to serve client favorites even with a reduced team of just himself and two other staff members.
He is profoundly respected by his team, clients and customers at Charles River where he executes exceptional customer service and is an integral part of her team’s reputation for producing high-quality food.
While Stéphane has an ability to deliver high-end catering, and is particularly interested in the administrative/financial management of his unit, he understood that in these tough times he is needed more than ever on the front line where he delivers exceptional service and continually provides reassurance to his team, customers and clients that they are in good hands.
Client testimonial from Geoff Warren, director, technical service, buildings and facilities:
‘We could not be happier than we are with Stephane managing the food services at our site. Even with the all of the difficulties we are living through with COVID-19 Stephane has managed to service our staff as if everything was normal. As he has always done, he was able to transform the services in an instant to address the constraints we need to deal with. From one day to the next he transitioned from everyday operations to a cafeteria being run with a skeleton staff, respecting social distancing and elevating the sanitation of the area while keeping his clients happy. He has operated through this crisis with the same demeanor that he always has; professional, calm and a no-problem attitude. We are grateful to have Stephane at our facility.’”
