Photo and story by Marlon Young, Bluffton Icon intern
Everyone has heard the Groucho Marx quote: "Behind every successful man is a woman." Likewise, behind every successful dining service, there is a successful business person. At Bluffton University, that businessperson is Peter Cleveland.
There are many stories of how someone ends up in a specific career. Not everyone has a great success story, however, in order to be great at what you do, you have to have some struggles along the way.
In the business of food services, it's always good to hear stories of how someone launched his career.
"I started working in food services at Liberty University. My first job was a door guard. Then I worked my way up to supervisor," said Cleveland.
When Cleveland attend Liberty University, he was a youth ministry major. But, then he decided to stop going to college to continue to work in food services.
"I wanted to drop out of school because I was more interested in food services and do not have any regrets," said Cleveland. Dropping out of college was not a setback in his case.
His general manager helped him get a job as a banquet manager at Indiana Wesleyan University, and he is now the general manager of Bluffton University dining services.
Food is not a rushed process. It takes time to cook food the certain way that you want it. You have to have people come in, prepare and cook.
Concerning the timetable for food preparation, Cleveland said, "Somebody comes in at 5:30 a.m., prepare the equipment and set the temperatures on the ovens and by 6:30 a.m. that's when they actually start cooking. I have three cooks all together. I have one for day time, middle of the day and at night time."
Most cafeterias have so much food left over at the end of the day, they have to throw it away in most cases. After talking to Cleveland about this, he responded by saying "for food safety measures, we have to throw out the food because any left over food is a great risk of making someone sick."
But there are certain types of food that he can preserve.
"The only type of food we can preserve is ham, turkey and sausages because it is easy to warm the food down and use the next day. But mostly starch items, such as rice and potatoes, we have to throw away because they can grow bacteria," said Cleveland.
As evidenced by comments from Bluffton students, Cleveland and his staff are doing a good job.
"I thought it (the food) was great because I visited my sister and it tasted good," said Mhlabangubo Shitima, a Bluffton University international student.
You can tell when someone loves his job. There is a genuine feeling with that person and the job. "Seeing people actually enjoy the satisfaction of the food and seeing smiles on people's faces," said Cleveland.
Marlon Young is a student in Bluffton University feature writing class instructed by Mary and Fred Steiner.
