Einstein’s Food Services: Offering Tasty Solutions
Honoring a high-profile government leader with an impressive catered event? Devising an enticing, healthy menu for a student wellness program? Serving dozens of yummy pies on extremely short notice? These are tall orders. But Einstein’s food services department makes them look easy.
The food service team, led by James Cohen, prepares healthful selections for meetings, luncheons, dinners, and more
And—less exciting, perhaps, but arguably most important of all—its staff reliably offers hungry, tired medical students and busy staff and faculty refreshing snacks and easy access to quick meals and endless cups of energizing coffee.
Food services provides everything from complex catering for the College of Medicine’s special events to healthy everyday meals and treats at the spacious, well-maintained Einstein Café in the lobby of the Forchheimer Building.
From slicing and plating 350 pieces of pie to making sure an event is set up well, the staff is ready to help with your event needsJames Cohen, the manager of food services, and his staff perform a skilled balancing act week after week. At the café, members of the Einstein community can get freshly prepared soups, salad, sandwiches and packaged meals. It’s all managed by the food services workers, who also oversee the maintenance and stocking of all the campus vending machines to satisfy those late-night cravings.
Meanwhile, the Einstein catering team plans and provides delicious meals for departmental events, student activities and meetings around the campus; if you make a detailed request at least 48 hours in advance, you’re all set.
“We’re full of enthusiasm about serving the Einstein community,” said Mr. Cohen. “We aim to provide healthy, good-quality, balanced meals.”
All the food served is kosher, prepared under the supervision of the Orthodox Union, and is available year-round except on federal and religious holidays observed by the College of Medicine.
Big Crowds, Flexible Options
An important event featuring U.S. Congressman Joseph Crowley this past fall was one shining example of the staff’s professional expertise. The department of epidemiology & population health holds more than 40 events annually throughout the campus with catering provided by Einstein. “We find James and his team delivering excellence every time,” said the department’s Celeste Broquadio.
“Our hosting of Congressman Crowley was no exception. In planning for this high-profile event, I turned to them for advice. James suggested a perfect seating configuration that could quickly accommodate a growing crowd.” She added that the menu was both appropriate and cost-effective.
Rising to the Challenge
Food services works closely with student activities and the WellMed program to provide inventive food prep workshops to help students learn about good nutrition Joan Junger, Einstein’s director of student activities, notes that food services does a great job of trying to meet every need. “We run the ‘WellMed’ student wellness program, and we have found that they are fully supportive of our wellness guidelines”—even when the lunches involve hundreds of people where a complex menu is called for.
“Our office organizes around 120 events annually for medical and graduate students,” Ms. Junger added, “and the food services department works with us to arrange all the catering we need.”
Robert Cancellieri, the director of employee relations, joined in the praise, noting that the human resources department works with food services on a number of big celebrations each year.
“Jim and his team arrange our annual service recognition event; around 250 people attended the ceremony and the reception afterward,” Mr. Cancellieri said. The food services team also came through for the department’s appreciation day picnic, helping devise the menu and making sure the food was “freshly prepared, tasty and fitting the event.”
On a Lighter Note…
And when a whimsical celebration, such as Einstein’s inaugural “Pi Day” (held on 3/14), was first proposed in 2017, what did the food services staff do? On very short notice, it served up some 350 slices of pie. They followed up at this year’s Pi Day by adding a pie-eating contest to the mix. In both instances, the pies provided a perfect punchline—and a mouth-watering dessert to cap the festivities.
Posted on: Wednesday, September 12, 2018