UD students learn about Olympics hospitality

Marc Bruno (second from left) of ARAMARK with (from left) HRIM students Kathryn Burke, Zachary Locker and Jessica Chauvin

5:03 p.m., May 10, 2005--Students enrolled in the University of Delaware Hospitality, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HRIM) program recently had an opportunity to learn about hospitality services at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Marc Bruno, a regional vice president for the hospitality management company ARAMARK, shared his thoughts on the Olympics and on his personal career path with the UD students during a session March 24.

Bruno, a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard Business School, said he found a career direction while a student after hearing a guest speaker who had worked for ARAMARK at an Olympic gathering. From that point on, he said, “I had a good understanding of my career goal of working at the Olympic Games, and I worked hard to achieve it.”

Within three years of graduating and taking a position with ARAMARK, Bruno fulfilled his dream by being involved with the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta as associate Olympic director. His role in the coordination of services for the Olympic Games expanded at both the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Bruno said the goal of the ARAMARK team is to find solutions to the main challenges associated with providing food service at the biggest food and beverage event in the world. Obstacles include serving 75,000 meals a day, constructing sufficient facilities, hiring and training 2,000 employees, and creating a nutritional menu with an international flavor.

ARAMARK has served at 13 Olympics and Bruno said its experience in recruiting service teams from around the globe has helped make each Olympic gathering more successful than the one before.

The team in Athens included Fred DeMicco, Aramark Chair in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management at UD, and seven students from the University’s HRIM program. Also in Athens was Rob LoFurno, an ARAMARK district chef responsible for culinary programs at UD.

“After the culmination of years of planning, my favorite part of working for the Olympic Games is when the doors are opened and the first athletes walk in to eat,” Bruno told the students. On the other hand, he said, “the most difficult part of the experience is dealing with the mixed emotions of excitement, satisfaction and sadness as the Olympic Games come to a close every four years.”

Bruno, who said he was pleased to be given an opportunity to help provide a measure of motivation to the UD HRIM students, ended his presentation with a simple bit of advice: “Always do everything with integrity.”

Article by Neil Thomas

E-mail this article

To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here.