Back of the House

By Ivy Manning
Photos by Gregor Torrence

It’s 3 p.m. and the kitchen at the University of Portland is full of a busy crew making dinner for the usual 800 to 900 students. It’s a remarkable scene, not only for the sheer scale of the cooking, but also because the quality of ingredients is so high. Forget the memories of school cafeteria glop—the food in this Bon Appétit Management Company kitchen, as with all of their onsite catering accounts, is made from scratch with as many local and sustainably-raised ingredients as possible.

The kitchen crew is also preparing a multi-course dinner to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Food Alliance, a national nonprofit that works to create market incentives for sustainable agriculture. In three hours, 650 guests will come to dinner and the keynote speaker will be none other than Bon Appétit’s co-founder and CEO, Fedele Bauccio. Still, everyone seems fairly calm.

“We’ve got a lot of help today,” Executive Chef James Green acknowledges. “Chefs from every Bon Appétit account in town are here because Fedele is coming. He started his career as a dishwasher right here,” he says pointing to a small, soggy corner of the kitchen. “Now he’s CEO of a multi-million dollar company. He’s an amazing guy.”

At 6:30, in the halls of Chiles Center across campus, 30 cooks finish arranging seemingly endless bowls of spinach salad. As they work, Bauccio, a Tony Bennett-esque gentleman in an impeccable grey suit strolls up. After a once-over of the salads and a few handshakes, he approaches Chef Green, pats him on the face benevolently and says, “Good luck tonight. Make us look good, alright?”

On cue, the chefs plate dinner in a finely orchestrated scramble. Moments later, Bauccio takes the stage and applause fills the hall. On this big night, everyone looks good.