- Frank Latucca
Thanks to a gift of $2 million from the Marriott Foundation, the eleventh fl oor of the Campus Center, all 12,000 square feet, has been gutted and rebuilt floor to ceiling. The transformed space houses the new Marriott Center for Hospitality Management, the setting for teaching the Hospitality and Tourism Management Department’s (HTM) hands-on courses, formerly held in cramped quarters in Chenoweth Hall.
Amid shimmering surfaces and simmering sauces, HTM students learn the science and management of food production in two food labs replete with the latest equipment: sinks with turbo jets, a Steammaster grill skillet, convection steam cookers, proofers for rising dough, a commercial-grade espresso machine, and a ceiling-mounted camera and screen.
The adjacent classroom/beverage lab is used for teaching how to stock a bar, draw up a wine list, and train serving staff on alcohol-related liability issues, among other lessons.
The 200-seat dining room at the east end of the floor has buttery yellow walls, an elegant slatted-wood ceiling, jazzy geometric-patterned carpeting, and views to die for—views that can be blocked by large projection screens for, say, a luncheon presentation. Certain weeks of the semester, 70 or so guests will check in at the reception desk of frosted glass and blond wood, check their jackets in the coatroom, and check out the lab’s output: delectables like mushroom risotto, red smashed potatoes, and cream puffs.
“People ask, ‘What the heck is so hard about food?’” On a tour of the new center just before it opened, Frank Lattuca goodnaturedly mimicked those who don’t see why a university should be teaching about the restaurant business. Lattuca started teaching in HTM in 1975 and was department head from 1995 until his retirement this spring. This center is his baby. Not surprisingly then, he has strong feelings about HTM’s raison d’etre, starting with the fact that the hospitality industry is huge. With 12 million employees out there, someone has to manage them.
That’s where the department comes in. It’s not about how to make the risotto—it’s about how to market, price, cost out, and serve it, and how to order and control the inventory needed to make 150 servings ofit a night, seven nights a week. The food lab courses are part of a thorough management education. Since 2002, HTM has been part of the Isenberg School of Management, and HTM students also take courses in accounting, law, computer applications, human resources, and other subjects.
That’s where the department comes in. It’s not about how to make the risotto—it’s about how to market, price, cost out, and serve it, and how to order and control the inventory needed to make 150 servings ofit a night, seven nights a week. The food lab courses are part of a thorough management education.
Since 2002, HTM has been part of the Isenberg School of Management, and HTM students also take courses in accounting, law, computer applications, human resources, and other subjects.That’s where the department comes in. It’s not about how to make the risotto—it’s about how to market, price, cost out, and serve it, and how to order and control the inventory needed to make 150 servings ofit a night, seven nights a week. The food lab courses are part of a thorough management education. Since 2002, HTM has been part of the Isenberg School of Management, and HTM students also take courses in accounting, law, computer applications, human resources, and other subjects.
As in why slice a roast this way? Answer: Because you get more servings. The close-up instruction, given in three- and four-hour sessions, gives students a firm grasp of the most marketable, efficient, and costeffective methods of running a restaurant. Standing next to a chrome dough hook resembling a Brancusi sculpture, Lattuca said, “It builds confidence. If you’re managing an Applebee’s that takes in $3 to $5 million a year, don’t you want to know how to pitch in if someone doesn’t show up for a shift?”
With nearly 7,000 graduates, the department has alums aplenty pitching in at top hotels and restaurants around the country—and many hold executive positions. Founded in 1938, HTM has been ranked fourth in the nation by Princeton Review’s Gourman Report among more than 200 programs.
While taking HTM’s classes to a new level of professionalism, the Marriott Center is also available for Continuing Ed classes; Campus Catering has already begun making use of it. With the camera set-up in the Basic Lab, the one with the sexy Jade six-burner gas stoves, broadcasting distance-learning programs is a possibility, maybe even a master class with a guest chef . . .
Watch your back, Food Network.
