Exciting Updates in the PC Kitchen

It's been an exciting couple of months for the Aramark kitchen team at Pickering College. 

Ryan Follis joined the team as Food Service Director. With an educational background in business and culinary school, Ryan brings over 28 years of food and beverage management experience to the role. 

Since starting over the summer, Mr. Follis has spearheaded many changes in the kitchen and servery to respond to concerns about traffic flow and user experience as the school moved to three lunch hours (one for each division.) 

One area he is especially passionate about is menu development. Mr. Follis hopes to bring new, creative menu items and a wider variety of options. Some additions already in place include smoothies twice a week, an ice cream freezer for the boarding students in the evenings, new grab and go options for tuck and a melt station which has been rolled out to Senior School lunch with plans to introduce it at Middle School lunch soon. 

Other changes to the servery include mirrored salad/sandwich bars to improve flow while offering the same variety of items, the addition of two soup stations, and marche-style service to increase staff engagement with the students. 

One of the biggest physical changes to the space is the new PAL station. PAL, which stands for Purple Allergy Leader, is an Aramark program that specializes in offer safe, nutritious and delicious options for people with allergies and dietary restrictions. 

A dedicated PAL station was constructed over the summer where students and staff with dietary needs can pick up their meals which have been prepared separately. More staff were trained as PAL people and a new sous chef, Andrew Hamilton, was added to the team to head up this station. 

Mr. Follis said these changes are just the beginning and that he looks forward to learning more about the Pickering College community as to school year goes on to best serve both students and staff.