Sandra Bastin,
Nutrition and Food Science faculty member who teaches quantity food production.
Bob Perry,
coordinator of the College's Food Systems Initiative and a former chef.
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Mike Haunert ’88 and
Lindsey Wildman ’04
show just how far
graduates of the hospitality management/tourism program can go.
Mike Haunert is executive vice president of SYSCO Food Services of Central Ohio. SYSCO is the world’s largest food service distributor, providing food, equipment, and supplies to restaurants, the lodging industry, health care, retail stores, and schools.
Haunert’s career path began in high school, when he worked as a steward on a riverboat on the Ohio River. “I loved it—the people, the food. It felt like somewhat of a calling,” he said.
After graduating from UK in restaurant management (now hospitality management/tourism), he managed Chester’s Roadhouse, a restaurant in the Cincinnati suburbs.
He began his SYSCO career in 1990 as a marketing associate for Abbott Foods, the predecessor to Sysco Food Services of Central Ohio.
Haunert is on the board of trustees of the Central Ohio Restaurant Association, and he chairs its education committee. “Bringing young people into the business helps us all,” he said.
Lindsey Wildman is the catering manager for the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colo., one of the nation’s most prestigious resorts. It’s her first job after graduating from UK’s hospitality management/tourism program, and she loves it.
Wildman manages the catering for 250 to 300 events a year, including about 50 to 75 weddings.
“I oversee everything from the Broadmoor’s perspective,” she said. “The site, the menu, the style of the wedding cake, the wine pairings…”
Wildman interned at the Broadmoor in 2002 and again in 2003. When she graduated in May 2004, she was hired full time.
Professors in UK’s program “shared their real-life experiences with us,” Wildman said. “That made me believe that I could do this.”
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by Martha Jackson
Nathan Weirich wants to run a resort out West. Summer Jackson and a friend hope to open an event planning/catering business. And Kevin Vessel wants to work for a hotel in Hawaii.
But first, as UK students majoring in hospitality management/tourism, they had to complete their capstone course in quantity food production. What that means is that twice a week this class, which also includes dietetics majors, produced a meal for 50 at the Lemon Tree Restaurant in Erikson Hall. That’s everything from ordering a case of chicken in advance to serving three courses with an I’m-glad-you’re-here attitude that makes customers want to come back.
Hospitality management/tourism is one of the most popular majors in the College’s School of Human Environmental Sciences, with about 175 students enrolled at last count. The program began in the 1980s as a degree program in restaurant management, but it has grown to encompass lodging and tourism as well.
“The market demanded it; it was a national trend,” said Desmond Brown, a Nutrition and Food Science faculty member who directs the program.
The program’s graduates will go to work in hotel and restaurant management, tourism, event planning, and more. The work is attractive for a variety of reasons.
For some students, it’s what they know. “It’s all I’ve ever worked,” said Nicki Mitchell. She hopes to get a hotel management job in Cincinnati once she graduates.
For other students, it’s what they know from having been customers. “Today’s HMT students are savvy,” said Mary Roseman, who teaches in the program. “They’ve traveled extensively, eaten in restaurants since they were babies, stayed in numerous hotels, and visited tourism places in the United States and abroad.”
Job security is another draw. Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector is expected to increase more than 17 percent between 2004 and 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor reports.
Learning how to sauté shrimp and finessing the fine art of making a pie crust may seem a far cry from managing restaurants or hotels, but it’s not.
“Our students need to learn the front and back of the house,” said Sandra Bastin, instructor for quantity food production. “They’re learning how important it is to train employees. There’s a big turnover in the hospitality industry. If managers train well, they’ll have better, more loyal employees, which in the end equates to repeat business and more profit.”
The restaurant directly supports Kentucky agriculture: its diners enjoy at least one Kentucky-grown product at every meal. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to support local farmers and other businesses across the state,” Bastin said.
Bastin is a faculty member in Nutrition and Food Science, a registered and licensed dietitian, and a Certified Culinary Educator with the American Culinary Federation. Bob Perry, coordinator of the College’s Food Systems Initiative and a former chef, helps her teach the kitchen portion of the course, which is required of both dietetics and hospitality management/tourism majors.
Other faculty bring similar strong academic training through their doctorates and varied experience. Brown has had two Fulbright fellowships, to Ghana and Latvia, and has trainedrestaurant entrepreneurs in the Southern Sudan through Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance, a consortium of U.S.-based organizations.
Roseman, a registered and licensed dietitian, does research in both dietetics and hospitality management. Her outreach efforts have included assisting the Lexington-Fayette schools in adding healthier items to school menus. Sunny Ham, whose research includes information technology and its impact on lodging and tourism, teaches advanced information technology in hospitality and dietetics, among other courses.
“We’ve got to know how to provide better service to customers who want to use IT to buy an airline ticket or book a hotel,” Ham said.
Information technology is also important in restaurant management—point of sale software is planned for the Lemon Tree so students can learn to electronically manage costs, orders, and profit and loss.
More than Food
Students in the hospitality management/tourism program are required to complete business courses in accounting, management, and marketing as well as courses specifically related to the hospitality industry, such as human resources, law and ethics, and trends analysis.
An advisory board helps keep the program on track. Among its members have been the general manager of the Hyatt Regency in Lexington, the commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Tourism, and the director of marketing for the Kentucky Horse Park.
Students are also required to put in 800 hours working in the hospitality industry, the first 400 in a job, and then, between their junior and senior years, a 400-hour internship.
“We want to make sure students know what they’re getting themselves into,” Brown said.
Beth Keeney interned at Shaker Village in Harrodsburg, working in the village inn, its restaurant, and in marketing. “I got a feel for the whole business,” she said. “It really helped. You can learn only so much from books and PowerPoints. Working is where you grasp the whole picture.”
Like Keeney, many other students have found internships in Kentucky, but some have interned in places as far-ranging as Hilton Head, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Maui.
Hospitality Fuels Kentucky Tourism
“Tourism works because hospitality grows,” said Ann Vail, director of the School of Human Environmental Sciences and assistant director of family and consumer sciences extension. “People want to be treated well.County agents are playing a bigger role in hospitality.”
Members of the Kentucky Extension Homemakers Association in Johnson County use their hospitality training at community events and the local arts center. From the left are Tammy Penix, Lynda Hill, and Sharon Fannin.
Brenda Cockerham, family and consumer sciences (FCS) agent for Johnson County, has encouraged hospitality training for local members of the Kentucky Extension Homemakers Association (KEHA). That group annually puts on the Holiday Happenings Craft and Antique Show in the fall and the Big Sandy Quilt, Art, and Antique Show in the spring. Its members also work at the Oil Springs Cultural Arts and Recreation Center as demonstrators, docents, and tour guides.
“KEHA members interface so frequently with tourists that hospitality training has become very important,” Cockerham said. “This year we were able to train members from 10 counties in hospitality as part of their annual leadership event.”
Cockerham has worked with Stella McCarty, family and consumer sciences teacher at Johnson Central High School, to offer hospitality classes for FCS students and opportunities to serve at social events. One summer, the students hosted a local tea room at a popular historic site and won a national award for their work.
In Bath County, family and consumer sciences agent Carole Rison was among those who helped make the Bath County Agricultural Education and Marketing Center a reality. The center, which provides area farmers several ways to sell their products, is fast becoming a tourism destination, bringing customers off the interstate.
FCS agents bring a special kind of expertise to the state’s agritourism efforts, Rison said. “We think in terms of what consumers will buy,” she said. “We might have no clue about how to grow something, but we can tell a farmer that if they wash the commodity, or provide a recipe, it will sell better.”
In Kentucky, it’s clear that rolling out the welcome mat is not only good manners, it’s good business.
Stella McCarty, family and consumer sciences teacher at Johnson Central High School, with some of her students, who use hospitality skills in a variety of ways.
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