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Yale University’s dining services team helps the community during coronavirus

Dining director Rafi Taherian also shares the way his team has found efficiencies during work-from-home orders.

Becky Schilling, Group Content Director/Editor-in-chief

June 8, 2020

Yale has continued to support students and those in need by aligning with the local soup kitchens to provide food to those who are food insecure.f11photo / iStock / Getty Images Plus

The dining services team at Yale University is never one to sit back and wait. When news of the coronavirus started spiking in early spring, the university—full of world-class professors and researchers—began formulating plans and talking about contingencies. And while hardly anyone could guess the eventual impacts of the virus, the Yale team continues to chart, graph and conceptualize plans.

Last week I caught up with Yale’s dining director Rafi Taherian. He told me about how his team has discovered efficiencies during this work-from-home transition, about how the team has been knee-deep in scenarios for opening back up for the fall semester.

We also talked about how Yale, such a huge part of the New Haven, Conn., community, has continued to support students and those in need by aligning with the local soup kitchens to provide food to those who are food insecure.

Here’s Rafi’s story, and you can see a photo tour of Yale’s dining program in this slideshow.

About the Author

Becky Schilling

Becky Schilling

Group Content Director/Editor-in-chief

Becky Schilling is Food Management’s editor-in-chief, and the group content director for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, managing editorial for digital, print and events for Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, Food Management and Supermarket News media brands. Becky holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas A&M University and a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Before joining Food Management in 2014, Becky was with FoodService Director magazine for seven years, the last two as editor-in-chief. Becky is a history nerd and a sports fanatic, especially college football—Gig'em Ags—and tennis. A born and raised Texan, Becky currently resides in New York City.

Becky Schilling’s areas of expertise include the onsite foodservice industry (K-12 schools, colleges and universities, healthcare and B&I), foodservice menus, operational best practices and innovation.

Becky Schilling is a frequent speaker at industry events including The Association for Healthcare Foodservice (AHF), The National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) and The Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management (SHFM).

Becky Schilling’s experience:

Group Content Director, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (Feb. 2020-present)

Editor-in-chief Food Management (Nov. 2014-present)

Director of Content Strategy & Optimization, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (March 2019-Feb. 2020)

Editor-in-chief, Supermarket News (April 2019-March 2019)

Executive Editor, Supermarket News (July 2016-April 2017)

Editor-in-chief, FoodService Director magazine (March 2013-Oct. 2014)

Managing Editor (FoodService Director magazine (March 2012-March 2013)

Associate Editor (FoodService Director magazine (Nov. 2007-March 2012)

Contact Becky Schilling at:

[email protected]

@bschilling_FM

https://www.linkedin.com/in/becky-schilling-39194ba/

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