Confessions of Bill Allman

Bill Allman, general manager for Metz Culinary Management at Lebanon Valley College, in Annville, Pa., has eaten spicy grasshoppers, enjoys any meal his wife prepares and wishes that supersizing was never an option.

Q. What is the best part of your job?

Developing a driven team that is dedicated to providing the commitment and hard work necessary to meet the goals of our team and company vision.

Q. What is the worst part of your job?

Dealing with unusually awkward employee issues is always a difficult challenge.

Q. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Leading the transformation of Lebanon Valley College’s dining program into a showcase account for our company.

Q. What is the most unusual foodservice/catering request you have ever received?

We had a popular band on campus and it requested only green M&M’s, warm bottled water from a distributor in the Northwest U.S., and a brand name peanut butter and jelly kept in bottles so they knew it wasn’t [a substitute].

Q. If you had a time machine what historical event or era would you visit?

The 60’s has always intrigued me, so I would go back to lend my personal creativity to the counter-culture movement.

Q. Which talent would you most like to have?

I would pitch left-handed, have a 100 mph fastball with
pinpoint accuracy and a 12-6 curveball. 

Q. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Fighting my stubbornness has been a lifelong challenge, I am not too stubborn to say.

Q. What would be your dream vacation?

Taking a yearlong road trip across our great country and enjoying the local food and beers of each region.

Q. What is your favorite meal?

Any meal my wife, Kristan, cooks. She is a foodie, too.

Q. What is your guilty pleasure?

Two or three great IPAs.

Q. What will people always find in your refrigerator?

A great IPA.

Q. What food fad do you wish had never started?

Supersizing—the definition of American overindulgence.

Q. What activity is at the top of your bucket list?

To finish writing a utopian/dystopian trilogy and then having the books published and made into a four-part movie.

Q. What is the weirdest food you have ever eaten?

Spicy grasshoppers. The taste was OK, the texture was difficult.