Campus Dining is excited to welcome the University campus community back to campus for the spring semester. The department will debut several new food options and dining initiatives across campus, responding to evolving culinary trends and student feedback about cuisine variety on campus, dietary needs and preferences, made-to-order options and favorites, and fresh and clean ingredient choices.
Read the full article at Syracuse University News.
Syracuse University Campus Dining has appointed Chef Richard Leonardo to the role of Corporate Executive Chef. The new position, which will provide overall leadership and operational management to all aspects of the campus dining program (residential, retail and athletic dining, catering, concessions, and bakery, production kitchen, and cook-chill facilities), was created in order to bring a focused, strategic approach to the culinary program at the University.
The culinary team is fully aligned with the new leadership position. Chef Leonardo will report directly to Cheryl Fabrizi, Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services. He will lead Executive Chefs Ilana Cahill, Jeff Dover, and Bryan Hammond, all of whom support campus dining at Syracuse University. Leonardo will leverage the professional experiences of his team to enhance every aspect of the campus culinary experience.
“The dining program at Syracuse is multi-faceted and requires a nimble leader who can pivot quickly as needed,” said Cheryl Fabrizi, Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services. “We’ve built our culinary team over the past year, by adding talented chefs and campus dining leaders across the entire team. Chef Leonardo will now be charged with putting culinary talent to its highest and best use and executing a cohesive culinary strategy across campus.”
In support of that goal, Chef Leonardo will work to introduce the latest culinary trends in campus dining and culinary production in the campus commissary. He’ll be responsive to student feedback, introducing globally-inspired and special occasion menu options in residential dining, where residential students eat the majority of their meals, infusing national food trends in retail dining and concessions, and continuing to elevate catered experiences. Chef Leonardo will continue to grow the culinary training program for SEIU employees as well as all of the culinary staff at Syracuse University and provide valuable input on new construction of and renovations of dining facilities and equipment.
“Our goal is always to bring inviting, comfortable, engaging dining experiences to our guests – students, faculty, staff, community members, alumni, and beyond,” said Chef Leonardo. “Food brings people together. That’s where our focus will always be – on the connections that can grow from sitting down together over a delicious plate of food.”
About Chef Leonardo
Chef Leonardo, a Central New York native, began his tenure at Syracuse University in November 2023, when he was hired as an executive chef in Campus Dining. His culinary path began in his teenage years, when he worked at his family’s restaurant. He received his culinary degree from The French Culinary Institute in New York City, then honed his skills working with the Daniel Boulud Restaurant Group.
Leonardo returned to Central New York to work as an executive pastry chef, then found his passion in collegiate dining with American Dining Creations, where he spent 10 years developing menus and actively working and training on-site with culinarians at 29 colleges and universities.
On Monday, January 6, the Joseph I. Lubin House began utilizing a new online reservation system, known as Star Rez. Moving forward, all overnight accommodations at Lubin House will be booked through the new system.
Access Star Rez for Lubin House here.
When you make your first reservation through Star Rez, you will be asked to create an account. You will be able to choose from two types of accounts: an administrative account, used to book reservations on behalf of someone else, or a personal account, used to book reservations for yourself.
Star Rez is currently used on campus to manage housing assignments and will soon be utilized for reservations at the University’s Minnowbrook Conference Center. The Office of the Chief Operations Officer decided to invest in the new system in order to modernize and streamline the entire ordering experience for its users. Users will be able to view all current and past reservations details directly in their account, making rebooking of past reservations a simple process.
Anyone with questions about overnight accommodations at Lubin House should contact Andrew Levy, Director, at 212.826.0324 or anlevy@syr.edu.
On Monday, January 6, Campus Catering will launch a new online ordering system, known as CaterTrax. Beginning that day, all Campus Catering and JMA Dome suites customers will place their catering orders via CaterTrax. To assist all Catering customers with the transition, the Auxiliary Services training team will offer four one-hour training sessions within the first two weeks of January.
The Catering team decided to invest in the new system in order to improve the entire ordering experience for its users:
All users are invited to attend any one of the four training sessions most convenient for their schedules. To attend, click the link below for the session you prefer and follow the prompts to register:
Anyone with questions about the training sessions should contact Tori Budnik, Auxiliary Services Training Specialist, at vabudnik@syr.edu. Those with questions about the CaterTrax program should reach out to Campus Catering at catering@syr.edu or 315.443.3605.
