Bon Appétit Management Company

The epic blizzard of 2011 will not be forgotten anytime soon in at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. A night of record snowfall meant Operations Manager Janice Moore spent a harrowing hour driving just eight blocks to work the next morning, only to find the front entrance completely blocked. After she pried the door open, cooks, dishwashers, servers, and managers miraculously began to trickle in.

The day was full of tales of true heroism, from the cooks and bakers who walked through snowdrifts several feet high, to the students who pushed the car of PM Supervisor Goran Krstic to the main road as the blizzard intensified, to the dishwasher, Duong Ha, who stayed overnight with friends so he could get to work the next day. The entire town was shut down, and all the restaurants were closed. But Bon Appétit employees made sure the café opened on time and served all three meals that day to not just the students on campus but also to the hardworking police, fire, and snow crews from the town of Wheaton.“Nobody would have blamed any one of these individuals for choosing not to take the risk of coming in, but those of us who had the opportunity to make it in did so because of these students and who we are,” General Manager Raul Delgado said. “The true character of a team is measured by its ability to handle adversity. I am so proud of the managers and staff who refused to allow this extraordinary storm to keep us from doing what we do!”