SUNY Cortland honored for dining services

06/10/2025

On the eve of last fall’s Cortaca Jug football game, SUNY Cortland’s food services operation adopted a Cortaca theme in its own battle against nationwide college and university dining hall competitors.

On Nov. 15, the day before the Red Dragons defeated the Ithaca Bombers, Cortland Auxiliary Services (CAS) served students a smorgasbord of tailgate fare and game memorabilia at The Bistro Off Broadway residential dining hall located inside the 11-year-old Student Life Center.

“Cortaca Through the Ages” was an event designed to fire up diners in anticipation of the next day’s Cortland-Ithaca home turf kick-off. Cortaca is a tradition since 1959 that is widely known as “the biggest little game in the nation.”

In early June, CAS Executive Director Renee Sydorowych was informed that the Cortaca event captured a 2025 bronze award in the Residential Special Event of the Year category of the Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards of the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS).

Moreover, this year CAS also captured a Horton bronze award in the Employee Development Program of the Year category for its Culinary Boot Camp 2024.

Each year, only a handful of universities and colleges earn highly coveted Horton Awards.

“The competition was fierce this year with many outstanding submissions,” Sydorowych said. “Our dining, marketing and executive teams pulled together to create, document and submit. It is truly a team effort.”

Three CAS representatives will go to Salt Lake City, Utah, in July, to receive the awards during NACUFS’s national conference.

Cortaca Through the Ages

“Cortaca Through the Ages” showcased the history of the Cortland-Ithaca rivalry. Historical photos, hand-painted images and program reproductions helped to set the mood.

Décor featured images from the game’s 65-year existence, including old program covers at serving stations, each representing a different decade.

“Everyone enjoyed the living Heisman Trophy hired by the university to promote Cortaca,” said John Donovan, CAS’s director of dining services. A five-member committee of CAS members had brainstormed the entry details.

The menu was designed with popular tailgating trends in mind, including various colors, textures and flavors. It featured hamburgers, hot dogs, several types of chili, pretzels with beer cheese, barbecue chicken and sausage with onions and peppers.

Regional foods like salt potatoes were incorporated to reflect the Cortaca game’s local flavor. A charcuterie board showcased products from local business Trinity Valley Dairy Farm while lending an upscale vibe to traditional tailgating.

Small-batch cooking kept food fresh and filled while reducing overproduction.

Vegetarian and vegan offerings allowed everyone to experience signature items.

CAS gathered customer feedback with comment cards designed to look like game tickets, receiving 442 overwhelmingly positive responses. Students were polled on social media and video about tailgate favorites.

One benchmark of success for these events is increased attendance. The Bistro typically sees fewer guests on Friday evenings, averaging 1,519. Cortaca Through the Ages brought in 2,172 people, a 43-percent increase.

The event also was marketed on the CAS website, through social media, with printed signs and on digital messaging boards across campus.

“The university sought to expand the Cortaca celebration in a safe and supportive manner,” Donovan said. “The students loved it. We had lots games to play. We had a D.J. We had a mocktail bar with Pepsi-sponsored beverages. It was very nice to see students doing something different and interactive.”

Culinary Boot Camp

Finding culinary talent for colleges and university food services is difficult.

“People don’t know how much college food service has evolved,” Donovan said. “We do a lot more cooking to order in the station and serving the student directly. We do a lot less cooking in back and bringing it out.”

So CAS’s culinary management team and training coordinator together conduct an annual staff training program to maintain a high level of service by developing those skills in its own full- and part-time employee base.

Culinary Boot Camp is designed to give entry-level food preparation workers the skills to move into higher-skilled positions, laying the groundwork for growing a culinary team within its own organization.

Cortland’s 10-year-old annual boot camp has increased employee retention, benchmarked at one year after completion, from the industry average of 62% to a remarkable 95%.

“We’ve had a lot of fulltime servers and floaters who take the course and pass, take the ServSafe class, and become fulltime cooks,” Donovan said. “We’ve seen great success.”

As part of this four-day, intensive training program, voluntary participants spend part of boot camp practicing a variety of critical culinary skills.

“The program’s goal is to develop staff who can provide exceptional customer service and prepare great food,” Donovan said. “Employees are trained in culinary skills, presentation and food safety.

“I’ve been going to NACUFS for 15 years and I haven’t heard of colleges doing this internally,” Donovan said.

“This year we actually had SUNY Brockport come and observe because they might want to do it.”

Employees also receive class training and wrap up with the manager ServSafe test.

“The test is the same one required to qualify for any cook’s assistant or cook position that becomes available on campus,” Donovan said. “This test is also required to join the culinary management team.”

The retention rate is 4.6 years for all CAS employees while boot camp culinarians average 6.3 years.

Almost 60% of participants have received at least one promotion since completing boot camp. These employees, who became culinary supervisors and sous chefs, are now involved in preparations for next year’s boot camp.

The CAS recruiter mentions the same training program to potential employees to encourage candidates who don’t think of themselves as cooks.

“Recruits see that, by taking advantage of the training, they can join a growing number of employees who go from inexperienced, untrained workers to skilled culinarians who can move within the organization,” Donovan said.

At the subsequent all-staff training meeting, CAS always celebrates boot camp graduates with a certificate and a Certified Culinarian polo shirt, a cut above the standard issue uniform.

“It drives interest in the program and keeps the conversation about development and growth alive,” Donovan said.

“We can hopefully hold a Culinary Boot Camp 2.0 next year to enhance the skills they learned as a cook from this boot camp,” he said.

Select an image below to begin a slide show