Greg Black, director of university dining at 30,000-student University of Iowa in Iowa City, took his years working various positions at Michigan State’s Kellogg Center and turned them into a successful foodservice career.“We always had big family Thanksgiving dinners growing up. For Thanksgiving, we would always try to duplicate the centerfold of Gourmet magazine. My mother really encouraged my brother and me to learn to cook. The first thing I can remember making is pancakes on Saturday morning. My mother was a disciple of Julia Child. She had a complete library of tapes from her shows and all of Julia’s books, which are now mine.
I got my start at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center at Michigan State University when I was in the ninth grade. I started out in sanitation, cleaning pots and pans, sweeping and mopping. During my time there I moved into other positions such as a line server, then into the kitchen where I was a cook’s helper. I worked there from ninth grade all the way through college. I guess I learned pretty much all my cooking skills there.
I really enjoyed my time in the kitchen. I spent one summer down at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri at the The Lodge of the Four Seasons. The chef who hired me quit the same day I arrived. The sous chef at the time was promoted to chef and he immediately pulled me under his wing and made me sous chef. Suddenly I was supervising lifetime resort cooks as a junior in college. These were guys old enough to be my father and grandfather. I learned a ton there.
At the Kellogg Center I really enjoyed the camaraderie. I enjoyed the people and the management staff who were there. They were so supportive and nurturing and friendly. My senior year in college I started my own weekend catering business and they adjusted my schedule so I could take these private parties on my own. Not many other employers would have done that. I think about them all the time in my current job.”