Local Hiring and Career Pathways
Brown Dining’s community impact extends far beyond procurement. Today, nearly all of Dining Service’s employees live in Providence or nearby and many have stayed for decades. “Most of the locally hired staff have worked here for over 25 years,” shares Charmaine Whitman-Jemison, HR Specialist with Brown Dining. “Our longest-serving employee has been with us for 37 years.”

According to George Barboza, Vice President of Dining Services, these long tenures are no accident. “Once someone gets their foot in the door, they tend to stay,” he said. “Most of our workforce comes from the community, from people who already work here, who love working here and then share that news with family and friends.”

Brown Dining’s team-centered environment supports long-term retention through steady benefits, competitive pay and consistent opportunities for advancement. Open positions within Brown Dining are frequently filled through word of mouth. “Since I started in 2021, I estimate that over 50 percent of our incoming staff were referred by someone currently working here,” said Whitman-Jemison. 

Many staff members move up through the union ranks into supervisory or management roles. The department hosts a professional development retreat each year that blends required training, such as food safety and equipment handling, with well-being workshops on nutrition, mental health and financial planning. Chefs are encouraged to experiment with new recipes and develop fresh menus, while line staff are supported to pursue higher-level roles. As Barboza says, “We want our employees to grow with us.” 

That spirit of growth is evident in how Brown’s chefs work with vendors and farmers to create seasonal, adaptive menus. “Sometimes a local vendor will say, ‘Hey, we have these beautiful golden beets today,’” Barboza said. “We might pull potatoes off the menu and design a whole dish around those beets instead.” Menus shift often, especially around seasonal breaks when the team has time to test new recipes and flavor profiles. These seasonal collaborations and as-needed adaptations highlight local flavors while minimizing waste and strengthening our regional food system.

Building a Local Food Ecosystem
Last year, the University spent approximately 38% of its $13 million food budget with regional farms, bakeries, creameries, fisheries and food producers—up more than 18% from a decade ago.

Some of these partnerships are widely recognized, like Narragansett Creamery’s thriving mozzarella business, which gained momentum with a 2019 Food Vision Prize grant that Brown helped secure. Other vital relationships include Horse Listener’s Orchard in Connecticut, which supplies Brown with apples; Red’s Best in Boston, which delivers fresh seafood to campus kitchens; and Kitchen Garden Farm in Massachusetts, where Brown sources root vegetables and seasonal produce. Closer to home, Providence-based Wayland Bakery and Seven Stars Bakery supply fresh pizza dough and pastries daily across campus.

Robert Noyes, Director of Retail at Brown Dining Services, emphasized the University's intentional approach: “We prioritize quality and the best quality often comes from local producers. Proximity ensures freshness and creates personal relationships that enrich both sides.”

Brown’s retail operations often serve as the launch point for new partnerships. “Our smaller cafes and retail operations can readily incorporate products from local businesses, even if those vendors can’t supply our larger dining halls,” Noyes said. For example, vendors like New Harvest Coffee Roasters and Ceremony Tea began by supplying Brown’s cafés and have since expanded operations significantly. “This partnership helped New Harvest move from a modest operation in Pawtucket’s Hope Artiste Village to a larger facility at the Farm Fresh Food Hub in Providence,” he shared.

The relationship is reciprocal. As Brown’s campus and dining needs have grown, so have the operations of its local partners.

“We’ve been working with Brown for about 12 years now,” shares Robert Twardowski, from Robert’s Precut Vegetables, a family business founded by his father and now led by him. 

Robert's PreCut Vegetables in Cranston now delivers to multiple campus locations six days a week. In response to campus needs and Brown’s goal to increase local sourcing, Robert is coordinating with farms to pre-buy and store seasonal crops, especially long-lasting items like potatoes, to ensure availability and sustainability. “Once we get the numbers from Brown, we’ll work with local farms to hold product in storage or pre-buy their fields,” he explained. “That way, we can identify ahead of time what they’ll need throughout the school year and make sure we have it ready.”

The team also keeps an eye on current trends. “Yuca’s been a hot commodity,” Robert said. “We’ve done cassava, viral noodles, crinkle-cut fries—you name it. We try to stay current and add that value for Brown.”

“We started with just a few products and built it up to what it is now—custom cuts, fresh deliveries, everything fully usable when it comes into the kitchens. We adjust to what they need, whether for a special menu at the Faculty Club or more commodity-based items. As Brown has grown, we’ve grown with them.”

Robert emphasized the flexibility and responsiveness that define the relationship, “We deliver to all the different locations across campus, we’ve changed with Brown’s menus and we’re always ready to support them. We really value the partnership.”

For Seven Stars Bakery, the relationship with Brown is similarly rooted in shared values and long-standing trust. “From the very beginning, Seven Stars has always believed in supporting local,” said Cara Mouradjian, Director of Retail Operations. “The original owners were friends with other small business owners—farmers, bakers, makers—and there was this shared understanding that if we all bought from each other, we’d all succeed. That spirit is still very much part of how we operate today.”

Now in its third decade, Seven Stars has grown into one of the region’s most respected artisan bakeries, with a 24-hour production facility and a seventh café opening in May 2025. Their relationship with Brown includes deliveries to multiple campus cafés and dining outlets, regular catering for campus events and a strong presence in the student-run Brown Market Shares program. “It’s not just about delivering bread,” Mouradjian added. “There are so many ways Brown works with us. We see Brown as part of our local scene—people we know, a campus we drive through. It’s exciting to have that kind of connection and shared investment in our community. We’re all working toward the same goal of helping the local food system thrive.”

“Everything you associate with Brown—quality, care, community—you can associate with Seven Stars,” added Julie Gaffney, Sales and Marketing Manager.

Noyes echoed the mutual impact of these relationships, “With partners like New Harvest Coffee and Seven Stars, there’s a real relationship—you’re working with the people roasting the beans or milling the flour. That kind of trust and flexibility benefits everyone.”

For additional coverage of Brown Dining's partnerships with local food producers, read last year’s feature from News from Brown.

Community-Based Food Initiatives

Beyond the dining halls, Dining Services supports several student-led and community-facing programs to promote food justice and sustainability. The Brown Market Shares Program offers students, faculty and staff weekly subscriptions to seasonal produce, dairy, eggs and bread from local farms; these subsidized shares ensure broader access across campus.

Farm to Fork, a national initiative administered through Brown’s prime vendor, ensures that a portion of institutional food purchases support small, independently-owned farms and producers within 250 miles of campus.

Complementing these efforts is Brown’s Food Recovery Network, a student-led initiative that collects surplus food from campus dining halls and distributes it to local shelters, soup kitchens and pantries. Working in partnership with Brown Dining, students recover approximately 15,000 pounds of food annually, providing thousands of meals to neighbors in need while reducing food waste and emissions.

Together, these initiatives illustrate how Brown Dining’s impact extends far beyond the plate—fostering deeper engagement with local food systems, environmental care and equitable access.

Looking Ahead
As Brown Dining Services looks ahead, it aims to continue strengthening local relationships and investments, while maintaining and building systems that nourish both campus and community. 

“Brown Dining's partnerships with local vendors create a win-win-win situation,” said Whitman-Jemison. “Local businesses gain stability and exposure, Brown gets fresh, unique and sustainable food while strengthening community ties and the wider Providence area benefits from economic growth, job creation and a more resilient local food system. It's about nourishing both the university and its surrounding community.”