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Quirinale New Sodexho General Manager at SUNY Plattsburgh


PLATTSBURGH, NY__ Josef Quirinale has been named the new general manager for Sodexho Campus Services at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh.

Josef Quirinale Quirinale, who replaces Patrick Spellman as general manager, comes to Plattsburgh from the University of Vermont (UVM) where he was the director of auxiliary services and marketing for Sodexho. He was at UVM for the past six years. Prior to that, Quirinale was the food service director at the Middlebury Inn in Vermont. He was also the hospitality director of a living history village in Ohio before moving to Vermont.

"I have a pretty unusual and varied background," said Quirinale, who lives in Swanton, Vt. with his wife, Pamela. They have two sons; 20-year-old Michelango, a student at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass.; and Dante who will be 16 next month and is a student in the academically-talented program at UVM.

Even though he didn't officially start until Monday, Aug. 15, he has already been actively involved on campus and has enjoyed meeting people at SUNY Plattsburgh and in the community.

"Everybody I've met has been welcoming and friendly," he said. "I'm impressed with the Sodexho staff and their dedication. It's a great group of people. I couldn't be more pleased with how they've received me."

As the new general manager, Quirinale has several overarching goals.

"Food has to be our focus," he said.

One of the ideas he is interested in implementing here at Plattsburgh is more "just in time" cooking. That's when the food is prepared moments before it is eaten; not made in bulk in advance.

"You make enough of the ingredients and have them ready so you continue to make the food as it is needed," said Quirinale. "What the students see and eat is fresh."

Quality is another important issue for Quirinale.

"I strongly feel that if you yourself would not eat the food, do not serve it. It should be appealing to you," he said.

His third priority is customer service. Sodexho employees will be engaged in the company's "The Circle of Customer Excellence" Program. The training includes three modules, one of which will be given prior to the beginning of the fall semester.

"The purpose of this program is to train employees on how to give the customer the focus they deserve," said Quirinale. "Another focus is that I want faculty, staff and students to feel comfortable with letting us know about their special needs. This is important. Our job is to feed our customers and to know exactly what they want."

Sodexho Campus Services, which subcontracts with College Auxiliary Services (CAS) to provide food services at SUNY Plattsburgh, operates two dining halls, a fast food court and two snack bars on campus. According to Sodexho, it handles more than 400,000 transactions per semester at SUNY Plattsburgh. Sodexho also provides dining services at the Valcour Educational Conference Center, which is also owned and managed by CAS.

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