2:23 p.m., June 11, 2008--Rob LoFurno, a district chef with ARAMARK, which provides food services at UD, will serve as the warehouse director for ARAMARK at the Olympic Village in Beijing. LoFurno, who has been responsible for culinary programs at the University of Delaware for more than seven years, will be in charge of the purchase and acquisition of food for the Olympic Village and other points of service.

LoFurno, of Glen Mills, Pa., was the executive chef in charge of catering at the Olympic Village in Athens during the 2004 summer games in Athens.

The 2008 Olympics will be the 14th time since 1968 that ARAMARK has been chosen to provide Olympic services. In Beijing, the company will be responsible for catering services at the Olympic Village, two media villages and two media centers where they plan to serve up to 60,000 people during the Olympics and Paralympics. The Village kitchen, warehouse and dining hall are the size of three American football fields, able to seat up to 7,000 people at a time.

“I'll work with other chefs and a warehouse staff to make sure food gets to where it needs to be for preparation, cooking and serving,” said LoFurno, who will be working with thousands of professionals and volunteers. “It's a huge challenge, and I am excited about the opportunity."

Junior Wells Shu and senior Robert Zhang, both students in UD's hotel, restaurant and institutional management program, also are going to Beijing this summer to work with LoFurno in the Olympic Village.

LoFurno left for Beijing on June 8. He will spend two months preparing for the Olympics, which will be held from Aug. 8-24, and the Paralympic Games, which will be held from Sept. 6-17.

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., LoFurno began his culinary career as a teenager working as a bus boy and dishwasher at local tavern. While attending the institute, he worked for a dinner theatre company that served more than 14,000 guests a week. He also served an internship in an Italian pastry shop by day and at a three-star restaurant at night.

LoFurno has worked for ARAMARK since 1986 as district and regional chef in the business dining division before coming to the University. At UD, he oversees menus, monitors food safety and supervises the training of culinary staff. In 1994 he was selected to travel and cook at ARAMARK locations in England as an ARAMARK International Guest Chef, the highest honor the company bestows upon its chefs.

Article by Martin Mbugua
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson