Don Cortes has been at Sonoma State University (SSU) for eight years, after spending another two decades in culinary leadership roles at luxury hotels, fine-dining restaurants, and corporate dining as well as hospitality in higher education.
As chef of the university of around 5,000 students, he co-oversees dining at the residential food halls, foodservice outlets, and catering, including curating menus, developing new recipes, and managing vendors and budgets as well as leading the kitchen management team and ensuring compliance with health and safety standards.
This isn’t his first stint in feeding college students. Prior to joining SSU, he was regional culinary director for the west region of Chartwells Higher Education.
“Growing up in a food-centric culture, I’ve always loved to eat,” he said. “My early attempts at cooking were mostly disastrous, however. I actually ended up in law school before deciding I needed to get out and see the world.”
He ended up switching to culinary school and he hasn’t looked back, “and my food is much better now.”
Sonoma State has a non-voluntary meal plan that Cortes has helped to implement, while also streamlining purchasing and developing partnerships with local and regional purveyors.
The campus dining options include the main dining hall, called The Kitchens, which offers a rotating all-you-care-to-eat menu.
There’s also Sip, a coffeehouse that serves Starbucks coffee as well as sweet and savory breakfast items, and grab-and-go options including sushi.
Lobo’s is the campus pub that focuses on local beer and wine — a perk to being in Sonoma County — and pub fare with a local twist.
There are also concessions at Green Music Center, home of the Santa Rosa Symphony.
All told, Cortes and his team feed around 2,000 people each day.
“We love keeping campus dining exciting by incorporating social media’s food trends into monthly themed dinners, bi-weekly ‘monotony breaks,’ and limited-time offers across our foodservice outlets,” he said. “At the same time, we intentionally tailor our menus to celebrate Sonoma County’s legendary food culture by partnering with local farms and neighborhood businesses. For us, community is everything — and we truly believe that quality food is always best enjoyed with good friends.”
Although Cortes is passionate about food, his favorite part of his job is the students who work at SSU Culinary Services, which is the largest student employer on campus.
“That means we get to be a second home for many of them,” he said. “It is really rewarding to watch them grow during their time with us. They often start out as nervous freshmen navigating their very first job, and then years later you see them walk across the graduation stage as confident, capable people with their proud loved ones cheering them on.”
On top of that, he tries to stay in touch with them after graduation.
“The added bonus is hearing about their successes and knowing that the skills they learned working alongside us helped them along the way.”
Cortes will head to the University of California, Davis next week for FoodService Director’s FSD Chefs Immersion West Coast.
The three-day event, which is sponsored by The Almond Board of California, Choolaah Indian BBQ, BelGioioso Cheese, Fresh Concepts, Hormel Foods, J.T.M. Food Group, Mondelez, and MOWI, allows attendees to learn from their fellow noncommercial chefs and get creative in the kitchen.
