Chef’s Corner
RODNEY WASICSKO – DINING SERVICES DIRECTOR
Rod attended Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY) majoring in Music and Voice Performance. Rod’s passion was singing, however all things culinary snuck in and played a huge role in his college career. During Rod’s freshman year, he started working in one of the dining halls helping to serve and prepare meals. By his sophomore year, he was asked to be one of the few student managers on campus. Rod learned the ropes from a solid culinary team who were eager to teach and share their experiences. As college came to an end and teaching jobs were scarce, Ithaca College offered him a Dining Manager salaried position, and he hasn’t looked back since.
For a young man right out of college, Rod was making huge gains in his field. Everything from running dining halls, creating campus snack bars and working as the personal waiter for events hosted by the President of the College. Rod began his career.
From there, Rod has a 30 year resume which centers around one thing – creating an exception experience for anyone who enters his dining room. Rod states, ‘The food business is about making people happy, quality ingredients, excellent service in an environment where people want to come back.’ For Rod, it’s about building great teams and finding people with the same passion, ‘When you do that, everything just clicks.’
Rod loves coming to work every day at Clover Blossom. Rod’s passion revolves around building teams that produce great success. ‘We provide a family environment. I believe every resident deserves to feel at home, especially at meal time.’ Rod is known for incorporating family recipes, his generous spirit and finding options for all types of dietary needs. His latest project was planting and maintaining an herb garden with our residents. The kitchen is currently using our home grown herbs in our menus. Rod states, ‘It’s a privilege to serve our residents and associates. Every day I enter the kitchen with one thing in mind – to create extraordinary and innovative experiences where people thrive.’
When Rod is not working, he loves to spend time with his family. He loves sports, especially baseball, and proudly shares he’s an avid New York Yankees fan! You’ll find him at his grandson’s soccer games, out hiking or volunteering in his community and of course, gracing those around him with his beautiful singing voice’.