266: From Parks to Plates: An Inside Look at Aramark Destinations’ Sustainable Dining Initiatives

Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:01]:
Hey, everybody, and welcome to another episode of where's that little sign up there? There we go. Eating at a meeting. I am in Philly today. I'm gonna speak at the MPI Philadelphia chapter tomorrow about food allergens and food for thought. But I am in the Aramark, Aramark in general. Right?

Aric Ferrell [00:00:21]:
Yeah. Global Global Headquarters.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:22]:
Global Headquarters of Aramark Mhmm. With my friend, Eric. Farrell, who is I had your title over there. Where did it go? He is the vice president of operations for Aramark's Destinations Group, overseeing a portfolio of conference centers, cultural attractions, national parks, and which is encompassing lodging and food and beverage and facility operations. So, we know each other through IAC.

Aric Ferrell [00:00:50]:
Yes. Yep. Yep.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:52]:
So hi. Hey. How are you?

Aric Ferrell [00:00:53]:
I'm great. Thanks for being here today. This is very cool.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:56]:
It's very cool. I and last night, I went on a walk to figure out where I was going and because I'm just I'm staying walkable. And I'm like, oh, there's this humongous Air Mart sign and building, and I'm like, oh, that's so cool. It's a beautiful building.

Aric Ferrell [00:01:08]:
That's the one and only. Yeah. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:11]:
So what so this is the headquarters, but it's also the innovation center for the company. So tell us what that means.

Aric Ferrell [00:01:18]:
So we previously, we had the Innovation Center in a very historic building in Philadelphia, and we had our global headquarters right down street on Market Street. About 2018, we decided that it was time for us to to move. And, being so integrated with the local community here, there was a emphasis on staying in Philly. So we moved up Market Street, and the idea was to integrate, our center led, divisions into one building, and that's still ongoing. We have a we have a few groups that have fallen into this this structure here as, you know, all of our marketing. And the innovation center is really the the core of what we do from a culinary effort across across the enterprise globally. So, and I know you've had some interface with with some of our innovation chefs, but it's a it's really a a test facility, a laboratory of sorts that we can really, pressure test and and break recipes and development for, for the field. So bringing that in and having that interface with the the cross functional groups across, you know, the entirety of the center, has been advantageous for us as an organization.

Aric Ferrell [00:02:35]:
So having everybody in the same building is really nice.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:38]:
Well yeah. And and for everybody to understand that, so he oversees conference centers and parks and, what was the other one? Cultural cultural Attractions. Attractions. But they also do, stadiums and arenas. And so there's a lot of verticals where they serve food and beverage and they manage venues. So, and a lot of times when you're in those venues, I'm like, oh, hey. Do you know anybody? And they're like, that's different vertical. Nobody knows Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:06]:
Anybody.

Aric Ferrell [00:03:06]:
And

Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:06]:
so it's and it and it's not

Aric Ferrell [00:03:08]:
just air market that does that. There's a variety of companies that

Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:08]:
do that, but the verticals are a lot of times, they're very separate. Yeah. The best story I tell is

Aric Ferrell [00:03:19]:
one day you'd walk and you'd look into the Asian kitchen. And just to kind of paint a picture, there's a very large window where us common folk can go spectate. You know? The the

Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:30]:
doing that earlier. Yes.

Aric Ferrell [00:03:31]:
But one day, we'll be testing, you know, 9 different macaroni and cheeses. And the next day, you walk in, they're sweating lobster shells, and they're doing, you know, really refined, you know, culinary work, which there is a very large, not disparity, but separation, what we do as an organization across each of our lines of business. And and rightfully so, when you go to an aquarium or a zoo, your culinary profile is gonna be completely different than when you're sitting, you know, in in a in a boardroom, in a conference center.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:59]:
So Yep. Okay. They and we and we literally watched that, and there were some health care chefs in there. So you manage also hospitals, food, and beverage. But, and we ran into chef Tim who oversees the innovation for

Aric Ferrell [00:04:14]:
He does. He is, the the senior director for our innovation group. Yep.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:04:19]:
Okay. Yep. Now before we dive into what he said, so tell us about what when you oversee parks and cultural attractions and conference centers, what does that encompass? Because I I mean and through IAC, you're kind of the management or it depends on what venue you're at. Right?

Aric Ferrell [00:04:34]:
Yep. So Destinations, it was formerly known as leisure, are are are is our line of business that I currently sit in. That essentially covers anything that touches the lodging piece. We have about 9,000 rooms across the country, a sizable, lodging space. But with all those spaces for there's a few outliers that don't have a food and beverage element. And when I say a few, very few.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:05:02]:
Okay.

Aric Ferrell [00:05:02]:
So there is a a ton of integration there. We we, you know, our group does specialize in the lodging sector of Aramark, but also, you know, extremely proficient when it comes to the food and beverage piece. And that's you know, when we talk about cultural attractions, we're talking about zoos, we're talking about aquariums. We have, you know, outliers from some of our national parks. We have other outdoor spaces, Bushkill Falls, which is a a beautiful beautiful outdoor space that has hiking and natural waterfalls. It's located in Pennsylvania. So we have a a few that don't fall into that National Park Service Okay. Portfolio that that I outlined.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:05:42]:
Okay. Yep. And the it's, I don't know where I wanna go with this. There's so much involved in managing a hotel or managing a conference center and even that park that or that zoo. Let's just use that as an example. But the like you said, this the food at the zoo is gonna be different than the food at a conference center. So how do you innovate? You have to be innovative in both. So how does this center really work to help figure out what should you be serving? Because you still want comfort food at a conference center.

Aric Ferrell [00:06:18]:
Absolutely. We we lean heavily on our on our, field, culinary talent. Okay. And I think Tim touched upon that when we spoke. You know, the idea is to ins inspire, our chefs to be, to think what's gonna work well for their particular, group, whether it's a conference center or an aquarium or, a national park. What what is gonna be hyperlocal? You know, we have a one of the parks that I oversee is in the middle of Lake Superior, you know, sourcing local trout. What what is what's gonna work for that particular, and how innovation gets involved is that our our our field talent, our executive chefs, our sous chef, or even line level chefs in some cases, will, develop a recipe. They'll send it in, to our innovation center.

Aric Ferrell [00:07:09]:
They will they will, in better terms, try to try to break it, in a way that, makes sense and that it's it's repeatable across, you know, all all of our categories. So that trout recipe that comes in from that national park could be replicated at another national park or even in a conference center, and that gets centralized into a a a catalog that we have from you know, it's it's basically a really big grandmother's recipe book that we have. Okay. The really great part about what we do from a center perspective is that we are working with supply chain so that we're able to vet the actual ingredients that are going in there so that we can be diligent when it comes to, what is actually in the food. Okay. And in worst cases, you know, allergens or, another instance is if there's a recall, we typically find out about 48 hours in advance as the public. So we're able to pull those ingredients right off the shelf Wow. And react very quickly.

Aric Ferrell [00:08:09]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:09]:
Yeah. That's important because we don't it says we're we're avoid romaine lettuce. Right? So you're getting that notice well well before we are from MSN or whoever it is. Yeah. And because you're using utilizing those ingredients in dishes that we don't necessarily know of. And that's really I mean, the fact that you have that direct line Yep. Is important. Yep.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:32]:
So when we were, when we were walking and we talked to Tim and I I said, so what is the newest innovation? And I thought it was interesting that he said going back to the basics and really looking at, you know and he was really he said it multiple times, transparency.

Aric Ferrell [00:08:50]:
Mhmm.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:51]:
And and the other two terms that I what I he said was it wasn't it was intention and purpose. Is that right? Is that right? I think

Aric Ferrell [00:08:59]:
that's what he said. Yeah. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:09:01]:
And really looking at how they're designing recipes and what they're serving with intention and purpose. And so can you talk on that some more more on his behalf?

Aric Ferrell [00:09:12]:
Yeah. Well, Tim can Tim covered off really well on the culinary piece, and, you know, he also touched upon us circling back on some really classic recipes, right, and reinventing the way that we either display or we package them either with or, you know, he I think he used the example of a wrap, which is perfect. You know, a lot of, a lot of folks are on the go now. You know? So incorporating a lot of those old school salads that we had into a wrap or, you know, not trying to reinvent the wheel. And then, you know, from a front of house perspective, I can talk very, very close to my heart as, you know, obviously, is the the the human piece that, you know, we've kind of started to get really far away from, you know, pre COVID, and now we're we're kind of reeling that back in as that human interface and that that direct, line of communication that we're having with the guest as they're Mhmm. As they're asking information on their meals and making sure that our our staff and our our employees that are touching the front lines are informed, and if they don't have the right answers, that they feel comfortable going to find them quickly, when it comes to our our guests making food decisions.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:10:26]:
Well, even when we went through lunch today, you know, you ordered the standard salad up there, which was salmon quinoa, if I remember correctly. And you're like, but I only want arugula. And it was a good conversation with her, and she's to make she wanted to make sure that she understood what you were asking more.

Aric Ferrell [00:10:43]:
Yeah. She asked me, like, 3 or 4 clarifying questions.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:10:45]:
She did. Yeah. Yeah. She's like, only arugula and the cabbage, and then I'm like, I wanted the regular. And I told her, I'm like, I don't ever ask for the regular. I'm the one asking for everything changed, and I I it was clearly labeled and with allergens up there on the top. So I was really happy about that, and it was a delicious salad. And, yeah, so that but it it does add that touch, and you thank you for that.

Aric Ferrell [00:11:10]:
And I did. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:11]:
And to me, that means a lot. Last week, I was at a conference, and I was supposed to have no nuts on my in my conference at all because we had somebody anaphylactic. And and this is just touching on the front of the house. And, you know, that gets listed on the BEOs and things. And the very first breakfast we were serving, we had 4 different pastries on there, and 2 of them came out with nuts on them. And my server, who was with me for 3 days prior getting prepped, he's like, Tracy, these have nuts, and we're moving them from the buffet. And I took his pictures where he's like, am I in trouble? I'm like, no. I'm gonna commend you because you read your BEO.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:49]:
You talked to me. You understood it. And then and it really showed the rest of them as well. To me, I think we take our front and a half staff for granted a lot of times.

Aric Ferrell [00:12:00]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:01]:
They see a lot.

Aric Ferrell [00:12:02]:
I think the one thing that we reinforce, across, you know, our line of business and and probably at enterprise level is we have we have a lot of repeat guests. Mhmm. And but we'd never rely on repeat informed decision, so it's always not relying on what was valid yesterday and and and validating it in the moment because, you know, obviously, restrictions and, can change over time.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:29]:
So we

Aric Ferrell [00:12:29]:
wanna make sure that we're communicating with our guests, asking the the the qualifying questions much like that young lady did at at lunch, and, did a really thorough job of explaining what the difference between the two food items were, which I thought was really important. So it's that dialogue, that two way dialogue that we're getting.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:48]:
Yeah. Yeah. And it, it it to me, it empowers them as well because it gives them a sense of an additional sense of pride in their job. And if you if wherever you are, if you're talking to front of house staff, a lot of them have workplaces for well and even chef Tim, 30 something years.

Aric Ferrell [00:13:07]:
36 years.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:13:08]:
I think so. Years. Yeah. So they have the sense of pride. They wanna do the right thing, and they wanna work, you know, for this company. And it to me, it adds that extra value to say, I you know, your job is important in communicating that. Okay. So the other thing in this innovation center when we were walking around, is some really cool and I I need you to take a video of me doing my phone again.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:13:30]:
But, the trash, the sustainability aspect of it. So you work in national parks, so which we don't wanna get trashed. How are you how are you all managing sustainability and and food waste, or waste in general at the national parks, but also when you're in the kitchens and front of house?

Aric Ferrell [00:13:51]:
Yeah. Outside of safety, it's probably our second most critical touch point as an organization and, really comes down to, obviously, refuse, but also the food waste products. So we're we're constantly using technology to help us, and you actually experience that from a front of the house perspective, but what we're doing from a back of the house perspective. So we have a proprietary software that actually tracks our production. We actually utilize that down to the line level, level. So some of our hourly associates are inputting data points that

Tracy Stuckrath [00:14:27]:
Okay.

Aric Ferrell [00:14:27]:
It's using over time to help us model production, and actually Okay. Reduce our food waste. We we we monitor what comes in, but we also weigh our waste on the way out. Okay. So that we wanna make sure that we are re we're getting that to a point of reduction that we are comfortable with, and not not, wasting food. Now when it comes down to what we're doing from a national park perspective in particular, we're seeing a big departure from plastics in general. Okay. I think we're seeing that across the board, which I fully personally applaud that effort.

Aric Ferrell [00:15:00]:
You know, aluminum cans in general are coming in different shapes and sizes now Right. Refillable, reusable, and definitely recyclable, whereas glass and plastic are, unfortunately, in most cases, become become trash.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:15]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:15:16]:
So we're we're we're seeing we're seeing our partners, you know, the the Coca Colas, the Pepsis of the world, really, really going in hard on, endeavoring aluminum as as the best that we move forward with as as into the future, which I'm excited about. We've also seen that happening, like, prolifically in the beer world as well. Right. I mean, everything is canned at this point, and it's Yeah. You know? And when it comes to to alcoholic beverages, in particular beer, it's a better vessel from a light perspective, from an air containment perspective. It's just a better better product that coming out of the can.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:52]:
And I'm gonna reach over here and get my lunch plate because I wanna show you something and ask a question about

Aric Ferrell [00:15:56]:
this. Sure.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:58]:
So there's a sticker on the outside of this plate. I'm gonna pick it up and show it to you. It said don't throw there we go. Don't throw away. Please only return to redish bin. So is this something you only do here, or is this something that you do in your conference centers, etcetera?

Aric Ferrell [00:16:17]:
We do this it is redish. It is an effort that is you know, it's completely up to our clients.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:22]:
Mhmm.

Aric Ferrell [00:16:22]:
There's an expense that obviously comes with that. I will tell you that it is not a one one for placement from a direct expense perspective when it comes to disposables. There is a little bit of an additional expense there, but, obviously, very well, intentioned and well serving for the environment. Mhmm. Also, we use metal silverware.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:45]:
Right. Mhmm.

Aric Ferrell [00:16:46]:
That all gets and after after we finish our launch, we'll go we'll go throw this into a a vessel, and it gets picked up, and they clean and sanitize that off-site. And, from a labor piece, it doesn't make sense. You can reduce your labor model, on-site because we're not we're not actually cleansing them on-site.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:08]:
Okay. So Okay.

Aric Ferrell [00:17:10]:
And in facilities that don't typically have a dishwasher, we have a wear washer on premises that will wash, you know, a lot of our heavy pallets and pans. Okay. Would not be appropriate for a rewashable wear like that that we would use. So, I think they do. They do. Oh, wow.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:25]:
Yep. This gets reused. Wow.

Aric Ferrell [00:17:27]:
And we're also seeing, city the city government's getting involved. Yeah. The the the local, Ann Arbor, Michigan, we have an account up there.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:37]:
Uh-huh.

Aric Ferrell [00:17:38]:
They have a citywide, very similar program. I went to a very famous deli, zing Zimmerman's, Zingerman's, and, got a couple pieces of really nice prosciutto slice, and they put it in a plastic container. When you were done with it, you would just and it was a citywide program. So Wow. All restaurants are doing that.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:59]:
That's amazing.

Aric Ferrell [00:18:00]:
Yeah. Very cool.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:18:01]:
Because and and but you have other cities that are fighting for doing this, and it's financial and

Aric Ferrell [00:18:06]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:18:06]:
All of that. But, okay. The and and, you know, when you're talking sustainability, you know, silverware is better and reusable dishes is better. So this is actually this is probably better than using China because the China is gonna break versus this.

Aric Ferrell [00:18:23]:
Yes.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:18:23]:
And so you're probably buying less of this than China plates

Aric Ferrell [00:18:27]:
Yes.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:18:27]:
Across the board. Yep. You need to figure out how to get that sticker off before

Aric Ferrell [00:18:31]:
we Okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:18:32]:
So it can be reused. And and, actually, there was a I don't know what convention center I was in, but there was a whole going back to the aluminum, it was like buy this aluminum can of water, use it, and trade it in. And they actually had the cleaning mechanism in the back of the house that cleaned that aluminum can, and it was, you know, not to the level of a Yeti or, you know, one of those. But then they re redid the water in it. And so they were keeping those water bottles. I mean, it cost me a little bit more, but I could although, on the other hand, I could just bring my own reusable water bottle and refill it all the time.

Aric Ferrell [00:19:10]:
Not to get too nuanced on this particular program, but you'll notice that your vessel does not close all the way.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:15]:
It does not. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:19:16]:
Neither does mine.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:17]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:19:17]:
That is quite intentional.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:18]:
Why?

Aric Ferrell [00:19:19]:
The idea is that we don't want them to leave the premises. Oh. It'll close. It'll seal with your hand. Right. But it'll intentionally open when you let go so that you don't put that in your bag

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:32]:
to take

Aric Ferrell [00:19:32]:
home with you. We wanna make sure that we're retaining, you know, as close to a 100% of those vessels because there isn't expense if they go missing.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:39]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:19:40]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:40]:
Interesting. That's kinda cool. Yeah. And it's the company is called Redish, just so you know. The and I do like the the aluminum water bottles and things like that. That's I I do like that as well. The how do you let's talk food waste on the front of the house.

Aric Ferrell [00:19:59]:
Sure.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:20:00]:
How do how are you all managing I mean and and, actually, somebody said to me the other day, well, food waste is the responsibility of the kitchen. It's not responsibility of the food front of the house. And kind of going back to that, you know, the servers, they see a lot of things that the back of the house does not see. How do we and or how are you and if you are doing it, I don't know the answer to this, educating the front of the house that food waste is part of their responsibility.

Aric Ferrell [00:20:28]:
Yeah. So, I guess the best example that I would pull on for this conversation is our conference centers. A lot of a lot of our conference centers work in a very buffet model. So, and, you know, our conference centers, for the most part, are either higher ed or, some government, facilities that, you know, they don't want their folks to go through and be without food. Right. So there is this optics of robust, offering at all times. It's it's, you know, it's managing and balancing the optics of walking through it and making it look plentiful Right. Even down to the last customer because it's just as important as the first.

Aric Ferrell [00:21:08]:
But, what we're seeing in the conference center space and even in some of these very prestigious universities is that there is, food insecurity, within the student student population. Yes. So, we are partnering with our clients to make sure that we are repurposing food where we can. In, some situations, that food gets, offered to our employee population Mhmm. As

Tracy Stuckrath [00:21:38]:
Mhmm.

Aric Ferrell [00:21:39]:
By way of employee meals. Right. And there's a there's there's definitely a few different, angles. And then, locally in the Philadelphia market in particular, we have partnered with the Ronald McDonald House Okay. In ways that we can help them for with food. So, couple couple multistream answer to to the question, but we we, and, you know, we really rely on our different operators to determine what works best with their model and what works best for their local community.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:22:10]:
Right. And it does it does come back to that. I mean, how much space do you have? Do you have the kitchen space to re restore or re put the food back in the refrigerator to then donate, etcetera. So it does take a lot. My friend Margaret just said, bravo to Zingerman's and Ann Arbor.

Aric Ferrell [00:22:30]:
Agreed.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:22:31]:
She's Amazing. She is the Michigan gluten free gal. So she if you know anything gluten free in Michigan, you could talk to Margaret. She's awesome. But it I mean, in that, I think I chatted with, our friend at IAC, Simon from London. Mhmm. Mhmm. And they because in the UK, they actually have to label for all the nutrients if they're gonna donate the food as well.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:22:56]:
But they did a community fridge for their staff because they they're like, well, if we're gonna donate it outside of the hotel to the community, we might as well donate it internally to our employees first.

Aric Ferrell [00:23:08]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:09]:
And I think that's huge. And what about composting? Is there a big push for composting? Is it easy to do? Is it not easy to do?

Aric Ferrell [00:23:17]:
It's definitely not easy to do. No? It's not easy to do because it really takes a lot of discipline from a front of the house and then the

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:26]:
end user perspective.

Aric Ferrell [00:23:27]:
So, it's done we do we do do it because it, it's the right right thing to do. And when we have a local partner, we use a we use a local group here in Philadelphia that comes and picks up. But, you know, we we talked about cross contamination. Right. And when it comes to when it comes to that effort, you know, if there's a plastic fork in there, they will throw that away. They just don't have the time or the energy to sort through that. So it's really about educating our folks from a you know, when it when it comes time to get to the receptacle, and I think you're gonna touch upon that in a little bit as, you know, we have deployed technologies that will help you segregate your your trash so that we're able to properly stream that to the appropriate, whether it's recycling, organics, or or just straight trash. We wanna make sure they go to the right place.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:24:18]:
Right. Yeah. Yeah. And and I'll show the video of it, but I I put my phone up because I didn't have any food in front of me. But I put my phone up, and the video came up and says that goes in your pocket, which I thought was so cool. I'll do a video of that later. But, and that because it's it is the job of filtering that stuff is hard.

Aric Ferrell [00:24:35]:
It is. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:24:36]:
Yeah. And getting it to the right place. And it reminds me, I went to Slow Food Terramadre del Solandogusto, in Italy, and they had 8 different bins.

Aric Ferrell [00:24:45]:
Yes.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:24:46]:
And they had somebody there to tell you, okay. Put the paper napkin in this one, put this in this one, and it does require really filtering it all out.

Aric Ferrell [00:24:55]:
Yeah. And it's a lot easier. You know? Right. It's like not returning the shopping cart. Right?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:00]:
You have

Aric Ferrell [00:25:00]:
an option an option. You can either put it in the the cart bin or you can just leave it right next to your vehicle. So

Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:06]:
And the people who put it in the car bin and then don't push it in are the people that annoy me the the most. And some some guy did that the other day. 2 people were putting their cart in at the same time, and one put it he put it right next to his why would you not stack it? Oh my gosh. My drives my mom.

Aric Ferrell [00:25:20]:
We could probably spend the next 40 minutes talking about the charging cards. We could.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:24]:
Oh, it drives me nuts. But, okay. So let's talk allergens. And and when let's see. I had a quote from you that said, you seem to be the victim of cross contamination with some frequency lately, and foreign objects and unidentified ingredients. So not just not just food allergens, but tell us why what you mean by that.

Aric Ferrell [00:25:49]:
Well, I think one of my earliest memories as a, student in high school was when we got pizza, and there was I just pulled something out of it, and it was a hair. And I ever since then, it's just a that's been burnt into my memory, and I always seem to be the recipient of either a piece of plastic or I've shared it in some cases. I just recently got a piece of metal in my food, which was terrifying. And and listen. Some of these happen at the local level, but I think in the case of I was able to track down, it was ice cream in particular. It was a piece of plastic, and it did not it was it was it came from the plant. It had to just because of the shape and and the texture of the plastic. It didn't come from the bin that was in.

Aric Ferrell [00:26:32]:
So, listen. There's some controls, but the one thing that I will tell you that we do as an organization and and and previous to this organization has always been paramount personally because of obvious reasons is food safety. So as you're walking through our spaces, while it's not attractive, we have everybody in hair nets. You know?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:26:53]:
Yep.

Aric Ferrell [00:26:54]:
Cock gloves, making sure, not everyone is in, you know, proper proper gloves and making sure that they're they're preparing their food safely and that we are reducing any of those opportunities for cross contamination.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:08]:
Did you see the video of the lady who opened up a bag of green beans and there was a snake head in it? It's a frozen bag of green beans at home.

Aric Ferrell [00:27:17]:
I would not be all good.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:19]:
No. No. I mean, and the green beans were cut fresh then, you know, but no snake. Exactly. Yeah. Not a good thing. Where's the quality control on that? Right? Yeah. Okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:30]:
So hair aside and blades aside and snake heads aside, but

Aric Ferrell [00:27:35]:
Mhmm.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:35]:
How do you and we had this conversation with chef because I said, how do you how do you label gluten free? Right? Yeah. Because you're and Margaret, this is really keen for you here, you know, because when we buy something gluten free, he's like, it should be just in the back. But I don't like, how do you label that? And he and chef said he's doing it gluten friendly because there is air Mhmm. Or flour in the air because it is a kitchen. But how do you teach the front of the house and the back of the house about that cross contamination, cross contact, to avoid and help people who do have food allergies.

Aric Ferrell [00:28:14]:
Yes. So so I I can't speak personally on this, but I know just from touring different facilities that we do have aller allergen kitchens in particular. Mhmm. Very treated very similar to a kosher kitchen where there are not those opportunities for flour to be in the air. We would see these in particular instances, in our collegiate hospitality group.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:28:37]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:28:38]:
Whereas we have a very captive audience. They are paying very, very large amounts of money to go to a school, and the parents' expectation is that their student comes back in one piece. And we wanna make sure that that that is our endeavor as well. So we are we are very specialized kitchens that will concentrate, and make sure that, you know, I'm being a little bit, over the top of hermetically sealed in some cases, whereas but there won't be any opportunities. In a general population kitchen like this, where we're testing and vetting different recipes

Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:16]:
Mhmm.

Aric Ferrell [00:29:16]:
There is gonna be a element of gluten. We do our best to keep those areas separate from, you know, general prep areas so that we can, convey that it is a gluten friendly

Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:31]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:29:32]:
Environment.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:32]:
Okay. Yep.

Aric Ferrell [00:29:33]:
If you were to come in and tell me your celiac or you would have a very adverse reaction to any kind of I would advise that you probably not partake in our food in this particular environment.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:47]:
Yeah. But I still have a I don't know. Yeah. And Margaret pipe in here. But I'm like, I still and and I'm gonna and I said this at the food allergy awareness summit in earlier this year. I was talking to a group of college and high school cafeteria or not cafeteria, but food service work food service companies. I said, I love the fact that you have those separate kitchens.

Aric Ferrell [00:30:11]:
Mhmm. But

Tracy Stuckrath [00:30:11]:
you're also teaching these teenagers, these young adults that that's the way the world is.

Aric Ferrell [00:30:16]:
Mhmm.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:30:17]:
And I told them from this from the podium, I said, I love this, but you're also you need to be able to let them eat elsewhere because when they go out into the world of work and whatever, they're not in an environment where there's a separate kitchen for them to be to eat food from. And when it's given to them as a benefit of employment or whatever, how do we so it's it's gotta be the, you know, a mixture of, hey. Let's educate them on how to eat this way, but also let's educate our teams on how to feed them. And there's so many people that make fun of different dietary restrictions. But and and and we were just talking about just before we started that neither one of us drink alcohol. Right? Mhmm. But some people will say, well, you don't drink?

Aric Ferrell [00:31:02]:
Mhmm.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:31:02]:
Like

Aric Ferrell [00:31:03]:
Mhmm.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:31:04]:
Yeah. Why is that an issue? Right?

Aric Ferrell [00:31:06]:
The, you know, I think it put that out to

Tracy Stuckrath [00:31:10]:
the to the world. Yeah. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:31:10]:
Yeah. Sorry. Not at all. It's good. April. So not that long.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:31:15]:
I'm 5 years. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:31:18]:
The it it really comes down to the communication. And Tim touched upon it. We don't wanna we don't wanna overpromise and underdeliver. Right? We wanna just be as transparent as possible. And and if we feel like we're gonna put somebody in a dangerous or unsafe position, we just wanna make sure that we're conveying our our seriousness of of the issue because we cannot Mhmm. It is very difficult to guarantee anything outside of what is it, taxes and death. Right?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:31:44]:
Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:31:44]:
So we wanna make sure that we're just being as transparent, and there's gonna be a level of risk there that, is calculated, and we will do everything we can to accommodate a guest. But, yes, you're right. Not everybody in the outside world is gonna be as dedicated and diligent as we are here at at in this facility or or at our other facilities.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:06]:
Well, and going back to that nut story too. Right? And, like, the hotel said, well, we're not a nut free environment. And I said, I got understand that. And so when I called the woman to talk to her about it, I said, we're not gonna serve nuts at our event, any kind of nuts, but I need you to know that it's not a nut free environment. And she's like, I'm okay with that.

Aric Ferrell [00:32:24]:
Mhmm.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:25]:
And so as long as we, as the consumer, you know, understands that, you know, and and we trust that you're gonna do your due diligence And as much as you can, you know, to protect us, we're fine. And Margaret just piped in here. Thank you, Margaret. I appreciate the care that they are willing to take, but I think they also need to be aware that the term gluten friendly can actually cause more anxiety because we think it means don't prevent cross contact.

Aric Ferrell [00:32:50]:
Mhmm.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:51]:
That's a good point. Mhmm. Yeah. And so how do you and and that is in the context too of, like, hey. I'm partnering with you at this convention center. What does that mean? You know, putting that definition out to Margaret so Margaret knows it or have Margaret talk to you directly. Right? Say, hey. I'm coming to this.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:09]:
I have celiac disease. What how can you serve me?

Aric Ferrell [00:33:12]:
Yeah. Yeah. I should say, and I'm not certainly

Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:16]:
Well and I'm not putting you on the spot, but it's just in gen I mean, this is society.

Aric Ferrell [00:33:20]:
It's not I'm not rewinding here, Margaret. I mean, this is correct that you but we wouldn't use that term gluten friendly externally. We use it internally to to to kinda convey. We wanna make sure that when a guest walks up and they tell us that they have gluten sensitivity or or, or even worse than an allergy, that we're having that ongoing dialogue to let them know. I doubt very well that any of any of the folks that we engage with, we we use that term. So I think maybe you saw a little bit behind behind

Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:52]:
Yeah. Behind And sorry. Yeah. Yeah. And and, again, it's not it's not error mark. I'm not singling airmark out. I'm not you know, you what I saw up there was very clearly labeled. Mhmm.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:04]:
You know, when I'm going up to the cafeteria thing, it says contains wheat, contains nuts, contains whatever, contains fish. And so and the person was able to have a conversation with them, and she knew what she was doing. Right? And the guy even making the salad dressing or get putting the salad dressing on my salad. He's like, nope. There's no allergens in here. And so and, again, it's I'm not only because we're sitting here at Aramark, so I'm not badmouthing or

Aric Ferrell [00:34:31]:
Well, you saw the belly of the beast.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:33]:
Right. I did. Yeah. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:34:35]:
Yeah. You got to sit underneath the hood.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:36]:
Yeah. Yeah. And but it's a challenge, I think, in society in general Yeah. In all of food service of how do we not, as my term for thrive, is kill or offend people with the food that we serve them. And it's hard. It it's not an easy fix. And even tomorrow and I don't know if I asked you this, but, like, tomorrow, I'm speaking at MPI. And one of the laws that came out in the state of Pennsylvania said they were adopting the food code as is and 2022 food code.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:35:07]:
And it says the labeling of unpackaged food of you have to label unpackaged food and bulk food with food allergens, top 9 food allergens. And I reached out, and I'm like, well, what does that mean? Well, we're just gonna do that. And I'm like, it's not as easy as just saying that. You know? It's and and and it's well, okay. Let's bring this question up or this story that Tim told us. He got a Tim chef Tim here, got a call from the the American cheese Yeah. Manufacturer that said, hey. You can't call this cheese vegan or vegetarian because it actually has animal rennet milk rennet in it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:35:48]:
Right? And he's like and that kind of threw him for kind of a loop in in some respects, but it comes down to that transparency.

Aric Ferrell [00:35:57]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, it was just 2 categories out of multiple lines of cheese that they had from this particular company.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:36:04]:
Right. Yeah. So who knows? Right? You You know? And I think that's when I told him about the alpha gal. Right? Yeah. Alpha gal syndrome with the milk mammal allergy. But so it's I think it's just changing our whole perspective on food and beverage in general.

Aric Ferrell [00:36:19]:
The advantage we have of being the company that we are is that our suppliers have that direct line of communication with us. So we are able to provide that to the end user, and more importantly, the folks that have sensitivities or, those restrictions within their diet. So it it comes down to being informed.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:36:40]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:36:40]:
Not only communicating with our guests, but communicating with our suppliers.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:36:44]:
Well and I I think that was reiterated with our conversation with Tim because, you know, he said since COVID, it's really helped put a perspective on that transparency and that well and maybe it's something that you all are saying, hey. We need this transparency from you, and maybe we won't work with you if you don't have

Aric Ferrell [00:37:02]:
it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:02]:
Right? And that's that's kudos to you for putting it to raising that bar.

Aric Ferrell [00:37:07]:
Yeah. Well, supply chain takes up half of this building.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:10]:
Yeah. So,

Aric Ferrell [00:37:12]:
obviously, very, very critical. And that real that that relationship between, culinary and supply chain, as Tim alluded to, has has been key critical in our in our success as a as a group over over our history, but even more so now that, you know, we're finding the you know, people are people are a lot smarter about what they're consuming.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:34]:
Yeah. Well, and and you and I eating over lunch and, like, this is what we don't eat and this is why and why we don't. We wanna know I think more and more people wanna know what's in our food.

Aric Ferrell [00:37:43]:
Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:45]:
And where it's grown. And okay. So jumping to that.

Aric Ferrell [00:37:47]:
Sure.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:48]:
How do you are you look in sustainability wise, are you for the amount of food that you all purchase, I'm assuming that you're not using all small farms because they can't produce that much. But are you looking to smaller farmers or local

Aric Ferrell [00:38:03]:
We we look for, you know, we look for women owned businesses. We look for local, fisheries in some cases that I just actually leveraged last week. We had £60 of lake trout that were flown into for us, you know, within an a few hours of needing it. So we're working, and and and that particular fishery has, you know, tribal tribal ties for, you know, national park and the the history of the park. So there's very deep roots there within the communities. And, while we are a very large organization, we have the flexibility to leverage local, hyperlocal, in some cases, partners, and get them, you know, 1, processed from, you know, only from, you know, making sure that they're a safe facility that we wanna partner with, and 2, making sure that the back end, is covered from, you know, insurance perspective, but also getting these really small vendors paid rapidly because, you know, we don't want them out of pocket on product. So Right. We have those mechanisms in place.

Aric Ferrell [00:39:06]:
We do a a great job of being partners to our local community, because we all live in our local communities. Yeah. So we have to face these people when we leave this building. So we wanna make sure that we're we're good stewards and partners of

Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:20]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:39:20]:
Yeah. Communities. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:21]:
Well, and I like the fact that you said you you wanna pay them because small farmers or anybody, like, any kind of purveyor that's an entrepreneur doesn't have 90 days

Aric Ferrell [00:39:32]:
Yeah. To Absolutely not.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:34]:
To in savings to to forego that for the work that we're doing, myself included. Yeah. Excuse me. Yeah. So I love that. And then how do you call on that when you're when you're showing it do you showcase those farmers?

Aric Ferrell [00:39:51]:
Certainly do. Yeah. Yeah. Well, typically, in this space here, we've obviously low hyperlocal signage. I think if you go over to our coffee, we have a local granola vendor that we work with. She is based out of Harrisburg, you know, about a 120 miles away, but she's blown up within the East Coast. And, great story. Husband and wife had just basically left their day jobs and batched, you know, a 1000000 granola bars overnight.

Aric Ferrell [00:40:18]:
It's just

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:19]:
a remarkable

Aric Ferrell [00:40:19]:
story. I'm exaggerating with a million, but good story. And then we obviously have very local the garden state is 7 miles away.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:28]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:40:29]:
So we have really, really nice vendors. And then Kennett Square, mushroom capital of the world Really? Is right around the corner.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:36]:
So we have,

Aric Ferrell [00:40:38]:
that in our back pocket, and then we're blessed with having, you know, local seafood with with the Jersey and Delaware beaches.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:45]:
So,

Aric Ferrell [00:40:46]:
we're able to to leverage very hyperlocal affiliate, and then that, that that goes for all of our markets.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:53]:
Okay.

Aric Ferrell [00:40:54]:
Yeah. Yeah. And we really rely on the local expertise of our of our on-site staff, like as the general managers or our executive chefs to go out and make that community outreach. And then we have a local team here that will, take care of the back end economics and, the paperwork that will help us through getting them into our our supply chain system. And then we also because

Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:20]:
there's a whole another beast in general.

Aric Ferrell [00:41:23]:
Yeah. Yeah. All the unsexy stuff.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:26]:
Right. Exactly. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:41:28]:
And then we also also partner with local restaurants in general. Like, we'll we'll host a local restaurant that will come in and feature, and they'll actually run a station within our within our premises to to help out some Cool. Some of our our smaller restaurants in the area.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:42]:
When I was at that, food allergy safety summit, we were at the University of Maryland and which is on tribal ground, and they partner with the tribe. And they come in and do one of their stations once a month or once a week That's amazing. Which is to cook their indigenous food, which I'm like, oh my god. I could

Aric Ferrell [00:41:58]:
That's awesome. Yeah. That's awesome.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:00]:
That's really cool. And, you know, looking at and do you also design your menus? I know you've got this big bank of menus and but you've got you're breaking down menus as well. But are you kind of focusing it on, hey. This is San Francisco versus South Georgia?

Aric Ferrell [00:42:14]:
100%.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:15]:
And Yes. So that you're eating the food that's indigenous to that area. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:42:18]:
I would say the cheese steak that you get here would rival just about and I'm gonna probably get a lot of comments on this, but it would rival some of the best cheesesteaks in in the cities because it's in our blood. Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:31]:
They

Aric Ferrell [00:42:31]:
do a really nice job to get, you know, to get the cedar roll. They do it right here. So, whereas if if that recipe went to Georgia, I'm not confident they would execute at a level that we would in Philadelphia. So, obviously, there's very hyper local cuisines that we, definitely do. Like, the lake trout is a perfect example of that dish out at Lake Superior. Whiting is a very or white fish is a very common fish out there. We do smoke white fish. You know? So that's not something that would necessarily translate to all markets, although oddly enough, it does translate to the local market here.

Aric Ferrell [00:43:09]:
South South Jersey has a, affinity for white fish.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:13]:
Okay.

Aric Ferrell [00:43:14]:
I'm not sure where that stems from. But I don't know.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:16]:
But I had a really good gluten free, chip and fish and chips

Aric Ferrell [00:43:21]:
last night. Tell them.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:22]:
Yes. At White Dog restaurant. I'm like

Aric Ferrell [00:43:23]:
That's amazing.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:24]:
I can't eat it. I'm gonna I can't eat it anywhere else, so I'm gonna order it.

Aric Ferrell [00:43:27]:
That's awesome.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:28]:
Yeah. Okay. So, safety sustain this is the the whole podcast is based around the premises of safety, sustainability, and inclusion.

Aric Ferrell [00:43:38]:
Sure.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:39]:
So what do those three words mean to you as the VP of operations for all of these different kinds of venues? So when I'm going to a park versus a a conference center versus a zoo? Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:43:51]:
So every meeting we have, every meeting of 3 or more pope folks in our organization starts with a safety moment. Doesn't matter what it is. It could be we could be sitting in this conference room right now. The meeting starts with a con with a safety moment. That is in is ingrained in our in our culture as an organization. It does not have to be food food related. It could be facilities related. It could be the you know, I was driving to work.

Aric Ferrell [00:44:15]:
My windshield wipers weren't working correctly. It could be anything, but at least that is the culture here, and, we wanna, 1st and foremost, make sure people go home in the same condition if they arrive at work. So safety, that that is paramount here. Nothing comes second to that. Inclusion, you know, making sure that we're working in an environment that, you know, we talk about diversity. As you walk through these hallways, this organization brings a lot of different perspectives. Mhmm. Very, very open to different thoughts, different ways of doing work, and it makes it, a really great place to come in, and work.

Aric Ferrell [00:45:01]:
And we've done a really good job of bringing folks back after, obviously, the pandemic and, embracing that that the the the inclusiveness of this environment. When it comes to food, inclusive is having options for just about everybody. And when I say just about everybody, there's if we can't accommodate someone, we'll figure out a way to do it. But, making sure that we're making sure that people feel comfortable to have the the dialogue, 1 Mhmm. And that we're we're receptive to understanding folks that may not be we may eat differently than each other. Right. So, it's making sure that, we're having that dialogue, and that's we will Tim talks about taking it back as we're the the human interface piece is probably the most difficult thing to train somebody on.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:53]:
Right.

Aric Ferrell [00:45:54]:
But the most rewarding from, I guess, satisfaction perspective is being able to have someone that's educator or has a dialogue, and we all tell all our folks that, like, if you don't have the answer, go find it. And I said but before we sat down, I said, if I don't feel comfortable answering a question here, I will punt. Right. But I will find out come Yeah. What was the 3rd pillar?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:14]:
Sustainability. Sustainability. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:46:17]:
1st and foremost from us, you know, you've seen it. You you you've been smacked in the face as you walk in this building lead certification on the wall. Yep. We are very hyper conscious about our environment. We wanna make sure that the product that we're serving over the last few decades, you know, we continue to to to march for and be 1st and foremost, it's important to one, it's important to our clients, but, 2, it's really important to our employees. You know, we are we are interfacing with very local communities down to elementary schools.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:51]:
Mhmm.

Aric Ferrell [00:46:51]:
My kids, interface with airmark food on the regular. We wanna make sure Oh,

Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:57]:
the airmarks in their school?

Aric Ferrell [00:46:58]:
The the ones at my daughter's school.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:00]:
Yeah. Okay.

Aric Ferrell [00:47:01]:
Yeah. Alright. So yeah. We're we're we're feeding my daughter.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:03]:
So you're like, okay, people.

Aric Ferrell [00:47:05]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You better you better be on it. You better be on it because she'll come home. She'll let us know. No. But it's important.

Aric Ferrell [00:47:12]:
And then in in the college room, so we're we're we're we're we're in folks' lives from a very, very, you know, very early start from k through 12 through our our higher ed, our sports venues. And then when they're going out to the national parks to enjoy the outdoors, like that.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:32]:
Alright. And and when you I I don't know what popped this into my head, but I know I've seen some videos lately from the national parks, and this is just completely random. But they're designing the parks or they're providing opportunities for people who utilize wheelchairs to participate in the park. So how does that impact the buildings that you're using and the way you're serving? And and this is completely out of the blue, so if you don't have any answer to that.

Aric Ferrell [00:47:59]:
Well, you know, I don't know. I don't I know that recent architecture and engineering has been Mhmm. Very relied on, and even down to some of the the boats that we use are, inclusive of wheelchairs or are we are are accessible in in some kind of fashion, even down to the way that we're modeling our docks and making sure that they're accessible. I can't speak on MPS's part for the way that they're they're, integrating that into their spaces. A lot of their infrastructure is old for good reason. Like, it's was built to last. You

Tracy Stuckrath [00:48:39]:
know? Right. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:48:40]:
Mission 66 was a big initiative of theirs, and, there was a big endeavor with the national parks. So a lot of the facilities upgrades, we just recently did one at the park that I am that's completely accessible, from multiple different entrances. And you talk about inclusion. It's it's not you know, wheel wheelchair accessibility doesn't have to go to the back of the building and get into the building. So Yep. I have seen that firsthand. I can't speak for their portion of that, but I know from our from our engineering. It's Well,

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:12]:
I get and they're also, like, providing the chairs, you know, so they can hike. The individuals who utilize wheelchairs can now hike the the mountain

Aric Ferrell [00:49:20]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:21]:
In these really cool wheelchairs that are like, it's fascinating. So I'm excited about that.

Aric Ferrell [00:49:27]:
That's awesome.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:28]:
Yeah. Okay. We've talked a lot about a lot of different things, so thank you.

Aric Ferrell [00:49:31]:
Of course.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:31]:
Appreciate it. Yeah. Alright. Is there oh, you you travel a lot. How do you decompress in this crazy world of hospitality?

Aric Ferrell [00:49:40]:
So I I do a lot of camping.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:42]:
Oh, you do? Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:49:43]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:43]:
Glamping or camping?

Aric Ferrell [00:49:45]:
You could probably call it glamping. I have a during COVID, I bought a 1971 Airstream. So Nice. Yeah. But with that, we do a lot of, like my wife is a self taught baker. She opened a bakery when we lived in Arizona.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:00]:
Okay.

Aric Ferrell [00:50:01]:
We do a ton of cooking. And while that may not be relaxing for folks, we love to cook down there, and we love to get really we get I told you I'd go talk to the fishmonger what whatever's been caught fit fresh. Like, we are constantly trying to learn something about food. We enjoy food as a family, and that's how we kinda ground ourselves. So Cool. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:22]:
Awesome. So Very cool. Yeah. And we're do you take it all over?

Aric Ferrell [00:50:26]:
We don't. It stays static at 1 one. It's a Airstream only campground. It's down by the shore. It's perfect. Okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:31]:
Yeah. Awesome. Yeah.

Aric Ferrell [00:50:32]:
Very cool. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:33]:
Alright. Well, everybody, thank you for tuning in, Margaret. And whoever else was watching, I appreciate you being here. This is the I'm doing it wrong again. The eating at a meeting podcast covering Eric's face up. And Eric is with Aramark. You can find him on LinkedIn. Let's see.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:54]:
Right there. Eric Farrell. And, check-in with tune in with him, and, come find us at the IAC conferences because we're both there all the time. Right?

Aric Ferrell [00:51:03]:
Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:04]:
You're welcome. I appreciate it. Thanks for the tour. Yeah. Everybody, until next time, which would be next I will be coming from you to you from Detroit. Stay safe and eat well. Thanks.