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Cafe Employee Gets National Recognition

March 01, 2018 - 1 minute read


A food service employee well known on CUI’s campus won a national award for excellence which included an expenses-paid trip to Orlando from food service partner Bon Appetit.

“Aracely [Alfaro] really is the face of customer service for us,” says Laura Hodge, general manager of food services at CUI. “She knows everyone, their preferences, about their families. Students come in before they graduate and bring her thank you cards.”

Every year, Bon Appetit’s parent company solicits nominations for awards of excellence. Hodge and her team nominated Alfaro, who has worked in CUI’s cafeteria for more than a decade. Hodge says Alfaro greets everyone with a smile and has a strong work ethic, picking up shifts when needed, setting everything up in the morning, and readying the room for lunch service.

Aracely [Alfaro] really is the face of customer service for us. She knows everyone, their preferences, about their families. Students come in before they graduate and bring her thank you cards.

Aracely learned she had won the Excellent Service Award for the western United States when the company president called and told her the good news.

“I couldn’t believe I got it,” Alfaro says. “I felt very happy.”

Hodge, who was present, says, “She cried and said a lot of thank yous and how much she loved it here. Everyone was proud of her, the whole community on campus.”

In October, Alfaro flew to Orlando for a series of celebratory events including a banquet, an awards ceremony and a spa day. Her favorite part?

“Receiving the award from the president,” she says. It is the first time anyone from CUI has won the award. Congratulations, Aracely!

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