Untitled Document

Volume 1, No. 11. June 29, 2001

Iron park chef
The special of the day: stuffed chicken breast, mashed potatoes, vegetable and dinner roll, all for $1.88. The food is freshly made, too, the product of an executive chef who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York and has worked almost 33 years in food service. Of course, there is a catch: you have to work at HersheyPark to partake of these culinary delights.

Well known for its diverse and quality menus in the park, HersheyPark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, also pays special attention to the fare in the employee cafeteria. That was one of the directives from Rick Stemmel, assistant general manager of operations, when he hired Charlie Gipe as executive chef three years ago. Gipe, who had been consulting for the park eight years prior to his full-time employment there, has been an executive chef more than 15 years and previously worked at the Embers Hotel in nearby Carlisle.

"These employees are on the front line, working hard," Stemmel said. "We want them to have a place to really relax and unwind for 45 minutes." To that end HersheyPark is planning $400,000 worth of capital improvements to the employee cafeteria, expanding the seating area and improving the ambience to resemble more of a restaurant than a canteen. Currently the facility can seat 120 inside and on the patio.

With 3,200 total employees in the park, the cafeteria serves 3,000 meals a day. "It's the same here as for patrons: you have to have that healthy choice," Chef Gipe said. "Us diabetics and young ladies watching their figures require it." Chef Gipe doesn't skimp on preparation of menus, either. "At other parks I've visited, you're lucky if you get a piece of chicken in their employee cafeteria," he said. "Here you get it 12 different ways."

HersheyPark employees also get some new concoctions from the creative chef who has become a staple on local television home shows (generating great publicity for the park). "This becomes our guinea pig area," Gipe said of food items and recipes he wants to introduce to food stands in the park or for the catering operation. "There's nothing better than our maintenance staff telling me whether they like something or not. If they like it, it will sell in the park. If they don't, it won't. They haven't been wrong yet."

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