Video: From Dishwasher to Lead Cook at Granby Commons
Dining Services’ Marcial Matos recounts journey from Puerto Rico to BU
From Dishwasher to Lead Cook at Granby Commons
From Dishwasher to Lead Cook at Granby Commons
Marcial Matos’ journey to cook at Fresh Fuel at Granby Commons began 12 years ago with a very long walk. Just arrived from his home in Loiza, Puerto Rico, and knowing very little English, the 18-year-old answered an online ad for a dishwasher at the dining hall at BU Hillel. To get to the interview, he took a subway to Downtown Crossing and then walked nearly two and a half miles to campus. His soon-to-be manager was so impressed that he’d walk two hours to a job interview that he hired him immediately.
Granby Commons, on Hillel’s third floor, serves over 100 meals a day, and is popular with students, faculty, and staff for its vegetarian and vegan cuisine, not just its kosher menu. Matos ascended through the ranks there, advancing from dishwasher (a job he held for five years) to prep cook, and now, to first, or lead, cook. In that role, he oversees Granby’s dairy, meat, and vegan kitchens and works closely with the vegan cook and prep cook.
“The first time I came to this place, I saw how it’s like a family place, because everybody knows everybody,” Matos says. “I saw someone new come in and start eating, and the other people just came up and said, ‘Hey, what’s up, are you new?’ and I liked that. I said, wow, everybody’s friendly here.”
Matos says he gets his work ethic from his father, who died when he was just 15. “My father taught me that everything you do, you need to work hard at it. I’m a hard worker. I always work hard, no matter what position I have. When people tell me the food is good, or it’s great, that makes me feel like tomorrow I’m going to work even harder.”
He recalls that his first effort in the kitchen got off to a bit of a rocky start. “I burned like 300 cookies my first time baking. And I thought I was fired. But my boss told me how to use the timer, and I learned. In more than 10 years, I never burned a cookie again. So you can’t be scared to fail. You learn by failing.”
Cooking, he says, is like therapy. “When I cook, I forget about everything.” And he says he’s always striving to improve on every dish. “I make the same dishes all the time, but when I taste them, it’s usually better than the last time. And I like that.”
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.