Crimson Shield November 2011

	CRIMSON SHIELD THE ONLINE MAGAZINE OF BROTHER MARTIN HIGH SCHOOL
November 2011 Published Monthly September through May

Food Service with a Smile

Tina LaBeaud in her domain

Mrs. Tina LaBeaud's connection with Brother Martin began with a request for 10,000 cookies for the school festival.

With her older son set to enroll as a Crusader eighth grader, Tina worked in the food service industry when Elaine Ridgley asked her to make the large donation.
Shocked, she replied, "I don't own the company. I just work here." Nevertheless, she delivered 5,000 cookies she baked herself at her company's test kitchen.

Tina had begun working in the food business after just one semester of college.

She started at the bottom as a file clerk at Conco, a company that sold to Brother Martin for many years.
"I took the attitude that, if I didn't know it, I'd find out. I learned the ropes and caught the eye of someone in a higher place."
She became secretary for two of the managers and, within five years, advanced to assistant for national accounts, including Marriott, the Hilton Hotels, and Wendy's.
She left Conco and worked at a food brokerage company for ten years. She was responsible for the accounts with the Archdiocesan schools as well as Orleans and Jefferson Parish schools.
All this experience would stand her in good stead when she became Director of Food Services at Brother Martin.

When her son Lyndon ('99 son of Lyndon, Sr. '75) became an eighth-grader, she worked "behind the scenes" for four years.

She handled all the food for the annual festival, securing donations and getting people to man the booths.
"I didn't mess up that job enough. So they figured I could actually run their food service."
She started in 1998-9, not replacing anyone per se. Barry Hebert ('74) had overseen the cafeteria, and Lorraine Lanaux had been the kitchen manager.
"I looked at it like an opportunity, a change of pace from sales and marketing, which was a job that was not very fulfilling. I figured it was God's way of saying, 'Here's something else.'"

Tina implemented a number of changes in the school's food service.

"I approached the job with the idea that students were customers. They weren't a captive audience that would have to eat what was out there."
She expanded the breakfast program from just donuts and milk to include hot choices and a cereal cart. She also added many choices to the lunch menu, implementing more variety with healthier items like salads and wraps.
She also "tightened up the operation" with more accountability. She ordered properly to control food costs.
"I don't look at things as fixed but as a work in progress. You need to be flexible and listen to students. Every decision I make in food services is based on the students first."
There are no formulas she can follow. "It's intuitive. I look at patterns based on the past purchasing history."
"I'm blessed in having a fabulous staff, people who have been here many years. They like their job and they genuinely like the students. You see the ladies interacting with the boys. Some students come from challenging home environments. You have to be aware of those kids and be there for them."
"Whenever I get grumpy dealing with adults, I go out and work the register to reconnect with students."

With her younger son Lawrence ('04) and her daughter in college, Tina decided to return to UNO with the goal of becoming a math teacher.

For many years, she told her mother-in-law, an educator, that she didn't know why anyone would want to teach. You don't get paid much and have all kinds of trouble.
But working at Brother Martin changed her perspective. "I found that I really enjoyed the students. If you had told me five years before that I would work at a school and like it, I wouldn't have believed you."
"It's a different environment from the business world. The students make it rewarding. As Brother Martin said, Give them good character, a good foundation in academics, and teach them to think critically and they'll be set."
"The students say, 'I can't wait to get out of here.' I tell them, 'You'll be back.' They come back and say, 'We miss this so much.' They always say how much Brother Martin prepared them."
She has taken mostly night courses the last few years. Her timetable for graduation suffered a setback at the beginning of this semester when her husband was diagnosed with kidney failure. His dialysis appointments caused her to reduce her class schedule to a single online course.
She has switched her major from Math Education to Math because the Education Department wouldn't allow her to practice teach at Brother Martin.
Tina likes to shock students by being "that woman in the cafeteria who can rattle off the Quadratic Formula."

Tina LaBeaud 1999