The Trinity Catering Team

Posted on: 07 April 2016

Operating several restaurants and coffee shops across the campus, as well as the 1592 Restaurant, Commons and a banqueting service, Trinity’s busy Catering Department handles over 4,000 transactions per day for students, staff and visitors. The hub of activity for all of this catering is the large airy kitchen behind the Dining Hall in Front Square.

The working day starts at 6.00am when the delivery store opens. Much emphasis is placed on sourcing fresh, locally produced high quality produce. The Catering Department purchases 60,000 eggs annually and an incredible 1,655 boxes of chips (approximately 8,000 kilos!). 

Headed up by Catering Manager, Moira O’Brien, there is a team of 55 dedicated staff. This is evidenced by the fact that over 80% of the catering staff have more than 20 years’ service. Nicky Boland, Deputy Head Chef is the longest serving staff member with 35 years under his belt. He and his wife Joanne, another chef, met at work in Trinity’s kitchen and they are both there today.  

In response to customers’ ever changing needs, the Catering Department has introduced healthier menu options, more ethnically based dishes, and Halal foods. In addition, they are very conscious of allergens in foods and have created menu choices around this. The Catering Department has a four week cycle of menus. The department has developed a new delivered hospitality menu to cater for colleagues’ office meeting or training sessions.

One of the oldest traditions in Trinity is the serving of Commons, a three course meal at 6.15pm each evening. Grace is recited in Latin and one of the ‘perks’ is to enjoy a glass of Guinness, a tradition bequeathed by the Guinness family which has continued throughout the centuries.

Preparing for Commons each evening is a meticulously planned operation. As Head Chef, Kieran Maxwell (Max) explains “We only get the number dining on a particular evening that afternoon at 3.30pm – it could be anything from 110 to 180 people”. Dining on Commons takes place all year round and changes to lunchtime outside of term time. There is an increase in diners after Trinity Monday and at Christmas time.

Continuous staff training is a key part of the catering staff’s remit. Food safety training is mandatory and is undertaken on a biannual basis while customer service training and on-the-job training are important too.

The five restaurants on campus include The Buttery Food Court, The Hamilton Restaurant, Dining Hall Student Buffet, The East Dining Hall and The 1592 while the coffee shops are Lavazza at the Arts Café, Lavazza at the Westland, and Aras an Phiarsaigh Coffee Area.

The main challenge of the job, according to Moira, is keeping people on campus to avail of the restaurants and coffee shops due to our city centre location hence being surrounded by much competition.

A highpoint for the staff was when the Catering Department featured in RTE’s television series ‘Neven Maguire: Home Chef’ last year. Neven visited Trinity to experience a Commons dinner, and meet with Moira and Head Chef Max, to learn about the preparation involved in dishes served daily to staff, students and visitors to Trinity.

One of the annual highlights for Moira is the Trinity Monday dinner for Fellows and Scholars which can cater for up to 270 guests. “It has a wonderful celebratory atmosphere and ceremonial feel with guests in their robes, the College silver laid out and beautiful flower arrangements”. 

To find out more about the Catering Department which is part of the Accommodation & Catering Services in the Corporate Services Division please visit here.