Foodservice has gone from being transactional to transformational and now, thanks to COVID-19, it’s back to being transactional again. How did the industry evolve to that point and where is it headed in the future? How can operators design an operation with the proper flow that supports simple, yet authentic menus and allows consumers to explore different cuisines without compromising safety, flow and efficiency.

Rafi Taherian, Associate Vice President, Yale Hospitality

Rafi Taherian is an innovative and passionate food industry leader with a zest for creating exciting new concepts in campus dining. He believes that collegial dining provides an ideal setting to incubate and develop pragmatic solutions for food literacy, food R&D and food sustainability. He believes that transformative initiatives are accomplished through leveraging academic strength, industry resources and community engagement.

Rafi developed Yale Hospitality’s renowned sustainability initiatives, which emphasize principles of humane and ethical treatment of animals, support for local and regional food systems and minimal processing of food in a fair and just manner. All in all, a system that supports not only human health, but also protects the environment, is simply better for the people and better for the planet.