Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to work he goes!

When Michael P. Berry took over as director of Harvard Dining Services (HDS) in 1991, he was dismayed at the condition of the University's kitchen facilities.

"He said it was a terrible place to work in," remembers Leonard D. Condenzio, now the acting director of HDS. Berry's concern translated into action, leading to a major dining hall renovation campaign which is still underway.

This desire to improve poor working conditions is typical of Berry's focus on what Condenzio calls "both the internal and external customer," meaning the students who eat in HDS-run campus facilities and the employees who work in the University's food facilities.

It is this activist, customer-oriented managerial style that Berry will take with him when he leaves Harvard this month to become vice president for Food Operations and Concept Development at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.

Origins of the Mealtime Messiah

Berry's five-year tenure at HDS came after a lifetime in the foodservice industry. Beginning at age 13, when he started working at a resort in his home state of New Hampshire, Berry used what subordinates and superiors alike describe as superb interpersonal skills to advance within the field.

After stints directing collegiate and corporate food programs at institutions like the University of California at both Los Angeles (UCLA) and Irvine (UCI), Berry applied to fill the HDS vacancy created when its longtime director, Frank Weissbacker, retired.

Berry was hired, acquiring a $23 million annual budget and 460 fulltime employees.

When he arrived at Harvard, he immediately hired several trusted subordinates from previous jobs, including Condenzio. Another import was executive chef Michael Miller, who had known Berry for 17 years and worked with him at UCI and UCLA.

Like nearly everyone who has worked under Berry, Miller credits the former director's success to Berry's ability to motivate his employees and to effect change with in the organization.

"Mike's always been a very driven person," Miller says. "He's a real visionary as far as food services in general are concerned."

"He's one of the few people I know who thinks about the business all the time," the chef adds. "If he's out at a social event or dinner, he's observing to see what works or what doesn't. He's analyzing, thinking, 'That's a really good idea, maybe I could try that somewhere."'

"We on the service side of the University all learned a lot from Mike," says Sally Zeckhauser, who as vice president for administration oversees HDS. "How to serve our customers, how to motivate our employees and how to be well schooled in our [other] businesses."

Employees say Berry really cares about them and the students, abiding by his own motto for HDS: "Give a Damn."

"He would come in sometimes and serve on the line," remembers Ron Cockcrost, the assistant manager at Adams House Dining Hall. "Every time he would walk through the dining hall, even if there were 100 students, he would talk to every one of them."

"Every time I've worked for Mike, he's genuinely demonstrated a very giving nature to all the people who've worked around him," Miller says.

"I came to work for him here about a year after he came," says the chef. "I walked through dining halls and after a while I said to him, 'Everyone's happy here, cooks, dishwashers, everyone.' Mike just kind of fosters that kind of good feeling."

Most agree that Berry's innovations are the central factor of his success at Harvard and elsewhere.

"He was really great," says Cockcrost, who has worked for HDS for 40 years. "I've worked for many managers, and I liked his style best of all.

He gave us more freedom to try things. If it worked, it worked. Otherwise, he knew not to try it again."

Evolution in Dining

Berry began changing things at HDS as soon as he arrived at Harvard.

The course of his innovations can be traced through the pamphlets titled "Dedicated to the Liberal Art of Eating," that HDS sent home to incoming first-year students each summer.

The pamphlet for the academic year 1991-1992 highlights the new programs that the director, one semester into his tenure, had instituted based on student feedback and his own observations.

In the flyer, HDS promises Harvard students "a sandwich bar at every lunch," "a wider range of items on the salad bar" and a request grill in dining halls for hamburgers and other barbecue foods.

The 1993-1994 brochure draws attention to vegetarian stations, Kosher tables in some houses, the "Recipes from Home" program, exam-period late night snacks and festive specialty meals.

The following year HDS promised more variety in food presentation, including "authentically seasoned" ethnic foods and a newly renovated college bakery.

This year's pamphlet announced a pasta bar at every lunch and dinner, a weekly Chickwich entree, expanded Sunday brunch offerings and 120 new items, such as polenta with grilled vegetables.

Additionally, Berry was intimately involved in the organizational shift toward healthier, lighter foods and away from heavy, traditional fare, according to Condenzio. As director, Berry also advocated the move to self-serve dining halls with more choice for the diner.

Beyond improving food quality, however, HDS also increased its commitment to environmentalism and community service under Berry. In conjunction with Phillips Brooks House and other student and community organizations, the dining halls and restaurants gave away leftover food to the hungry and participated in waste awareness programs.

Away from the dining halls, Berry also concentrated on turning around the University's failing catering department. By splitting the operation into Crimson Catering and Harvard Express, the new director created a high-end catering division and a more casual, inexpensive caterer, which provides coffee and snacks for faculty receptions.

With the help of Berry's vision for improving the catering business, the HDS catering operations are serving 110,000 meals during Commencement Week and turning a profit.

An Impressive Legacy

Over time, Berry's innovations began to give the University's foodservice department a reputation worthy of the Harvard name.

This year, Berry won the Silver Plate Award from the International Food Service Manufacturers Association, honoring his leadership, community service and innovations. HDS as a whole was also awarded the Ivy Award by Restaurants and Institutions Magazine and won a prize for creative menus.

It was this growing reputation, Condenzio says, which moved Disney to give Berry an irresistible offer to relocate to Anaheim.

Despite his departure, it appears likely Berry's legacy will continue to guide HDS into the next century. He has crafted a mission statement with his team that the University foodservice leaders will continue to follow after their leader dons the Disney mouse ears.

In sum, the mission statement affirms that HDS is a dynamic organization, devoted to meeting its customers' needs. To remind employees of the centrality of their mission, every HDS office and facility has the mission statement hanging on the wall.

"For all Mike's magic, and there was an abundance," says Zeckhauser, "he did not do it alone, and there are many wonderful people in Dining Services to continue his legacy."