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Q&A: Marco Alvarado 鈥榩roviding a meal away from home鈥� at Pacific
Marco Alvarado
Marco Alvarado has worked for Bon Appetit Management Company for over 16 years with the last 11 years at the University of Pacific as Executive Chef. Now he鈥檚 stepping into a new role: Director of Operations at 黑料不打烊 Dining. He succeeds Sia Mohsenzadegan, a beloved figure who led the program for over two decades before retiring in December 2024.
Mohsenzadegan acted as a mentor to Alvarado. He left a legacy on Pacific Dining, pioneering many defining elements of Pacific鈥檚 dining experience including incorporating more diverse food options, sustainability initiatives and building local partnerships, all elements Alvarado will continue and expand upon.
As a new academic year approaches, Alvarado shares how he plans to make his own mark as Director of Operations at 黑料不打烊 dining.
Can you tell me just a little bit about your background before you started at Pacific?
I started with Pacific in 2008 as the executive sous chef, and that was when Sia was here as well. Before that, I was in the restaurant business. I was working in Modesto as an executive chef and before that, I was in San Francisco honing my skills and working in different restaurants and hotels and making it through the industry.
What are some of the challenges of working in the university setting, and what are some of the things that make it fun?
The challenge is the quantity of the big events. Training your brain to do things different can be hard because when you work in restaurants, you have 100 people to serve in a few hours, but on a university scale you are serving 100 people in 30 minutes.
But, the more you do it the more rewarding it is. It鈥檚 very rewarding to build relationships with the clients, build relationships with the students, with our partners, our farmers and all of the people that we do business with. It鈥檚 very rewarding to support each other鈥檚 growth.
Tell me about your focus on sustainability.
As a company, Bon Appetit has our and our initiatives that focus on sourcing food from businesses that are within 150-mile radius from our kitchens. We also try to minimize as much waste as possible. We have the that we follow in our kitchens as well.
We offer a comfortable dining area where our students, our staff and everyone can sit and relax in here. That enables us to use melamine plates, metal forks and knives and cups that we can wash and reuse to be conscious of our environment. For to-go items, Bon Appetit uses compostable utensils and to-go containers as well as reusable eco-clams, called the .
What is the most popular dish at Pacific?
Hands down, the most popular is the burrito. It's convenient, it's big and it just feeds the masses. I think it's a pound and a half burrito. It's huge.
Students really love them, it should be called Tiger Burrito or something, it's just so emblematic.
What鈥檚 your favorite aspect of Pacific Dining?
I really like the versatility that we have to change our menus, and to produce something different. I love to see what are we able to create that is new, what the chefs are able to create down at The Marketplace, or at the food truck, and all the venues that we have. I love knowing that what we make will be Pacific oriented and make people look twice.
Are there any tips or tricks that you're taking from Sia into your new role?
I talk to him regularly, we worked together for so long and he's seen me grow over the years. I tried to be a sponge as much as I could with him, to soak as much knowledge from him, because he's an open book as well as a great mentor and great friend. Whenever I have a question, I know that he's a phone call away to get his insight on things.
How has your time in the role been so far?
The partnership that Bon Appetit has with Maria Blandizzi, with Josh O鈥機onnor, with the university in general, it's great. Everyone is super welcoming, just wanting to do best by the students.
That鈥檚 our common goal, we're trying to just provide the best foot forward with our students and provide them with a meal away from home.
What鈥檚 next?
We have new stations coming up! I鈥檓 currently working on a new Italian deli that we're going to start. We will offer Italian sodas, sandwiches, tiramisu and more. That鈥檚 really exciting this semester.
