Southwest Greensburg chef moves from restaurant into W.Pa. schools

The chance to trade in the late nights and long hours required of a restaurant chef for a more conventional schedule steered Scott Hudak back to school.

Hudak, 39, transitioned from restaurants to school cafeterias in 2013, taking a job as a food service director with Hempfield-based The Nutrition Group before his culinary background and experience earned him a promotion to regional chef.

“I've always loved working with kids, and I've always loved cooking, so this is like the perfect opportunity,” Hudak said. “I found the Nutrition Group online, and it's an amazing company to work for.”

Now Hudak, a Norwin High graduate who lives in Southwest Greensburg with his wife and daughter, designs school meal menu items for more than 200 school districts throughout the country, including 164 in Pennsylvania.

He's also one of the food service directors for the Greensburg Salem School District, working on day-to-day food preparation in addition to regional chef responsibilities. As part of that job, he travels to offer training seminars to help cafeteria staffs get up to speed on new menu items, troubleshoot problems and streamline operations.

“I think one of Scott's biggest attributes for us is his way of working with the hourly staff when he does come up with new ideas, the way he communicates to the ladies in the cafeteria,” Nutrition Group regional manager Kelly Patterson said. “Their wealth of knowledge is so important to us, and he really listens to what they have to say and takes into account their thoughts and suggestions and ideas of what they've done in the past and puts a new spin on it. It's very well-received by the hourly staff.”

When new U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations put a focus on school meals, districts turned to companies like The Nutrition Group to make sure students would get foods that adhere to the new guidelines.

“The school lunch world used to be a little bit easier to navigate,” Patterson said. “With the regulations, there's a lot of things to keep track of. I think that's just a support and resource we're able to provide to the districts.”

Bringing creative meal ideas to students while juggling the more stringent federal regulations keeps Hudak busy.

“Every day is a challenge just because every idea, every recipe, every thought — you go somewhere and have dinner and you're like ‘This is amazing, I'd love to incorporate that' — you have to take it back and go through all the guidelines and restrictions so it meets the requirements,” Hudak said.

“Whatever it is, it has to fall into a category. To make a simple sandwich like a turkey Reuben, you have to go through the requirements with the bread for the grains, the meat, the cheese, the protein. It takes more than just ‘Hey, let me slap this together.' ”

Making sure his meal ideas meet the government guidelines is only part of the challenge, Hudak said. Any new menu item must be able to be prepared easily without requiring special kitchen equipment.

“We have 200-some schools now that may range from inner-city schools to upper-class schools where they have all the equipment,” Hudak said. “When we come up with ideas, we also have to take into consideration when we send this out to everybody, it can work in anybody's kitchen.”

Greensburg Salem hosted a Nutrition Group food show Feb. 10, offering students free lunch for the day in exchange for input on the proposed menu additions, but Hudak said his status as regional chef gives Greensburg Salem students an early preview of his culinary creations throughout the year.

“Because I'm at Greensburg Salem, a lot of those kids get to taste some of the new things first before other schools do,” Hudak said.

“Last year, when the pepperoni pinwheels (Hudak's spin on a pepperoni roll) came out and we did the breakfast pinwheels, Greensburg Salem is actually where we came up with the idea and where we invented it,” he added. “The kids tested it. ...They loved it, so that's what started the boom, and now they're in all our schools.”

Greg Reinbold is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-459-6100, ext. 2913 or greinbold@tribweb.com.