By Chris Cunningham
The Scene staff
Forest Park’s cafeteria manager has taken a new job on the Meramec campus.
Todd Segneri will continue working for Treat America, the private contractor that runs cafeterias and handles catering for St. Louis Community College.
“(Meramec has) a more extensive catering demand,” he said. “It’s more of a challenge.”
Former Sous Chef Sue Doyle, 55, has taken over for Segneri as chef manager at Forest Park. She has been working in the cafeteria for four years.
“I’m excited (about the new job). I have been telling everybody what to do so long, it comes natural,” she said with a laugh.
Segneri, 45, worked in the cafeteria for five years. He was promoted from unit chef to chef manager in 2013.
Before that, Segneri taught culinary classes at Forest Park for a year.
“When I got my position at Treat America, I already felt like this was home,” he said.
Segneri said Forest Park is his favorite STLCC campus because of the strong “community” of students, faculty and staff.
“The way the buildings are connected is analogous to how everyone is connected,” he said. “I’ll miss that.”
Doyle started working with Segneri at La Chef Catering in Maplewood eight years ago. He later invited her to join the Forest Park cafeteria staff.
“Todd’s a great a guy to work with,” she said. “If he explodes, it is gone (quickly). It doesn’t simmer.”
Segneri has made many friends at Forest Park over the years.
Campus police officer Teri Buford remembers when he rushed to get an orange juice for a woman who had a diabetic reaction in the cafeteria.
“Todd and Sue were very comforting,” she said. “They didn’t charge for the juice and made sure (the woman) had a bucket of ice.
“(Segneri) was more than just the manager. He made sure that every person who came through there got a fair shake.”
Segneri graduated from University of Illinois at Chicago with a psychology degree in 1991, but he lost interest in the field after spending a year as a research assistant at University of Chicago Hospital.
He likened it to a “fallout with religion.”
“It wasn’t fulfilling,” he said.
Segneri decided to pursue a career in culinary arts. He earned an associate’s degree from The Cooking and Hospitality Institute in Chicago in 1994.
“I went with my passion,” he said. “I have been cooking all my life.”
Despite the career switch, Segneri finds that his psychology background helps in the kitchen.
“It taught me how the brain works and how people behave,” he said. “In high-stress situations in the kitchen, that helps.”