NC State’s senior director of Hospitality Services, Randy Lait, has been working to create positive change on NC State’s campus throughout his many years as an employee at NC State and Dining Services.

Lait started working for Dining Services at NC State as a student in the fall of 1978 and has been working at the university ever since. According to Lait, he got involved with dining services by accident after trying to find a better way to maintain his school schedule.

Technician: What drew you to begin working with Dining Services at NC State, and how did you get involved?

Randy Lait: I had just enough grades to make it back into school, and I said ‘Okay, I gotta do different. I have to show up to class, and I need to do the work I’m supposed to do. And I need a job.’ I went down to the financial aid office, and there was a posting up to work at dining, …and I pulled the little phone number off and went over to the office. What they were looking for was a courier… That’s how I got started with dining; that I needed a job, and it was really convenient… During that time, I was able to come to campus at 8 a.m., and anytime I wasn’t in class, I was at work. It was a really good schedule for me. I could run to class, [and] I could come back do some work, go back to class, and it kind of kept me on a better schedule and kept me more focused on what I really needed to be doing.

Technician: When did you know being involved with NC State Dining Services was the career path for you?

Lait: It’s always felt like home to me. That’s been a part of the reason that I’ve been here for so long and how I knew that being a part of dining was where I belonged. NC State is a fantastic place to be. I think it’s the best university that there is. I graduated from here… We’re an NC State family, and there’s something about this campus that attracts outstanding students. And anything we can do to help them be successful in their lives is a privilege to be a part of. My small part of that is about providing food to everyone and making sure no one goes without.

Technician: What has been your proudest accomplishment with Dining Services with NC State?

Lait: Reaching higher has been part of what we [have always done here].We never rest and say we’re as good as we’re ever gonna be. We’re always trying to make the food better, the service better, the meal plans better, [and] to do a better job for NC State every day… One of the things I’m particularly proud of is that I can say every day people in dining are working to improve something,… and that’s kind of remarkable.

Technician: What impact have you made, and what impact do you wish to make on students?

Lait: I would hope that the students that have come through NC State have found opportunities not only to enjoy the food that we serve, but to enjoy the friends that they meet in the dining facilities, the discussions that they’ve had and the long term relationships that were developed over a good meal. I think that’s really important. [There was a young lady who once came to us after having jaw surgery], and she had to have it wired shut. She and her parents were asking what [she could] do for food, and I got her a blender and worked with the chefs to get her some food and to find a way [to get] her through that difficult time. She’s an oncologist now… Just to see moments like that of people [who] have done remarkable things [after attending] NC state, I hope that I have had some small impact in a positive way to help them get them where they’re trying to go. That’s what I really enjoy.

Technician: What are your future goals for Dining Services at NC State, and how has your goals changed throughout the time have worked for NC State?

Lait: For the past eight years since I’ve been director of Hospitality for NC State, we’ve really tried to elevate the campus dining program, and I think NC State now has one of the top 30 dining programs in the country. We’ve had a focus on healthy foods and trying to make the foods people love good for them. Food transparency…, has been a real focus for us. [For] people who have food allergies or food sensitivities, that’s really important… Sometimes [their well-being] is at jeopardy if they consume foods that contains something that they’re allergic to… There’s a real focus about our residential dining halls and continuing to try and improve those, and my hope is that sometime in the next few years, maybe there’s a new dining hall on the horizon… NC State was the first university to meet the Partnership for a Healthier America’s: Healthier Campus Initiative, which is a set of requirements about [dining, recreation and transportation]… NC State was the first university to meet those criteria… We were part of 18 schools [who] signed up in the original cohort, and we had three years to meet this pretty lengthy set of criteria, and NC State did it in nine months because we were already on a path to achieving a lot of those things.