After graduating high school in Lombard, Illinois, Robert Joens thought he knew what he wanted to do with his life.
“Quite honestly, I didn’t want to go to college — I thought I had already found my career path at a pizza place,” he said. “My mom told me, ‘Go to college. You can always go back to the pizza place.’”
Reluctantly, he enrolled at NIU alongside his twin brother, following in the footsteps of older siblings who had also attended the university. Before long, his courses in NIU’s marketing program allowed him to consider the business of food service from a different perspective. And this expanded perspective helped spark a deeper interest in a different kind of food service career.
After earning his bachelor’s degree, he enrolled at the College of DuPage where he earned an additional degree in food service management while working at Rosati’s Pizza in Lombard. When a food service director position opened at ARA Food Service, now known as Aramark, Joens had just the mix of skills they were looking for.
“I was offered a job as a food service director — launching a career managing corporate cafés and catering events in contract food service,” he said. “It was a far cry from working at a pizza place that stayed open until 1:30 a.m. on weekends. I realized there were food service jobs with a more traditional Monday-through-Friday schedule.”
After six months of training, Joens received his first assignment as a food service director at the AT&T building in Chicago, conveniently located across from the Ogilvie train station.
“I wasn’t a typical commuter because I was heading to a kitchen, not an office,” he said. There, Joens blended his marketing and management skills to both engage customers and motivate staff. At the time, the company held monthly and annual marketing contests. Joens won four monthly awards and the annual prize, proof that he was on his way in the food service industry.
As he advanced in his career, Joens managed increasingly large accounts and continued applying his marketing expertise to corporate café promotions. He was named a regional marketing champion, responsible for designing promotional campaigns implemented across the company. His résumé came to include major names such as AT&T, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Montgomery Ward, Northrop Grumman, the American Dental Association, OfficeMax and Walgreens.
Despite these accomplishments, Joens said his most rewarding professional experience came through his work with the nonprofit homeless rehabilitation shelter, the Chicago Christian Industrial League (CCIL). There, he created a 10-week food service training program that earned grants from the city of Chicago. He became certified as a food service sanitation instructor at the national, state and city levels.
The program included classroom instruction, hands-on kitchen training, sanitation certification and two-week internships at Aramark facilities. Each cycle concluded with a traditional graduation ceremony, which is often a moving experience for students and their families.
“It was deeply fulfilling to help people develop skills that could change their lives,” Joens reflects. “It taught me how powerful it is to be an instructor.”
Joens continued his work as an instructor, keeping his certifications current and becoming a safety champion and hospitality trainer for Aramark. He conducted sanitation training for over 100 Aramark managers and employees, and helped reduce safety incidents across the region through rigorous standards and education. “I never wanted a guest to get sick from something we did wrong with food safety,” he says, “and I never wanted an employee to be injured because of poor training.”
He credits his marketing education from NIU for enhancing his hospitality training. He branded the customer service experience, aiming to create an environment that was friendly, honest, comfortable and welcoming to a diverse clientele. While he doesn’t fully subscribe to the adage “the customer is always right,” he strongly believes in doing everything possible to give guests a memorable — and often entertaining — experience.
Joens has built lasting friendships — from the pizza parlor to NIU to each of his job sites. Many of those friends still gather at his annual Super Bowl party, which began in Douglas Hall, Room 366C. This tradition has continued for 45 years, and Joens plans to host until it hits 50 — then pass the torch. And the food he serves? Pizza, of course.
In semiretirement, Joens continues his work in sanitation certification with Safe Food Handlers Corp. “The better trained the staff, the safer the operation,” he says. That belief has carried him from a local pizza shop to a meaningful career, impacting customers, clients, colleagues and communities alike.
