We visited Au Bon Pain to interview Christine Fleming, the Catering Manager! She’s from Noblesville, Indiana and at her time at Purdue, she majored in Mathematics and minored in Philosophy.
So, how long have you worked at Au Bon Pain?
I’ve worked here for about a year and 8 months now.
What do you do as the Catering Manager?
Oh, lots of things! I have to know how to produce all the goods from our menu and bakery items. Making food for catering is different from creating it for the cafe, so I have to make sure our catering plates are delicious and aesthetically pleasing. I have to delegate with customers to make sure their order was correct and well made after delivery as well.
Wow, that’s amazing how you do so much! We have to ask, what’s the biggest/craziest catering order you’ve made?
We catered for a couple of graduation parties for the Purdue last spring. It was on a Saturday when we were closed and the customer wanted to serve breakfast so the order consisted of 200-300 pastries, 300 bagels, 16 salmon bars, 12 fruit trays, and some more. I came in the night before to prepare and early the next morning and as we were getting everything loaded up to my golf cart, it dies. So I have one of the biggest orders ever and I need to deliver it to Discover Park so I called my manager and we ended up taking my car. Surprisingly we were only 5 minutes late so it was all good in the end!
That must have been really stressful! Oh, any upcoming special items coming to ABP?
I believe around November or December we get marble cakes, macaroons, and other good bakery goods you guys should look out for!
Speaking of food, what’s your favorite fall item from ABP?
Probably the pumpkin scone, it is so good!
The pumpkin scone is really good! What is your favorite food overall?
I have so many favorites. Right now I’m craving a lot of seafood so I’ve been eating a lot of sushi and anything with salmon I’m really into right now.
What about your favorite season?
I absolutely love fall! My birthday is in fall, the weather is perfect, I can start wearing layers, the trees start changing colors, pumpkins are delicious, and so many more things I love.
You’re making us want some right now! When you’re not working, what do you like to do?
Currently, a lot of my time is taken up by Dungeons and Dragons. I’ve built my own campaign setting, which is a lot of work. I also like exercising and hanging out with my friends, play video games, and reading, I’m the quintessential nerd.
Are you more of a cat or dog person?
I love them both but I’m definitely more of a cat person. I rescued a cat named Luna in 2012, she’s a beautiful Calico. Both of my roommates also rescued kittens so in total we have 3 adorable cats between us.
Alright last question, what would you like to say to your future self 10 years from now?
That is a loaded question, there’s been a lot of change in my life in recent years so it’s hard to think of something to say. Ten years from now I would like to tell myself that I hope I know relationships and connections with people are the most valuable things in life so I hope I’ve have done a fantastic job at keeping those close to me close and continuing to be excellent in what I’m doing. I also hope I am still striving to be the perfectionist I am.
That’s very inspirational Christine, we hope you can one day look back on this interview and realize what you said came true and so much more!
Well Boilermakers, we hope you enjoyed our interview with Christine as much as we did! Have an amazing week before fall break!
Purdue Dining & Culinary 