Meet the New General Manager of Chatham’s Dining Services
Alex Iracheta is the new general manager of Parkhurst Dining at Chatham University. (Mick Stinelli)
Alex Iracheta moved from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh, only to have someone suggest one of the first places he visit be the local casino. The irony wasn’t lost on him.
“I was like, yeah, it’s a great casino,” Iracheta said during a conversation at a high-top table in the Anderson Dining Hall. “I always compare it to if someone from Pittsburgh was to go to Las Vegas, and we said, ‘Come see this bridge we have!’ You’d be like, I cross four bridges on my way to work.”
Iracheta replaced Nicholas Corbett as General Manager of Parkhurst dining services at Chatham University in the spring. He comes from Duquesne University, where he worked various roles at Parkhurst for several years, but he made his bones working front-of-house roles in the Las Vegas hospitality industry.
“It definitely helped me understand the value of customer service and the service industry, that taking care of your guests is priority number one,” he said of his experience in Las Vegas. “There’s always a great opportunity to connect with people. I think food is a great way to do that.”
He moved to Pittsburgh 11 years ago and spent most of that time working at Duquesne. That was his first exposure to how campus dining works, and he enjoyed the opportunities he had to implement new strategies and ideas every fall semester for a new class of students.
Corbett, who recently left Chatham to join Parkhurst’s corporate offices, and Iracheta found themselves crossing paths more than a few times.
“Outside of his role at corporate, I’ve kind of been holding every role he has held throughout my career at Parkhurst,” Iracheta said. “He laid the trail for me really, really well.”
Iracheta decided to come to Chatham because he saw more opportunity and exposure for himself; his new role as general manager allows him to simultaneously oversee more aspects of dining services than his roles at Duquesne, which was more siloed in its operations. But before he joined Chatham full time, he made occasional visits to the campus in an advisory role.
In conversations with Corbett and other people on campus, Iracheta said he thought that on-campus events and collaborations with student groups have been received well recently, and he wants to continue thinking outside the box in the coming semesters.
“A lot of the feedback I’ve received says that last year was a really great year,” he said. “How can we build and expand on it?”
Pop-ups that allow food customization – loaded mashed potato bars, for example – have been successful, he said. And Parkhurst has already begun planning big events like the Harvest Dinner, Halloween dinner, and picnics on the quad, as well as expansions of the retail offerings at locations like Cafe Rachel.
“There’s been a sense of genuine community engagement and the desire to connect as a whole [at Chatham],” Iracheta said. “It isn’t ‘us versus them.’ We are a part of the Chatham campus, and we all realize that we need to work together so that we have the best programs for students, whether they’re residential or commuter students.”
More than anything, Iracheta said he’s excited for the challenge that comes with preparing for a successful fall semester.
“Being new in this space, I don’t know what I don’t know yet,” he said. “As students start coming in, it will be excited to hear the feedback from the students and their patterns and desires.
“I’m always up for feedback from students,” he continued. “Tell us what you want, and we’ll try to cater our program that way.”
Learn more about Parkhurst, including how to contact them at each of our dining halls, at our Dining Services webpage.
Mick Stinelli is a Writer and Digital Content Specialist at Chatham University. His writing has previously appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 90.5 WESA.