Downtown College Park may have received an injection of celebrity flavor last week with the debut of Bobby Flay’s restaurant, but the university also boasts its own lineup of all-star chefs in kitchens across the campus.

During the past few months, Dining Services hired several chefs hailing from high-profile establishments, such as the Waldorf Astoria and Ritz-Carlton hotels. They joined a number of other university chefs who previously worked at five-star restaurants, fancy casinos and luxury hotels across the country.

“They bring so much to the table,” Director of Dining Services Colleen Wright-Riva said of the new prestigious chefs. “They bring a fresh perspective, open-mindedness and new techniques that our people haven’t experienced.”

A number of Dining Services’ top chefs tout impressive previous employers on their resumes. Before tending to stovetops in campus kitchens, Rob Fahey, a recent hire and head chef of 251 North, previously worked as the executive chef at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore; Adele’s Head Chef Ivory Kornegay owned his own restaurant; John Gray, Dining Services senior executive chef, was hired away from Harrah’s Hotel and Casino three years ago; Dining Services Head Baker Jeff Russo cooked for the Waldorf Astoria and Plaza Hotels in New York City; and Thomas Schraa, a Dining Services catering chef, worked at a five-star restaurant.

But why would these prominent chefs choose to take significant pay cuts and leave luxurious work atmospheres for a public university?

It’s all about quality of life outside the kitchen, Dining Services Associate Director Joe Mullineaux said.

“They come here because they want a life,” he said. “At hotels the craziest times are the holidays. Here we offer eight weeks off a year, including holidays. And that’s something we advertise,” he said.

This caveat has helped the university recruit well-respected chefs to fill chef manager roles across the campus. Chef managers directly oversee the campus kitchens, and they often have the most control over which items are served in dining halls and cafes.

Dining Services Catering Executive Chef William Rogers said that’s exactly what drew him to join the campus kitchen crew.

“It’s about the culture and environment here. Hotels are great, but the busiest times are the holidays,” he said. “Here it’s more about having [my] own life and a family while also doing my own thing. I figured I could have a great kitchen with good food and have a life.”

In addition to employing chefs who list high-end hotels as their previous employers, Dining Services has also filled several other ranking positions with graduates from some of the nation’s most elite cooking schools. Rogers, one of the most recent additions to the Dining Services staff, attended the Culinary Institute of America.

“We take pride in hiring talented and experienced chefs in every capacity,” Dining Services Communications Director Bart Hipple said. “We feel we’ve done a good job of putting together a staff that can give our students the best options.”

And despite a yearly average of 300 percent turnover for food industry workers, Mullineaux said the schedule flexibility and vacation benefits the university offers its chefs enable Dining Services to hire and maintain talent in its kitchens.

“We have a good track record of keeping people here,” he said. “And that’s because we give them the quality of life while also still giving them the freedom in the kitchen to create dishes and teach the other members of our staff.”

Tim Bowen, a junior kinesiology major who works at the 251 North dining hall, said the chance to learn from such experienced chefs improves the food all members of Dining Services dish out.

“They teach us how to cook,” he said of the chef managers. “Without them, the food wouldn’t be nearly as good, especially at 251 North.”

israel@umdbk.com