KICKING IT UP A NOTCH 13.t/ Hannah Perry I Clail'e Heffley Sebastian J akupovic, bead chefofthe Charles White Dining Hall at Harding, said he received an influential piece of advice from his father he had never forgotten. "My father told me every man needs to know how to cook 10 dishes," Jakupovicsaid. "If your wife gets mad at you, and you don't have enough money to eat out, you can cook. If you don't know how to cook 10 dishes, you'll be in trouble." Although J akupovic said he had been happily married for 30 years, his culinary career had expanded to almost 30 years of experience, and his dishes have expanded from 10 to several hundred. J akupovic was born and raised in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, now Serbia. He earned a college degree in hotel and restaurant management and moved to Germany in 1993 with his wife and two children. "In Germany, we knew a gentleman who is from Searcy, (Arkansas)," Jakupovic said. "He asked me why don't I come to the United States. We played the visa lottery in 1995, and in 1997 we got an answer to be accepted. From Germany we moved to the United States in 1998." When his family moved to Searcy, Jakupovic worked as the production manager before being promoted to executive chef at University of Central Arkansas. In 2013, he was hired as the head chef at Harding. 'There are great people at Harding," Jakupovic said. "The people are just amazing. Everyone is nice and kind." Jakupovic said he understood as a foodservice provider he could not make everyone happy; however, he encouraged students to make suggestions to the cafeteria managers. "There is always a challenge, and I understand as a food service provider we can't always meet everyone's expectation as much as we try to do that," Jakupovic said. "In all honesty, we need your input,too. Pull one ofus aside, and saythat wasn't the most favorite dish ofthe day. We can change it. Communication helps both sides be happy. If I prepare the food and it makes you unhappy, that makes me unhappy because we put effort into it make everything taste the way it is supposed to, but it's just not hitting the taste buds." Making people happy through food was a daily task for J akupovic. He often prepared gourmet dishes to give to the baristas who worked Saturdays at the on-campus Starbucks. Barista and junior Bridget Casey said J akupovic came by most Saturdays for his morning coffee and returned hours later with lunch for all of the workers. "The food was seriously so good," Casey said. "The best thing I had was this grilled fish with mango salsa. We really appreciated him, we knew his order by heart, and he would always chat with us for a while. It meant a lot to us because he did it just to be nice. Aramark (food provider services) wasn't obligated to bring us lunch or anything." Junior Joshua Johnson said he continued eating in the cafeteria several days each week because of the variety available in the newly added "exhibition" section, which offered dishes that were "a well-balanced option." Johnson said J akupovic's efforts were evident in the increasing quality of the food. "I started going to the (cafeteria) more this year because of the larger availability of options due to the exhibition section," Johnson said. "It seems like they have made an active effort to increase the quality of the menu options, and I appreciate that." Lisa Valentine, Secretary of Biology/Chemistry Naomi Valentine, Instructional Designer for IS&T Stacey Vaughn, A5st. Dir. of Admissions STAFF ~17 Martha Vendetti, Admin. Asst. ofCSD Craig Wade, Accounting Clerk/Finance Elaine Wade, HR Assoc. Cindy Wainwright, Coordinator-Gift Processing Carl Walker, Technical Training Spec. for IS&T Cheryl Walker, Admin. Asst. for ADVANCE Prog. Leah Walton, A.A., Admin/ Asst. of Alumni Amy Warren, Sr. Staff Dir. of Admissions Dale Warren, Lead Technician for Client Support Donna Welch, Secretary of Math/Comp. Sci. Melissa Westerholm, Admin. Asst. of Athletics Chris Williams, B.A., Admin. Asst. to Dean of Coll. of Edu. Sharon Williams, Office Mgr. of Coll. of Bible and Ministry Clarence Wilson, STK Accounts Payable Nola Winter-Edwards, Press Operator Melinda Wylie, B.S.N., Nurse
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