Peirce Hall has been more active than usual lately — Kenyon’s catering company, AVI, has been testing a new guest chef pilot program. The initiative, which aims to become a permanent fixture according to Ryan Summers, resident director of AVI at Kenyon College, plans to feature AVI chefs from other campuses and the corporate culinary division rotating through Kenyon’s kitchens to offer limited-time specialty meals.
The program was inspired by the popularity of AVI’s resource chef, Naveen Agarwal. Agarwal first showed up to Peirce in the fall of 2024, and he was brought back for the spring semester for the occasional visit.
The 2025 program began on Oct. 15, featuring chef Tony Graceffo from the AVI Corporate Culinary Division last week. On Wednesday, students were given the chance to experience Haitian cuisine from chef Jude Jerome, the culinary director at Siena University. And chef Naveen Agarwal will return next week with his popular Indian dishes.
“We were just looking to expand on that with other AVI Fresh chefs doing different cuisines,” Summers wrote in an email to the Collegian. “The main goal is to give the students something different than we normally do.”
According to Summers, the guest chefs are typically on campus for a short, two-day commitment. They spend their first day prepping the meal alongside Kenyon’s culinary team before executing the special lunch or dinner service the following day. According to Summers, there hasn’t been any major challenge for chefs in adapting to high-capacity dining at Kenyon. “The chefs know they need to prep to feed a lot of students here at Kenyon. We have very good participation on a normal day, let alone when a guest chef is here,” Summers wrote, noting that Agarwal’s meals are often the busiest for the dining staff.
Looking ahead, AVI hopes to turn the guest chef pilot program into a sustained initiative. Students should expect more visits from guest chefs in the coming semesters. “We want to give the students something different to look forward to,” Summers said.
Students will also notice that AVI has been more active across the board this semester. From pop-up sushi stands to latte tasting, AVI has been noticeably increasing their presence in the last couple of months. AVI’s contract with the College expires at the end of this year, and negotiations for renewal are set to begin in November.
Vice President for Student Affairs Celestino Limas told the Collegian, “I continue to be impressed that AVI is searching for new ways to meet the needs of students on campus and for them to be actually augmenting.”