Mark Judd: A New England Classic

I sit down with Mark inside his office, located in the back of Hillside Café on the Boston College lower campus. As I sit down and collect my notes, he rushes out of the room. “I’m wreckin’ the joint! I’ll be right back,” he yells behind him. A few minutes later he’s back and all of his attention is on me, with no explanation for the sudden departure.

This is Mark Judd, the man behind Hillside Café. During a typical shift, student employees and full-time faculty alike ask “Have you seen Mark?” in fifteen-minute intervals, pulling Mark away from whatever task he was just completing. But every time it happens, his attention snaps back into focus before you realize he’s paying attention. In fact, we’re interrupted by a student again — but Mark handles these interruptions with grace, and in my two years of working for him, I’ve never seen him anything but cool.

He knows everyone at Hillside by name — and that’s not an easy task with students on two-hour shifts coming in and out of the café every day. Some students only stay for a semester — to make a little extra money before they study abroad for a semester, for instance. Sometimes second-semester seniors pick up extra shifts out of panic for their entrance to the real world come May.

The only commonality is that they all leave after four years — a fact that Mark has had to accept. While it’s difficult, he’s created a wholly unique branch of BC Dining.

Mark has worked at Boston College for the past fifteen years, the past three and a half spent at Hillside Café. He’s from the Boston area, Waltham.

His daughter, 28, graduated from the Carroll School of Management and his son, 24, graduated from the school of Arts & Sciences. His daughter went on to get her masters in social work, making her a Double Eagle.

The BC blood runs thick in his family, and his changes to Hillside reflect this family-oriented atmosphere.

On a typical day, Mark arrives at 11:30 AM, takes care of scheduling and payroll. He runs the shift, makes sure the items are ordered and delivered correctly — making Mark a very busy man at Hillside.

He says that he enjoys working with BC students because they “keep [him] informed on what’s going on and keep [him] young — thinking young.” The different backgrounds of the students helps keep Hillside a lively place to work and to eat. While it might be a challenge to create a stable work environment when students enter the job with skill levels, Mark focuses on the positives.

“Challenging aspects? Oh God, I don’t know if there’s any. Well, they leave after four years!” He laughs. He says it is a challenge to keep Hillside running with a work force that constantly turns over — at least at the end of four years — or is interrupted by student teaching, clinical rounds at the nursing school and study abroad semesters.

The key is to mix it up. By pulling in employees from different grade levels, he is able to fill in any gaps left by upperclassmen who leave the next semester. One of his goals is to abolish what he has called the “hierarchy” of students, based on experience or grade level. He says that this hierarchy led to the perception that an employee had to “earn” certain privileges, such as working as a barista, and, simply, he didn’t like that.

So he changed it. He’s been in charge of hiring and training all of the student staff since he’s come to Hillside and has changed the way Hillside goes about the hiring process. Mark’s efforts to create a welcoming, diverse environment at Hillside are reflective in his focus of hiring a diverse range of students — something he takes pride in. “You need to build depth, and you need to train everybody on everything… If they want.”

In terms of enviable management positions, Mark makes sure to hire freshman and sophomores to fill in the gaps once the seniors leave.

There’s a balance to be held by the full-time faculty members at Hillside. BC students are generally respectful and understanding of their impermanent role at the Hillside machine — and forgive the frustrations of the full-timers who are here all day, every day. “I know that 99% of the students respect that [this is their career].”

Even with the often-hectic cases in turnover among student employees, Mark says that one of Hillside’s biggest appeals to students is its consistency — in terms of menu. “Everyone knows what they’re going to get and when they’re going to get it. Baja [Chicken] is on Wednesday, New England [Classic] is on Thursday, and Clam Chowder is on Friday. I think people like that.”

Another feature that makes Hillside unique is its location — a central point on Lower Campus, bridging the Plex, Conte and O’Neill Library.

“It’s mostly upperclassmen that come here,” says Mark. It’s true. Hillside remains off of the mandatory dining plan, making it a luxury for freshmen and sophomores but a popular spot for upperclassmen — in particular those who live off of campus.

Mark’s vision of Hillside as a friendly, comfortable environment has paid off. The vibe at Hillside is one part hip coffee shop, one part interview location, one part study hall.

As Vicki Coates, Lynch School of Education junior puts it: “Hillside’s a great place to grab food, study and catch up with friends. I’m there at least twice a week, but I definitely go there more now that I’m an upperclassman.”

And Mark’s presence at Hillside? “I see Mark there all the time, and he always has a smile on his face!”

Mark spends so much time at Hillside, he must have opinions on the food, so I ask him the question on everyone’s mind: “What’s your favorite sandwich at Hillside?”

“There’s so many! [Laughs] I like the Tuscan cheese.”

“All right, just one more question: Frips and a pickle?”

“Of course. Two pickles.”