Mr. Barboza, tell us about yourself and your work.

I’m Cape Verdean, born and raised in Fox Point. I first came to the Ratty in 1990, working part-time when I was a student at Rhode Island College. I did cold food prep, right off the loading dock. We prepped all the salad bars, made dressing from scratch, made hummus. Precut veggies weren’t as widely available as they are today, so we washed and sliced every one of them. We’d offer six out of 40 rotating salad dressings a day. We still make our dressings and dipping sauces from scratch. Well, okay, we do buy some honey mustard now.

We’re still a from-scratch kitchen as much as we can be. We have our own bakery. We commissary a few items out to other Brown dining venues. When Andrews Dining Hall has pasta specials, we’ll parboil [the pasta] and send it over. 

What do you do on a daily basis?

I set the strategic vision. I have lots of regular meetings with my team. It’s like we’re our own little corporation. I have an executive chief and directors of IT, finance, HR, and retail, the last of which deals with venues like Josiah’s and The Blue Room, where you buy per item or package. At Josiah’s, one meal-card swipe will get you a signature spicy sandwich, beverage, and fruit, whereas at the Ratty you can stay for three hours and eat all you want.

What’s a day in the life of the Ratty?

The bakeshop team starts at 4 a.m. Then the receivers come in at 5:30 a.m., and at 5:45–6 a.m. the eight-wheelers start to show up with deliveries. The first Ratty shift starts at 6 a.m., which includes the assistant director of culinary. The administrative staff starts at 8:30 a.m. Then our next shift is 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. We also have a 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift, because the Ivy Room in the basement is open until 10. Then there’s an hour to clean and lock up.

What percentage of staff are students?

I don’t know the exact number right now because we just came back to campus [interview from early Sept.], and students just started applying for jobs. But it’s much lower than before Covid for sure. I don’t fully know why, but it’s been difficult to recruit students back into hospitality since then. There were once more students than non-student employees. We used to have 400 students in a year, and we haven’t been able to reach 100 since Covid! I think it’s partially because more diverse jobs have opened up on campus. 

What are the most popular food offerings?

Definitely Cajun chicken pasta, which is now the signature Friday dish. Chicken fingers. It’s mostly the comfort foods. Some of our pop-ups have been popular: Taiwanese bowls, sushi. You can actually buy sushi nightly now in the Ivy Room for one meal swipe. The Ratty probably does sushi three times a year and it’s all-you-can-eat, which is why we have to do it sparingly. You could eat 20 pounds of sushi if you wanted to!

Does the Ratty still serve Turkey Tetrazzini?

No, we don’t do 1950s–’60s-style casserole cooking anymore.