New manager enhances Penny’s culture

Home Culture New manager enhances Penny’s culture
New manager enhances Penny’s culture

 

Jen Lutz, pictured with Madi Vandegrift, is the new manager at Penny’s. Genevieve O’Gara | Collegian

For Jen Lutz, hospitality and food have always been connected: she remembers visiting her aunt’s diner as a little girl and being greeted with hot bowls of soup, having brunch with friends as a teenager, and celebrating holidays with her large Italian family. And now, Lutz is bringing this hospitality to Penny’s. 

As the new general manager of Penny’s, Jen Lutz, Hillsdale aluma, is bringing her heart for community to the center of campus life.

“The things that create community are often places where people come together, have good conversations, and eat good food,” Lutz said. “Penny’s provides a place to take the edge off other pressures and to hang out with friends.”

Lutz, who runs a hospitality blog and previously worked as a baker at Rough Draft, seemed like a perfect fit. Diane Philipp, dean of women, reached out to Lutz over the summer, and Lutz said she loved the idea of being on campus, working with people and food, and having time off between semesters to be with her kids.

“I enjoy being behind the bar, taking orders and making drinks. It’s great to have everyone back and it’s great to be serving people,” Lutz said.

Lutz’s experience in event planning and food service inspired new changes to the menu at Penny’s,  said senior Liana Guidone, the senior shift manager. Lutz added higher quality bagels, scones, cookies, and 

whipped cream to the menu. Because Penny’s kitchen is not FDA approved, Penny’s can only bake pre-packaged foods and not mix their own recipes, Guidone said.

The goal is to give students something different than they might find at A.J.’s or the grocery store, Guidone said. Penny’s quieter atmosphere creates a space for students to relax and study, which is especially important since coronavirus required other common hang-out spots, such as A.J.’s or the Old Snack Bar, to become eating spots.

Food is only part of Lutz’s changes to the shop. 

“She hasn’t changed the culture, but enhanced it,” Guidone said of Lutz. “She emphasizes how we greet people and creates a feeling of welcome.”

Welcoming students across campus has always been important to Lutz. She and her husband Brock love to host people at their home and are part of College Baptist’s ‘Adopt-a-Student’ program.

Sophomore Kate Pipher remembers going over to the Lutz home for dinner before spring break.

“She made home-cooked bread and I helped her youngest son make brownies. I felt very welcome,” Pipher said. “It was a very inviting space where it felt very approachable and not intimidating at all.”

Lutz’s humility and sense of humor make her an approachable person, Pipher said.

 “I think one thing about Hillsdale is that we can put people on a pedestal and it can feel really intimidating to talk to them, and Jen does a really good job of breaking down that barrier and showing that she’s a human just like you,” Pipher said.

Lutz said her love for hospitality comes from her family’s Italian heritage, and that her mother, Sue Postle, served as an excellent role model for her. Family celebrations, Postle explained, always revolved around food. Hopefully, she continued, Lutz can teach that love for community to Hillsdale students. 

“Love for the Lord and for people is part of our lives. It’s in our blood. What you grow up with becomes a part of you. That’s in her. She’ll build it into these kids,” Postle said.

Postle knows her daughter’s warm personality and skill for leadership will take Penny’s to the next level.

“Once she gets it going, she’ll do anything she can to make it the best coffee in town,” Postle said. “She has high expectations and she’ll encourage excellence in her employees.”