Mark This! is a podcast in which we peel back the corporate curtain to reveal the cool and innovative people, programs, and projects that are happening all over Aramark’s varied lines of business. These remarkable initiatives happen because we have remarkable people behind them--building opportunity, building innovation, and building community.
Mark This! Episode 50: The One About the Podcast
Host: Heather Dotchel, Corporate Communications
Guests:
- Blase Iaconelli, Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Aramark
- Esau Howard, Senior Manager of Internal Communications for Aramark
- Conall Smith, Senior Manager of External Communications for Aramark
Heather Dotchel:
It's time to Mark This!, a podcast in which we peel back the corporate curtain to reveal the cool and innovative people, programs, and projects that are happening all over Aramark's varied lines of business. I'm Heather Dotchel. As a member of Aramark's communications team, I see and hear amazing things that are happening across our company every day. These remarkable initiatives happen because we have remarkable people behind them, building opportunity, building innovation, and building community.
Welcome to episode 50 of Mark This! We're pulling back the curtain on the podcast itself in what we are referring to as our very self-indulgent episode. Today's episode is a little different. Instead of digging into the story about Aramark, we're digging into the story of us, how this show came to be, what it takes to put an episode together, and why we've all kept coming back week after week. Joining me are the team members that make it all happen, production duo Esau Howard and Conall Smith, and our review lawyer and biggest fan of a good Aramark story, Blase Iaconelli.
Let's lightning round our intros. I'll start. You know me as the host of this podcast, but I also support multiple lines of business and enterprise functions as a member of the external communications PR team. Esau, I'll pass to you.
Esau Howard:
Thanks, Heather. Yes, I am Esau Howard, and I am senior manager of internal communications here at Aramark, sitting within the corporate communications department actually. So, I've been with the podcast since the early conception days of it, and I've always appreciated you for bringing me on to this. So, I'll pass to my colleague, Conall Smith.
Conall Smith:
Esau, thank you. And Heather, thank you for having me on the podcast as a guest, and not someone who's just listening behind the scenes waiting for the editing process later on. So, I sit on Heather Dotchel's team as a senior communications manager of external communications, where I support several of Aramark's varied lines of business. And Blase, I'll pass it off to you.
Blase Iaconelli:
Thanks, Conall. And thank you, Heather, for inviting me to join you all today. I'm Blase Iaconelli, vice president and associate general counsel here at Aramark. My current role is focused as the lead attorney for our global supply chain function and our group purchasing organization businesses. But like many others in our legal department, we have some side jobs supporting the enterprise, and one of mine has to do with intellectual property matters. As a result, when it comes to these podcasts, I get the sneak preview as the review lawyer, as Heather lovingly describes, which I very much enjoy doing. That actually brings me to a question I have for you, Heather. I know it was back in September 2022 where we first discussed the idea of the Mark This! podcast, but that surely was not the day one of this endeavor. What was the moment when you thought, "Hey, we need to make a podcast about Aramark."?
Heather Dotchel:
So, the apocryphal story at this point was when I came on to Aramark, I had hosted a previous podcast and was very whiny about not continuing to host it, and was told that maybe I ought to look into one for Aramark. I had been an industry changer. I hadn't been with Aramark for my whole career. In Aramark years, at about five and a half years in, I'm still a toddler because we have such longevity at the company. And when I came in, honestly, I didn't know all that much about Aramark, and was so blown away by our robust internal culture at Aramark by the people I was meeting. And also, the just immense breadth and gamut of what we do here at Aramark that nobody is aware of, that I thought this would be a great opportunity.
We had a lot of very professional, beautiful marketing to show what we do. And I thought, well, what if we did something a little bit different, a little bit more low tech, a little bit less filtered, and started just seeing what would happen when we pulled back that proverbial corporate curtain. I also like to joke that the criteria for this podcast is, does Heather think it's cool? Which makes it very easy to find topics month after month, because there are so many cool things that we do at Aramark. And so, I was given the green light to go ahead, we assembled our team, and haven't looked back since.
Blase Iaconelli:
So, now we're 50 episodes in, and you said that there's so many cool things at Aramark. How do you decide which stories actually make it to the podcast?
Heather Dotchel:
Well, one thing that's important for us is that we are representing the whole of the enterprise. We are an enterprise level communications vehicle. And so, we are always looking basically to spread the love. And as the corporate communications group, both on the external and the internal side, we are constantly seeing the best of what we do across the entire company. So, basically, what we look for as these stories come in, is it something new? Is it something unusual? Is it featuring people or businesses or concepts or technology that we haven't featured before? What is that timely aspect or that angle to it that makes a little different? And then we go from there.
Esau, you've been with the podcast since the beginning. What made you want to be part of this project as I presented my mad idea?
Esau Howard:
I actually have a background in audio production. And since I've been with Aramark, I've always worked under corporate communications, internal communications, and that's always entitled a lot of writing and a lot of things on the editorial side of things. So, when you asked me if I wanted to be involved with this, I loved the opportunity, I loved the idea of it, and I knew it gave me a chance to flex a skillset that I hadn't been able to use in quite some time. And also, Aramark is a huge company, and at that point I may have been with the company a little over four years, or four and a half years. And the things I've learned just being a part of this podcast in general has tremendously evolved just my understanding of the company and the things our people do on a daily basis.
Heather Dotchel:
Conall, you're our podcast newbie. Were you voluntold to help maybe by somebody you work for, or was it a project that you wanted to come onboard for?
Conall Smith:
Yeah, this is a project that I definitely wanted to come onboard with. I spent a few years as a TV reporter, so I have a skillset that, like Esau said, hadn't been used in a few years since I got into public relations. And so, once the opportunity presented itself to work on the Mark This! podcast, I immediately took the chance. And so, it's just a really fun project to be a part of, to get to communicate with people, not just here in the US, but across the globe that work with and support Aramark to really just serve guests with awesome experiences.
Heather Dotchel:
Blase, since you review every episode we have, you hear the stories before they air, is this a chore or something that you very much look forward to? Yes, I am totally leading the question here.
Blase Iaconelli:
I'll allow it. As I mentioned before, this is something I very much look forward to doing. Our mission in the legal department is to help drive profitable growth while mitigating risk. A big part of that is obviously negotiating deals with clients and vendors, as well as addressing disputes that may arise. This podcast, though, is one of the things that reminds me about why we work through those matters. All the good things that come out of those situations, the impact our operators have on the people we serve, the experiences they're able to create. Simply put, the cool stuff that Aramark does that I often don't get to see from where I sit. You can't help but feel pride about working here when listening to the stories on this podcast, knowing that you helped in whatever capacity to make that happen.
Heather Dotchel:
Let's move on to some round-robin style thoughts. If you had to pick one episode, guest, story to highlight as a favorite, what would it be? Conall, do you want to start?
Conall Smith:
Absolutely. I think as someone who really enjoys the outdoors, one of the biggest episodes that I really enjoyed listening to and being a part of was when you sat down, I think it was episode 33, with some operators from three various whitewater rafting outfitters in Wyoming, West Virginia, and Arizona. It's just fascinating to hear how each operation delivers unique experiences while navigating really very different environments, and what brought those people to each of those locations, especially in a remote area like where we operate in the Grand Canyon. That was really one of my favorite podcasts to work on.
Esau Howard:
And I'm actually going to cheat a little bit. So, I have two particular episodes that come to mind, the first being episode 21, which was our global offshore episode with Andrew Thompson. That episode really stands out to me because, one, the way he tells stories is just to me so fascinating. And two, just the humility that he shows in his stories. One line that stood out to me was he doesn't believe that what they do with offshore is any different than what we do across all of our lines of businesses. And while that is true, we do hospitality everywhere, I do think there is something unique with just how we use our offshore business. For example, how they arrive to work. It's not every day that someone arrives to work via helicopter, via boat, just to clock in.
Not often do we ask our people to really stay on an assignment for two or three weeks at a time out at sea. We're not just helping people on these oil rig sites do their day-to-day operations, but we're making sure that they're safe, we're making sure that they're comfortable, and we're also making sure our own people are comfortable. They're living away on these makeshift hotels out at sea, away from their own families and people close to them for weeks at a time. And I've always recommended that episode to other people.
And the second one, as I said, I was going to cheat a little bit, is actually our IN2WORK episode, which featured six of our IN2WORK graduates. So, in my background with Aramark I've done a lot of things covering just how much our corrections line of business, worked with these students, worked with these participants from start to finish. And we've always recognized the people that have graduated through the program, but it's the first time that I'd ever experienced hearing from them directly. And you could just tell, just from their stories, all of them had a unique story about the thing they've been through and what led them to where they are. And just seeing the benefits that the program had for them, that always stood out to me. And also, the joy and the gratefulness that some of them had just for being in the program. And that's another one that I highly recommend to anyone when they ask me about the podcast.
Heather Dotchel:
Well, I'm going to jump in here, because you're cheating stepped on my favorite episode. And one of the things that I do want to highlight, because that IN2WORK graduate story, which was April of 2024, was really special too, in that it was just me asking questions and six of our graduates. And what I think is very special from a production standpoint on that episode was the trust that Aramark as a company had in our program and in our graduates, that there was never any question that we could just have some of our graduates on talking about their experience in their own words, in their own way. So, that was neat.
And then I'll continue on, since there's a little bit there to say, my favorite moments in any given podcast though are when we start to go off script and we start to giggle. We did a couple podcasts one summer back to back for our destinations line of business covering the historical preservation. And I'm pretty sure you can find the moment where I stop hosting a podcast and just start going, "Oh, tell me more about this." Because it's just so interesting. I'm asking about woodworking and how we're restoring historical windows to put them together. That wasn't planned. That's just what happens when you converse with interesting people doing interesting things and we start going back and forth. So, those are my favorite moments in any given episode where we talk about... We're just in the course of conversation and then things go slightly awry in the best possible way. Blase, what about you?
Blase Iaconelli:
When we're thinking about this, and maybe I had a little recency bias in my head, I'll try to think of what episode was favorite to me or really stood out. Maybe it's because when I first started I supported the sports and entertainment business, so I immediately jumped to episode 46, which was the one with Kevin Tedesco and the Citizens Bank Park team talking about all the new foods for the All-Star game that we hosted there, as well as all the efforts that they had down there in Philadelphia, and the sports complex in particular, this past summer. We had that little soccer tournament, we had America 250. And when we talk about reaching for the remarkable, which is trademarked by the way, that episode was a great example of the remarkable S&E team in action. And really just made me hungry listening to the episode, and I couldn't wait to get to the ballpark to try out that stuff.
Heather Dotchel:
Esau, what's something that you've learned about Aramark or about storytelling or about yourself from being part of this show?
Esau Howard:
I would say, with the podcast, it's been very interesting for me in a lot of different ways. Again, I've been able to flex a muscle that I didn't have to use for several years when I started at Aramark. And since then I've done other audio projects with the company as a result of this podcast, but also just in general, learning about Aramark. So, I've known Aramark as long as I can remember at this point, even before I knew what the company did. When I was young, I remember seeing Aramark when it was the Aramark Tower, when the company was located on the other side of Market Street. And it's something that my family identifies with, it's something that has always meant something, whether I realized it at the time or not.
So when I started working here and I started learning all the stories and being on the internal side of communications, I'm actually able to tap in with all of our different lines of businesses. But with this podcast, you get to see people get a little more vulnerable, get a little more transparent, and have a little more fun with how they tell the stories that they want to tell that I don't think they would normally do if it was something that was written in an editorial sense. So, I will say that's one thing that I've taken away from this experience.
Conall Smith:
Yeah, I think there are a couple things that really stand out for me. I think, first, it's really the passion of Aramark employees, and then how excited they are to share the incredible work they're doing for guests around the world. I think a lot of people just think, "Oh, well, this is just my job." But then you actually really start digging into what they do and it's fascinating, and they have a real passion for that. I think building on that, the podcast has really given me a much broader appreciation for the scope of Aramark's business. Growing up in Philadelphia, I knew Aramark primarily as my school's food service provider. And after joining the company a year and a half ago and spending time both writing stories for our newsroom and editing the podcast, I realized just how varied the organization really is. And the podcast has been a great way to showcase that while helping listeners better understand the many ways Aramark serves clients and communities around the world.
Blase Iaconelli:
I've been here for 17 years. You see a lot of names, a lot of emails and a lot of messages, but you don't often get to hear the people. So, it's really interesting to hear the leaders of these various businesses, or just the operators themselves speak in their own voice and have that dialogue around a topic that, as Conall said, that they're passionate about. So, being able to just get behind the name, get behind sometimes just a message that you may have had from a person and hear them talk about what they do really sheds a lot of light on how much they care about this company, how much they care about the service that we provide. And it's an interesting outlet that you don't always get to experience when you're just working every day.
Heather Dotchel:
Yeah. And I would say, in a related note, I think one of the early learnings for me was just how generous everybody is with their time and how excited they are to be on the podcast, and excited to share what they're doing and what their teams are doing. We say in episode after episode, "Oh, it's the people. It always comes back to the people at Aramark." And what a beautiful thing that is, that is truly where everybody returns to. There's very little editing, which I think is something that our audience may not realize. We edit for time, we edit for stumbles sometimes. We try not to have a very heavy hand at all when it comes to what we do with production with the podcast. So what you're hearing is almost pretty much exactly what's going on, it's just cleaned up a little bit for better listening.
I'd like to talk a little bit about inside baseball. So, that kind of editorial comment is a little bit inside baseball, but if we have anything else fun to share. I can start on this one. I will say, every time on this podcast I say "Go birds," which is a number greater than one, it's for Blase.
Blase Iaconelli:
Go birds, Heather. Go birds.
Heather Dotchel:
Go birds. Esau, how about you?
Esau Howard:
Another inside baseball thing is the turnaround. I don't think people understand how quick these things actually get turned around sometimes between the moment of actually speaking to the guests to going through the edits and then sending it to Blase in a timely manner. So, I will say it is a full team program hustle right here.
Heather Dotchel:
I have to say I've stopped when I send things to Blase saying, "I'm so sorry, this is last minute. It won't happen again." Because that's just a lie.
What do we want listeners to take away from these first 50 episodes? Let's wrap this up since we do like to keep our podcast pretty snappy. Conall, you want to start?
Conall Smith:
Yeah, I think I'm going to steal your phrase. I think it's really that there's really remarkable things happening across the company because we have remarkable people behind them. And I think, again, I can't reiterate that enough that really comes through every time we do this podcast. And so, I think for the next 50, that's going to continue.
Heather Dotchel:
Esau?
Esau Howard:
Yes. Again, not to reiterate too much, but it is the people, right? And I do think one takeaway from this is when you actually listen to the people that talk on this, you understand across all of our lines of business that they truly do want to set high standards in everything that they do. And I think we don't give enough credit for that sometimes.
Heather Dotchel:
Blase?
Blase Iaconelli:
Yeah, I think you could just simply say the stories in these episodes will make you feel proud to work at Aramark.
Heather Dotchel:
Well, that is certainly delightful to hear. My takeaway for the audience from all of this is that this is the favorite thing that I do at Aramark. It is really my passion project. It is a joy for me from start to finish. And I hope that some of that joy is transmitted when we have episodes that everybody can tune into and hear our teams talk.
We'll resume our normal spate of episodes next month, but in the meantime, visit our newsroom on aramark.com to subscribe to our feed and learn more about the cool things that Aramark does. Thanks for celebrating our 50th Mark This! listeners.
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