Hotelie's love of the restaurant business earns him top prize

By Linda Myers

Jarrod Norkus is the top winner of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration's prestigious 2002 Drown Prize.

The Drown Prize, which comes with a $15,000 stipend, was established by hotelier Joseph W. Drown and is presented yearly to the Cornell Hotel School graduating senior who holds the promise of making a significant contribution to the hospitality industry.

Norkus, who is from Ithaca, is a self-described "foodie" who grew up in a family with roots in the food-and-beverage business. He and his parents and siblings spent summers in Southold, N.Y., on the north shore of eastern Long Island. Sitting around a newspaper-wrapped table eating steamed blue crabs, he'd hear his grandparents tell stories about General Wayne's Inn, a restaurant they'd owned nearby. The inn had had its own friendly ghost, who returned rearranged furniture pieces to their former locations, said Norkus. His father, Hotel School Senior Lecturer Gregory Norkus, who had worked in the inn growing up, jokingly called it "crazy Bob's child-labor camp."

Although continually warned by family members not go into the restaurant industry because of its labor-intensive and high-risk nature, Norkus found as he grew older that he couldn't stay away. He spent two college summers managing food-and-beverage concessions for Aramark Corp. in Connecticut, and during the school year he worked part time as a server at Ithaca's John Thomas Steakhouse, partly for the pleasure of the experience. "I really like serving people, helping to create a better dining experience and seeing customers relax, joke and laugh with each other over a good meal," Norkus said.

Norkus initially bypassed Cornell to enroll at the University of Maryland, where he played lacrosse, helping that institution's powerhouse team win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship his freshman year. But the general business program he was taking there left him uninspired, so after two years he decided to return to his hometown and culinary roots and transferred to Cornell's Hotel School.

For two years running he was assistant beverage director for Hotel Ezra Cornell, the premier student-run event at the Hotel School. In addition, Norkus, who concentrated in food-and-beverage management, was a teaching assistant for courses on restaurant management, wines and culinary theory and practice. "I'm more confident as a person because of the things I've learned here," he said.

The Drown Prize award, which is highly competitive, came as a surprise to Norkus. "It's an incredible honor," he said. "When other people believe in you, it helps you believe in yourself. Believing in yourself is sometimes the hardest thing to do, but it gets people to succeed."

This coming fall, Norkus will join the management team of a small restaurant chain called Houston's, with operations in California, Florida and New Orleans. He'll put his prize money in a mutual fund for 10 years, then perhaps use it as start-up capital for his own food-and-beverage-related business. "I want to find out what's lacking in the restaurant industry and do something about it," he said.

In his spare time, Norkus rebuilds vintage cars -- he's currently working on a 1969 Ford Bronco -- and cooks for friends and family. His favorite meal: striped bass, cooked right after it's caught, grilled with a little lemon butter and served with a glass of sauvignon blanc.