Johnson and Wales University professor Michael Sabitoni was recently awarded a ribbon as part of an induction ceremony given by the Rhode Island Bailliage de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, an international gastronomic society founded in Paris 75 years ago. The society has chapters around the world, and more than 150 districts (bailliages in French) in the United States, including several in New England,
Sabitoni has been a familiar face at Johnson and Wales, where he has taught since 1992. He currently chairs two departments in the College of Hospitality Management: the Department of International Travel/Tourism Studies and the Department of Food & Beverage Management.
The ribbon is not the only award he has received recently. Last month he was honored with an anchor-shaped award from the Rhode Island Hospitality Association (RIHA). It was his second award from the group; in 2022 he received a pineapple-shaped glass trophy at the Association’s annual Stars of the Industry event.
Sabitoni is active with RIHA, specifically with the organization’s Education Foundation, a group that entices children and teens to work towards careers in the food service and hospitality industries.
“Next Tuesday I’m judging the Prostart competition,” Sabitoni says, referring to a competition among students in six area high schools with culinary arts programs.
A native Rhode Islander, Sabitoni was born in Providence and raised in Cranston. His first service industry job was an after-school job at a D’Angelo Sandwich Shop, which eventually grew into him managing the location. After attending Johnson and Wales at night for a few years, he moved to Florida and began working in kitchens.
Realizing he preferred the other side of the kitchen doors, he became a specialist in tableside cooking, a mid-century trend that could still be found in white tablecloth restaurants in the 1970s. From Florida he moved back to New England, and into restaurant and function hall management. Eventually he burned out from working too many 80-hour weeks.
This time he returned to Johnson and Wales to study tourism, and worked a few nights a week at Capriccio, which by the late 1980s was already one of the only holdouts still doing tableside preparation.
“You had your bananas foster, your baked Alaska, your chateaubriand for two,” Sabitoni says, listing off items rarely found on menus anymore.
After that job, he jumped to working in travel agencies and eventually became a tour guide. After establishing himself in the tourism world, he again returned to Johnson and Wales, this time as a professor.
Sabitoni has remained committed to the university and its students. “I’ve been here for 33 years, and a department chair for over 20,” he said.
It’s also where Mike met his wife, Karen Silva-Sabitoni, shortly after he returned to teach. For a while Karen was chairing the Sports Entertainment and Event Management departments, and their offices were situated directly across from one another. (Karen later moved upstairs when she became Chair of the school’s business department, before retiring in 2019.)
Mike Sabitoni counts a number of students among his fans.
“I love him. He reminds me of Dean Martin,” says Diorling Nurse, a senior in the Food and Beverage Hospitality Management program. She met Sabitoni when she took his popular Beverage Appreciation course.
“He’s very kind, very patient, and has a sense of humor. I’m not a wine person at all—I make pastries, I drink milk,” she said. “But I really came out of the class with a bit of knowledge about wine, and now I know how to pair wines with pastries.”
Nolan Sooy agrees with Nurse. A senior studying Food and Beverage Business Management, Sooy also took the Beverage Appreciation course.
“He’s one of the most charismatic, personable people you will ever meet,” Sooy said about his former professor. “He really got to know all of his students and he continues to foster that relationship even after the course is over.” A soccer player, Sooy noted that Sabitoni pays attention to what his students are doing both in and out of the classroom.
Other department faculty also rave about him. Nick Makris teaches in the Food & Beverage Management department, and he wonders what will happen when Sabitoni retires. “He’s a terrific individual, and very empathetic. Just a pleasure to work for. He’s going to leave a big gap when he retires,” said Makris.
Sabitoni will retire in May, at the end of the current semester, so the two awards he received this winter are a bit of a victory lap.
And what’s next?
“I will be an adjunct Associate Professor for the College of Professional Studies, teaching online,” he says, “as well as continue to maintain my Board of Directors position for the Apprenticeship Exploration School and as a hospitality industry consultant.” He also plans to seek out volunteer positions and travel with his wife.
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