“Have you two met?” is a common question heard when waiting at the omelet station in the morning.
The last place most students would expect to find love would be in line at their school’s cafeteria—but not here at UT—we have Chef Tony Brown for that. Brown is the charismatic Sodexo employee who has been working in the cafeteria for seven years.
Not only will Brown introduce you to someone he feels suits you, but if you are habitually in his omelet line and he has gotten to know you, he will proceed to tell your potential “match” all of your wonderful qualities.
When asked about how he began to match students, he chuckled.
“You mean ‘allegedly started matching people.’ It’s an urban legend! Who knows? It just snowballed,” he said.
Brown recalls introducing students to one another who went to the same high school and never even knew. Brown simply enjoys introducing schoolmates to each other.
Brown revealed he had “been invited to weddings and received thank you cards…allegedly” for matching the couple up in the omelet line.
Tre Hansen, a junior majoring in international business management, has frequented Brown’s omelet line since his freshman year and has experienced Brown’s matchmaking magic firsthand. But even with all of Brown’s attempts, Hansen has never pursued anything further than a quick conversation with these ladies.
“For the most part, I took it as burning time instead of standing in line staring at my phone for ten minutes. As long as it isn’t eight in the morning, I don’t mind,” Hansen said.
But who is Brown outside of work at UT? He is a New York native, but spent most of his life living in San Diego. He enjoys sleeping as much as he possibly can on Saturdays, as well as curling up on his couch to “put on one of those old movie networks” and just relax.
While Brown enjoys making omelets for us here at UT, he does not make them at home and they are most certainly not his favorite food. Apart from making omelets, Brown also enjoys watching sports. Considering he has moved from coast to coast throughout his life so far, I asked him what his favorite sports team was.
“Whoever’s winning,” he said. “I am on the bandwagon! It was the Steelers and then that ended quickly–so go Seahawks!”
Brown is a laid back and personable guy who enjoys seeing UT students happy. He can brighten up a bad day and wake you up in the morning with his contagious energy and happiness.