To get a glimpse into how profoundly the FE&S 2025 Hall of Fame Award winner has affected so many, one only need look at the wide group of people — a mix of co-workers, project collaborators, friends and even competitors — who jumped at the chance to sing the praises of Leonard D. “Lenny” Condenzio, FCSI, CEO of Ricca Design Studios.

Photos by Paul Brokering, Paul Brokering PhotographyWithin minutes of sending an email request, the responses to contribute to this article came rushing in. Far too many, in fact, to list here. Or as one colleague said, “I absolutely have time to talk Lenny, any day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

Condenzio and his 50-year foodservice career are no strangers to the pages of this magazine. Two of his projects for Ohio University earned the FE&S Facility Design Project of the Year Award in 2017 and again in 2019. In 2022, Condenzio received FE&S Top Achiever – Consultant Award. But while those awards speak volumes about Condenzio’s exemplary work as a designer and project manager, they don’t tell the full story. Neither does his diverse resume, which includes experience working at Anaheim’s Downtown Disney, Harvard University, and the U.S. House of Representatives during the George H. W. Bush administration.

For the last 24 years, Condenzio has called Ricca Design Studios home, first as a principal in the company, followed by the role of chief operating officer. Since 2018, Condenzio has been Ricca’s CEO, operating out of its Boston office. This June he will retire, but Condenzio’s impact on the foodservice industry will endure. Not only at Ricca, where he has helped guide the current and future generations of the company’s leadership, but in the industry as a whole, where Condenzio’s mentoring skills are legendary. To hear Condenzio say it, though, it’s all part of a day’s work. “I’m just doing my job and being a good person,” he says. It comes as no surprise that “humble” is a word mentioned often by those who know him.

The Roads Less Traveled

To understand the consummate industry leader label that has come to define Condenzio, it’s important to know the journey that came before.

After earning a hotel restaurant management degree from the State University of New York (SUNY), Condenzio worked for three years as an on-site manager for a corporate dining operation. Then the blizzard of 1978 sent Condenzio to California. His 10 or so years there included more work in the business and industry (B&I)
segment, management roles at a restaurant production commissary, running a restaurant, serving as director of retail operations at University of California Irvine and then with an electronics retail company. Of the latter, he says, “That’s when I realized retail wasn’t me. Once you get the foodservice bug, you always come back to it.”

Then came a phone call from a former colleague about an opening at Towson University, then called Towson State University, in Maryland before getting recruited to work at the U.S. House of Representatives as associate director of catering. After two years in Washington, D.C., it was another phone call and subsequent job that that would play a pivotal role in the future direction of Condenzio’s career. This time the call came  from Harvard University to serve as director of undergraduate dining. He would eventually become Harvard’s  director of facilities projects and it was in that role when Condenzio first crossed paths with Thomas Ricca and Kathleen Seelye, co-founders of Ricca Design Studios. 

“Lenny immediately toured us throughout all HUD facilities and was able to convey not only a deep understanding and viewpoint of the challenges within each operation but also the important connection and value he gave to management and staff needs for those facilities,” says Seelye of her first interactions working with Condenzio. “What impressed me the most was his ability to organize his thoughts calmly and concisely during this tour while the highly stressful commencement preparations were taking place across HUD facilities.”

It was also at Harvard that Condenzio got extensive experience in renovation processes. “That’s how I got to see this side of the world with consultants, architects and engineers,” he says of his close to 10 years at Harvard. “That’s how I can look at my clients in the eye today and say I’ve been on your side of the table.”

Condenzio so impressed Seelye and Ricca when they worked together at Harvard, they offered him a job. But Condenzio had one more professional stop first. He parted ways with Harvard for the opportunity to work on Downtown Disney. After two years on the job at Disney, however, that changed. “I called Tom and Kathy and said I’m ready,” recalls Condenzio. “I think one of them said, ‘It’s about time.’” Condenzio met with Seelye in New York City on Columbus Day right after 9/11. “I made it clear then that I didn’t just want a job; I wanted some form of partnership or ownership at some point,” he says. “It would be my last stop.”

The Ricca leadership team includes (left to right) Phil Landgraf, FCSI, executive principal; Tommy Hughes, executive principal business development and marketing; Tarah Schroder, FCSI, LEED AP, vice president; Lenny Condenzio, FCSI, CEO and Sean Callinan, FCSI, president.

The Art of Listening

While Condenzio admits there was a learning curve in his early days at Ricca, his previous roles made the transition to a foodservice consultant that much easier. “All my past experiences helped me understand all the team players on any project,” he says.

Another advantage Condenzio brought to the table was his expertise at listening made all the more poignant as he is hearing impaired. Growing up with a hearing loss in the 1950s and 1960s, Condenzio developed a thick skin when it came to the inevitable bullying. “I learned that it’s not you but them. It strengthened me not to be embarrassed to make mistakes or be wrong in front of people. It made me humble as a client and I didn’t have a problem saying I didn’t know something or asking questions,” he says. “I joke with my partner of 30 years [David Rand] that I’m the guy with the hearing loss, but I hear better than everyone around the table. That transcends into the work I do as a principal, leader or mentor.”

Condenzio’s listening talents haven’t gone unnoticed. “While being an active listener, he still manages to weave in his professional knowledge in a way that broadens others’ horizons while still maintaining a learning/listening mindset himself,” says Dustin Cutler, senior executive director of Cornell Dining and Retail Services|Student & Campus Life Enterprise Services. “He possesses a unique skill of understanding individual strengths and leveraging these to create optimal outcomes — in projects, conversations and relationships alike.”

“One of the most amazing things about Lenny is he is one of those individuals who sits back and isn’t the first person to talk,” says Rob Geile, vice president of consultant services at Welbilt. Condenzio and Geile struck up a friendship when Condenzio was working at Harvard. The two were active in the National Association of College & University Food Services. “He loves to gather information, decipher all of that and then provide solutions.”

But, says Juan Martinez, principal and co-founder of Profitability Labor Guru, referencing an old EF Hutton tagline, “When Lenny talks, people listen.” 

Adds Geile, “The whole room goes quiet when he talks because we know it’s something that’s going to be meaningful and helpful. It’s an amazing talent.”

It didn’t take long for Condenzio’s impact to be felt at Ricca. “Lenny led the firm through the pain of the pandemic and came out afterward with a healthy and functioning company, all the while leading projects and gaining the respect and trust of his clients,” says Ricca. “He somehow managed to be active in FCSI [Foodservice Consultants Society International] and other activities that gave him the respected presence in the world-wide industry that he enjoys today.”

Early on in his tenure at Ricca, Condenzio worked with other company leaders to create the Ricca Leadership Guide, a roadmap of sorts for employees. “We had to build on all the work and reputation that Tom and Kathy had done to cement our place in the industry in terms of quality of service, deliverables and thought leadership,” says Condenzio. “With those two folks eventually retiring, I believed there was a tremendous importance for the future generation, whether we knew who they were at the time or not, to see where the brand was going. Not only of where we are going as a company, but what’s in it for them personally.”

Condenzio’s forward-looking approach to business succession and management strategies isn’t lost on Leonard J. Koch, senior vice president and commercial banking manager at Vectra Bank Colorado, which works with Ricca. “He had to navigate retirement of the first generation, bring on board the second generation, and now he’s working with the third generation. Not many people can do that,” says Koch.

One hallmark of Lenny Condenzio’s career is his willingness to share his knowledge and mentor people both in his company, as seen here, and those from other organizations.

Inspiring Others

Condenzio’s gift at inspiring others has taken many forms over the years. And his impact is not confined simply to those engaged solely in the consulting aspect of the business. “Lenny provides a space based on trust,” says Katie Waswick, accounting/HR administrator at Ricca. “He encourages you to ask the question and believes everyone’s voice is valuable.”

Given that foodservice ultimately exists to serve people, it comes as no surprise that Condenzio always puts them first. “Lenny inspired me to authentically be myself, regardless,” adds Tarah Schroeder, vice president at Ricca. “He showed me a path forward, not necessarily by anything he said, but by living, working and being authentic himself all the time.”

“More than an industry thought leader, Lenny is an inspiring force ensuring that his legacy is not just in the designs he creates, but in the people he uplifts along the way,” says Jennifer Patterson, director of marketing at Ricca. 

And that uplifting extends to those outside of Ricca.

“Lenny has the ability to assess each situation for what it is and not for what he needs it to be,” says Garett DiStefano, director of dining services at University of Massachusetts Amherst, who first worked with Condenzio 13 years ago on a project at the university. “He’s not driven by making that next sale or project. It’s building those relationships and fostering and developing the future. By having that humanity and humble approach, he is also able to disarm people so there isn’t that conflict of ego.”

Then there’s Condenzio’s willingness to share the “secret sauce,” as Scott Reitano, principal of Reitano Design Group, describes it. Both served on the FCSI The Americas board of directors together. 

2017 Facility Design Project of the Year: The District on West Green in Boyd Hall at Ohio University

Tough Love

While Condenzio has the ability to let others feel heard, he’s not a pushover. “I like to think I am honest and straightforward with grace and dignity, but I don’t like wasting time beating around the bush,” he says. “Some people don’t receive that well and others appreciate it.”

That tough love approach wasn’t just applied to those who worked for him. “There came a time, as I neared retirement, when he insisted that I refrain from assisting the young principals with design issues, so that they could become confident in taking projects fully,” says Tom Ricca. “I did not like that, as I had been doing it for 45 years, and it energized me personally. But after a while I saw how smart Lenny was to do that so that the firm would maintain itself with the young generation fully prepared to perform.”

Taking risks is also part of Condenzio’s leadership skill set. When higher-ed clients would talk about wanting to take their projects in new and dynamic ways, Condenzio would steer them toward benchmarking tours at non-university foodservice places. “I certainly didn’t invent that idea, but years later, l would still have to say let’s not go and copy somebody, let’s do something else,” he says.

Schroeder recalls Condenzio’s “trust but verify” approach. “I felt empowered to make decisions, but I had to be ready to defend them, which kept me honest and paying attention,” she says. “I knew he would have my back if I made mistakes, which encouraged me to take risks.”

Adds Cutler: “One of the key characteristics of transformational leadership is being willing to take risks on the unconventional or unproven, and Lenny excels at identifying the hidden strengths in others and connecting them to people and projects in ways that will benefit organizations for years.”

The Next Generation and Beyond

Perhaps the skill that defines Condenzio the most is his ability to mentor anyone and everyone in the industry, including operators, designers and others. “I believe true mentorship starts first by a trust level that develops between two people,” says Condenzio. “That way the person asking for help feels comfortable and not vulnerable, and the person that’s giving the help can be constructive and honest.” From there, he adds, the mentorship can evolve in a powerful manner.

At Ricca, Condenzio’s mentoring skills speak volumes. “Internally, as he moved into the leadership role in our company, he was prescient enough to see that everyone needed to be introduced to company thinking, management and communication techniques and relationship building,” says Ricca. “This led to a group of young leadership who eventually were prepared to move into management and partnership roles and ultimately, this led to a core of young principals who became the next generation of the face of Ricca Design Studios.”

“I didn’t start in foodservice. I started in finance as an investment banker,” DiStefano says. “And in my mid-20s I realized it was not for me. I ended up having a conversation with my dad who told me “life is a prison or castle, and it’s your choice which one you get to occupy.” Lenny embodies that philosophy. “Surround yourself with things that are important to you, that you love to do, and motivate you and your passion will speak for itself. That philosophy endeared him to many people, including myself.”