“It’s all about supporting students”: Hart House director of hospitality shares what inspires her every day

U of T alumna Aron Mohr discusses the evolution that her team at Hart House has seen over the past few years.

Anyone planning a special event or occasion at Hart House is in excellent hands. Director of hospitality services, Aron Mohr (MMSt 2004), has 14 years of acumen. She oversees a remarkable team that makes guests’ experiences unforgettable.

Aron, who earned her master’s degree from the University of Toronto in Museum Studies in 2004, is an innovative, values-driven leader experienced in business development, customer relationships, process improvement and change management.

We caught up with this home-grown success story, who started at Hart House behind the front desk and now has many years of experience building strong teams consistently recognized for their passion, productivity and high performance.

How did your career at Hart House begin?

I’ve been working in hospitality since I was 16 years old. The position I had before I came to Hart House was with well-known chef Jamie Kennedy. I had already met Arlene Stein, then-director of events and catering at Hart House. After the 2008 financial crisis, I was laid off from Jamie Kennedy. It felt like the right moment to think about my next move, so I contacted Arlene, who was looking to fill a six-week contract on the front desk as it turned out. I thought, why not? Then the contract got extended and eventually I moved into event coordination.

As a grad student I’d been to Hart House before, visited the Fitness Centre, listened to the piano playing. I had that student experience, but Arlene was how I got into the event stream.

How has hospitality at Hart House evolved?

We’ve grown. This was in progress with Arlene; the department had just started working with staging and AV [audio visual] ‒ formerly handled through facilities. So, the idea that set up for events would be managed through events and catering represented a big shift and allowed the department to be much more responsive to the needs of event clients.

How do we make sure that we’re creating that full package for clients? That was the shift in thinking, one exciting development in the professionalization of hospitality that began under Arlene. These steps were significant in positioning Hart House as a premier event venue on campus.

The other really big change under my direction took place in 2021 when the Gallery Grill restaurant and catering were brought together under one umbrella to provide a cohesive vision for Hart House’s culinary program, now overseen by executive chef and culinary operations manager, Marco Tucci.

Additionally, we are a full-service event venue. We manage everything on site. We have an extensive in-house inventory of furnishings, AV equipment, along with the expertise to manage everything. Most recently, we've been building our knowledge around hybrid and streaming.

We are fully licensed and have on-site catering with large kitchen and front-of-house teams that deliver our exceptional food and beverage services.

Everything for events is tied together with our in-house coordination team. If you book with us, you have a dedicated coordinator who'll help you figure out all the elements.

What are some recent successes?

The Arbor Room. We had a tenant who was wonderful but when the pandemic hit, they went through a lot of changes. When they wanted to depart, we said to ourselves, ‘Okay, we're gonna do this!’

What services fall under Hospitality?

We have two dining outlets: the Gallery Grill, a full-service restaurant, has been operating for 20 years. It’s such a beautiful space. The Arbor Room opened in 2023. Less formal, it is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between.

The team came together. The key components were Marco, of course, because he designed the menu; and dining operations manager, Jerry Horton, who took the front of house. Marketing and communications, facilities and IT also rallied to get us ready for opening. It was a group effort in a very short turn around ‒ six weeks in 2023!

We got our bearings in those first few months. Then in the fall, we wanted to make our big splash ‒ the official opening.  

I can share some metrics: In May and June of 2023, part of term one, we did under 8,000 transactions. In term three, January through April 2024, we did almost 37,000! This September, we're breaking records again.

We’re excited to know that we're successful based on the sheer number of visitors getting value from that space.

I’ve had four different roles in my 14 years here. It has been such a wonderful environment to grow and take on new challenges.

As director, I see my role as the individual who removes barriers for team members so they can be doing the work they love. Sometimes that means removing myself and getting out of their way to make sure they can do what they do best: take care of people.

I start with the client first. What does the client, customer, visitor or guest want and how do we close the gap between where we are and what they need?

There’s no one-fits-all solution; there’s always that nuance when you're dealing with individuals, spending time with guests, visitors, clients, making them welcome.

What inspires you and how do you motivate your team?

Everyone who goes into hospitality wants to share something of themselves, bring value to people, get them excited, give them an experience, make them feel special.

Hart House’s mission is all about supporting students. We often talk about students as a homogeneous population when, of course, they're not. I love that at Hart House we're able to offer opportunities to all. I think about events and activities that student organizations organize with us. We bring the same level of enthusiasm and care to every event and occasion, regardless of style and budget.

It’s really important to me ‒ that mission around students and being able to contribute to the community, including engaging traditionally underrepresented populations. When I want to inspire my team, I go back to that mission to create an inclusive space for everybody. 

What does Hart House mean to you?

I love this: When I go to gatherings and mention that I work at Hart House, people always respond favourably – “I went to the Theatre and the Fitness Centre when I was a student” or “I was there during an event where the power went out … and they lit candles!” There are amazing stories that come out when you just say, “I work at Hart House.” Suddenly, you're on the receiving end of these experiences. You feel like you’re a part of the fabric of this community. 

What are your future aspirations?

Offsite catering. A chance to build on and create more robust catering options on campus. More broadly, figuring out ways we can continue to support Hart House in engaging all audiences, including people who didn't always see themselves at Hart House or the university. That's a big one: Making sure we are inclusive in all elements of services that we deliver across Hart House.

Originally published by Hart House