Julie Milligan Flik ’63 spent her childhood summers digging for clams in the waters off her beach house on Long Island. Walking door to door along the boardwalk on Friday mornings, she would sell her catch to a standing clientele at 25 cents a dozen.
Twenty years later, Julie drew on her entrepreneurial spirit once more, teaming with her husband to launch a thriving food service business. Reflecting on that progression from clams to catering, Julie says with a smile, “I suppose I was destined to work in the food industry all along.”
High school graduation
Julie arrived at Cornell in 1959, moving from an all-girls prep school to being one of eight female students in a class of 100. Although she initially felt out of place, she quickly shed any inhibitions and became active in many campus organizations, serving as treasurer of the Hotel Sales Management Association’s student chapter, orientation counselor for the Women’s Student Government Association, and singing in the Sage Chapel choir. Unlike so many before her, Julie says she never felt discrimination. “I might have been spared because I was in the right place at the right time, considering the movement toward inclusion,” she says, “To the contrary, I have felt my femininity to be an asset.”
Cornell scholarship presentation
One year after graduating from the Hotel School, she joined Hilton’s banquet-sales training program in Chicago. Nine months later, she moved to San Francisco to run banquet sales for a new Hilton hotel. In that city, she met her husband to be, Ruediger Flik. They married in 1965. ‘’Rudi and I wanted to go into business together,” she recalled. ‘’Shortly after we were married, we had a chance to manage an inn on Long Island near Jones Beach. But what we learned from that experience was that we were not cut out to be resident innkeepers. Rudi got a job, and I stayed home for a few years and started our family.’’ The Fliks have three children: two sons and a daughter.
In 1971, the Fliks approached Sarah Lawrence College north of New York City, offering to handle its food service operations. They won the contract, launching what would become a thriving business serving colleges, private schools, industry, and healthcare.
Cornell graduation portrait
FLIK International Corp. grew from a contract management company with one account to a multi-faceted enterprise operating in 18 states with nearly 200 clients and annual sales approaching $200 million. Long before it was popular, the Fliks believed healthcare food and wellness was a big growth area, especially the promotion of proper nutrition and supplying special diet menus to clients. “We’ve developed a wellness food program for clients and special nutrition programs featuring low-calorie menus designed by our manager of nutrition service and the registered dieticians we have on staff. We think in the future those will become even more popular.”
In 1995, the British food service company Compass Group PLC bought Flik International. Under the deal, the Fliks would manage the business for another four years. Still, when the Fliks chose to sign, it was a bittersweet moment. “I cried,” Julie Flik recalled, “it was almost like selling a child, but all of our employees have benefited from the sale. We have never regretted it.” Julie continued in her role as Executive Vice President for Compass North America for over 11 years.
Flying high Hennessy travels,1998
Throughout her career, Julie actively supported and prominently advocated for the industry. She flew around the globe to evaluate food service in US Air Force bases. She served as President of the Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management (SHFM and formerly the Society of Foodservice Management). Julie was presented in 2002 with the Jay B. Silverstein Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes a lifetime of contributions and service to the corporate foodservice and workplace hospitality industry. SHFM honors the memory of Julie with the Julie Flik Rising Star Continuation Program intended to allow those who have timed out of the Rising Star program to continue their involvement in SHFM with qualifications including participation as a Rising Star for three consecutive years and still being a Young Professional, 39 and younger.
She later became a Board Member of the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and was elected President and then Chair of its Educational Foundation (NRAEF), which works to recruit and retain restaurant industry workers. Julie was also a Board Member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) and a Member of U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship.
Julie was a tireless supporter of Cornell. She served on the University Council and was a Member of the President’s Council of Cornell Women. At the Hotel School, the Fliks established an endowment to support faculty travel and development. “Our hope is that many members of the Hotel School faculty will use this revolving grant to enrich their professional knowledge and, in turn, share that knowledge with their students.”
In her later years, Julie divided her time between Long Island, New York, and Key Biscayne, Florida. Each summer, she still dug clams on the waters off her childhood beach house.
