Bryan Lim

NDSU Catering’s Bryan Lim talks about his Malaysian roots and American favorites

If you have ever had a meal, coffee break or delivery from NDSU Catering, you are sure to have seen Bryan Lim’s familiar and always friendly face. Lim has worked for Dining since 2011, and moved into the Catering Lead position in 2018. But his journey that led him to NDSU began years ago.

Lim was born and raised in Malaysia. Cooking was very important to his family. Lim said, “We cooked every day. We don’t store food like you do here. We go to the market in the morning, then use that food to cook for the day. Everything is fresh.”

When Lim was in high school, he moved to the United States with his mother and two sisters. “When I came here, the food was different, people were different, everything was different,” he explained.

One of the most surprising differences was the size of food portions and plates. “Everything was huge,” he said with a laugh. He also thought eating raw veggies was super strange, sandwiches were weird, and he had never seen so many types of cheeses in his life!

Now, years later, his American favorites are frozen pizza and sloppy joes, plus any of the NDSU Catering desserts (he has a major sweet tooth).

If you miss him at your next catering event, you may spot him training for his next marathon. Lim loves to run and has completed six marathons so far. His goal is to run an ultra-marathon in the future, which involves running 240 miles over three days.

This will be Lim’s fifth year in Catering, and his favorite part is the planning. “I love the planning aspect. Planning ahead, looking at a month’s worth of events, and preparing for everything… that is the best part of my job.” He also credits the environment of Dining, his coworkers, and the people he serves as the reasons he loves his job. “There are so many people who have guided me and I have looked up to,” Lim said.