Yale University Dining Services has begun partnering with the dining service at the Yale Law School, a separate entity, on catering, and the two departments are also consolidating back-office systems like ordering and invoicing. Yale Dining also announced the appointment of Ronald DeSantis, CMC, to director of culinary excellence & quality assurance, with responsibility for leading all facets of culinary concept design, development of menus and culinary training. DeSantis is one of 62 CMCs in the U.S. and had served as culinary trainer for the Camp David Presidential Retreat since 2003.
Rutgers University has promoted Associate Dining Services Director Joseph Charette to executive director of dining services, succeeding Charles Sams, who planned to retire at the end of September. Charette had served as associate director for the past 22 years.
Chicago Park District is pulling unhealthy items from the vending machines at its sites. The new machines, operated by Compass Group, will be completely stocked with only healthy snacks. Plans call for 96 to be installed within citywide field houses by the end of the year.
Dietetic students at Eastern Kentucky University opened a full-service white-tablecloth restaurant on campus on September 13th. The eatery, called Cafe Burrier, serves lunch twice a week throughout the fall semester to about 40 guests a day. Students fill all the positions at Cafe Burrier, including cooking, procurement and cleanup.
Emory University's Food Service Administration has launched a food education initiative called Food E U that will educate students on topics such as sustainability, nutrition, food science and journalism and food culture.
The University of Virginia is the latest college to embrace the booming food truck trend, inviting six trucks at a time to its campus during the midday daypart to bridge a gap in campus dining while its Newcomb Hall dining center undergoes an $18 million renovation.
CORRECTION: In the Best Concept feature in the August 2011 issue, Best Wellness Concept Award winner Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center's name was misspelled as “Gunderson.” The correct spelling is reflected in all online versions of the article and we regret the error.
