Recent initiatives

UCI went back to dine-in meal service as of February 5^th, 2022 and as of March 19th masks are no longer required to be worn in residential dining halls and retail locations (UCI began the Spring quarter on March 28^th).

Since the beginning of the year UCI Dining began piloting a Cool Food Meals program in its Residential dining locations in conjunction with WRI (the World Resource Institute), a global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity and human well-being. Cool Food Meals is a program through which WRI helps companies determine, badge and market meals that are better for the climate in a way that is simple and compelling for consumers. WRI measured the carbon footprint of hundreds of Aramark’s recipes to identify items that meet Cool Food Meals criteria, based on the ingredients from farm to fork and the land used to produce the meal to offer meal with a lower carbon footprint. UCI was one of 10 schools that piloted this across the country.

This March UCI Dining will also be piloting a new residential concept in partnership with Chef Grace Ramirez called La Latina Cocina featuring an authentic Latin inspired menu in collaboration with field chefs. The menu is designed for a dedicated inline station, temporary station take-overs and pop-up events for high weekly repeat incidence. Pilots began in March with full roll-out scheduled for Fall 2022. Some of the menu items being offered include Pork Carnitas Plate (black beans, arroz rojo, platano maduro, salsa verde), Chicken Tinga Taco (pulled chicken in chipotle adobo, salsa rojo, pickled onions, fresh cilantro on corn tortilla), Choripan (split & grilled Chorizo sausage with guasacaca, (chimi guac) on a crunchy toasted roll with a side of tajin flavored potato chips), Vegan Chipotle Mushroom Tostada (chipotle mushroom, crunchy cauliflower tortillas, pico de gallo, vegan cheddar, chipotle mayo) and Platano Maduro (roasted ripe plantains).

In other recent development, UCI Dining has been approved to accept SNAP/EBT benefits at its largest c-store, Zot n Go, and plans to roll that out over the spring. It has also working with the Food Recovery Network on a local gleaning project to distribute excess produce to those in need in the local community and restarted its One Mile Meals campus aeroponic garden and recently completed its first harvest.

Mobile ordering is offered through Grub Hub and Starship Robots at all open retail food locations during operating hours, except at the c-stores.

Recent initiatives

Dine-in is open on the OSU campus for spring, and students also have a mobile order option that has been in place for five years now. Recent additions to the program include two new food trucks and autonomous rover food delivery.

Recent initiatives

Purdue Dining has resumed operations with no restrictions. It offers mobile order and pick up offered at one of its Quick Bite locations.

Recent initiatives

The Spring 2022 semester is as close to normal operation levels that the UMass dining program has seen since the pandemic began, with the department seeing many off-campus students purchasing larger meal plans (i.e., residential) than in the past. As a result, revenues exceeded the original budget.

All dining commons are open, along with most of retail locations (including catering). Like most of the nation, UMass has faced challenges on the labor and supply chain side with product shortages and rising costs seen throughout the semester as the supply chain was still temperamental. That said, the department says there have been improvements with hiring students and full-time staff along with improvement in some areas of the supply chain.

Also noted is that, more than ever, customers understand the importance of in person and experiential dining and demand food that is authentic and globally inspired. Plant forward is more popular than ever with more requests for better vegan and vegetarian options.

Recent initiatives

Dine-in meal services has been restored at Stanford and the dining halls are at full indoor dining capacity, with to-go meals from the dining halls ended April 11 as the program returns to normal operations.

Among new venues, Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen opened March 28. This is a new station that focuses on healthy, sustainable and appealing Mediterranean food from countries ranging from Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey to Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon. The fare includes selections such as freshly-made pastas with sundried tomatoes, seafood bouillabaisse, vegetable paellas, an olive oil and olive bar and many house-made condiments.

Meanwhile, campus restaurants are beginning to reopen as staff are returning on a hybrid work schedule, and Executive Dining and Catering are also coming back with more frequency. 

Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) has also created a ninth dining hall on the campus by combining a to-go meal program space and a pub into the new EVGR Dining and Pub, which serves all you care to eat meals during the day and transitions into pub operations at night with beer and wine service. It has been immensely popular with students and is at the heart of a new 2,400 graduate/undergraduate residence.

Stanford dining halls also serve as living laboratories and R&DE has relaunched its research programs in partnership with faculty and staff to study the most effective strategies for reducing food waste and promoting healthy and sustainable food choices. It currently has a number of active studies looking at the impact of dish size on food waste, whether climate labels influence student food choices and how defaults can be utilized to reduce meat consumption while maintaining student satisfaction.

R&DE has also created a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Affiliate Committee in the department that will help to design, build and maintain a program of inclusivity and equity for all Stanford Dining staff to better serve the staff community. While developing strong relationships across the division, this committee will identify actions to meet R&DE’s strategic DEIB goals. It will collaborate with staff of all cultures, races, abilities, skill sets, and backgrounds in alignment with the overall DEIB vision for R&DE as set by R&DE Senior Associate Vice Provost Dr. Shirley Everett, while promoting a community where everyone feels included and empowered.

R&DE has also restarted many programs, including Chef Tables (restaurant style meals served in the dining halls), Teaching Kitchen programs and in-person special events that are designed to create community 

The R&DE Stanford Food Institute—created by Dr, Everett and Stanford Dining Executive Director Eric Montell to advance research, education, policy, business and practice to promote a holistic approach to improving what people eat, how they access food, and the role that food plays in our lives—works collaboratively across all seven schools at the university to support food education, research, and flavor and innovation. Sophie Egan is the new Director of the Stanford Food Institute and Sustainable Food Systems.

Recent initiatives

This spring, before for entering a “dine in” restaurant on the UCLA campus, a daily survey is required to be completed by everyone. While residential dining has not added any new venues, it has incorporated food trucks into its program for this academic school year.

Recent initiatives

Penn State campus dining outlets are operating with dine-in meal service with no restrictions. A variety of seating areas are offered, and mobile ordering and takeout are also an option to provide students flexibility based on their comfort and preference.

 The past year has been quite busy with a newly renovated Market Pollock Asia being launched offering an additional retail option with Create Your Own (CYO) Rice and Noodle Bowls, Banh Mi and Bao, and a completely customizable Bubble Tea selection.The certified kosher station PURE, also offering a complete menu free from the top nine food allergens, expanded to offer CYO Grain Bowls via mobile ordering on Penn State Eats. On the retail side, Slim Chickens offers students a new option with Southern-style buttermilk chicken tenders and cow & cookie offers signature “Quakes”—a sweet partnership of the Penn State Bakery and the Penn State Berkey Creamery.

Penn State Eats mobile ordering was launched in Fall 2020 and the program has continued to expand and increase offerings. Mobile ordering is currently offered at 27 retail food locations on the University Park campus and 55 total locations statewide.  Earliest hours available for online ordering begin with coffee shops campus-wide at 7 a.m. and wind down with late night menus at 11 p.m. The team has been able to leverage the system to offer additional services to students like pre-ordered Penn State Bakery products and online order and delivery to isolation and quarantine spaces from the on-campus convenience markets.

After a brief hiatus last semester, PSreUse (reusable container program) is back in buffet locations offering students a sustainable option for takeout. A full slate of special dining events and pop-up menu features have also been a highlight. Full-scale dinner events included celebrating Mardi Gras and a walk on the Hollywood red carpet in every dining commons location, to signature pop-up menu features in single locations such as a celebration of the Lunar New Year and Chocolate Truffle Lollipops with Bacon. Finally, a semester-long Chef Feature Series offered everyone’s favorite—Breakfast for Dinner—with tremendous popularity for menu features like Cream Cheese Stuffed Red Velvet French Toast and MTO Crepe Stations..

Recent initiatives

Indoor dining at UCSD resumed on Feb. 8 with masking required when not actively eating or drinking. Effective March 21, masking became optional on campus, including indoor dining locations but it remains required in all indoor classroom/instructional settings, clinical areas and on Triton/university transportation until further notice.

Meanwhile, UCSD Dining continues to build on the success of the Fall 2021 launch of its largescale menu development project through which it revamped and diversified its menu selection across its residential dining locations.

Additionally, in continued support of the university’s zero-waste initiatives, to-go orders are placed in Triton2Go reusable containers, and this academic year, the program has already diverted 285,000 single-use plastic containers from entering landfills, bringing the total to more than 540,000 since the launch of the program in Fall 2020.

In the technology area, the Triton2Go mobile ordering app provides the campus community with the ability to easily place orders in advance for pick up at all restaurants and select market locations. Available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., the app allows users to customize menu items, receiving a notification when their order is ready. Currently, 80% of orders at campus restaurants are placed through the app, averaging approximately 12,000 transactions daily.

In addition, each order earns loyalty points that can be used to enter contests. Past opportunity drawing prizes have included Apple AirPods, bikes, speakers and swag bags featuring products available in campus market locations.  

Recent initiatives

This spring IU Dining opened a number of new concepts, including Sub Station (ClubHouse) at Forest Eatery, Medetiterian Bar at Forest & McNutt Eateries, Stone Grill at McNutt Eatery and Starbucks at McNutt. In addition, 18 campus retail cafes and c-stores currently provide in-person and online ordering through GrubHub, with Briscoe C-Store having delivery available too.

Recent initiatives

BU returned to dine-in service in the fall of 2021 with masks required while not actively eating or drinking and social distancing encouraged, those restrictions were lifted beginning March 7, 2022. Among recent initiatives is the launch of The Halal Guys on March 21 to overwhelming success, and a “Good Times” mobile vending bike during Earth Week (April 18-22) that will be used for “surprise and delight” events across campus.

On the technology end, BU launched GrubHub in the Fall of 2020 as a way to provide contactless ordering across campus during the pandemic. After a successful launch, BU Dining Services removed most cash registers from the main retail food hall, the George Sherman Union, opting to utilize GrubHub’s active cashier kiosks and promoting use of the GrubHub app for mobile ordering, which can now be used throughout all locations to place orders between 7:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m.

Recent initiatives

Dine-in meal service and a takeout option at campus dining outlets was reestablished in the fall semester at UM, but masks were required unless eating and/or drinking and students had to present their vaccination and health status before entering. That masking requirement was relaxed in mid-March, after which masks became optional. Meanwhile, mobile/pre-ordering on campus is available at selected retail operations during open hours.

While UM Dining has not introduced any new concepts or technology this spring, it did start identifying carbon footprint on menus as part of a research study.

Recent initiatives

Texas A&M University currently has no restrictions on campus and all dine-in meal services are running at full capacity.

The major new development in the dining program was the opening of the West Campus Food Hall in Spring 2022 in a brand new facility built from the ground up. It currently offers three concepts (Chick-fil-A, Copperhead Jack’s and Houston Street Subs), with a fourth, Shake Smart, scheduled to open in Fall 2022. The Chick Fil A is available for lunch and dinner and represents the chain’s third outlet on the Texas A&M campus while the Copperhead Jack’s—already a student favorite with one other location on campus—has a menu focused on build your own burritos, bowls, tacos, etc. that was designed by campus executive chefs, and branding designed by student graphic design interns. The Houston Street Subs outlet, the chain’s third on the Texas A&M campus, offers deli subs and gyros made with freshly cut veggies and bread made daily. The Shake Smart outlet will be the second on campus, offering fare such as freshly blended protein shakes, organic acai bowls and all-natural peanut butter sandwiches.

Also planned to open in Fall 2022 is the Ag Café, with Starbucks and Market & Wild Blue Sushi outlets. The Starbucks, the fifth on the campus, is a full service unit that offers popular seasonal and year round coffees and teas as well as pastries and sandwiches, while Market & Wild Blue Sushi will offer grab-and-go options, snacks and drinks as well as a Wild Blue Sushi counter with fresh sushi made on site.

In the Spring of 2022, Texas A&M Dining and Chartwells launched a partnership with food automation company Picnic to bring the world’s first pizza assembly station to a college campus dining facility, which helps the program reduce food waste while using cost-effective technology to create pizzas on campus.

Starting in Fall 2022, the program plans to introduce on campus mobile ordering and self-check-out kiosks at multiple retail locations.

Recent initiatives

Dine-in meal service at UConn has been restored and there are currently no restrictions. Recent additions to the dining program include Pierogi Bowls at the Union Street Market Bowls Without Borders station, Acai Yogurt Bars and smoothies at two cafes, Dumpling Bars at Whitney Dining Hall and Northwest Dining, Sushi Bowls/Crepe Bars at North Dining Hall, Louisiana Chicken Po ‘Boy and Cajun Ranch Broasted Chicken Sandwiches at Union Street Market’s Mrkt Chkn station, Whoopie Pie Wednesday in the Dining Halls from UConn Bakery, a rebranded food truck with new design/logo and menu featuring gourmet burgers and fries, and the plant-based Crossroads Café that opened in Fall 2021.

Recent initiatives

NAU never went away from dining in service, serving through spring of 2020 and then opening with proper protocols that fall. The dining program added to-go options and reduced the number of retail offers for last year, but are back to pre-COVID options beginning Fall 2021.

It implemented a “Super Foods” bar in its two residential dining operations last fall and continues to offer them in the spring. Though the NAU dining program is always evolving, in the last year or two some of the changes have been more geared toward creating safe dining environments and providing more contactless options for students and staff.

One new service developed to address those concerns was working with Starship Technologies to create a mobile ordering module that students can use to order items a la carte with their Dining Dollars or even “transfer meals” using their weekly meal swipes, an addition to the robot delivery program it had operated on campus since March 2019. All campus retail operations participate in the remote order/robot delivery program, with remote order available during each venue’s operating hours.

Also, last fall NAU Dining opened a new late night “dark retail” option that converts the Hot Spot resident dining location on central campus into a ghost kitchen of sorts featuring menus from four of the more popular retail outlets for extended hours from 8 p.m. to midnight, allowing students to order food for pick up or robot delivery until midnight.

As it gets closer to returning to “normal” operations, NAU Dining has also re-started some of its initiatives around food waste reduction like the LeanPath WasteWatch program and the Food Recovery Network. Of course, in the two dining halls, any food that is not recovered or repurposed is composted using a state-of-the-art SOMAT 4-machine compost system in both dining halls that pulps, grinds and dehydrates all food waste as well as any napkins, paper or other single-use materials so that even post-consumer waste is composted efficiently. This spring, it also re-launched the “Louie’s Leftovers” program that allows event organizers to send out a push notification through the NAUGo app to let students know when there is food left over at an event.

NAU Dining is also working with its Campus Dining Advisory Council students on some changes for this fall, including a new Plant Forward concept in retail. 

Recent initiatives

UI-UC Dining has returned to its pre-COVID in-person service but elected to retain its Good2Go carry-out program that, along with the return of the Good2Go Mobile Food Truck, are newer concepts in the program inventory that provide added flexibility to let students maximize the use of their meal plans.

However, the most notable recent addition to the dining program is the recently remodeled and expanded AYCTE Illinois Street Residence Hall, which opened fully this fall but, as the year has progressed, is adjusting its service to operate to its fullest potential. The new dining space on the first level will increase seating from 750 to 1,385, while nine micro-restaurants offer a wide-range of options and cuisine offerings. Meanwhile, the lower level is home to two retail concepts—a tea bar and a c-store.

UI-UC Dining continues to focus on sustainability and food insecurity collaborations and is currently exploring a variety of ways to incorporate innovative technology into the dining experience at the university. It already offers mobile/pre-ordering through its Illinois App for the 57North retail /c-store concept between 10 a.m. and midnight every day.

Recent initiatives

With dine-in restored on the UW-Seattle campus, the dining program opened a new express market and café called District Market Oak at the end of March and is returning to washable plates in its dining halls, with the option of disposables for to-go orders. It also has deployed an Ozzi machine to incentivize use of reusable disposables and is bringing back its BYOM (bring your own mug/reusable drinkware) program to its cafes, which offers a 25-cent discount off of drink orders for customers bringing their own cups.

Mobile ordering is aoofered at varying hours depending on the outlet, but generally between 11a.m. and 8 p.m., with breaks between meal periods.

Recent initiatives

Dining Services at Virginia Tech is fully reopened to in-person ordering and there are currently no restrictions in place for either staff and guests. Also available is the continued use of mobile and kiosk ordering in most dining locations, typically during normal operational hours. Each dining center manages the ordering process based on business volumes and staffing/product challenges to determine the availability of the ordering platform—either in-person ordering only, mobile/kiosk ordering only, or all three available.

The newest addition to the program is VIVA Market, which opened in January 2022 and introduced the F’real milkshake Machine, the Franke Automatic Espresso Machine and is slated to debut a Sally the Robot salad dispensing machine later in the spring semester.

In addition, the program just commenced the construction of a new state of the art dining center, Perry Place at HITT Hall, which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2024, and started a major renovation to create the Dietrick Enclosure Project and Quillen Family Spirit Plaza at Dietrick Dining Center.

Other recent initiatives include enhancements to the Grubhub mobile ordering system that prompts students with an allergen concern to click an acceptance and instructions on where to place that information. Finally, Dining Services Central Hiring, which currently hires student and non-student workers is getting ready to expand to hiring entry level full time employees.

Recent initiatives

This spring Stony Brook continued to remain open without any restrictions. It has been offering weekly guest chef programs, Global Nights, Prime Nights with steak and specialty seafood (including vegan and vegetarian options), international breakfasts, food expos to connect students with the campus chefs and try new products, outdoor food pop-ups with a DJ in the center of campus, expanded mobile ordering and late-night favorites such as taco bars, mashed potato bowls and wings!

Every month, the dining program hosts large-scale cultural celebrations with authentic cuisines and entertainment such as Lunar New Year, Black History Month, Diwali, and Holi Festival of Colors. The last week of March, it hosted a huge outdoor Street Fair with food, music, farmers market, a smoothie bike, food trucks, Smoky Roads BBQ, student performances, plant sale, sustainable activities, wellness tables, local growers and producers, free snack and beverage samplings, games and prizes.

The dine-in locations rolled out many new additions for spring including customizable deli sandwiches with toasty subs, hydration stations with a selection of five flavored waters daily, a grain bar for a new and easy way to get extra plant-based proteins, a toppings bar for sandwiches and burgers, a spice station, and an expanded coffee and tea bar.

Sustainability efforts such as the rollout of PLA Eco-friendly utensils made from 100% renewable materials in contactless dispensers, tours of the on campus Freight Farm, farmers markets, reusable containers at dine-in, and free organic and sustainably sourced Chameleon drip coffee for those that bring their reusable mug have continued.

The retail locations have launched new products such as Korean Corn Dogs, a Mozzarella Cheese and Beef Hot Dog that is batter-fried with crispy ramen noodles and topped with ketchup and mustard or wasabi honey mayo; and “Seawolves Pizza,” a square specialty topping pizza coming in varieties like the Grandpa Vodka, Truffle Mac n' Cheese, Chicken Bacon Ranch, Chopped Salad, and Bianca with Basil Pesto.

The campus dietitian launched a new program to create customized meals for students with food allergies. The specialized menu request form helps students communicate to the managers and culinary team at the dining location about their food allergies, intolerances and/or specialized dietary needs. In addition, the Allergen Saf-t-Zone kits at the dining locations include separate purple utensils and cutting boards to assist students who have food allergies and dietary intolerances receive a meal that is not prepared on shared equipment as other potential allergens.

Mobile/pre-ordering is offered through the GET app at over half a dozen campus locations, including Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee outlets and the Student Activities Center (SAC) Food Court:

New concepts introduced this spring have included…

• Kickin’ Chickin—Big and Bold Between the Bread!, which replaced the grill station in the SAC Food Court and offers chicken signature sandwiches such as the Nashville Hot ‘Wich (buttermilk fried chicken tossed in spicy sauce with lettuce, pickles and creamy coleslaw) and the Mozz Parm ‘Wich (buttermilk fried chicken, marinara sauce, pepperoncini and mozzarella sticks) as well as vegan and vegetarian sandwiches made with the Gardein Ultimate Plant-based Chick’n Filet;

• La Olla, incorporated into the Urban eats outlet at East Side Dining, which offers Dominican, Puerto Rican and other Latin American selections such as empanadas, pork carnitas, maduros and pollo guisado; Urban Eats also has other new menu items like birria tacos, stuffed arepas, fry cones and bao buns.

• at the Roth Food Court, Chef Jet’s Modern Asian Kitchen has added new vegetarian meals and many new menu items like Szechuan Tofu and Pork Char Siu with Oyster Sauce while Tadka—Essence of India has added more variety with entrees such as Shrimp Vindaloo, Roasted Salmon Tikka Masala, Chicken Biryani plus new sides like Paneer Tikka Masala with warm Indian spices, tomato, yogurt, cilantro and cream, and Cocina Fresca offers popular made-to-order burritos, bowls and tacos plus quesadillas, nachos and sides with GET mobile available for quick pickups on the go.

On the tech front, station identifiers used in the dining halls now feature QR codes that allow students to use their cellphones to view menu updates for this semester. QR codes are also used at all dining locations so that guests can complete a short three question survey to give immediate feedback about their dining experience.

Contactless payment options have been expanded and dine-in now offers self-checkout stations that decrease wait time and provide a cashless, touchless checkout experience. In addition, the cashier stations at dining locations offer contactless payment options like the GET mobile app, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and touchless credit/debit card readers.

The dining program also offers heat maps on the Campus Dining website and through the Nutrislice app, a digital tool that provides real-time dining facility occupancy to allow students to more easily make the decision on where to go.

Recent initiatives

While limited staffing has limited full-scale opening, most dining locations at NC State are open with modified hours, though both sit-down restaurants are currently closed with plans to reopen this summer. As staffing has improved, the dining program has added some action stations back and expanded menus. Otherwise, there are no pandemic-related restrictions on operations.

It has also added a local favorite, Ruckus Pizza, to its lineup, which has been well received, and extended meal credits to Talley Market to compensate for not having a couple of other units open.

GrubHub-based mobile ordering is available everywhere during all dayparts. Fall had been mobile-order-only for retail, but in-person ordering was reintroduced this spring as an option in addition to mobile ordering.

Recent initiatives

All dining venues at Bama have a dine-in option, and while the dining program is working with no restrictions, it has decided to retain some service styles adopted during COVID. Also, while some locations are operating pre-COVID hours, others have abbreviated hours of operation due to staffing constraints. A mobile app is available for use at many of the retail outlets and one dining hall. 

Recent additions and enhancements include a flip-kitchen in the Student Center that rotates food truck vendors. This spring, La Mexicana is operating in that location in addition to their food truck.  Another addition is the Cooper Café coffee shop in a new Business School building, and the program also recently opened two additional unmanned markets on campus.

Going forward, the dining program is bringing back more late-night programming and services.  For instance, the Sola taqueria is open later in the evening on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and late night programming has been added a couple of times a month at Lakeside, the largest residential facility on campus.

Recent initiatives

UW-Madison has restored traditional dining operations and does not have any restrictions. The program offers mobile order pick up at all of its locations along with robot delivery.

Recent initiatives

Miami Dining is operating with no restrictions. It offers mobile/pre-ordering at 10 locations across campus during hours of operations.

Recent initiatives

All dining outlets at UGA have returned to pre-pandemic service styles with no restrictions. Meanwhile, this spring, UGA Dining Services is expanding and revamping its to-go “Bulldog Box” program serving residential dining facilities that will allow students more flexibility and convenience in obtaining a to-go options in the dining commons. The program also offers mobile/pre-ordering in select retail operations.

Recent initiatives

By March 2022, all Harvard dining operations resumed normal service with flexibility for students who did not wish to dine in. Undergraduates can use mobile ordering to order bag meals from all undergraduate dining halls for any meal and mobile ordering is also available at a single retail venue for lunch

Recent initiatives

Liberty resumed dine-in meal service fully at the beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year and there currently are no restrictions in place. Among recent developments are the debut of a brand new Shake Smart the week of March 25 while several other additions such as a new breakfast sandwich concept and a rotating menu concept in the Tilley Student Center are anticipated for Fall 2022/Spring 2023, followed by the anticipated opening of a brand new dining hall in Fall 2023.

Liberty Dining had rolled out mobile ordering through GrubHub back in 2020, but for this academic year it partnered with Transact Mobile to bring LU Eats to the campus, allowing students to use their meal plan tenders with no hidden fees to skip the lines and order ahead during each individual unit’s operating hours.

Recent initiatives

CU-Boulder dining venues are open with no restrictions. Its most recent addition was Libby on the Run, a gluten-, wheat-, peanut- and tree nut-free facility opened last fall. The program does offer mobile ordering at two venues, CU on the Run and The Alley, weekdays between 10a.m. and 8 p.m.

Recent initiatives

Hospitality Services at Texas Tech has operated normal service styles for the Fall 2021/Spring 2022 academic year. Following state and university guidelines, no restrictions have been put in place for dining, but the department has continued to promote measures for the safety of the campus community.

Hospitality Services has two major projects currently underway in the Student Union Building, including the addition of a second campus Starbucks location and a complete renovation to the food court, scheduled to finish in late spring, which will then be the home to Raider Pit BBQ, Boars Head Deli, an expanded Grab-N-Go area and a brand new national brand for campus, Pizza Hut. The department is also currently renovating an existing location which will open Spring of 2023 as a new dual retail and All-You-Care-to Eat dining facility.

This semester, the department has focused on increasing its student programs to support staffing issues. Increasing the number of student scholarships and number of recipients in the Work for Board program has helped recruit and retain employees.

Mobile ordering continues to be another key priority for the department, as it works to increase access and convenience for students. Its dining locations utilize Transact Mobile ordering for food pick up and reservations with mobile ordering available to students on-campus between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. 

Currently, Hospitality Services is working to incorporate food lockers this summer in conjunction with the existing mobile ordering platform to increase the speed of service to the customer.

Recent initiatives

SUNY Binghamton restored dine-in meal service in the fall 2021 semester. More recently, two retail locations had some menu changes implemented for the spring semester and the program is now serving Subway for lunch at the Health Sciences Café. Additions were also made to the menu at the Chenango Room to increase variety by adding four sandwiches, four entrée salads, seven fry dipping sauces and two desserts. Customers can also enjoy new options such as the Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich, Heirloom Caprese and Chopped Power salads, traditional milkshakes and the Vegan Oatmilk shake . The one resident dining location added a new concept called Melts, with a menu boasting of a variety of made-to-order paninis such as Turkey Florentine, Chicken Parmigiana and Vegan Caprese.

Mobile ordering using the BiteU app is offered at 17 retail locations during their operating hours.

Recent initiatives

USC has reinstated dine in meal service in all dining locations with no restrictions and they are operating at full seating capacity. In recent news, USC Dining has transitioned two locations into all-you-care-to-eat dining locations to support the all access meal plan structure that is offered on campus and launched a Food Lab location that allows it to offer rotating themed menus in a retail setting. The themed menus feature everything from Irish Fare the week of St. Patrick’s Day (Banners and Mash, Corned Beef and Cabbage, and Shepherd’s Pie) to a Chophouse menu that featured Glazed Salmon, Prime Rib, and Roasted Brussel Sprouts while every Wednesday offers the campus tradition of Chicken Fingers. Another recent addition is B+F (Burgers + Fries), offering a variety of options made with 100% Certified Angus Beef, and The Spread, which offers chef inspired subs topped with house made spreads.

In addition, USC Dining and Aramark host Chef Competitions to showcase the culinary talent across campus where eight of the chefs compete, bracket style, for the best dish and students vote via QR code for their favorite recipe after sampling two options. The winning dish will be featured on the Fall 2022 menu. The Chef Competition in February was for Best Soup and in March for Best Chicken Sandwich. Pictures can be found at @uofscdining.

In the tech area, USC Dining offers GrubHub mobile ordering for a majority of retail outlets on campus during all retail operations hours, with full, customizable menus available to order ahead of time and students notified when their food order is ready for pick up. Also available are Grubhub Ultimate ordering kiosks in several retail locations.

Recent initiatives

All Syracuse dining centers and cafes have returned to dine-in service and the current mask guidance does not require vaccinated students and staff to wear a mask, though unvaccinated students, faculty and staff are still required to wear masks on campus.

The dining program has showcased several new concepts developed in-house recently, including La Naranja, a build-to-order bowl concept inspired by the flavors of Mexico and Central America, grab-and-go breakfast and lunch items, an on-trend chicken sandwich concept, and upscale breakfast burritos, including poutine, chorizo, pork belly, chili crisp, and California burritos.

These concepts were introduced at the five residential dining centers in an effort to step away from traditional buffet-style service and to offer “franchise-style” choices to students. The program pays close attention to what students want (generally what they see in fast-casual restaurants) and plan to add more concepts fall 2022. It also anticipates adding more wholesome branded concepts that authentically represent different cultures.

The program offers GrubHub mobile ordering through some of the campus cafes with hours consistent with their hours of service, and has several new technological initiatives in the works, scheduled to start fall 2022.

Recent initiatives

All meal service has been restored with no restrictions at Boston College, though with some minor adjustments in hours of service. Dining Services launched a new cafe in the newest science building that features self-order kiosks, mobile ordering to lockers, Mediterranean bowls, breakfast pastries and specialty coffee. It also reopened a renovation of one of its largest dining facilities, Carney Kitchen at McElroy Commons, to rave reviews from students and the community and has been working in collaboration with student cultural organizations on its Global Flavors program and testing new vegan entrees such as Moroccan Cauliflower Bao in addition to featuring sustainable seafood such as Thai curry monkfish.

Mobile ordering is available at multiple popular locations, including the three Cafe/Markets, the newest Tully Cafe, for pizza delivery a couple nights per week, the BC After Dark restaurant with hours ranging from 7:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. depending on the venue.

The program’s newest café, Tully Family Cafe & Commons, only takes orders via GET Mobile and kiosk, something that has been well received and is helping with staffing challenges. The mobile orders are prepared and then placed in pickup lockers built into our Cafe after a positive experiences with them at two other dining locations on campus during the pandemic. BC Dining also continues to push its Choose2Reuse program, which emphasizes the importance of using reusable containers and it has partnered with Fill it Forward for its Green2Go program.

Recent initiatives

Our dining halls at UT have resumed normal, pre-pandemic service with self-service in dining halls restarted at the beginning of March. Among recent moves was the renovation of Littlefield Patio Café, one of the most popular dining locations, located in Littlefield Residence Hall, the oldest hall on campus. The renovation included the addition of a coffee bar and expanded outdoor seating. UT Dining also refreshed Cypress Bend Café in the San Jacinto Residence Hall. The café, located next to the football stadium, is a combination restaurant, coffee bar and convenience store, with the coffee bar newly added this spring as part of the refresh.

Mobile ordering is currently limited to use of the GET app to order ahead at coffee shops during operating hours.

Recent initiatives

Dine-in service has returned to Cornell with no restrictions, though takeout remains available at all locations, with an expansion of the reusable takeout container program launched before the pandemic. Cornell Dining currently provides a limited amount of seating designated as “distanced” (representing 5% of unit seating capacity), and there is currently no masking requirement in campus dining spaces, though masking is highly encouraged in social settings.

The biggest recent addition to the program has been the debut of Morrison Dining, a spectacular food hall style venue this spring. This fall, Crossings Café, located in Toni Morrison Hall directly across from the Morrison Dining facility, is scheduled to open with a menu featuring smoothies, quick sandwiches, salads, cold brew coffee and breakfast items.

Other recent additions include the remodeled Okenshields dining room at Willard Straight Hall, which added a very popular noodle bowl concept and enhanced salad bar, helping increase the offerings on central campus to help accommodate additional headcount.

Also, with Spring 2022 being the first semester since the beginning of the pandemic that Cornell welcomed its entire on-campus population back in person, it is the first time for many students to experience Martha’s Cafe, a plant-forward build-your-own concept that uses Mediterranean cuisine as a model that had launched back in the spring of 2020.

Meanwhile, the program is looking forward to the renovation of North Star Dining Room and arrival of Novick’s Café. The North Star renovation will refresh and modernize the facility, adding several new concepts such as a a burrito bowl station and a Chef’s Table concept for innovative creations, while Novick’s Café, named for Cornell alumna Barbara Novick, will be located in the heart of Phase 2 of Cornell’s North Campus Residential Expansion project and will introduce a high-end beverage experience with barista-crafted drinks, specialty sandwiches, premium pastries, as well as options for quick drip coffee.

Cornell Dining also recently reinstated its reusable takeout container for residential dining facilities and reusable mug programs at retail facilities and rolled out self-ordering kiosks at Crossings Café last fall, something that will also be available at Novick’s Cafe. The program currently offers mobile ordering at 12 of its retail locations, with three beginning as early as 7 a.m. and one (Bear Necessities) extending it to 2 a.m.

Finally, while it continues to focus on staff training and development, Cornell Dining is also working with its union staff to create pathways for progression and enhanced on the job training. It plans to resurrect its summer training program, which was initially developed to provide opportunity for staff while the campus was partially shut down during the first summer after COVID-19. While it expects to be open fully over this coming summer, it plans to resume and enhance this program.

Recent initiatives

UAZ has restored dine-in meal service on campus and currently has no restrictions. It debuted one new market (Red & Blue Market) and two new restaurants (Sichuan Kitchen and Saffron Bites) this spring along with Food Delivery Rovers. Other new technologies recently added include a Smart Vending with Sally the Salad Making Robot and a Kellogg’s Bowl Bot.

The dining program offers both mobile and pre-ordering on campus with mobile ordering available via GrubHub for more than two dozen campus retail outlets. Pre-ordering is available during the academic year in the form of single meals to-go, large sharable meals and desserts for limited time specials.  Express catering is available for pre-order year-round.

Recent initiatives

Throughout the pandemic, UB was able to keep dine-in meal service open using a timed reservation system to adhere to capacity restrictions and be able to clean and sanitize zones to help protect guests. The reservation system was recently removed as our state’s and university’s restrictions have been lifted.

Opening in spring 2022 was a major new dining venue, One World Café, which is UB’s internationally themed dining spot and gathering place. Situated at one of the North Campus’ busiest crossroads, One World Café offers members of the campus community a chance to share authentically prepared dishes from around the globe while also serving as testament to the university’s collective spirit of openness and inclusivity. The five platforms include Kali Orexi (Mediterranean), Tikka Table (India), The 1846 Grill (North America), Pan Asia (China, Korea and Taiwan) and The Noodle Pavilion (Japan and Vietnam).

One World Café features has five self-checkout stations along with refuse stations that will be able to collect organics such as food waste, compostable containers and compostable cutlery with the focus, from the food to the packaging used being to be as close to zero-waste as possible.

Seven retail outlets offer mobile ordering and are open during the location’s normal operating hours. These locations are in both the residential areas and along the academic corridor.

Recent initiatives

All dine-in locations at UCSB are currently open-with no restrictions at all. Meanwhile, Residential Dining introduced a new concept to its program that is very popular among student customers, which is ordering food between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. via a mobile application and picking up their order to take away from Ortega Commons to enjoy elsewhere. Ortega Commons is the home for the Take Out program and is open weekdays for continuous grab and go meal service with a restaurant style menu. Daily lunch and dinner specials are offered in addition to its classic menu standards that range from favorite comfort foods to modern global cuisine, including a variety of plant-based options. Going forward, the dining program is looking to expand the Residential Take Out program with additional offerings and extended hours and will continue to open additional retail units as staffing challenges subside.

Recent initiatives

All residential dining locations have resumed regular service. OU Food Services does not typically offer carry-out options at the residential dining halls as they are all-you-care-to-eat, dine-in locations, but to align with the university’s Spring 2022 COVID-19 protocols, it temporarily is allowing all guests the option to take their meal to-go, so, upon request, to-go containers and cups as well as plasticware are provided. In addition, most retail campus dining locations have resumed accepting cash and several contactless payment methods.

In March 2022, OU Food Services opened an expanded Starbucks location in a freshly renovated space in the Oklahoma Memorial Union and the department has also increased local food trucks on campus from one to two nights a week and relocated them closer to the residence halls for convenient student access. The food trucks accept meal plans in addition to cash and credit cards on these nights.

In addition, OU Food Services is working to re-introduce kiosk ordering for its Cross Village retail dining locations, which will streamline the ordering processes by allowing students to purchase items from multiple concepts in a single transaction. It also is currently transitioning to Transact mobile ordering at its retail dining locations with an expected rollout scheduled for Fall 2022. Beta testing for Transact mobile ordering is currently taking place at the Chick-fil-A and Baja Fresh locations during regular business hours. Mobile ordering was previously available through Grubhub.

Recent initiatives

UNL has restored dine-in services in all of its dining centers with no restrictions. Students can self-serve again from the salad bars and lines and tables and chairs have been returned so the dining rooms are 100% set. The only holdover from COVID restrictions is the ability to take any meal, any time to go from the dining center.

Dining Services is just putting the finishing touches on our Selleck dining room renovation this spring, finishing the buildout to a gluten-free restaurant concept that is a part of Selleck but has its own production, serving, and seating area. The department had hoped to open that after spring break, but construction and equipment delays are pushing it back, probably to summer.  A temporary coffee cart did open in College of Engineering’s Othmer Hall and will remain until their building renovation and the new permanent dining operation is ready.

Other recent moves include the debut of the Net Nutrition program in January, which lets students have access to all of their nutrition information; it is paired with a new menu display system where the nutrition and allergen information is now on screens on the serving lines. 

UNL Dining currently has 15 locations where students can use the mobile app and of the 12,000 transactions a day on campus, about a third are initiated on the app. It converted Selleck Dining Center to a food court where all the orders from its seven restaurant concepts are done on the mobile app. Selleck is open between 6:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. while the Husker Heroes Sandwich shop in Abel is open from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Varsity Pizza and Champion’s Chicken in Harper are open until 11pm. All six Union operations use the mobile app and they are open various hours, with the Asian concept there staying open until 9 p.m. UNL Dining currently is working on its first mobile Market test to launch over the summer.

Recent initiatives

UNL has restored dine-in services in all of its dining centers with no restrictions. Students can self-serve again from the salad bars and lines and tables and chairs have been returned so the dining rooms are 100% set. The only holdover from COVID restrictions is the ability to take any meal, any time to go from the dining center.

Dining Services is just putting the finishing touches on our Selleck dining room renovation this spring, finishing the buildout to a gluten-free restaurant concept that is a part of Selleck but has its own production, serving, and seating area. The department had hoped to open that after spring break, but construction and equipment delays are pushing it back, probably to summer.  A temporary coffee cart did open in College of Engineering’s Othmer Hall and will remain until their building renovation and the new permanent dining operation is ready.

Other recent moves include the debut of the Net Nutrition program in January, which lets students have access to all of their nutrition information; it is paired with a new menu display system where the nutrition and allergen information is now on screens on the serving lines. 

UNL Dining currently has 15 locations where students can use the mobile app and of the 12,000 transactions a day on campus, about a third are initiated on the app. It converted Selleck Dining Center to a food court where all the orders from its seven restaurant concepts are done on the mobile app. Selleck is open between 6:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. while the Husker Heroes Sandwich shop in Abel is open from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Varsity Pizza and Champion’s Chicken in Harper are open until 11pm. All six Union operations use the mobile app and they are open various hours, with the Asian concept there staying open until 9 p.m. UNL Dining currently is working on its first mobile Market test to launch over the summer.

Recent initiatives

OSU Dining Services is functioning with little restrictions at this time. Plexiglas barriers have been in place separating students and dining staff, and any self-service station has been turned into a traditional staff-served concept. The dining program recently implemented a new update for the POS system for dining concepts. It offers pre-order and on-campus delivery via the GrubHub app.