Foodservice Director News: Page 2
Older foodservice director news, page 2 of 5. Back to the latest news.
-
Launch idea: let students taste-test and vote on new school menu items
USDA's Team Nutrition posted a 'Crunch Time!' taste-test event for middle schools, adapted to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030. Nutrition staff serve samples of two to four candidate dishes, ideally before ingredients for next year must be ordered; students vote on a ballot, then name the winning dish, which debuts on the menu as the students' choice. The page cites Loudoun County Public Schools, which sampled more than 40 recipes at a food show with more than 250 participants, and Highline School District, where culinary students and nutrition staff served scratch-cooked dishes to nearly 800 students and gathered feedback.
-
Local sourcing in senior living: a Long Island community earns Slow Food's Snail of Approval
Peconic Landing, a not-for-profit continuing care retirement community in Greenport, N.Y., received Slow Food East End's Snail of Approval, which recognizes sourcing, environmental impact, community involvement and staff support. It is the second senior living community in the nation to earn the distinction, which usually goes to restaurants, farms and producers. The dining team, led by Vice President of Dining Services Debra Foster and Executive Chef Jean Paul Hascoat, features products from local farms, fisheries, wineries and producers, and the community credits its dining partner, NexDine Hospitality.
-
Low dining hall use: Army's campus-style halls triple meals served
The U.S. Army's new campus-style dining halls, run by Compass Group USA, are serving three to four times as many meals as the old facilities did a year earlier. Fort Hood's 42 Bistro averaged 3,004 meals between February and mid-October, versus 973 at the old hall, with about 5,500 more soldiers served. Fort Carson rose from 878 to 3,324 and Fort Drum from 441 to more than 2,577. Soldiers order at touchscreen kiosks, can use an On Demand phone app for delivery to drop zones on base since Oct. 1, and spend $39 a day in flexible 'freedom dollars' however they choose.
-
Patient satisfaction: a children's hospital's room-service menu cut meal waste 10% in pilot
Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary launched a pediatric menu and room service model on Oct. 6 so young patients can order closer to when they're ready to eat. A picture-based app shows only items that fit each patient's dietary needs, and parents can order remotely. The menu adds smoothies and familiar dishes such as grilled cheese and butter chicken, shaped by input from patients, families, clinicians, dietitians and Patient Food Services. The pilot cut meal waste by 10% and improved patient satisfaction; a $231,000 hospital foundation contribution helped buy the needed equipment.
-
Students asking for late-night food: BU brings back After Hours
Boston University Dining Services reopened its After Hours late-night spot on West Campus, serving 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily after it closed in August 2025, along with a rotating global concept at the George Sherman Union and the return of a veggie box, all changes BU says came from student feedback.
-
Touchmark aims to fill 80% of manager roles at new communities from within
Touchmark's leadership programs aim to have 80% of managers at new communities come from within the company. The operator of 16 communities with 3,000 staff is building in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Anchorage, Alaska, and has renovated all dining spaces from cafeteria style to restaurant-quality menu and service. CEO Marcus Breuer said leadership development is a top priority.
-
Bringing workers back to the office: rotate food, don't build bigger kitchens
Paul Fairhead, CEO of Infuse Hospitality and former CEO of Guckenheimer, told Allwork.Space that same-menu-every-day cafeterias lose appeal as companies ask staff in three to five days a week. He recommends a 'food truck approach' of small, rotating menus, local restaurant pop-ups and modular stations. He also suggests showing employees the subsidy, for example a $12 meal priced at $6, so they notice what the employer is paying.
-
Farm-to-school leadership: a California director's 20-acre district farm wins state award
Morgan Hill Unified School District Student Nutrition Director Michael Jochner received the 2026 California Food for California Kids Leadership and Innovation Award at the Oct. 15 California Farm to School Summit. He helped develop FarmTECH, a 20-acre farm run by the district's Student Nutrition Department, with an 18-acre production farm that grows produce for school meals and a two-acre educational site where students work alongside farmers.
-
Late-night participation: a campus ghost kitchen lifts weekday orders more than 50%
At Towson University, Aramark Collegiate Hospitality's Tiger Hospitality team opened Social Bites, a ghost kitchen in Newell Den that runs five virtual concepts from one location. Students order through a mobile app and pick up from food lockers or get robot delivery, and it stays open until midnight. Aramark says weekday late-night orders are up more than 50% from last year, with about 65 robot deliveries a day; the concept grew out of a pilot run from Newell Dining Hall the year before.
-
Launch idea: a vendor fair plus a student vote to pick local campus brands
The Chartwells Higher Education dining team at the University of Utah added six local concepts this semester, including Bean Yard Coffee House, Cupbop and The Other Side Donuts. Each semester the team hosts a vendor fair for local businesses and uses student feedback to choose partners; The Other Side Donuts, a former campus caterer, won a permanent space in a residence dining hall after a student vote. The program also sources local ingredients through a hometown produce distributor.
-
Meal plan pricing: a university's 4% dining increase is tied to CPI in its contract
Wichita State's director of Housing and Residence Life told the Student Senate on Oct. 14 that campus dining plans will rise 4% next year under the university's contract with its food service provider, Chartwells, with the increase tied to the Midwest Consumer Price Index. Most dorm rooms would rise 2%, while rates for the lowest-cost triple rooms stay flat, as they have for the past five years. The rates still need Kansas Board of Regents approval.
-
Moving off heat-and-serve: a rural district's $99K grant buys five scratch-cooking tools
Hemingford Public Schools in Nebraska won $98,915.25 in state kitchen modernization grant funds to swap heat-and-serve items for scratch cooking. The money comes from the Rural Health Transformation Program and buys a 40-gallon steam kettle, a 30-quart planetary mixer, a combi oven, a vertical cutter mixer and a five-pan steam table. Scratch versions will replace instant mashed potatoes, packaged gravies, frozen pizza crusts and commercial soups, using Nebraska beef, pork, dry beans and potatoes where practical. The district aims to raise meal participation by at least 10%.
-
Student staffing: a campus cafe where student workers earn pay and academic credit
SUNY Plattsburgh and Sodexo, which began running the campus dining program in spring 2026 after a competitive bid, are opening a renovated Saxbys cafe in Hawkins Hall and adding Grubhub mobile ordering and a reusable container program. University president Alexander Enyedi said students working in the cafe will develop leadership, business and professional skills while earning academic credit and pay. The program has also added allergen-friendly options and more affordable catering menus since launch.
-
Labor cuts push an Oregon district from scratch cooking back to premade meals
Eugene School District 4J's nutrition services team is working with about a quarter fewer full-time positions this school year after about $2.4 million in budget cuts for 2026-27, and has gone back to mainly premade meals from outside vendors instead of the in-house scratch cooking it built in 2019. The district says the program cost more to run than meal reimbursements and sales covered. It ended all-you-care-to-eat seconds (a second meal is now charged), kept salad bars and serves about 9,500 meals a day; support services director Jill Cuadros says the team still buys clean-label products that are low in sugar and fat.
-
Launch idea: a campus day of action on student food insecurity
Chartwells Higher Education is holding a United Through Food day of action on Oct. 21 at more than 320 campuses, with a goal of donating 50,000 meals. Select campuses will run Make 1 Donate 1 meal-kit assembly stations and Swipe and Share meal-plan donations, set up Food for Thought trivia and Empty Plate art installations, and serve lunches and dinners using imperfect produce and root-to-stem cooking. The company cites its most recent campus dining index, which found 56% of students experience challenges accessing food.
-
Micro-market theft: Connecticut now allows breakroom security cameras
A Connecticut law that took effect Oct. 1 allows surveillance cameras to monitor self-service kiosks and merchandise in employee breakrooms, removing a regulatory obstacle for micro-market operators. The change followed a multiyear lobbying effort prompted by operator Berkshire Foods and supported by the National Automatic Merchandising Association and the New England Refreshment Services Association.
-
New school meal standards: USDA's dietary guidelines rule is still at White House review
USDA's proposed rule "Child Nutrition Programs: Aligning Program Requirements with the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans" (RIN 0584-AF17) has been under review at the White House Office of Management and Budget since July 20, 2026, and is classified as economically significant. OMB's public log lists 19 meetings with outside groups on the rule, most recently on Oct. 13, 15 and 16, with another scheduled for Oct. 19. The proposal's text has not yet been published.
-
Participation: an Oklahoma district served 113,000 more meals after going self-op
Santa Fe South Schools in Oklahoma City, which serves about 5,100 students, took over its meal program from a food service management company and added more produce, salad bars and in-house preparation. Child nutrition director Marissa Kasper told KOCO the district served 113,000 more meals in its first year and is up 15% so far this year. She spoke as Oklahoma lawmakers heard testimony on Oct. 19 about healthier school meals; they did not approve a new statewide school meal program.
-
Retail dining lines: Purdue adds mobile pickup ordering, with robot delivery next
Purdue Food Co. launched Grubhub mobile ordering for pickup at retail dining locations in Purdue Memorial Union's Atlas Family Marketplace, the first phase of its Grubhub partnership, with more locations to be added. Users can link their Purdue account to pay with Dining Dollars, Retail Dining Membership funds and other accepted methods. Purdue says it is working with Grubhub and Avride to bring back autonomous delivery through the same platform later this fall, after Starship Technologies left earlier this year.
-
School meal costs climb as fewer students qualify for free meals
Harvest Public Media reports school food costs are up about 30% since 2020, while this year's maximum federal reimbursement for a free lunch is $4.85, which must also cover staff and equipment. Austin ISD's food service director says a fruit or vegetable serving has gone from about 25 cents to 40-50 cents; 69 of the district's 105 schools use the Community Eligibility Provision, and he expects 30 more could lose it next school year as SNAP enrollment falls. A School Nutrition Association survey found 95% of school nutrition leaders worried about their program's financial sustainability.
-
Ultra-processed food limits: directors name what blocks scratch cooking
A study in Public Health Nutrition, highlighted Oct. 19 by the University of California's Nutrition Policy Institute, surveyed and interviewed 20 food service directors in rural and urban San Joaquin Valley school districts about moving from ultra-processed items to scratch-cooked lunches. They cited inadequate kitchen equipment and facilities, trouble procuring more fresh foods and a lack of trained staff. An advisory board recommended funding to hire, train and retain kitchen staff and update kitchens, plus food hubs and simpler contracting. California's 2025 Real Food, Healthy Kids Act is the first state law requiring removal of certain ultra-processed foods from school meals.
-
Clemson puts a 10-year campus dining contract out for bid
Clemson University is seeking a contractor for residential and retail dining, convenience stores, meal exchange, catering, concessions and special events. The contract has an initial 10-year term with five one-year renewal options; bids are due Oct. 29, 2026.
-
Smart Snacks vending: districts and colleges put machines out to bid
RetailSystems.org's mid-October roundup of public vending solicitations includes Virginia Beach City Public Schools, which requires products in student-access machines to meet USDA Smart Snacks standards and lets operators bid on one or all eight district regions (due Nov. 4). Other listings include Umpqua Community College (about $60,420 in annual sales across 20 machines, five-year term) and Solano Community College (25+ machines). Separately, Sumter School District in South Carolina sought Smart Snack vending services for 31 schools and offices.
-
Bromated flour scrutiny: Florida subpoenas a major foodservice distributor
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier expanded his investigation into potassium bromate on Oct. 16, issuing a subpoena to Performance Food Group for records from its Miami and Orlando distribution centers on four bromated flours: Pillsbury Potentate High Gluten, Pillsbury Best Bakers Patent, Gold Medal All Aces Bakery and Gold Medal Superlative Bakers. Records are due Nov. 6, 2026. The office says the subpoena is not a finding of wrongdoing and notes that alternatives such as ascorbic acid and enzymes are available.
Get the weekly roundup in your inbox
The most useful items from the week, written for directors, delivered every week. Free.
Subscribe freeJoin the LinkedIn group