5 things: NY Times report examines the “broken” corporate cafeteria

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

“The world of the traditional big cafeteria is dead,” said Fedele Bauccio, who in 1987 co-founded Bon Appétit Management Company, which runs food service at hundreds of museums, universities and companies like LinkedIn. “They are just too expensive to maintain, and not flexible enough.” Still, office workers need to eat. So companies are blowing up the cafeteria. Long regarded as a way to encourage productivity, cafeterias are being reframed as respite and recreation, designed to attract younger workers in a job market badly in need of them.

Read more (subscription required): The Corporate Cafeteria Is Broken. So How Do We Feed Workers?

Beginning in January 2023, Vanderbilt University Campus Dining will restrict the number of meal swipes students can use per day. Previously, students were allowed to use up to three meal swipes per hour with no daily limit. A university representative said the new five-swipe limit is intended to help students pace their swipe usage throughout the week.

Related:5 things: Salad bars coming back to Fairfax County Public Schools

Read more: Campus Dining restricts meal swipe usage to five per day, revamps Munchie Mart options

Los Angeles Unified School District will provide air conditioning systems to school cafeterias across the district after the school board approved a $30 million bond-funded program. The update will reach up to 682 schools, with the goal of completing implementation at as many sites as possible before the start of the next school year.

Read more: Los Angeles Unified cafeterias to be equipped with air conditioning

Following concerns voiced by Dartmouth Student Government, Dartmouth Dining Services—which implemented several price increases after the interim break—reversed at least one of these increases, dropping the price of the burger special, which had previously increased by 30% to $13, back to $10. In addition, Dartmouth Dining introduced new special combos at the Courtyard Cafe that are equivalent to the values of the lunch and dinner meal swipe equivalencies.

Read more: Dartmouth Dining Services introduces new combo specials, lowers prices after further increases

Related:5 tech things: University expands mobile-order-only retail dining program

Iowa State University has hired Christian Wise as director of dining services, succeeding Mohamed Ali, who served as the dining director from January 2016 to March 2022. Wise most recently served as district manager and transformation director at Aramark's Harvest Table Culinary Group after more than 17 years with Sodexo's higher education division in a variety of director, district manager, manager and executive chef roles. Before that, he was the owner and chef of a high-end catering business and also worked as a private practice attorney for a decade. As director of ISU Dining, Wise will oversee the operation of Iowa State’s campus dining system, which includes three dining centers, multiple cafes, stores, Get and Go locations, catering and a bakery.

Read more: Change on the horizon: ISU Dining names new director

Bonus: SNA Survey finds cost, labor and supply issues as top school meal program concerns

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]