5 things: Kent State to offer meal plan with off-campus restaurant swipes this fall

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:

As part of its conversion to self-operation after cutting its ties with Aramark, Kent State University Dining Services will offer freshmen and sophomores a new meal plan allowing them to swipe their cards at certain downtown restaurants starting this fall. Exclusive to the Flash 200 Block plan is $300 in declining balance, $100 in downtown dining dollars and 200 meal swipes, compared to current meal plans which offer unlimited swipes. These changes are necessary, said Eliot Norris, the associate director of culinary services and campus executive chef, in order to ensure students get the most out of dining on campus.

Read more: Meal swipes expand to downtown, campus dining update

In a conversation with Time magazine, Bon Appetit Mgt. Co. CEO Fedele Bauccio made a number of observations about the role of food in the future workplace, prominent among them being that the traditional cafeteria is a thing of the past. “Those days are gone,” he said. In its place: “smaller, unique concepts placed throughout the campuses. There are pods of places where they can experience different concepts and different kinds of seating.”

Related:5 things: Ohio State ups student dining workers’ minimum wage by $2

Read more: The Critical Role of Food in the Future of Work

FM Top 50 firm Healthcare Services Group reported first quarter revenues for its dining and nutrition services unit of $225.1 million, with total company revenues, including laundry/housekeeping services, at $426.8 million. The dining and nutrition services number was a 17% jump from the $192.7 million posted the first quarter of FY2021 and far outpaced the 4.6% jump in total company revenues from the same quarter.

Read more: Healthcare Services Group, Inc. Reports Q1 2021 Results

A Florida woman has been arrested after allegedly making a bomb threat to her son’s high school, enraged that her son wasn't being fed enough at the cafeteria. Anaya Metoya Smith, 41, was arrested in connection with a threatening voicemail she left at Cocoa High School in which she allegedly said, “If you don’t start feeding my ... children better ... I’m gonna come round ... and blow that mother ... up,” the probable cause affidavit stated.

Related:5 tech things: Chili’s expands Rita the Robot test to 51 more units

Read more: Florida mom threatens to blow up school because son wasn’t fed enough at cafeteria, officials say

State Farm Arena, home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, has been named the world’s first sports and live entertainment venue to receive TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) Platinum certification from leading sustainability and health certification and credentialing body Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). When beginning its transition to sustainability practices in 2019, the venue diverted only an average of 10% of its total waste but since May 2021, it has consistently diverted a minimum of 90% of fan-generated waste from landfills, including food/beverage-related waste from official F&B partner Levy Restaurants.

Read more: State Farm Arena becomes world’s first entertainment venue to earn TRUE Certification for zero waste

Bonus: Restaurant Associates’ Stop Food Waste panel sparks the search for sustainable best practices

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]