Penn State shakes up menu planning

Serving your guests from a cycle menu can sometimes lead to the dreaded “m word.” Monotony. In the past, monotony breakers have included theme nights here and there to add interest to the dining grind.

At Penn State, Associate Director of Residential Dining Jim Meinecke has taken this idea to the next level with pace changers, a more integrated approach to infuse weekly menus with a variety of cohesive, never-before-seen ideas, menu items and special events centered around a theme.

“We switched our process two years ago and we think this way works out better because it’s a way to focus all of our marketing by having a theme or direction,” Meinecke says.

Cabbage rolls are among the dishes spotlighting cabbage this month.

The dining team looks at new limited-time menu items by the week and then decides how to incorporate them into various concepts’ lunch and dinner menus. At each of the six dining venues, favorites like salad bars, pizza and sushi are always available, but this integrated approach, “is a way for us to break up the menu and bring flavors that aren’t typically on the cycle menu.”

The pace changer series also creates a test market for the dining team. When a menu item does exceptionally well, like the cider-brined smoked turkey with apple butter barbecue sauce from last year, it earns a spot on the regular menus.

The marketing facet of dining gets an infusion of fresh ideas as well. Meinecke says last fall a social media hit was the “freak shake” in a mason jar with s’mores and a candy disk with the campus dining logo made by the bakery. Students got to keep the mason jar, which went over very well, according to Meinecke.

Marketing also ties into events like February’s “Thon” month, which will piggyback on the excitement of the annual 46-hour dance-a-thon that raises money for kids with cancer.

“Usually around 700 dancers participate,” Meinecke says. “So, throughout the month leading up to that, we’re supporting the dancers as they get ready with a lot of protein and low-sugar foods, and then recovery afterwards. We serve a meal at 2 a.m.”

First up for January is a plant-forward theme that focuses on the mighty cabbage, a powerhouse in healthy-but-hearty winter dishes including cabbage rolls, hot and sour soup with cabbage and udon noodles, Napa cabbage spring rolls with shrimp, cider-apple-cabbage slaw and braised pork with red cabbage.

Special dinners—some of which come at a cost in addition to the meal plan—are another facet of the pace changer series, and have flexibility within each month’s theme. This month, a Pennsylvania Dutch dinner will feature stick-to-your ribs fare: chicken and waffles, ham pot pie, German potato salad, pickled eggs and shoofly cake.

And January’s Upscale dinner takes on a steakhouse feel with filet mignon and Vidalia onion red wine compote, goat cheese polenta and garlicky broccolini.

Since the pace changer events and menu items consistently boost sales, that can help offset pricier items like the filet mignon. However, sometimes the goal isn’t just about that boost, Meinecke says.

“It depends on what we’re trying to get out of it,” he says. “We had a special Middle Eastern dinner just before Thanksgiving break and we didn’t think too many people would attend, so we made it our goal to deliver the most authentic cuisine possible to the student groups on campus who attended.”

Looking ahead to other themes of this year, Meinecke says he’s especially excited for the Asian special dinner next month (expanded to include many countries and regions of Asia, rather than one specific country).

Students will get to taste togarashi seared tilapia with Thai peanut sauce, something Meinecke thinks will really stand out. A pho bar and a naan bread and dip bar will start things off, and entrees include Filipino adobo chicken, mahi mango sambal in banana leaves. The theme doesn’t drop off with beverages, either: Guests can choose from coconut ice water, mango ice water and iced chai tea.

Those with food allergies or special dietary needs aren’t left out of the series, Meinecke says.

“We sit down with the RDs and we highlight which items different special diets can have, and we have the usual entrée cards each day,” he says. “And we feature new menu items at our gluten-free and kosher stations.”

Further into the calendar, March’s theme will be micro local, with local cheese curds, cheese spreads and dips and a sausage sandwich from the campus meat lab. And in a cool culinary history lesson, a special dinner in April will feature foods from the 13 original colonies including sweet tea from South Carolina, a Connecticut raspberry shrub, North Carolina buttermilk biscuits, Virginia-style ham, New Hampshire clam chowder, Maryland crabcakes, Pennsylvania buttered red potatoes with parsley and more.

As the year goes on, Meinecke and the culinary team will reconvene and determine how new menu items are being received by students.

“We’ll look back at what we did well,” he says.