in brief 2006

FM Staff

Restaurant Associates has won the contract to manage the cafeteria and executive dining room food operations at the New York Times.

Delaware North Cos. has launched its first online e-store featuring such exotic gifts as a $10,000 meteorite from the Kennedy Space Center and exclusive Ahwahnee china and barware from Yosemite National Park, as well as spa products, twig and hickory furniture and hand-woven Native American rugs. The company, which manages guest, retail and dining services at Kennedy, Yosemite and other national sites, also sells vacation packages and gift certificates on the site, which can be accessed at www.shopdelawarenorth.com.

Wolfgang Puck Catering has been named primary caterer for all Universal Studios Hollywood's special events, providing foodservice at all events at the world's largest movie studio and theme park..

Georgetown will be discontinuing its use of eggs from caged birds in favor of cage-free eggs in its resident dining facilities. University dining halls and convenience stores use over 1.5 million eggs annually.

A bill in the New Hampshire legislature would require the state's public colleges and universities to pay property tax on any tax-exempt property used for non-education-related purposes that compete with local businesses. These would include university dining services as well as housing, bookstores and public entertainment.

Sodexho has appointed Chris Munkel general manager of dining services at its operations at the University of Tennessee-Martin. Munkel is the son of former UTM Dining Services Director Mike Munkel, who passed away last October.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has appointed Wichita Public Schools FSD Vicki Hoffman as one of the fifteen individuals comprising the state's new Child Health Advisory Committee. The Committee will advise the Governor and the Secretary of Kansas Department of Health and Environment on various issues involving children, including obesity, newborn screening, immunizations and education.

A recently-launched University of California survey is examining farm-toschool programs in selected California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska and Wyoming school districts.