5 coronavirus things: Harvard names new dining director

In this special edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments regarding coronavirus and its impact on onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) has named Smitha S. H. Haneef as its new managing director, succeeding David Davidson, who retired in December after more than nine years in the position. Haneef is currently an assistant vice president of University Services at Princeton University and will join HUDS in early April.

Read more: Harvard University Dining Services Appoints New Managing Director

A recently released study indicates that weekend meal programs offered by school districts can have a positive impact on students’ academic performance. “Weekend feeding (‘BackPack’) programs and student outcomes,” written by Mica Kurtz, a professor of economics at Lycoming College, and two co-authors provides evidence of the effects of weekend feeding programs on increased reading test scores and suggests an additional positive impact on math scores.

Read more: Study: Student outcomes improve with weekend food programs

Related:5 coronavirus things: Sodexo’s AI-based POS also tabulates nutritional info

The University of Houston (UH) will keep one of its major campus dining venues, Moody’s Dining Commons, closed through the spring semester because of COVID-related limitations on student traffic. When it does reopen, guests will have dine-in and to-go options as well as a 24-hour dining option to choose from. Currently, 24-hour dining is available on the UH campus at the Cougar Woods Dining Commons.

Read more: Moody Dining to remain closed through spring semester

The San Luis Coastal Unified School District has teamed up with Cal Poly Creamery to provide students with locally produced Cal Poly cheese and eggs in its weekly food distribution kits. The district recently switched from providing prepared meals in the kits to bulk items such as bread, dairy and produce.

Read more: School district teams up with Cal Poly to provide families with locally-produced eggs, cheese

Compass Group unit Chartwells recently ran into controversy in England when several families posted photos of skimpy packages of food distributed by the company that are intended to provide homebound students with 10 days of meals. The meal kits had been sent instead of £30 of food vouchers that could be redeemed at participating supermarkets, a program that was temporarily suspended by the government because of a surge in COVID infections. However, the food in the kits highlighted by the families would only be worth about £5.30 if bought from a supermarket. Chartwells says the kits were mistakenly assembled and did not “reflect the specification of one of our hampers.”

Read more: Parents and Campaigners Condemn Free School Meal Parcels as ‘Unacceptable’

Bonus: Making new service models work onsite food service operations

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]