Building catering buzz

When the University of Notre Dame Food Services rolled out its new catering program at the start of the 2014-15 school year, the staff got creative to spread the word.

Wrapping trucks

One of the earliest and most visible displays of the department’s new branding effort was on its delivery trucks, which were wrapped in the new logo. “It’s a great moving billboard,” says Chris Abayasinghe, director of food services at the university.

Hosting facility tours

Staff invited a select group of catering customers to take a tour of the Center for Culinary Excellence production facility, to get a better sense of the efforts put into creating meals for catered events. “[They could] see how even the roll being made for dinner that night began over here,” Abayasinghe says.

Going Hollywood

This spring, the team brought in celebrity chef and Food Network contributor Jet Tila to meet students, cook with foodservice staff and create a signature pad thai dish for the global-minded catering menu.