5 things: Grubhub looks at how college students ate over the past year

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:

 1.    Grubhub looks at how college students ate over the past year

With summer in full swing, Grubhub Campus is revealing dining trends from its more than 270 partnered schools across the country in the first ever '22-'23 Delivered: Campus Edition. Among the findings, the top food items ordered nationwide were 1) burritos, 2) cheeseburgers and 3) chicken quesadillas, with Tuesday lunch being the most popular day and time to order. By depart, the top item at breakfast was the donut, at lunch the burrito bowl, and at dinner pad Thai.

Read more: School's Out for Summer! Grubhub Takes a Look at How Students Ate During the 2022-2023 School Year

 2.    HHS Secretary lauds launch of local partnership program at UC Davis Medical Center

The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra toured and visited UC Davis Medical Center's production kitchen on June 15 to announce the launch of UC Davis' Health Workforce Initiative Food Program, where they partner with local farms and agricultural organizations to provide fresh, locally grown food to patients and staff. "We've got to change our system of healthcare," said Secretary Becerra. "It's time we move from the illness care system to a wellness care system where we talk about how you're keeping healthy and enjoying wellness."

Related:5 things: Schools continue to struggle with chronic absenteeism post-COVID

Read more: US Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra visits UC Davis Medical Center to launch new food program

 3.    Food manufacturers profiting from labor shortages by selling more heat-and-serve foods

While Hormel Foods, Post and General Mills are best recognized for their consumer retail brands, they each have billion-dollar food-service businesses servicing restaurants, schools and hospitals that have grown as commercial kitchens struggle to find enough help. Unfilled jobs in the industry remain well above pre-pandemic levels, so heat-and-serve products are increasingly marketed as time-saving shortcuts for short-staffed operations, helping Minnesota food companies push their food-service sales well above pre-pandemic levels.

Read more: Food companies sell more heat-and-serve options to fill gaps in short-staffed kitchens

 4.    Vanderbilt to limit meal swipes next year

Meal plans for the 2023-24 academic year at Vanderbilt University will be on a semesterly basis rather than a weekly basis,  with students only be able to use two meal swipes at Munchie Mart retail locations per day. While students will receive the same total number of meal swipes and Meal Money as with the previous allotment system, the former daily limit of five total meal swipes has been eliminated, with all-you-can-eat locations accepting one swipe per 45 minutes.

Related:5 tech things: UCLA plans mobile ordering expansion

Read more: Meal plans switch to semesterly allotments, limit Munchie Mart swipes to two per day

 5.    In-flight meals that contradict the airline food stereotype

Anyone who’s ever flown can tell you about an unsavory experience with airline food, but here is a list of some of the best meals served on airlines around the world. They include King’s Imperial Caviar on Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, ice cream sundaes on United Polaris, fresh fish on Swiss Air and bibimbap on Korean Air.

Read more: Culinary Wonders at 35,500 ft: Elevating Air Travel Dining

Bonus: FM On Demand with Tara Fitzpatrick: Resourceful Alaska healthcare chef forges new frontiers in wellness

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]