5 things: Celebrity chefs develop recipes for NYC schools

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.    Celebrity chefs help develop recipes for New York City schools

In partnership with Wellness in the Schools, the New York City Education Department has launched the first-ever Chefs Council, featuring celebrity chefs, culinary industry professionals and food activists who are all guiding the school lunch menu. The new menu includes dishes like Caribbean spiced jerk chicken and pineapple rice medley, which reflect the city's rich cultural diversity.

Read more: Celebrity chefs are serving a new menu of healthy meals for NYC's school children

 2.    Tipping prohibited at UCSB campus cafes

As of Spring Quarter 2023, UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) Campus Dining has decided that customers can no longer tip at UCSB’s seven campus cafes, where the majority of the workers are students and where tip jars had been put out during business hours so customers could leave tips the workers would split. UCSB spokesperson Kiki Reyes said in a statement to the Nexus that the tip jars were out of compliance with Internal Revenue Service regulations in recording taxable income.

Read more: No more tips at campus cafes: Workers express grievances

Related:5 things: Report finds afterschool meal participation drop

 3.    Medical center wins food waste reduction award

Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in New Jersey has earned a sustainability award for food waste reduction, preventing 14,562 pounds of food waste from occurring in 2022, the equivalent of 12,134 meals. The facility’s food waste reduction initiative is run as an employee engagement program, which recognizes team members tracking food waste as Waste Warriors. The entire medical center was included in a campaign to raise awareness about the food waste initiative through their managers, internal communications, and posters in food service locations.

Read more: Bergen New Bridge Medical Center Saves Equivalent of 12,000 Meals

 4.    Fordham gets $5M state grant for dining enter renovation

The State of New York has awarded Fordham University a $5 million matching capital grant for the renovation of the Marketplace dining facilities in the Joseph M. McShane, S.J. Campus Center. The grant, which comes from the Higher Education Capital Match Program (HECap), is the second one of its kind that the University has received for the Campus Center and will help fund the ongoing transformation of what has become a vibrant hub for the Rose Hill campus since it opened last year.

Related:5 tech things: Oregon State food delivery robots involved in bomb threat

Read more: Fordham Awarded $5M from New York State for Campus Center Dining Renovation

 5.    Fuku expands to Las Vegas arena

Fuku, the spicy fried chicken concept developed by David Chang and based in New York, has expanded to Las Vegas as the company announced that it has opened a concession on the upper concourse of T-Mobile Arena. Fuku already has concessions at sports venues like Barclay's Center in Brooklyn and FedExField in Maryland.

Read more: Spicy fried chicken chain Fuku expands to Las Vegas with T-Mobile Arena concession

Bonus: Here’s what they are serving at NHL areas this season

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]