Food service menu trending: Menus change during coronavirus; 11 boundary-pushing new menu items at Elon; meals to-go are here to stay

College and university campuses look very different this spring—no frisbee on the quad or concerts in the park—since coronavirus brought campus life-as-we-knew-it to a halt. But the students and staff who remain on campus today are finding nourishment and lifted spirits with the grab-and-go selections of creative campus chefs and cooks.

Which menu items are proving to be essential?

And, seemingly overnight, onsite foodservice menus went from striving to be Instagrammable to needing to be grab-and-go-able. The sudden shift away from high-touch, interactive, communal dining has meant operators are finding new ways to connect with their customers—socially distanced now, and with lasting echoes as dining rooms reopen and menus move forward.

At Elon University in North Carolina, check out the bowls, biscuits, Chicago beef sandwiches, bao buns and even a Low Country boil in the testing phases this summer by Harvest Table Culinary Group as menu planning turns to next school year. With dramatically less students and staff on campus, the dining crew at Elon has turned a tumultuous time into an opportunity to reflect, renew and revamp the menu. The results are shelter-in-place menu items that travel the globe in terms of inspiration.

See the other foodservice menu trends this month on Food Management.