MenuDirections 2012: UNH, UMass, UNT & Chartwells win Goldies

The second annual Goldies awards were presented at the conclusion of FoodService Director’s MenuDirections conference in Charleston, S.C.

The winners in each category were:

Focusing on the Guest: Chartwells Higher Education
Chartwells was recognized for its YouFirst guest services program, which relies on daily training to focus on customer engagement techniques to improve the guest services experience. The program resulted in a four- to five-percentage point increase in customer loyalty surveys across the board.

Food Democracy: University of North Texas, Denton
UNT collected its third Goldies award for its continuing commitment to providing customers what they want, when and where they want it. The department’s efforts in this include Khush Roti, which provides international sandwiches for commuter students; the campus's new all-vegan dining hall; and the revitalization of West cafeteria into a location that focuses on hearty, homestyle dishes, which greatly improved lunch participation.

Going Green: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
The University of Massachusetts, Amherst was recognized for its permaculture garden, which provides sustainably grown produce to campus dining venues. The success of the initial permaculture garden has led to a commitment from the university's chancellor to plant one permaculture garden each year.

Related:FoodService Director selects finalists for Goldies Awards

Health & Wellness: University of New Hampshire, Durham
UNH was recognized for its Guiding Stars menu labeling system, which assigns items a star rating that lets customers know the health of the items they are choosing. Gluten free is another big initiative for the department, which allows students to select gluten-free options online, via a "gluten-phone" and in the university's gluten-free stations locations in each dining hall.

Check back with foodservicedirector.com this week to see the winning Goldies videos.